Proposals, Panels, and Exams

The end of February through early March has been a tough dry spell from blogging. I have several half-finished posts in the queue but have been delayed with: 1) grading 35 undergraduate papers, 2) grading 35 undergraduate quizzes, 3) grading 30 seminary New Testament 2 midterms, 4) grading 30 seminary papers, 5) grading 20 Greek II midterms, and then 6) I flew away this weekend to sunny/rainy/humid Orlando, Florida to attend the Association of Theological Schools Roundtable events for Ethnic/Racial and Midcareer Faculty (Mar 5-8, 2015). The rountables, by the way, were fantastic. I participated in a panel on collaborative projects, but also learned much from colleagues in the area of post-tenure research, teaching, administrative service, and formation (more on this in future posts).

Screen capture of INTI paper proposal statistics (Click to enlarge)

   Now, I have to read through 34 paper proposals submitted to the the Intertextuality and New Testament Interpretation Section (I'm a co-chair) for the SBL meeting in Atlanta this November 2015. Wow! I think this year is the most proposals we have received since we first started as a consultation group back in 2008. 
   In other words, I have to finish reading the proposals and some full papers before I can get back to blogging again. Stay tuned!  

A Haiku on Grading

Exams crush my soul

I ponder my nothingness

wearied by wry words

Definition of a haiku: 1. a Japanese short poem consisting of 3 verses with a literary structure of a 5 syllable line + 7 syllable line +  5 syllable line (= 17 on); 2. a way for a frustrated teacher to lament the stack of papers and final exams that still need to be graded

I hope to start blogging again after I turn in my Spring semester grades. Stay tuned! 

PostScript edit: I changed the last line of the original haiku to make it cohere and end better.