As we near the end of term (!!!???), we’re in a place where everything risks feeling rote. You might think your students are tired of talking about the same subject all semester, because you might be feeling the same way. It’s downhill from here, but it’s still an exhausting ride, perhaps from just being residually exhausted from the term (or because it gets dark at 5 p.m.). This stretch makes it easy to lose track of what’s sustaining you. For this week, I hope you can pause and name one thing you’re grateful for, even if it’s small or fleeting.
I’m grateful to the organizers and participants who made the Faculty and Staff Mini-Symposium happen the other week, and grateful to have been able to attend both sessions. Hearing the amazing work people are doing across disciplines and watching those conversations spark connections in real time felt energizing in a way I think I needed. It’s easy to fall into disciplinary silos; it’s harder, and way more rewarding, to keep coming back to the cross-campus conversations that make this place what it is.
If you attended, I hope something from those sessions is still echoing for you. (I’ll be thinking about horses and amphetamines for a while.) And if not, I hope you have a moment that reminds you good work is happening all around you, and that you’re part of it.