Inclement weather

[rebeccmeister]

Ah, rain, rain, rain, in its gloriosity of wetness.

I am immensely happy, practically skipping around. (verily, I skipped)

I have not been thusly rained on in an exceedingly long time, and I should point out that I never tire of it.

It is as they say--moss grows on the north side of my bones (shamelessly stolen from Bus Poetry). I am a child of the water.

I spent the day proctoring two final exams--my students suffered mightily. I felt like a miscreant, daring to check my e-mail occasionally while keeping an eye on them. Proctoring is utterly tedious, especially when one trusts one's students.

But now their suffering has at least partially ended, whereas I have a stack of grading to finish. And then the semester will draw to a close. My students struggled more this semester than last semester. I wish I could have done more to help them, but I tried to do as much as I could. I hope they perceived some benefit in my course.

Comments

[zoobar.livejournal.com]

It's been raining all day for the past two days down here in Tucson and I've spent every moment I can just staring at the drops in the puddles.

I could not be more excited!

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Oh hooray! We heard reports that Flagstaff might get up to 16 inches of SNOW!

It has been so long since we've had meaningful precipitation.

[zoobar.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD 16 inches of SNOW!?!?!?!?

We are so excited for the rain not only because I love it but because it's so good for the desert and the trees in our yard. The Palo Verde I don't worry about, they're desert plants but I'd love to keep the Lemon tree and she requires a lot of water. This soak is the best kind!

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I know. I'm waiting before I freak out because ya never know how things will really turn out with such snow forecasts. Still. It's about time.

And I know what you mean about the REAL, soaking rains. I enjoy the monsoons, they're quite fun, but the winter rains are more satisfying in the long run. But then again that could just be the Seattleite in me talking. :)

[crume.livejournal.com]

I've got some rainy-day music on. Wonderous!

Also, I just saw that David Orr is coming to lecture at ASU on 1/14. It doesn't have a time or place yet, but I thought you'd be interested.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

A couple of my friends had mentioned his coming, I think--I don't really know much about him, but it does indeed sound like an interesting and worthy thing to attend. Thank you!

[crume.livejournal.com]

I have his book "The Nature of Design"

From Amazon.com
"The environmental movement has often been accused of being overly negative--trying to stop "progress." The Nature of Design, on the other hand, is about starting things, specifically an ecological design revolution that changes how we provide food, shelter, energy, materials, and livelihood, and how we deal with waste. Ecological design is an emerging field that aims to recalibrate what humans do in the world according to how the world works as a biophysical system. Design in this sense is a large concept having to do as much with politics and ethics as with buildings and technology. The book begins by describing the scope of design, comparing it to the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Subsequent chapters describe barriers to a design revolution inherent in our misuse of language, the clockspeed of technological society, and shortsighted politics. Orr goes on to describe the critical role educational institutions might play in fostering design intelligence and what he calls "a higher order of heroism." Appropriately, the book ends on themes of charity, wilderness, and the rights of children. Astute yet broadly appealing, The Nature of Design combines theory, practicality, and a call to action."