The holiday vacation and the first week or so of school at Keiser University in San Marcos gave me no reason to visit the capus until the end of last week, when several students needed help preparing for their first quiz in 19th-century American History. I am on the tutorial staff as an English helper, but thanks to a stretch as PR wonk at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, and a broad interest in the 19th century, I felt competent to help fill in the gaps. The biggest gap, in fact, is English, which, though the official language of the campus, is often the biggest hurdle, especially for first and second year students.
I went in to Keiser an extra day this week, and was thrilled to see some good result of my work. Never have I fancied myself a teacher of any stripe. I do not suffer fools and have little patience for anything else. That said, this past year and a half in Nicaragua has given me new perspective on BEING the fool, and needing the patience and understanding of others. This insight may be working some magic on my potential to teach and explain. In any event, the notion that I can be useful, or have an otherwise positive affect on my students is wonderfully satisfying!
I also use the library on campus. Just finished E.M. Forster's Maurice, and I am midway through Virginia Woolf's last novel, Between the Acts. There is a poignant note from her publisher husband Leonard explaining that Virginia had died before she could make any final adjustments to the text. I suppose she was satisfied with the script, or she might have delayed her suicide. This rather morose genre is meant to restore my equilibrium after my recent infatuation with Henry Fielding, laughing out loud all through Tom Jones, Shamela, and Joseph Andrews.
Well, now that I am a history tutor, I think I'll browse that genre next. Unless I become too, too excited about my sweet boy Gabriel arriving a month from TODAY!
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