Goodbyes

I hate saying goodbye. This month, two of my favorite girlfriends in my Department have finished their Master's degrees and are leaving. I am super sad. We fortunately got to spend some time with them before they left/are leaving. We had them over for dinner, went to a graduation party at the park, went to graduation, and went over to one of their houses for lunch last week. I am really going to miss them. Dinner at our house with my girlfriends. (I don't use names in case they don't want them on the blog). Hugging at graduation. Yes, I cried.
Not a goodbye exactly, but a realization that Amanda is all grown-up...She went to her boyfriend's prom last week and I had the pleasure of getting her ready. It amazes me that my little sister is going to be 17 in a couple of weeks! Where did the time go? Whenever I feel blue, I have my boys to cuddle with. Here I am "making out" with J.J., as Jonathan likes to say. :) He's a great comforter.
Okay, I will dry my tears and comfort myself by knowing that I've made two friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime.

Exciting News, Part 3

Jonathan received some very exciting news last week - he won the Tutoring Excellence Award for Writing! He was honored at a banquet where they presented his name on a plaque that is displayed in the Writing Center, and our bosses read a letter about his achievements. It was so wonderful!
Here are some details about the award (from the Writing Center): "One of only two tutors selected annually from 54 in the Writing Center to receive the Excellence in Tutoring Award. This award is presented to tutors who have distinguished themselves by their use of innovative ideas, enthusiasm for learning, and outstanding commitment to helping students succeed at the University."
Here are a few beautiful thoughts that our boss said about him last Friday at the banquet: "Jonathan Cisco is an ideal writing tutor because he is a true teacher: he loves his work. When you talk with him, you can feel his interest in what you have to say, how you think, what you know, what you're struggling with. If you need to work out some writing problem, Jonathan is your man; and yet he never sees anyone's paper merely as a chore, a pattern of deficiencies requiring to be fixed. He asks real questions. He sees you. [...] That's the experience Jonathan gives those who are lucky enough to work with him. We are lucky to have him and very proud to be able to say so in public."
Congratulations, Jonathan! I'm so proud of you!!

Exciting News, Part 2

I received two very exciting honors/opportunities in the past few weeks. The first is that I will be teaching my own class this summer at the University! There are only 2 graduate student instructor positions for the summer, and there are many students in my department who applied. I was so surprised when the director of graduate studies informed me that I was at the top of the faculty list. I am super excited about this for a number of reasons. First, the class I will teach, Cultural Anthropology, is the class that made me realize that I wanted to be a student of culture for the rest of my life. If just one student could learn to appreciate other cultures, I would be thrilled. Second, I will get to create the entire curriculum and schedule myself, including lectures, textbooks, exams...everything! There are no department-mandated requirements. And finally, it pays really well! It pays a lot more than I usually make as a teaching assistant. So I am currently designing the course and can't wait to get started!
The second exciting bit of news, which was an incredible honor for me, is that I was nominated by 16 out of 18 of my senior students from last semester for the TA Choice award at the University. This meant so much to me, especially when I realized that they each had to fill out a form and write an essay to nominate me! Jonathan and I went to the banquet last week, where they announced the winner. It was me!! The Dean of the Graduate School called my name, and Jonathan and I looked at each other in shock. Once I recovered, I walked to the podium, shook the Dean's hand, had a photo taken, and accepted the award. Then the Dean proceeded to read aloud one of the student's essays about me. It was so beautiful and flattering that I started crying and had to cover my face with the award. There were apparently over 300 nominations, and they said that I had by far the most votes. Last week everyone kept congratulating me on "being the best TA at the University." I know that can't be true, but it is an amazing feeling to know that I made at least some difference in the lives of my students. That's what it's all about.

Exciting News, Part 1

I apologize for the long delay in posts. It has been crazy busy lately.
We've had lots of exciting things happen in the last few weeks that I have wanted to post about. I have two 20 page papers waiting to be written that are due early next week, but I am taking the time to post anyway!
Okay, exciting news, part one: Jonathan has been accepted into the PhD program in Education for this Fall! We are SO excited! This program truly seems perfect for him. He's met several of the faculty already and they are all very nice, supportive, and welcoming. The program is very flexible, so he will have the freedom to pursue a number of different interests as part of the program. He will probably even get the chance to teach graduate classes during the program! He has met with his adviser and is facing an unfamiliar problem - how to choose among many classes that interest him for the next semester. That never happened with Political Science, so we take that as a very good sign. Jonathan is so relieved to have found his home on campus after graduating last semester. We went out to dinner to celebrate the fantastic news. And yes, in case you're wondering, we had a great coupon! Our entire dinner cost us nothing but the tip. :) We are still grad students making peanuts after all!
Congratulations, honey! I am so happy for you and proud of you!