Give 'Em a Break

I gave an exam today in organic chemistry. As I looked over the class as they were working, I couldn’t help but notice how tired they looked. And this while they were engrossed in the study of the most stimulating subject in the curriculum. I can only imagine how whipped they must look in, say, Andy Stephan’s math class.

Over the years I’ve noticed a difference between the fall and spring semesters. And, no, it’s not that one is in the fall and the other is in the spring. By the first week in November, students are running on fumes. They’ve been going full tilt since Labor Day, and there’s no hope of slowing down before Thanksgiving. Their exhaustion makes it hard to get as much done, and it makes it harder for those of us on the other side of the desk to get as much out of them. In short, inefficiency reigns at this time of year.

There is no such obvious lag in the spring semester, and I’m convinced it’s because of Spring Break. Halfway through that semester (which, incidentally, is just when productivity lags in the fall semester) students get a week off. They come back refreshed (well, ok—at first they’re recovering from all the fun they had the previous week, but once that’s over, they’re refreshed). They can work harder. They get more done. They (and we) aren’t as surly. And then, before you know it, the semester ends.

I’ve wondered for years why there is no Fall Break to mirror Spring Break. Some argue, unconvincingly, that Thanksgiving Break is Fall Break. Sorry. Too little, too late. If we had started classes one week earlier, the semester would have started on roughly the same date it did in the Fall 2009 semester. We could have just come off a week-long break and could be bounding headlong to the end of the semester. Students and faculty would be recharged, students (and faculty) would have an easier time focusing, and the effort we all put forth would be more productive, more efficient.

Students today have a lot on their plates. Many of them work outside of school many more hours than students in my generation did. Human beings can only keep up such a pace for so long before it starts to take its toll. I think it’s time we acknowledge that we would all learn more in the long run if we took a week off midway through the semester.

What do you say: Fall Break, anyone?

What a great Ikea!

In one of my least favorite commercials a woman knocks over her mailbox and gives herself a lawn job while driving a semi filled with items she bought at Ikea. I have always found her unbridled enthusiasm to be quite annoying.

But then on a recent trip to Chicago I went to Ikea.

I was overwhelmed. There are floors and floors of some of the coolest stuff I’ve ever seen. I love to cook, and I almost made a spectacle of myself in the kitchen section. The furniture is (mostly) simple, stylish, and pretty well made. And most things are very reasonably priced.

I’ve heard they’re going to open a store in St. Louis, which makes me nervous. I wonder if there’s a twelve-step program for Ikea shoppers…

The woman in that commercial still annoys me no end. But I must admit: I can empathize.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Warren!

Last Sunday on the Fourth of July we went to a party to celebrate my uncle’s 101st birthday. Uncle Warren is the oldest of six children in my mother’s family. Longevity runs rampant in that family. Both of my grandparents lived long into their eighties, despite having debilitating illnesses. My mom died at age 93; one older sister died the day before her 97th birthday. Another sister died at 84, and a brother celebrated his 89th birthday last Saturday. Even the youngest, who had Down’s syndrome, lived to an amazing 62.

Not only do these people live to ripe old ages, they do so with their mental faculties intact. That means that Uncle Warren, who always was a great storyteller, is really worth listening to. Think of what he has lived through: two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, and two wars in the Middle East; the Great Depression; the economic expansion and prosperity that followed World War II; the fight for Civil Rights in the 1950’s and 60’s; Watergate; the Iranian hostage crisis; the erection and demolishing of the Berlin War; the turn of the millennium. He was alive for all ten of the Cardinals’ World Championships—and neither of the Cubs’ two.

What I love the most is watching my children, nieces, nephews, and young cousins listening to Uncle Warren’s stories. The lights in their eyes, their looks of rapt attention are not mere acts of kindness toward an old man. They recognize that they are hearing history from someone who has seen it first-hand. They aren’t unique. I think we all cherish opportunities like that to experience, even vicariously, things as they were before we were born, to learn more about how things got to be the way they are.

We all love Uncle Warren because of who he is, a good, humble, faithful man who has always loved his family more than anything. And we’re all aware of the gift we have in being able to listen to him. I will miss him greatly when he’s gone. But for now, I’ll just smile and go back into the living room to listen to Uncle Warren.

I'm Positive

There's a lame old chemistry joke about two atoms who spend a long time in a bar. One of them falls off the barstool and yells, "Ow!" The other asks if he's ok. The first one says, "I think I knocked out an electron." The second one asks, "Are you sure?" "I'm positive," the first replies. [Insert rim shot here.]

This is a different context for the word "positive," but I've been thinking about positive attitudes lately because of an older couple who are very dear friends of ours. He has recently gone a few rounds with prostate cancer that was at the beginning fairly troublesome, but which now is undetectable. Gene certainly did everything the medical professionals asked him to do, but the most amazing thing to me was the positive attitude the two of them have had through this whole ordeal. The human body is a very complex thing. One thing science teaches us about complex systems is that it's often impossible to know what variables in the system affect other variables. Data suggests that attitude can impact health and recovery from injury. Who knows how much (or if) a positive attitude can alter a medical outcome? If nothing else, it certainly can affect one's quality of life.

Just as that good news came about his prostate cancer, his wife, who had smoked when she was younger but quit many years ago, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Test results aren't back yet, so they don't know the extent of the cancer, but I will bet on two things: they will meet this with a positive attitude, and no matter what the eventual outcome, their attitude will certainly add to the richness of their lives.

How 'Bout That Weather?

One thing I simultaneously love and hate about living here is the weather, especially at this time of year. Where else but in the Midwest can you go from 40 and rainy to 78 and sunny in a mere three days? It’s nice to get those glimpses-of-things-to-come every now and then during March (or even January and February some years). They remind me that when things aren’t going well, I just need to be patient and persevere because things will get better.

The flip side, though, is that you can’t count on warmth and sunshine once May comes. My mother used to talk about a great snowstorm that came during the first week of May. And in 1984 when we were expecting our first child, some friends threw a baby shower for us on Memorial Day. It never got out of the 50’s that day. Still, it was Memorial Day, and I insisted on wearing shorts. I nearly froze my…well, you get the picture.

We can learn a lot from the weather. When things are bad (or good, for that matter), it’s important to realize that they seldom stay that way. Ever hear the old saying, “If you don’t like the weather in St. Louis, just wait five minutes?” Perspective is a good thing, don’t you think?

Just Around the Corner

In the past week I’ve heard about five different people say that they are done with winter. Truth be told, I’m pretty much over it myself, even though I’m someone who likes winter.

But yesterday morning as I was driving out Highway 40 at 6:30, the sun was coming up. A few weeks ago it was still pitch dark at that hour of the day. The pitchers and catchers started working out in Jupiter yesterday, too. And this morning as I walked to the garage at the back of our house, I saw some small shoots of green poking out from the ground that was covered with snow two days ago.

It won’t be long, folks.

New Beginnings

One of the things I like about academia is that every few months there is a new beginning. At the start of the semester students and professors alike are optimistic, and in some cases they are downright giddy about the prospect of the new truths that will be uncovered. All vow to turn over a new leaf, to keep up with the reading (or the grading) and make the most of this semester. Everyone is passing (or, at least, no one is failing—the fact that no one has received any grades at all seems irrelevant). Hope springs eternal.

That lasts for about a week and a half. Then reality sets in. Good intentions, like New Year resolutions, fall by the wayside. We start to get a bit depressed because we thought this time things would be different.

We shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves, though. A psychologist friend of mine is quick to point out that the single greatest predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Did we really think that through sheer force of will we could alter patterns cultivated over years (or, in my case, decades)?

Well, sure we did.

I think that having goals is important. If we know that our behaviors are keeping us from meeting our potential, it’s admirable to want to change. And keeping that ideal in mind is important, because if we can’t see where we want to wind up, how will we ever get there? We should remember, though, that it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Don’t try to change all your behaviors at once.

We’re just in the third week of the semester. There’s plenty of time. Take some time to do some soul searching. Figure out the one thing that most keeps you from achieving what you want. Maybe it’s procrastination. Maybe it’s being over-involved. Maybe it’s texting during class (do you really think we don’t know what you’re doing?). Make a plan to change that one behavior and stick to it. When you feel confident you’ve conquered that, move on to another. You probably won’t have reached your goal by the end of the semester. You’ll still have some bad habits. But you’ll find that you can see your destination a lot more clearly from there than from where you were at the beginning of the semester.