Spring Semester 2025

We are now two weeks into the spring semester and so far it's not excruciating.

Because I taught five classes in the fall, I am only teaching three this semester. Two are online, and going all right. I do have three students who despite all my cajoling have not yet done anything for the class. But honestly that's pretty low for an online class. The others are all working hard and getting their work in on time.

The one f2f class meets just once a week, on Tuesday nights. It's my fiction workshop, and an excellent group so far. Often I have a hard time getting workshop participants to speak up this early in these semester, but these guys have so much to say. 

Also they are all writing a lot. It's great.

The kid is also doing well. He loves graduate school, and is making friends with the other students. He is not so fond of teaching, so I don't know if I can persuade him to become a professor. So sad.

Trump's Clown Show

 Kevin Drum makes an observation.

For all the Republicans who kvetched constantly over the past four years about Joe Biden's "unlawful" behavior, I'd like to remind you that in one day Donald Trump has:

1. Pardoned hundreds of violent criminals solely because they're MAGA supporters.
2. Explicitly declared that he wouldn't enforce a law he's legally required to enforce.
3. Redefined birthright citizenship in a way he knows very well is unconstitutional

(and several more examples) 

But of course the explanation is very simple: Trump supporters don't care about facts, reality, or the law. If their guy does it it's okay. If it's blatantly not okay, as for example when Trump bribes people and lies about things, why, that's okay too, because all politicians do it. And if not all politicians do it, it's still okay, because look what they're doing in China, I suppose you'd want to live there instead?

The whole TikTok thing is just a harbinger. Trump and the other Conservative lawmakers wanted to ban TikTok. Conservative states made laws banning it. Trump's Supreme Court upheld those laws. Then Trump, surprised by the outcry from his base, takes credit for "saving" TikTok by refusing to uphold the ban. Conservatives applaud Trump's freedom-loving stand.

That's how it's going to be, for the next four years. Don't say you weren't warned.

Trump on Trans People

I was assured by people on Reddit that it's silly to worry about what Trump will do to trans people and their rights because "presidents don't make laws."

Which is, you know, hilarious, considering what happened to women's rights the last time he drove the big truck.

Anyway, here's what the ACLU has to say. 

I've increased my monthly donation to the organization, which fights for the rights of us all. If you want to do the same, here's the link.

Also: What Trump says he'll do, and what he has the actual power to do.

An Observation

Teaching first year students for thirty-plus years has taught me that if there is a way to misread a simple set of instructions, they will find that way. And if you have 60 students, they will find 60 different ways to misread the instructions.

At this point, it's almost a game. Can I write something that can't be misunderstood or misread?

Magic Eight-ball says No.

Wedding Achieved

The kid and the boyfriend are now legally wedded husbands. 

Photos:

During the Wedding

After the Wedding

Celebrating Afterwards

Argh American Healthcare

I chipped a tooth, so I needed a dental appointment. Getting one turned out to be surprisingly easy -- I got in a noon today.

Riding that high, I decided to set up an appointment for Dr. Skull with a PCP. 

That turned out to be a nightmare. It took me three hours and calls to several local doctors before I found one who would just make me a damn appointment (which is a month away). Everyone else wanted me to fill out reams of paperwork, so that they could decide whether to accept him as a patient, and warned me that even if they did accept him, the first appointment would be at least a couple months out.

Oddly, I've been told only places with universal health care/single-payer systems have this sort of problem. How strange!

Snow Pix

Snowy tree at sunrise:

 

Sunrise over the snow:

More pictures here

Wedding Rescheduled

The wedding has been rescheduled for this coming Friday -- a week from today.

Fingers crossed the weather gods don't come at us again.

Snow

We got six or seven inches, I'd guess.

This is from the front door:

Sometimes we keep a road out there, but not today.

Another shot off the back porch:

Wedding Cancel Because of Snow

We're now supposed to get seven inches of snow, so the courthouse is closed.

And then next week, classes start, so it's going to be hard to reschedule for that week.

UGH.

Big Snow

So we have a big snow headed our way. Here's the official forecast:

Five inches here by Friday evening. Since in the South even a tenth of an inch of snow is enough to shut down cities, and since the kid is supposed to get married on Friday afternoon, this is a bit concerning.

The same thing happened when he got top surgery -- a huge snowstorm hit that day. (Five inches then too!) It's like the weather gods don't like trans people or something.

(I'm joking.)

Wedding Bells

Well, there probably won't actually be any bells, since it's a courthouse wedding. But the kid and the boyfriend are getting married on Friday. They want to get married ahead of Trump taking office, so it's been kind of a whirlwind arrangement. (The justice of the peace who is marrying them is also trans!)

He says the funniest part was getting the marriage license. He looks male and the boyfriend, who has just started on T, still looks like a woman, so they appeared to be a straight couple, and they were getting all kinds of "jokes" from the cis people at the courthouse -- "Ooo, last day of freedom!" -- that kind of thing.

"And I was like," the kid said, "I want to get married, what do you mean, are you people okay?"

Anyway, if I can get some pictures, I'll share them here!

First Snow in the New House

 Only about a quarter of an inch and it's already melting, but weather guy says about five inches Thursday night/Friday morning.

Cat Pictures

 Junti on the high up:

This is taken from my writing chair, looking into the kitchen. To the left, you can see through my window to a reflection of the right side of the kitchen.

Here We Go Again

Honestly, do we really need another year?

(Image: Comic by Glauco Villas Boas, updated: A group of people are hiding around the corner from a door marked 2025, one of them gingerly poking it open with a long broom handle.)