Last days of 2025

• Grades were turned in a few weeks ago, and I didn't get much AI slop, as far as I know. How do I know? Their writing was consistent with what they'd been doing in earlier (in-class) papers and daily in-class writings. 
• What did surprise me were a few students who had clearly dictated something vaguely related to the class into their phones or into Word, didn't read it, and slapped it into Canvas as-is.  I'm not sure whether this meant that they ran out of time and turning in something was better than turning in nothing, or whether they wanted to express a not-so-subtle resentment about the class. 
• How do I know? It looked like the raw results I get when dictating into Word. Word used to do a fair job of transcribing from dictation, but now it is AI-ified and makes a lot more mistakes, such as the lack of tense endings even when I'm clearly articulating. They should just have put "dictated but not read" at the bottom of the paper like the bigwigs of yore used to do with their correspondence. 
• I had vastly underestimated how tired I was from incessant travel and commuting, or rather how tired my brain was, over this endless semester, but I finally rallied to get a piece of writing out the door.
• The Christmas work (baking, shopping, cards, etc. etc.) is all done and was worth it for the result: a happy Christmas with family. And now I have a stack of lovely books to read and a recovering brain to read them with before school starts up again.
• No MLA for me this year. I didn't submit anything this year but hope it goes well for all who celebrate. 
• The first MLA I ever attended was in Toronto (as it is this year), but I'm not in a rush to travel across borders right now. 
• Also, going to each conference costs about $2200, even if I eat granola bars for some meals, and we are funded for $2000 a year. Are we expected to go to more than one conference? Yes. Are we reimbursed for more than one conference? Not on your tintype. 
• At this time of year, do you all review your productivity over the previous year? I spent Wednesday doing that and discovered that I have a lot more notes toward my next book project than I thought. That's hope for the future!

Wishing you peace and joy and happiness in 2026!