Graduate Student Snow Days

The university shut down today.  It hasn’t done this for several decades, so it was a big shock to everyone.  Honestly, when I moved to the Midwest, land of the stalwart, I thought I would never see another snow day again.  I was mostly pissed off about the prospect of a blizzard because it meant that I had to do everything I normally do, except in the snow.  On Monday morning, I warned all my students that the only possible reason we would not have class was if the university canceled classes.  I wouldn’t count on it, kids–do your homework.

I had my psychoanalysis class last night, which was in danger of being canceled if the forecast made it look like we would have to go home in white out conditions.  It did not, so we had our regularly scheduled class and spent nearly three hours talking about Lacan’s button-tie.  It was really fun.  I was glad we had class; otherwise, it would have been rescheduled for Friday or Saturday.  (only in grad school, right?)  We found out that classes for Wednesday were canceled before class started, so we all left class and went home to make soup, drink, and watch a movie.  I think maybe we all felt normal for once.

I sent out an e-mail to my class telling them how the plans and due dates were going to shift over the next two weeks, and no one seemed to have a problem with this, except for one student, who sent me this lovely e-mail:

“And here I am replying at 5:21 in the morning after pouring my heart and soul into Paper #2 over the span of 10 hours because I thought everything was due on the 2nd. Are you taking this assignment a week (or two?) early, or should I hold onto it for peer review?”

I can’t even begin to say how insane this e-mail is.  A) The due date for the second paper is next Wednesday, and it’s clear on both the syllabus and the individual project schedule I make for every paper.  B) Is he actually mad at me for moving back due dates and/or for making it snow? C) If you have been writing all night long (obviously last minute) then why would you want to hand in the paper early? D) DON’T TELL ME YOU WERE WRITING THIS LAST MINUTE. E) Oh, sure, then on peer review day you can shoot the shit.  F) Who is this person? G) If you already knew the university canceled classes for the next day, why on earth would you pull an all-nighter?  It’s highly possible this kid didn’t know for some reason, but I doubt it.

My students this semester are so weird.  I really should have included in my reply that this student needs to go to bed.  Immediately.  He’s obviously delirious.

I really did nothing today except grade a few papers.  I know the correct grad student thing to say is that I used all this extra free time to do more work, but I did not.  I mostly watched TV, did laundry, baked stuff, and read Lydia Davis.  It was awesome.