My Voltairian thought for this holiday weekend:
If teaching the snowflakes is like gardening, then:
You painstakingly time the light in your beds.
You carefully research the right plants for that area.
You meticulously plan the aesthetics and the layout.
You accurately test the soil and plan your amendments.
You prepare all your materials and start digging your hole.
Only to discover that what's really down there is ....
Just a big fucking rock.
Oh dear, you cracked me up, Archie...
ReplyDeleteArchie: thank you for making me laugh today.
ReplyDeleteMy rock garden is looking pretty spiffy right now.
Archie, have you been letting Strelnikov bury students' heads in your garden again? That's not really a good idea, you know.
ReplyDeleteWhere I grew up (and last gardened), a rock that looked about that size at the top would turn out to have the dimensions of a VW Beetle once one started trying to dig it out. Maybe an even better metaphor for teaching. . . .
When they're (the rocks) that big, you have to either bore a hole in the rock and use a quarter stick of dynamite or rent a microtractor and schlepp the thing out of the hole.
ReplyDeleteAs for dead students, that's what the desert is for.