Day 15: All Work

Once upon a time, Sunday was my favorite day of the week.  Church, dinner with my family, and either a fun outing or a long nap — I loved Sundays.  But now that I’m back in grad school, it seems like it’s  my catch-up day.  No matter how carefully I plan or how much I work ahead, there always seems to be a big  project that demands my attention. 

Today was just such a day.  I’ve reached that point in the semester when the intensity is really building, and my “To do” list is simply overwhelming.  I’ve spent the entire day at my desk.  By tonight I desperately needed a change of scenery, so I went into the house and set up a work station on the dining room table. 

Ducklings and Dialect

I spent the past week in a workshop with a wonderful group of faculty members from North Carolina State University and middle school teachers from Wake County Public Schools.  This year’s summer session is part of Voices of North Carolina in the Classroom, an eighteen-month professional development initiative in which we’re examining the dialects of North Carolina.  The project is built around the Voices of North Carolina curriculum developed by linguists Walt Wolfram and Jeff Reaser.  For more information about this project, please visit our website:  www.voicesofnc.org. 

Officially, I had my camera with me for photographing our group, but I was equally interested in snapping some shots of these guests — Mama Duck and her ducklings.  They’ve been hanging out in the courtyard of the Friday Institute, and we loved watching them waddle around outside our windows.