One up, one down

Most Tuesday nights, from 8:30 until about 10:00 PM, the Anderson Hall Resident Assistants gather with their Resident Director and me for weekly staff meeting.  I rarely contribute to these meetings.  Often I am not even on the agenda.  But it provides a great opportunity to immerse myself, unobtrusively,  in the culture of undergraduate life.

This evening, we ended the meeting with a simple team building exercise, ‘one up...one down’.  Everyone was tired.  Even though Spring Break had just ended end-of-semester pressures seemed to be weighing.  Several students mentioned that they still had papers to write after leaving the meeting.  At least they would be returning to private rooms - a prized RA privilege - to write them, but they were unlikely to be at their most creative.

Here were some post Spring Break one ups and one downs.

I had just got a new car...but I have to go back home to pick it up

I’m exhausted....but I enjoyed spending time with my family next week

I’m excited about summer plans... but I have a paper to write tonight

I’m looking forward to spending the weekend with my boyfriend... but I have a paper to write tonight.

My own one up and one down....

I’m exhausted (I had been going since before 6 am) ...and I’m looking forward to my sabbatical next year.  Students wanted to know what I would be doing and were interested in my writing plans.

With a bit of energy injected into the room and the connections among members of our small community strengthened, we went our separate ways.

I was glad I didn’t have a paper to write.