It's finally winter

So I really cannot adequately express how much better I feel having been in a snow storm. I real snow storm - not a flurry or freezing rain but a real proper snow storm. It felt unnatural in a lot of ways to be in Vermont and reach December without any appreciable signs of snow. When I first visited Marlboro College as a perspective student, it was snowing in October. Unsurprisingly, I associate Vermont with snow and winters, and so having 60 degree temperatures made everything feel very weird and left me feeling completely out of sorts.

We are also, in exciting weather related news, anticipating more snow to-morrow. What does this mean? I might get to experience my first snow day as a teacher. Some sources speculate five to ten inches of snow by morning and then turning into freezing rain. Quite the recipe for a school cancellation, and I am eager to experience the freedom and relaxation of a day off. Not that I don't want to be here -- far from it, a cancellation will actually muck up several of my plans, but at the same time there is a certain sense of giddy thrill that I think students and teachers share at the thought of getting an unplanned day off.

On a less cheery note, the odds of me getting to teach The Odyssey grow grimmer and grimmer. Ms. C still needs to teach Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for three weeks and this was supposed to be the week we started The Odyssey. It is really unfortunate, since I love the story so much and I had been very eager to teach it, but it just isn't to be. It may even be for the best, since the translation used (The Christ), is really abyssmal and cuts out both the language, the poetry and the story (edited for content until only the barest ghost remains).

I'll stick with Fagles and (grudgingly) Lattimore and the pair of copies I own of The Iliad and The Odyssey.