Ups and Downs

Last night The Lovely Daughter drove me to my church-town, and this morning I preached.  A superb evening of conversation with the best woman in my life, and a welcoming congregation that seemed willing to overlook a few inevitable glitches.  I'm back home for the week, soaking up every opportunity to rest, as if I were a sponge soaking up water.  Now that I am pretty much pain-free (still sleeping in a recliner, though), my body seems determined to sleep and sleep and sleep.  I stand up and it says, "Sit."  So I do.

On the downside, after seeking some advice from colleagues over the week-end, I had to email a student tonight to explain the consequences of page-after-page plagiarism of a paper.  I am well aware, from my own experiences and those of my closest friends, that parents can withstand bad news over the holidays, but I still hate to be the one who sends the damning  missive.  I'm by no mean an easy grader, but I believe that in most circumstances, if a student shows up and turns in some semblance of all required work, no matter how dismal, he or she should get credit for the course.  It's difficult for a student to earn an A in one of my classes, and equally difficult to come up with an F ~ unfortunately this young person figured out one of the few ways to achieve the latter.

Wikipedia.  Sigh. 

P.S. There are still many of you to whom I owe much more desirable missives.  I appreciate your patience  ~ I'm working on this most pleasant of tasks!