Is the glass half-full, or half-empty?
What is it with academics and summer?

While school's been out for a while, for reasons I can't blog about, my summer's just begun. Everyone else seems to think that summer's almost over.

As I see it, I still have more than two full months of summer left, minus a couple conferences or commitments here and there. Yet, inevitably, any chat with a fellow academic (fellow faculty, grad students, or friends) is about how summer is "slipping away" or is "almost over" or "has just gone by too fast."

Trust me, I'm not an optimist. Why do I feel like there's still so much more time left, that so much more that can be accomplished?

Summer, my friends, is definitely half-full. Every day I get to come into my office and work without students to cater to, lectures to write, papers to grade. There's no line at the campus coffee shop and faculty meetings are a thing of the past.

The rest of the world can continue to treat summer like it's on its last leg, but I'm going to enjoy this break for the half-full martini or margarita or mocha latte that it is. I hope you will too!  permalink &ndash  8 whispers