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First Day of Summer

I've spent so much of my life tied to the academic calendar (first as a student and later as an instructor) that summer has a meaning for me that is very far removed from nature or any agricultural planning. It is and will continue to be for a little while longer a gap between the end of courses and the beginning of new courses.  It is longer than the gap that falls at the end of the calendar year, and it is less structured with holidays.

As a child it was an opportunity to spend more time with friends, a chance to go on a family trip to the beach for a week or two. Later it was a chance to catch up on more reading.

As an instructor there has always been the tension between more unstructured time and ways to spend that time on class preparation and scholarship. When I was department chair in the 90's and then again in the 2000's it was a time to desperately hunt for adjunct instructors willing to work for some money and few benefits before the inevitable new sections added before the start of the Fall classes.

One of the daunting things about the prospect of retiring at the end of the Spring, 2032 semester is that I miss the energy of the academic year during the summer. So much bustle and triggering of great ideas in conversation with others paired with so little time to act on it. It is a high for me, no question, and the summer seems so very sedate in comparison. Is this what retirement will be like?

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