November 18, 2017

Yellowish gray in the north, which is what I can see from this window. Last night’s U235 found the Muse off her game, dropping lines right and left, though maybe nobody knew but me. The guy who sat beside me said, “We had a choice between this and Red at 35 Below, but we heard good things about this playwright.” Then he added, “Besides, I wanted to see a play with more than two actors in it.” Let that be a lesson to me.  Ass on the other side never put away his cell phone. I wanted to confront him, but judged that would disturb more people than the phone. People are just fucking ignorant. I did ask him as he exited, “First time out in public?”  He didn’t get it.

Way, way too much selling of Bernstein Christmas throughout the duration of my show. I bet Night Music isn’t mentioned during its run.

Full houses. My nephews come tonight.

Six or seven girls in my Enlightenment to Modern class cheated on their exam by faking trips to the bathroom and checking their phones in the hall for the answers.  Did they not think I’d notice people going to the toilet three times in 75 minutes? They must have been texting the idea to their friends, for you’d hear a gasp of recognition, and another would rise from her seat and need to use the facilities. A student confirmed my suspicion, and heard them in the hall bragging about the escapade. So exhausting, so discouraging. I sent them an email designed to ruin their weekend, and will decide by Monday what to do. As I suspected, the innocent came to my office as fast as possible to talk it out, while the guilty stayed away. There was one exception to this, an advisee who I knew to be one of the offenders. She didn’t exactly claim innocence, but she argued that she had come to a time when she needed recommendations for grad schools, etc, and was there a way to put this behind? Doing just what she did was the way to put it behind. She defended her co-conspirators by saying that they were good students who shouldn’t have to resort to cheating. Though not quite honest, I thought this was brave, and perhaps what I would do in the same situation, tell a nobler lie to redeem a squalid one. I hope they think I’m angrier about this than I really am. But, why, I want to ask, is it always women with the corporate cheating scams?

Day of painting, unless something goes wrong, to prepare for Mars Hill.