I spent the late 1990s teaching in a small town in Kansas where there was really remarkably little to do that smacked of entertainment or interest. It would have been an excellent place from which to launch an academic career with minimal distractions, but for better or worse workaholism was still more than a decade in my future. Instead, if memory serves, I filled the idle hours mostly with playing
Civilization on my office computer, dodging angry ex-girlfriends, and writing a continuous flow of snarky email messages. At some point, I printed off many of the emails and put them in a box. Recently I opened the box and threw everything in the recycling bin, which felt very productive.
Here are a few representative snippets, photographed on their way to the shredder.
1) In December 1996, I offer some helpful advice to sisterjen, whose writing students have been turning in boring papers.
2. In May 1998, I ask one of my own students some follow-up questions.
I don't think I ever heard back from him.
3. Lastly, in April 1999, I try to help out one of the angry ex-girlfriends, who had been tasked with arranging entertainments for a bridal shower.
She didn't find it one bit funny. But then, maybe you didn't either.
Happy Friday!
