grinning like a ...

Friends met me with concern at the national sociology meetings, asking why I've blogged so little this summer. Nobody said they missed my trenchant observations on crime and society, but Tina, Ryan, and other friends wanted updates on life, health, and kids. I've been putting more professional online energies into The Society Pages and Public Criminologies lately, but I'm eager to keep this li'l personal rowboat floating a bit longer as well.

Things seem to be going pretty well. Living with nocturnal returning college students became a challenge once school let out (Why do they cook spaghetti at 1 am on a Tuesday? Because they can), but I enjoyed a happy summer and actually had some productive conversations with the progeny.

At least I think it was a happy summer. I'm an interactionist who generally trusts others' appraisals as much as my own on such matters. For example, I know I must be feeling real good when one of my kids commands that I "quit grinning like an idiot." I seem to suffer from excessive involuntary grinning in the worst possible social settings for them -- driving in the car with buddies, taking a campus tour with Tor, or enjoying a meal with Hope. I always thought they were exaggerating until I walked into a gym with Hope and caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. Yeesh, what a chucklehead. I was actually embarrassed for her.

I rarely grin so broadly at work (though the phrase "big a** smile" once popped up on my ratemyprofessors.com page), but summer is Happy Research Funtime for department chairs. And, it turns out, there's not much that makes me happier than diving into tough research problems with killer graduate students. I realized this after I'd scheduled meetings with three current and former students (who happen to share the same first name). Afterward, our department administrator came by to say, "I was going to interrupt for our appointment, but you just looked so happy meeting with your Sarahs." And, lest it look like I'm playing favorites, she said the same thing about my summer meetings with the Mikes, Heathers, and other students passing through my office.

I've always felt it was a privilege to work with the grad students I advise, but I hadn't realized how much I enjoyed it until somebody else pointed this out to me. And while the joys of parenting are far different than the joys of advising grad students, both roles come with daunting responsibilities -- and ripping good fun.