This semester, I must admit, has been my toughest since I started teaching. I remember feeling overwhelmed my first semester on the tenure track; that was primarily because I was starting more or less from scratch in terms of building all my classes, course materials, lectures, etc.
This fall was completely different. I managed to be doing all of the following this semester:
-Going up for tenure (which involves a lot of preparation of documents, writing the most important letter of my career (so far) to the university tenure committee (it turned into a 12-page magnum opus review of my career as a filmmaker and professor at Baylor); and various and sundry other tasks;
-finishing a major film project; you may have heard me mention a little film called
Endings? Yes, well, I'm still trying to wrap the thing up, but we worked on the final cut, the animated sequences, and sound editing and mixing all semester;
-taking over as Director of the Film & Digital Media division within the Department of Communication Studies. I thought this wouldn't be that difficult. Ha. It was more or less like starting a whole new job, with all the concomitant learning curves on new responsibilities;
-finishing the edit on a book project; I'm editing a book of critical essays about the British sci-fi show
Doctor Who.
So, yeah, this was a crazy-busy semester. It made teaching my classes an additional challenge, because I couldn't give them nearly as much time as I traditionally have. And if I've neglected my relationship with you, I apologize...
I'm glad the Christmas break has arrived so that my brain can get a little rest, though now I still have to finish the film and the book (they didn't get done before the holiday in spite of my attempts), and I have to make plans to travel to the Sundance Film Festival in January... the adventure continues...
