The other night, a rush of feet went pounding down the hall outside our door.  Both male and female voices hooted and hollered through the walls.  I didn't need to open the door to know the bodies carrying those voices were half naked.  It was the annual "Undie Run." 

Each year… Read full post »

It's becoming one of the great pleasures of my life to be a teacher.  Its taken a long time to say this.  When I was twelve, I swore I would never be a teacher.  It seemed such a  common occupation in a family filled with educators, and I wanted to be… Read full post »

We had a few of the RAs over for dinner tonight.  It’s so funny to me the differences between conversations with my thirty year-old friends, and conversations with college students.  It took me about half the dinner tonight to switch gears and drop into an easy rhythm with the sweet y… Read full post »

Tuesday in class we discussed Amy Goldwasser's Salon article, "What's the Matter with Kids Today?"

I was excited to have them read this article since it paints them in a glowing light.

Goldwasser takes on the stogy old rant that kids today are getting dumber because of the internet.… Read full post »

Her voice crackled and then disappeared over the line.

“I don’t know, they’re not really…..still not….close group…..but fun to…….out.”  I couldn’t catch all her words, but I knew exactly what she was saying.

My cousin Emily starte… Read full post »

“It’s funnier than the promos can show,” said the promo while flashing pictures of Chevy Chase in rimmed glasses sitting behind a college desk.

This Thursday was the debut of the new comedy, “Community,” a sitcom about community college.

Dwayne and I had a couple good l… Read full post »

Some kind of R&B music pulses out of the window and douses the sidewalk in rhythm.  Noelle and I walk by on a late afternoon stroll.  With a careful sideways glance I look into the room where the music is playing.  The student sits at her desk quietly, head down, dark… Read full post »

I love the onset of Fall on college campuses.  At least, I love the memory of them in the mid-west.  Here on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the leaves are turning and dropping, but the temperature is just a few degrees below suffocating.

Helicopters whir overhead, carrying water to n… Read full post »

It's like clockwork. 

Every year, my semesters begin with students getting sick.  They move back into the dorms, share rooms and bathrooms, food, and germs and promptly go to bed for the next three to five days.  

I get apologetic e-mails saying, "Dear Professor Taylor, I… Read full post »

Let the fun begin!

The freshman moved in Friday and Friday night one of Dwayne's RA's had to do a write-up.

It's a "dry" campus, which of course means that it's not.  Case in point, the RA's first write up of the year was for alcohol, and the very next… Read full post »

I went out and talked to the students today.

It was awkward.  I was trying too hard.

I went out to talk to them because I heard their voices buzzing by my door, the sound of doors clicking open and shut, keys dangling.  Our apartment is nestled in the front, right… Read full post »

Outside the main entrance of Studabaker-Hanawalt Dorm, you can see into one of the rooms.  The large floor-to-ceiling windows frame the picture of an ideal girl's dorm room.  A cute striped duvet hangs over the bed.  The desk is perched with a matching lamp, and organizer… Read full post »