In which we discuss migration

The great migration has begun. I have completed updating my schedule (http://www.jimmenick.com/henhud/sked.html), removing all references to my old night job. No more notes on when the Sailors are leaving the Hud, or how much Huddites have to contribute to participate, or where the Tars will break bread on the road or who’s sleeping in the bathtub. Hud, we hardly knew ye! Or, actually, we knew ye way too well, and we don’t need to keep on knowing it. I am keeping the url, though. It will be a while before I clear all that out.

Moving along like this does give someone an opportunity to take stock and clean things up. To begin with, I’ve already physically cleaned up the chez a bit, tossing out a few things, moving a few other things, packing up yet some others. I don’t need the old curriculum, for example, the printed book that contained my so-called lessons. Obviously I have an electronic copy, as far as that goes. It was something of a living document. My personal coaching switch to PF was far from complete, and I was still sticking to a bunch of LDish things (or more specifically, old-fashioned LDish things) that were mostly irrelevant. To both activities. Sigh. PF does seem to be more about process than content, when one is training newbies. Plenty of people feel likewise about LD. The tossing of a canon out the window is one of the saddest aspects of this, on the LD side. The suggestion that we’re merely substituting a new canon isn’t quite accurate. Yes, new texts are in play, but not at the core level of the old texts. The enlightenment ethical material informed thought before addressing the specific cases, whereas the new material seems to be specific cases from which one attempts to derive basic structural concepts. Inductive vs deductive, in other words. If I were to continue coaching, I would definitely have had to reconsider those first few months of noobism, or at the very least steal a few months from someone else who’d already figured it out. The nice thing is that there is a lot of instructional material out there for those looking for it, and much of it is free (which, until the American education system has more than enough money, is as it should be).

I also packed up a few trinkets and tin and the like. I’ve never been one for coach accolades, although I trust I’ve accepted them with due respect. Trophies are for the students first, and for the administrations second, to convince the latter that all that work by the former, and the money going into it, is paying off. I was not in it for recognition of any sort, but it was nice to get when I did get it. Mostly I was hoping simply to avert the idea of people dancing happily on my grave. Mission, I think, accomplished.

Half of the chez office remains in disarray at this point. Most of my web stuff needs to find a new home or new design. Editing the Tennessee Williams High School material is stalled. I’m still on my first Belgian photo run-through. At the DJ I’ve got an A-Z garden book due to production by the end of next week, and I’m up to rhubarb, so at least something looks like it’s on track. Then again, if I were finished doing everything I have to do, I wouldn’t have anything to do. You know what I mean?