It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.

Actually, longer than what I thought it has been. How time slips away sometimes.

To my defense, I’ve been kind of busy with work. As the end of the term approaches, the workload ramps up, late assignments start to trickle in, and there’s just general panic.

I’m waiting for the next round of classes to be announced any day now. Well, at least before Christmas. Typically, I’ve been told what my upcoming course load will be. It’s kind of odd that I haven’t been notified as yet – unless the powers that be are deciding on if I get anything at all given my recent compliance to company policy.

Everyone knows that classroom college policies are a suggestion, not the rule. A couple of terms ago, a student failed for not following the directions on how she submitted the assignment. It needed to be in a Word document and not squished into a 500-character comment box. She turned the entire back half of the course like that.

I nagged her multiple times to turn in the assignments on Word. She * did * do the work but it was nearly unreadable and I rejected because it wasn’t on Word – which is an essential program in business and free to students. So, she failed. I think that was damning for me and, if I’m under review, it’s probably for that.

I single handedly stopped a student loan from coming through. Money in their coffers denied. Plus, of course, I don’t bend to their liberalism, propagate diversity and inclusion, or attend their ‘voluntary’ meetings about woke topics.

So, if I’m under review and they’re going to clear house for 2023, I’m probably on their shit list despite working for them for over ten years.

We shall see.

— This term has a unique concern factor.
This concern will evaporate in a couple of weeks when it ends. Once a student leaves my gradebook, I promptly delete all mental files associated with them.

But, since I’m in the thick of it right now, I am concerned.

* Three female students are pregnant or has recently given birth.
— One gave birth and her child is in the NICU
— One will give birth in a month and she is experiencing extreme complications.
— One student is due any day now and is also experiencing issues.

Bonus – One miscarried just before class started.

All of these women… I’m hoping that they are women. I think they identify as women anyway… are all in their mid 20s and 30s. One, I think, was diabetic, but the others are healthy as far as I’m aware. They all are under doctor care.

But, they are all New Englanders ranging from New York to Massachusetts. I would suspect that they have been fully vaccinated, some receiving the booster multiple times as the majority work in retail or food service.

Rarely do I have pregnant students in my class. Most women who are about to give birth tend to take the term off.
Moreover, those women give birth to healthy babies regardless of the location that they live.

— I suspect that the uncertainty with inflation and rising prices are spurring some women to enroll in college to ” better ” themselves. That’s why there are so many pregnant women in my class.

It’s just really odd that there are so many who have common and, in two cases, rare complications that would typically be unheard of.

— Jason and I watched Suddenly Died last week and everything kind of connected. I’m making my own observational and highly unscientific connections. But, still, it just seems )) odd. ((

Hopefully, I’m wrong and this won’t be repeated – should I have work for the upcoming year.
But, maybe I’m wrong.

I’ve just felt overwhelming helplessness for these women and the injustice that they are experiencing.
They didn’t deserve something like this. No one does and the unborn children certainly don’t.
This is amplified because they don’t know what’s going on. They don’t follow the news, the back channels, and happily devour whatever CNN and the New York Post feeds them.

I hope that I’m wrong.
I also hope that they find some sort of bliss in their ignorance once the depression and anxiety die down from their loss and potential bodily damage from blotched pregnancies.

If this is caused by the vaccinations and mRNA, this is murder and just, if not more, effective than abortions.

But, that’s neither here nor there. I’m just their ENG102 instructor who is adding pressure to their already overwhelming situation. I’m part of the problem, not the solution. I’m not going to compromise my own morals to weigh the gradebook in their favor so they can fail in a future class or, maybe, preform horribly at their future employer. That could be damning as well if they don’t have the ability to pay back the inflated cost of college which is, I’m sure, keeping pace with inflation.

It’s just a no-win situation for them and they don’t know.

The whole situation is shameful – hence the injustice and helplessness that I’ve been feeling over the past couple of weeks.

Course, I have my own battles to attend to.
— Snide and concern looks and comments are bound to come my way over Sunday lunch.
— Case worker — It’s strange to have a case worker — on Monday.
— Therapist on Tuesday.
— Major installation on the entire house generator on Wednesday. Potential major shopping day as baby brother has his annual Walmart discount.

I can’t really stop any of these from happening.
Well, I guess I can the appointments but that would cause worry and just rescheduling. Dr. S is aware that I’m starting to see a therapist and case worker. I don’t like it when she nags and I might as well woman-up and go through with it. Besides, I probably ** do ** need some sort of help.

There has to be some reason why some people treat me like I’m a delicate flower and a second-class citizen. Other than being white and female, that is. It’ll make mom happy.

Also, maybe it’ll help Jason get a move on with the job situation.

He just * has * to get a job.
While I’m adjusting to having him around all the time and we’re starting to fall into a comfortable pattern, I’m going to go more insane if he doesn’t do something. I just * know * that this can’t last, and the money will dry up.

We have to prepare for the worst and for the future.

Not working isn’t an option.

I admire his pride and self-quality control on what type of job and where.
That’s really important.

But, if it was me, I’d already be plugging away at a factory somewhere.
I just couldn’t sit and wait… and wait… and wait. I wouldn’t stop looking for something better, but I wouldn’t just do nothing either. Especially if not working was causing major distress for him.

I don’t know why he’s intentionally causing distress to me.

But I guess I don’t have to understand.
That’s were trust comes.

Blah. Okay.
Time to do something different now.