Dreams of Being Unprepared for Class

The semester has ended. It's always weird when the emails suddenly slow down and there isn't grading and class prep every weekend. But I'm still having dreams of being unprepared for class. Last night I had a dream about the first day of class. It was minutes before teaching the Sociology of Aging--a course, in real life, that I haven't taught in 15 years--but there I was, dreaming of having nothing to teach on day 1. I have no plans to teach the Sociology of Aging anytime in the foreseeable future, but still I'm worried about content for class I won't be teaching even after the academic year has concluded.

This time of year, I do chapter updates for A Sociology Experiment. If I may plug the resource, check it out. These chapters are an unbelievable bargain. The Instructor's Resource alone is worth using A Sociology Experiment. I miss working with Peter Kaufman on our Social Class Inequality chapter. I'm proud of the chapter we co-wrote, and proud of the updates in place for the chapter and the Instructor's Resource. There's a compilation of supplemental readings, videos, and assignments in the Resource that ensure you'll never dream of being unprepared for class.

Unrelated to my life as a college professor, I also have a recurring dream of playing rugby. I played rugby in the early to mid 1990s as an undergraduate and then in grad school. I wrote my Master's thesis on rugby and masculinity. I miss playing the game, a lot, hence dreams about playing. My friend and teammate from the team we played on in my undergraduate days at Fredonia convinced me to play in a tournament this summer for 50+ year-olds. I'm 50, I figure, hey, I'm on the young end of this thing, why not? So I agreed. As a tune up I played rugby two weeks ago in an alumni game at Fredonia. Alumni ranging from twenty-somethings to age 60 gathered to play the current team. We beat them. I can't claim I made a major contribution, but I didn't embarrass myself, nor did I get injured. Mission accomplished. I'm still getting in shape for the tournament this summer and it's my goal to a.) not embarrass myself b.) not get injured c.) play well d.) score