Best classes are always those that ride free of text. I used a text, but also went off it, a lot. It worked. One of the least prepared classes therefore became a model of efficiency. Or at least so I think. Today is a day of expectations. I expect to taste a muffin, I expect to see if it affects me. I expect to see how and if I can control my responses. How conscious is someone of the effects of "food" on him? On another front, books have started pouring in. My bookcase is slowly filling its gaps. It is a good feeling, it looks good. How shallow we are?

Last night I gave a show. The audience was non-specialist. People who knew little about what I do. People who lacked the general education to fully get what I was saying (not all of them of course). Still, I enjoyed giving the speech. I do well in front of audiences. I just like being observed and performing. I think the end result was positive. Even those who did not appreciate the details of my argument, liked the enthusiasm of the presentation.

An odd little aside: This presentation is a way to meet the community but it is also a catwalk. I present my wares to the people. Well on this occasion N was there. It was in fact interesting to have her in the audience. Now she knows that I am a born clown. Her presence, however, was interesting for what it meant for who I am. I have been converted from the eligible, Greek batchelor, a possible target for interested local galls, into the "taken," "hitched" man. I guess it was good that she was there. Never thought fo this dimension till she actually arrived there.

Had a chat today with the "Boss." Pertained to the issue of publications and books. I am slowly seeing the possible benefits of eventually writing for a commercial press. Evidently my first book will have to be on an academic press. Tenure say so. Yet, who says the next one would have to be the same? This raises some issues. How does one pick a subject that allows for the field to be developed and at the same time for the book to be accessible to a broader audience. It also raises another question. What is the relationship of scholarship and that audience? I am not sure I know how the compromise may be effected. In many ways a lot has to do with how I look at myself and what I want to do with books. Do I want the benefits of participation in a closed academic society, or do I want the name recognition and money that comes with the other choice. the money will never be that much but money it will be. I have six years at least to think of those questions.

On that note, off to teach.