Falling into Fall

I'll say right at the beginning, summer is my least favorite season. I don't like hot weather, humidity, or bugs. I don't like going from air conditioning to hot air and back again. I don't like feeling sweaty and sticky.  I don't like summer.

So, it will come as no surprise that I am happy to see fall weather arriving in Central New York. Today I had a chance to take a short walk in my second favorite place, Pratt's Falls Park (the first being the Indiana Dunes). The leaves are starting to turn color, they are falling, the air is crisper, the leaves are crunchier. I guess some people see autumn as a season for decay, a time of loss, a season of darker days and colder nights.  But I like to think of it as a time for gathering up, for resting, for turning inward. Fall reminds me of curling up in front of a fire with a good book and a nice mug of hot tea.  It is a comforting season with its own unique smells and colors. Autumn is the time to rest before the exhilaration the cold weather of winter brings.

I like wearing sweaters (and if you don't have a season for donning sweaters you don't get a season for enjoying shedding them!)  Autumn is just the right temperature. You can warm up easily and you don't sweat.    Fall smells good--leaves, wood smoke, apples--the rich earthy smells you miss in the winter when the snow falls. Fall looks good--the reds and golds, even the shades of brown, bring a new look to the woods and hillsides.

Fall is a time for change. For turning over new leaves. For going down new paths. For gathering and resting. For pausing a moment before falling into the challenges of winter.

Class differences

This semester I am teaching two courses. One has about 50 students, the other 40.  Both classes are made up primarily of juniors and seniors, a few sophomores and no freshmen.  One, the larger, meets at 9:30, the other at 12:30.  The material and topics are nearly identical, both are research methods courses.   The larger class meets in an auditorium style classroom, the smaller in a room with individual moveable desks. In both I use Powerpoint slides and primarily lecture.  In the larger class we only meet once a week for 90 minutes, the smaller class meets 2x a week for 90 minutes. But, the classes feel completely different to me.  The slightly smaller class is a lot more fun to teach, I feel more engaged, there are more questions.  Why is that?

Is it the time of day?
The size of the class?
The student composition?
The room?
The amount of time I spend in class?

I'm not sure, but it is interesting to feel the difference and makes me think about what I might change in my teaching for the future.

Is memory random?

Why do we have the memories that we have?  What makes something "stick" in our mind?  Why do we remember some seemingly random, inconsequential things and forget what seem to be monumental events?

My memories from childhood seem to be associated with years in school.  I suppost those were the markers of my life then.  I remember a few scenes from kindergarten, a few from first grade, one or two in second grade.  But I remember vitually nothing about 3rd grade--nothing about the class, the teacher, my friends, events.  Fourth grade is hazy, but from 5th grade on, things become a lot clearer.  Is turning 11 significant developmentally?  Does the brain change then?  Do we become more aware of our surroundings?

Going back to pre-school years, I have memories that I can't believe are really mine. I think they must be stories I've been told enough times that I remember them.  But, there are "images."  For instance, I clearly remember my father knocking through a wall connecting the new addition of the house to the old.  I remember playing in the foundation of that same addition, but I would have been very young at the time.

I'm surprised sometimes at the physical nature of my memories. I remember how I felt more than I remember what I thought. Recently I heard a young man interviewed. He had been in a car accident when he was 10 or so and was left with his legs paralyzed. He says he remembers nothing of the accident, yet sometimes will have feelings in his body of flying through the air, hitting his head, etc.  His body remembers the sensations of the accident even if he doesn't recall them consciously.  I sometimes feel the same way. I can "feel" something that happened or with a strong emotional memory my body will recreate the physical sensations of the time.  I feel it in my bones.