Monday's mondays

I love teaching, but it is an energy vampire. I'm home, and all I want to do is watch meaningless television with a glass of wine and some chocolate covered peanuts. Tomorrow, I teach in the afternoon, so Tuesday's should be for sleeping in, right?

Ha.

Tomorrow is my last scheduled shoot at the prison. Everything has been going very smoothly, so I don't expect any problems. If there is time, I will reshoot two of the images I am not happy with, and I will talk with one of the women about the place she asked me to photograph. Hopefully, she will understand. I hate having to change her first choice. But it is... ethically slippery for me.

I'm trying to get as much done as possible before the semester really starts swinging. If you thought I wanted wine, chocolate, and one-hour dramas now, just wait two weeks. As scattered and juggling as I feel now, though, I'm happy to juggle my work and teaching. It is more satisfying than, say, juggling teaching and meetings or cleaning the darkroom, or vacuuming (but I have to fit that in somewhere, too--actually, I REALLY need to clean my gutters; I can see the accumulated crap from the ground). But soon, the meetings will take over and I will struggle to keep them and the teaching going. My work always falls to the side.

This project, however, demands I not allow it to be second fiddle to boring administration. I promised these women these pictures. It would be wrong to fail them. As the volunteer coordinator had told us at the orientation, many of these women have always been betrayed or let down by people; because of this, it is all the more important we keep our words or don't make promises we can't keep. This way, the women can learn trust and cooperation. I like thinking my little project helps them with that too.