Academia: the Last Refuge of the Coward

Real fun: teaching teenagers how to do something I hate doing. Like analysing poetry. My preferred method of teaching poetry: Read a piece aloud, announce, "Isn't this great?" and then beam like an idiot for a few seconds before moving on to something else. Unfortunately, doing this means I get unbelieveably shitty papers. So teaching close reading just makes my life easier in the long run.

Yesterday in class we covered a poem that references S&M, and closes with a mention of there being "no password" to call it off, in this instance. So I pause with the book of poetry in my left hand and my right held up in the eternal, "I'm teaching here, people" gesture, and announce: "Okay, wait a second. Just so we're all on the same page - does everyone know what an S&M safety word is?"

I have trouble imagining another situation in which I will make the same pronouncement.

(Also, I had a little-too-enthusiastic student explain the concept for the benefit of the class.)