Dear Tomorrow:

Today my hair was really greasy. I mean, so greasy my fingers could barely tolerate a run-through. I cringed when someone commented sweetly, "I like your hair, Miss Winterhalter." Eeewww.

Students gaped at me after I asked the question, "Does that make sense" in several different ways, over a period of at least three minutes. Gaped. Gawked. Glared.

"Are you serious?" I responded.

Yawn. Glare. Yawn.

"Let's start over, then," I said.

My biggest disappointment so far: a cheater. Not your general, write-the-answers-on-my-hand-and-sneak-a-look kind of cheating. The raw meat, plagiarism kind of cheating. A whole paper. Do I look that stupid? Do they not realize that if they buy an essay off of the internet, I can easily find that essay on the internet, too, with a simple Google search? What makes students so desperate that they feel they need to cheat so ignorantly? At least make an effort to be a little more covert, a little more subtle. Don't insult my intelligence.

Tomorrow, I need to borrow some things from you. Actually, not borrow--receive--because I'm not going to give them back. 1) Gym... it's time to tear up the treadmill. 2) Patience and grace for me and my students. 3) A real fantastic premier of the Office. Don't let me down.

Yours,

Am