Thanksgiving is over, and all the students are now sluggishly trying to kick-start their brains to get through the last two weeks of the semester. As a first-year college professor, on the other hand, my thoughts race as I try to keep my “lead” and finish my last few lectures. What I mean by a “lead” is somewhat of an academic joke, especially for first-time professors. Daily, I am consumed with filling my PowerPoints with exciting and important information coupled with maps, pictures, and graphs that help visualize the information. Nothing is provided to new professors to accomplish this. So you must create every PowerPoint, every quiz, and exam “as you go,” and hope you can maintain your “lead.” I have nightmares of not getting tomorrow's lecture done in time, and there have been plenty of close calls. More than once, I have pressed the save button, ripped my flash drive from my office computer, and run across campus to deliver the lecture I just finished in the nick of time. Each PowerPoint has been painstakingly created after days of pouring over my notes, book reading, data collection, and NatGeo image searches.
I love what I do, and I truly believe the information I am presenting to my students benefits their education and development and the future of our country. That may seem like a grandiose statement, but when I open up my lecture by asking, “What is going on in the Middle East/North Africa” and no one can tell me about the governing transition of multiple countries, such as, Morocco most recently, Tunisia, and more than likely, Egypt, I realize how important my responsibility is.
Embracing this obligation to bring faraway images of shanty towns in Mumbai, population decline throughout Europe and Russia, human rights issues in the far west of China, new economic prospects in Southeast Asia, political change in the Middle East/North Africa, and loss of biodiversity in the Amazon and Madagascar, is a passion. To do this well, I have continuously stayed glued to my desk until well past 1 am every night this semester to make these, and many other real-world phenomena, understandable to my students. My greatest delight is not only bringing the issues to light my goal but also helping my students find their geographic thinking skills and see how these phenomena affect other seemingly unrelated issues. We would not have the Amazon without the Sahara’s fertilizing dust being swept across the Atlantic and supplementing the poor Amazonian soils. It is essential to understand Africa’s lack of internal transportation networks in hopes of finding solutions to its crippling poverty. When students have an “a ha” moment by relating Arctic oil to US foreign policy or EU development, I have done my job.
I am ready for Christmas break. I can not wait to take a deep breath and relish in completing each lecture (even if only moments before delivery time), saving me from having to fake an illness to avoid an awkward “I didn’t get it done” moment. I have learned so much from this semester and cannot wait to edit and add to my now semi-composed lectures covering the world with its incredibly unique regions.
Geography in action! Venice, Italy
PS. I entered this stage of life as Season Six of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making the Team Aired.
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