Classic Style

A fter the Young Master climbed aboard the school bus early this Friday morning, I poured a second mug of coffee, headed upstairs, and hit the shower, followed by a shave. I next dressed for a day spent with the Grand Duchess in nearby Ann Arbor. The city -- with its fantastic bookstores, array of charming cafes and restaurants, along with various other specialty establishments -- provides a lovely escape from East Lansing where we largely have very little like that.  Odd for a school of this size and its adjacent areas, but there we are. Although both institutions (with surrounding communities) are part of the original Big 10, and both have Research 1 status, the difference between the two is like night and day.   That's a topic for another time however. The main point of today's post, besides sharing my attire, is to extol the virtues of shaving with a mug, shaving soap. and a shaving brush, a once routine habit I have fallen out of during the last 10 years or so. It ta...

  S aturday.  A 10:30 breakfast with the Young Master.  Canteloup, a large mug of fresh coffee, and two slices of toasted raisin bread.  Clear table.  Brush teeth.  Shower.  Dress for the day.  Finish with a small splash of Royall Rugby.   All ready to answer the door should anyone ring the bell and run a quick errand to the supermarket. Followed by some much needed downtime at the painting table adding to the toy soldier collection.   What a nerd!   But a presentably attired nerd. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  W ednesday this week, we had the in-person day of our annual internal "Spring Talks" teaching and learning conference. During the event, instructors at all levels, from graduate students to tenured professors, have the opportunity to present papers, talks, round table discussions, and posters on their particular teaching approaches and methods.  This year's was well-attended, interesting, enthusiastic. and even vibrant you might say.   Yours truly presented a poster on Multimodal Student Supports for Hybrid General Education Courses . The subject matter dealt specifically with my use of brief explainer animations, audio podcast segments, and most recently fairly high production value talking-head videos to support students' collaborative problem-solving activities, around which all of my courses are designed regardless of specific subject matter.  Judging by the number of passers-by who hung around asking questions and engaging with me, there was a fair amount...

Y esterday was the final departmental meeting for Spring 2026.  Hallelujah!   Our current chair has gradually increased the frequency of these meetings during the two years since he took over the position from our previous chair who was, mercifully, a bit less hands-on.   These sessions always go on twice as long as is necessary.   Mind numbing is an apt term.    My apparently contrarian view is that if a group of people can't get through what needs to be covered in an hour or less, then there is some serious trimming of "business" to do.   Sadly, said chair -- someone I genuinely like as a person, so I play along -- has deemed it necessary to add  additional mandatory in-person meetings. to these sessions come the fall semester/term.   He rolled out the dates yesterday and asked us to get them on our calendars for the coming academic year.  Plus several optional online meetings during the 15-weeks for Fall '26 and Sp...