The New Englander

I have no idea how common such situations *really* are, but every now and then, a higher ed instructor winds up teaching something outside his or her wheelhouse.
Now, there are degrees here.  If someone is a Reconstruction-era Southern United States Historian, and is asked to -- gasp -- teach a course on the Big City Industrialists of the Gilded Age, I'm not *too* sympathetic.  Sure, there might be some extra...

I appreciate a good grammar argument, and always have.
I also appreciate words enough to know that their meaning shifts, and is contextual.  So not only is it a waste of energy and breath to go around pointing out error in the way that most people use the words "peruse" and "notorious,", it's actually wrong...

I've done plenty of teaching in the past 5 years, and I've also done plenty of tutoring.
Teaching is what I do exclusively now, and it's what's in the cards for me for many years to come.  For many reasons, I far prefer classroom teaching to one-on-one tutoring, and one the most important of those reasons is this:  the way the necessary...

TL; DR:  Beware of open-ended agreements.  Saying "no" to something up front could cause an ounce of pain now that spares you a pound of pain later.
A quick personal update before I write the vignette to explain the summary above:
Things went from crazy to normal to crazy again, and now they're back to normal.  Back in the summer, I accepted an opportunity to come onto ADOS (active duty for operational support) status at Fort Devens for a while, and thereby jettisoned my self...