Returning from winter break when it is still winter is strange.  Even though the days are getting shorter it is still dark by 4:30pm and if it’s not snowing, it’s raining or windy.  If O. Henry is the master of irony, he is no doubt chuckling at these atmospheric conditions occurring in what is called “Spring Semester.”

Despite the weather and the amount of work ahead of me, it is good to be back at Columbia College Chicago. The library sells coffee for one dollar and every creative writing student gets free copies of The Writer’s Chronicle, an invaluable source of publications and conferences. We students reconvene with our colleagues and catch up. I notice most of the men have grown out their beards. You know, because it’s spring.

Spring has arrived in Chicago, according to my syllabus.

As well as my three courses this semester I have one huge new responsibility. After having made it through an English department class called Composition Theory and Praxis I am now what is called a Graduate Student Instructor – a part-time faculty member, in addition to a full-time graduate student. As a GSI I will be teaching an undergraduate course titled Writing and Rhetoric II. This is essentially a semester-long process class that results in a research project.

When I was accepted to Columbia, I received a letter from the Graduate Admissions Office informing me that I had been selected as a GSI – contingent upon my successful completion of Composition Theory and Praxis.  Many students from the three creative writing disciplines were offered these positions. The rate for teaching this class might be considered below average in some circles but, as someone who has worked in academia for a long time, I can assure you that Columbia’s compensation is much more generous than the amount adjuncts make at other area universities.

Soon, these seats will be filled with 18 undergrads.

Gaining teaching experience and making money to help offset the costs incurred by attending graduate school is just one example of the kind of opportunity Columbia offers. Of course the catch is that being a GSI is very challenging. My section of W&R II consists of eighteen students coming from myriad majors and it is my job to make these students understand that writing well is a fundamental skill no matter what one’s interests are or where one thinks their life will lead them.  But having regular interactions with such a diverse group of young artists keeps me on my heels and allows me to learn about things to which I would ordinarily not have access. I can’t wait to see what that animation major cooks up.

So the calendar says dead of winter but the syllabus says spring semester. Soon I’ll be too busy to notice the weather at all. I’ll be a student and a teacher concurrently and I doubt I’ll know whether I’m coming or going. But I’m excited – if a little terrified as well – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll relax again sometime in May, when the skies are blue and the lilacs bloom. See you when I shave off my beard.