I’ve been voted one of the top ten best teachers in Fort Worth, Texas! The honor is coming from Fort Worth Magazine.

These are all real, by the way. Humans were paid to make those. That's a real job.

I’m excited to become a “Top Ten” entry myself and look forward to seeing my students turn my achievement into memes.

The 2023-2024 season has been a demanding year, after a series of demanding years. I defended my dissertation in January 2023, and was doing format edits on it until last April. Then I got this job offer in May. Sweet Potato and I arrived in Texas in a U-Haul in July. A couple of weeks later, I was in teacher training. By the end of August, I was teaching students.

I inherited 10 syllabi from a retiring teacher, so this entire year I’ve been learning their syllabi, while I guide students through those syllabi, while I develop my own syllabi to deploy next year. It’s been a lot of work. But this will be the only year with so many demands.

I’ve known since July that I’m thankful to be here rather than working adjunct or postdoc positions. And now I’m finishing my rookie year with honors from my students and the local community. For maybe the first time since I started graduate school, I feel like I’ve accomplished enough to justify some rest. The only rest I allow myself is resting on my laurels.

In the 2022-2023 season, my colleague in the classroom next door won the same award. So now our little alternative high school with under 100 students has 2 top ten teachers. It’s a tiny school that deserves a great reputation, and I’m thankful I'm contributing.

On a related note, I nominated Sweet Potato for the “Top Ten Animals That Look Like Bananas but Aren't” listicle in The Dallas Morning News. I haven’t heard anything yet, but I expect him to make the top three at minimum. I have a lot of recommendations for top 10 best snakes.

This is a short personal update post. I’ll philosophize about this achievement later.

☦️❤️🐍