Is it time for midterms already?

Almost! Good heavens! Another semester flies by, the first of my 24th year at Pace University. What a long, strange trip it's been.

A former student (shout out to Michael Dauria!) sent me a note after reading my earlier post about being at Pace for that long. He reminded me that in this industry now, there's no way I'd be at one place for 23+ years.

And I was reminded that for the first 10 years or so that I worked, I had four jobs-The Home Insurance Company, Rapidata, Equitable Life Assurance Society, The New York Times. That covers from December, 1969 (when I came home from my three month trip to Europe on $5 a day - don't laugh, it was possible then) and December 1983, when I basically was outplaced from The Times. I think the longest job was at The Equitable, 1973 until 1978.

And now my work life is run by the rhythms of the academic life-the semester begins, then we have midterms, then finals, then the semester ends, and then it starts all over again. Whether it's online, face-to-face or hybrid, the rhythm stays the same. The contact differs, the form of the exam or project or lecture or whatever is different, but the rhythm stays the same.

Maybe that's why I've been able to do this for so long-I like variations on a theme. The theme is the academic year, and everything else makes up the variations.

And so yes, it's almost time for midterms!