Where there's smoke. . .

Oh boy. I guess it's a bad sign to feel overwhelmed in the first week of classes. I can see the info tech class is going to challenge me. I'm excited about that, but also nervous. It is so simple to get behind if you hit a spot that just refuses to be understood. I know nothing about the things listed in the syllabus and can't evaluate if what we learn informs the next thing we learn. Is it possible to not understand one assignment but still move forward to the next? I can tell you that my weekend is filled with reading for the two classes. Nothing but reading :)

On a non-Pitt related note . . . we had a fire today at the school where I work, nothing serious. While we stood in the parkinglot waiting for the fire department to do their job, and trying to wrangle teenagers into good behavior, I noticed a bunch of kids holding library books. Our students aren't permitted to carry backpacks. They carry all their binders and school books in their arms during the day. When the fire bell went off, these kids left everything else behind on their desks, binders, books, homework, term papers . . .but they brought their library books. It wasn't just the quiet, nerdy, bookish kids either. Some of the kids were in the more popular groups and others in the scary-kid crowd (black sweatshirts, edgy demeanor). Maybe they thought we might be outside for a long time and they needed something to do, but I doubt it. All of them were socializing, squealing, gossiping, and acting silly, not reading. They just brought the books and were holding them. Why? Are they really good books? Was it instinct? Are they connected to those books in a way they aren't connected to the other things they cart around all day?
I told one of the boys (scary-kid crowd type, but a really nice boy) that in the future we should have all the kids grab a book on their way out the front door. They pass the library, and we could save 688 books, 200 more if faculty and staff joined in, from burning to the ground in a future emergency.