assessment

Today, I thought a lot about the last two weeks, during which I had to reassess my professional life, and in doing so, my "personal" life, although it is either my good fortune or misfortune that the two are not really distinct. And in deciding as I have, I have come to a new appreciation for my situation. I love teaching at my school; I have no desire to leave, really; the things that I am dissatisfied with are surface matters, not of real significance. And I don't want to leave Brooklyn. Walking Mabel today, especially this evening as we walked toward the water, with the sunset turning the sky scarlet, I realized that living here makes me happy. It was unnerving, being at that other school, in the lily-white precincts of Princeton. I am used to the mixed-up world of New York, where we tunnel underground to get around, where we walk everywhere else, where we hear dozens of different languages, and where oddballs and crazy people are normal.