TheBanyanTree: The end of another semester

[A. Christopher Hammon]

Yet another semester has come to an end. As I look back over the past 30
years, it amazes me how many of my Decembers have been consumed with the
urgencies of being a student or being responsible for major projects
with year-end deadlines, which feels the same. The holiday season is
often just a blur with a momentary pause on Thanksgiving afternoon and a
couple of days around Christmas.

For many of those years the end of the urgency has been marked by the
completion of a paper. This year is no different, but the paper was
longer and represents the efforts of a colleague and myself over the
past two years. Well, actually, we have only been writing since the
first of June. Prior to that we were engaged in the process of
conducting our research. We completed our work Thursday evening and
proceeded to email the paper and appendices on down to our faculty
advisor; but since he also asked that we send him a hard copy, we
weren't done yet. We printed it out yesterday, made copies for
ourselves, and boxed up the one to be mailed. The semester ended as we
handed the package and a check to cover the postage over to the
postmaster. As we did so, I thought about how many thousands before us
have wrapped up months of their lives in a boxed pile of manuscript
pages filled with the longing hopes of this season.

We are not done with this paper, however. This is just the first draft.
It will be back the first of the year bearing the marks of requested
revisions and we will again put our shoulders to the wheel to oblige
those requests. There will be another review and a peer review yet as we
work toward handing over copies that will be bound and placed in the
school’s library.

After a celebratory dinner, I came home last night and pulled out my
copy. I promptly wrapped this pile of paper with ribbon, attached a note
proclaiming, “Do not open until after Christmas,” and stuck it under the
tree. It is time now to enjoy the season and the holidays. Time to rest,
be merry, and tell stories.

Cheers,
Chris


_______________________
A. Christopher Hammon
Wayne E. Oates Institute
http://www.oates.org