Meanwhile, Dorky McDorkson here looks more like an elementary school librarian with my low chignon (read: messy bun), glasses,light gray blouse, dark blue and white polka dot skirt, and yellow flats.
Please, please, please, can I be like her when I grow up?
“Aurora, it’s so nice to finally meet you face to face.” I stand as she extends her hand for me to shake.
“Hi, Dr. Matthews, it’s great to meet you, too. And please, call me Alis. The only person who calls me Aurora is my mother, and that’s only when I’ve done something to upset her.” Dr. Matthews laughs, and tilts her head toward her office.
“Right, Alis, then. Come with me. Let’s chat.”
I follow her into a large office streaming with natural light. The furniture is modern and sleek, light woods and gray leather. Everything has sharp angles, but the wall of white built-in bookshelves filled with books and framed quotes gives the room a grounded, cozy feel. The entire back wall is floor-to-ceiling windows and the view of the mountains from this vantage point is breathtaking.
“Wow,” I say under my breath. She hears me and says, “I know, right? I never imagined having an office with this view.”
“It’s incredible. I love your office, also. It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you. I figure if I’m going to spend seventy hours a week holed up in here I better decorate it to feel like home.”
“That makes sense.”
“Please, have a seat.” Dr. Matthews gestures toward one of two gray lounge chairs, and I set my bag next to it before sitting down.
“Did relocating go well? Any hiccups?”
“No, thankfully, everything went smoothly. Our apartment is furnished, so we didn’t have to move anything heavy. My mom drove up to help us get settled. I don’t think things would have gone so smoothly without her.”
“Our?”
“Yes. My daughter and my best friend moved here with me. We’re renting a three-bedroom apartment about fifteen minutes from here, closer to the suburbs.”
“Oh, that sounds wonderful! Now that you say it, I rememberyou mentioning that you are a single parent. How old is your daughter?”
“She’s nine. Going on nineteen.” I roll my eyes and Dr. Matthews chuckles.
“Strong willed?”
“Not so much. She’s funny and kind. She’s also quick-witted and sarcastic, which she gets from spending too much time around my roommate and me. She’s a lot like her mom was — full of life and always looking to take care of the people around her.”
Dr. Matthews quirks an eyebrow, confusion filling her expression. “Her mom?”
Whoops. I’m not used to talking to people who don’t know our history, so I forgot to provide context. “Yeah, sorry, I should have explained that. Sunny is my biological niece, but when my sister and her husband died they named me as her guardian, and I adopted her a few years later. Legally becoming her mother made doctor visits, school paperwork, and such a heck of a lot easier.”
Dr. Matthews is taken back by our story. “Wow. That’s … wow. She sounds like a lovely girl. I hope to meet her someday.”
I smile, hoping to ease any heartbreak my voice revealed while explaining the loss of my sister and the resulting mother/daughter relationship. “I’ll try to bring her to campus sometime. I’m sure she’d love to meet you as well.”
Dr. Matthews leans forward, elbows on her desk. “So, let’s get down to business. We have a busy semester ahead of us, and we’ve had some shuffling in this department so your responsibilities have changed a bit from the last time we spoke.”
“Changed, how?”
“Nothing too drastic. You are still mainly my teaching assistant and grader. You’ll teach my undergraduate English composition classes — that class meets Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 a.m. You’ll teach, but I’m still listed as the professor of record. Fall classes begin next week, and I already emailed you the syllabi for my five classes. The one syllabus you don’t have is for a fall break intensive, and I’ll need you in that class from 8a.m. to 5 p.m. the entire week to help students, and to handle assignment turn-ins, and grading while I lecture. The students in that class have book reviews due at the beginning of the course, and a research paper due two weeks after class ends. The only other grades in that class are for participation and daily reading quizzes. It’s the only other undergraduate course I teach, and it was added to my plate at the last minute.”
“Okay. An extra class and a week in the classroom doesn’t sound like too much to add on.” Dr. Matthews smiles, a tinge of nervousness present. I guess there’s more?
“You’ll have a few other things as well. I’m sorry to toss this on you, but with budget cuts we weren’t able to hire on more help, so we’ve redistributed the workload among the remaining professors and teaching assistants instead of fighting the board for more funding. They only let us know about the budget changes three weeks ago, so we’ve had to scramble to sort everything out.”
My eyes go wide. “That sounds intense.”
Dr. Matthews chuckles and shakes her head, rubbing her forehead. “A bit, yes. So, part of redistributing is that you’ll serve as grader for two other professors for the next two semesters. You won’t have any lecturing responsibilities for them, but you will grade all papers, quizzes, tests, etc. Both professors mainly teach undergraduate courses and have a much lighter class load. Dr. Miller is an adjunct, and she teaches three basic English comp classes online. Dr. Belanger is a crossover professor from the foreign languages department. He has three classes this semester, I believe? One is a graduate-level course and the other two are undergrad. He teaches French language, French lit, and an English comp class. Originally I had planned to only add Dr. Miller to your workload, but you are the only TA in our department who speaks French, so you’re the only person capable of grading for Dr. Belanger.”
