I didn’t want to quote Alice Cooper—that’s just too obvious—but there really is nothing else appropriate.

Today is my final day of classes. Yes, I have three sets of essays to grade before the end of the week, but the teaching part of the semester is over. And I survived. The grading may yet get me, but I don’t think so. Grading happens on my own time, on my own schedule, and off Zoom.

This morning I woke up with hives down the side of my nose and along my cheek—tracing where the frame of my glasses touches my skin, from the nose bit to under my eye. It’s not the most attractive facial rash I’ve seen, though it’s not quite up to Elephant Man standards, either. I’ve put my real glasses away and am wearing my plastic-framed tortoiseshell old lady readers. They work well enough—I can see. But the rash and ugly glasses have me considering my on-camera fitness. My temporary disfigurement could be an allergic reaction to the metal in the frame (though I have been wearing them for months) or it could be God telling me it is time to go off Zoom (I’ve been doing that for months, too).

I’m gonna be greedy and take both.

It’s time to put my glasses away for just a little while and look at big things—let go of the fine print and appreciate the image. Turn off the camera and make for the door. Consider my reactions. See in a new way. Find the rhyme.