Ruth

I've been thinking since Wednesday about how to describe Ruth for those who didn't know her. We met through a online fiber group (spinning, weaving, knitting etc.) and met in person when I was living in Santa Barbara and she was down in LA.

I moved down later that year to teach at Claremont and Ruth immediately took me under her wing and made sure I met as many people as possible. I didn't know anyone in town other than Marius and was just getting to know the folks with whom I worked. She made it a much easier transition for me as it normally takes me a year in a place to start to meet people and I only had a year in LA.

Other people have already written about her enthusiasm and her great capacity for joy. I want to write about the rest of her because I think it is a side some people did not quite fully realize existed. She was a particularly amazing person because she was full of insecurities. This does not sound like it makes sense but give me a second to make my point. I get the impression from others that she did a great job of hiding this but she always wanted to be one of the cool kids, even as an adult, and never felt that she attained that status. But instead of those insecurities manifesting outwardly as snobbery or cruelty or even just self-absorbed pity, she did everything in her power to help other people feel like they fit in. She completely understood how isolated someone could feel when they were new to an area, a hobby or a group. She welcomed everyone as though they were her best friend and that did not change even when they let her down periodically. I still remember talking to her about a friend who had been using her rather blatantly and Ruth still wondered if maybe this friend would change their ways. She always wanted to give folks the benefit of the doubt and she hated to think that she was the cause for the end of a friendship. Her joy and enthusiasm made her fun to be around but her compassion and empathy are what really made her an exceptional person.

In memory

Ruth Schooley, a kind soul

hiking in 104 degrees

There are just times when you won't ever go outside if you don't go outside when it's hot here. Of course, one isn't stupid and you don't go for long hikes. Today we went out to Santa Clara to see some of the petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs seem to be the current theme for our hikes. Last weekend we went with a group to an area that it basically in our backyard (if you count thousands of acres as your backyard) to see petroglyphs there.

Sometimes you hear the nicest things

I was out the other night with some of my colleagues and one of them told me that she had one of my previous students in a class. This student was not doing well in my friend's class and she failed my class. This student actually confessed to my friend that my class was the only other one with which they had had problems (which makes you wonder what their other classes were like).

Many of you know I had a pretty rough semester in the spring with an unusually whiny group of students and I've been kinda down about it all although I have figured out some things I can do differently to try and prevent a similar situation in the future (or so I hope)! The reason I am mentioning all of this is because my friend then told me that this student had explained that she really liked me but that my tests were really hard (which is sorta what we aim for in our department). So I'm feeling a bit better about things. When you fail a student and they still appreciate you as a teacher you know you aren't completely screwing up.