Better Day Thursday

Yesterday was a hard day. I had to sit with the student who lost her fiance and tell her that without sources, her paper would fail. She was crying because she can't understand why she's having a hard time. She refuses to see a counselor to help her deal with her grief. Sure, it would be hard anyhow, but I'd snatch at anything that might help if I were her.
I also had to face off with the contemptuous student who says he got a B+ in Writing 1, and this class has made no sense to him from the beginning. He is the same person who says it isn't fair that students should have to go to UCI to research their topics, and refuses on principle to do it. Others just don't because they are lazy.
Then I went to hear a poet read at UCI, a reading I learned about on Reb's blog, but when I got there, I found out that it had been moved to another building. When I went to the room and opened the door, a lecture on Renaissance painting was in process. Several of my former professors from UCI were there. I sat down just because I was embarrassed and I thought it would end soon, and the reading would begin, but after a few minutes, I left again and called R.
It seems the reading had been rescheduled for 7 PM. I went to wait for Richard in front of the library, where I was confronted with a huge demonstration by Palestinian students declaring this "Israeli apartheid week." There were no Jewish student organizations in sight, and I know why. Even though I don't care at all for Israeli policy toward Palestinians, I felt afraid and threatened. I even feared that someone might break my windshield because of the Jewish star chime hanging from the mirror. That didn't happen, but I sure didn't care for having to stand there for half an hour. It turned out that he was in the library waiting for me, but I never came into the library.
Lousy day! But today was better. I discovered that the Writing Center was closed because it was a non-instructional day. I got to stay home and read drafts, awful as they were, in a leisurely way, and now I will write to the students.