When You’re Smiling

Life as an adjunct, for many, is no laughing matter. However, I think it’s important to keep things in perspective and to try to find the humor in situations that one finds difficult. I am not saying I always manage to do it; I do make every effort, however. To this end, we have several features on our website geared toward making you laugh.

One of the features of our redesigned site is the “Daily Excuse.” You will find the “Daily Excuse” on our webpage in the right hand column, just above the “Hang-Prof” link. Right now, we are rotating 32 excuses contributed by AdjunctNation.com visitors. Here are several of my absolute favorites:

“I won’t be in class today, as they are wheeling me into the E.R. right now, and I was wondering if I could turn it in next week (Sounds of T.V., videogame, talking, laughing in the background).”

“My cat caught fire.”

“A squirrel ate the spark plug wires on my car.”

“I cannot take the final exam on that date 4 months from now. My grandmother’s funeral will be on that day.”

“I know you said we were supposed to follow your directions, but I didn’t think you meant me.”

I chose these excuses for their sheer outlandishness, and because each of them made me laugh out loud. That is the same way I choose the cartoons for the magazine. Cartoonist Matt Hall sends me 12 or so cartoons as electronic files, and I open them up one-by-one. Any cartoon that makes me laugh out loud, I buy. Have a look at some of Matt’s best cartoons.

So, I would encourage you to join in on the fun. Have a look at Matt’s wonderful cartoons, and share your student excuses. Not all excuses get approved (duplicates, for example, of ones already rotating are discarded). However, you can be sure that if your excuse gets added to the rotation, it has made me laugh out loud, and will, I am sure, do the same for the tens of thousands of visitors who come to AdjunctNation.com each month.

Listen to my blog entry here.