Today I began my new semester and for the first time since I started in the Fall of 2003, all of my classes are on Tuesday and Thursday, instead of my usual Mon., Wed., and Fr. Another change for me is that I was able to change my parking lot to one that is much closer to my office than my old one. I also have a carpool permit, which is another bonus because there are specially designated carpool spots right in front, all of which were empty when I pulled in earlier today. Ahh, the simple pleasures of being a professor at UMass Amherst.

Anyway, I’m teaching “Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity” again (which I still like to teach) and a new class, “The Demography of Minority Groups” (Soc 361). The students in my Soc 361 class seem like a good group of kids -- I’m loooking forward to having some fun with them (in a demographic sort of way, of course).