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Three weeks ago someone told me that I needed to wake up and realize that I would never have spring break again, not a real one. Spring break is for normal students, not grad students teaching two sections of rhet-comp. They were right. But breaks are good for people; they are good for their brains.

Marquette, being a good Jesuit institution, releases its students for Easter break - a lovely five day weekend. Normally, I would have made a mad dash for Michigan, leaving jumbles of books and papers in my wake. This time I tried to be an adult. There are only a few weeks left in the semester and I have a lot of work to do.

So I am still in Milwaukee. I've spent the last few days reading books, taking notes, grading, and trying to draft a couple scholarly papers. It's been a productive time, but now I'm tired. Tomorrow morning I will rise early, jump in a friend's car, and make the drive to Michigan. Less than twenty-four hours after getting to MI, we'll be heading back to Milwaukee.

The same person who told me I couldn't have spring break has now informed me that this quick trip is crazy. He's not shy about sharing his opinions. But I know what he means. It doesn't make fiscal sense to spend so much time driving to be away for so short of a time.

In my circle of friends, I am the odd one out - the one who isn't in some kind of therapy. You could probably make a solid argument that I should be in therapy too. We're all under continual pressure and stressed about teaching, learning, the constant demands from all sides.  I'm not trying to claim any kind of superiority. One of them asked me the other day how I was dealing with everything without resorting to any kind of therapy. I gave them a standard response, "I don't have time for therapy!"

We chuckled and moved on, a solid deflection on my part. They didn't really want to know. They just wanted the assurance that I felt the stress too, that there wasn't anything wrong with them. I could have told them I pray a lot. They wouldn't have wanted to hear that either. Grad school isn't about answers. A lot of the time we pretend it is, but all we're really looking for is agreement.

I agree with my friend that this trip to Michigan is extremely short. I would have liked to take a longer one, especially since it was my last chance until the end of the semester. I can't agree that brevity devalues this trip down to worthlessness. Life involves balance. I need to balance my academics with my job. Also, neither of those things should be allowed to consume me.

There are two men outside my window talking about how to score girls and steal tires. I need a break from this city.

I'm going to take thirty hours and go to Michigan. I'll remind myself that there are trees beyond the cement and that there are people who care about answers.