Empty Nest Ennui

 

Credit: Liz West via Creative Commons

My rate of posting to my blog has slowed down a bit.  I credit this in part to what I am calling Empty Nest Ennui.  True, my children are 21 and 25. You would think that I would be well past adjusting to an empty next. However, I just passed two mile markers. 

My son just turned 25, which is the end of adolescence by the way we talk about things in our house. Neurologists declare that the age where the frontal cortex is (typically) fully formed. Insurance actuaries figured this out decades ago from data regarding accidents. This is when people are better equipped to conduct risk assessments regarding their personal choices.  Also, my son moved out a year ago in March, and he seems to be managing his own expenses.  He's flown. 

In Love--A Memoir of Love and Loss: Book Review

 

Published 8 March 2022

Because I teach a class called Death, Dying, and Bereavement, I like to read a few titles on that topic every year. 

Because I had already read a novel by Amy loom, I decided to pick up a copy of her nonfiction book In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, published in March of 2022 by Random House. 

Curriculum Vitae with a Focus on Gerontology Instruction

Karen in the Conservatory
(at Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK)
with a cell phone. June 2022. 

My employer is submitting documents for a project, and she needed my curriculum vitae. I decided to include it here. 

Karen D. Austin
Gerontologist

 MA earned from 2010 to 2013; part-time teaching conducted 2013 to the present (2023)

My LinkedIn profile documents my work and education prior to 2010. I previously worked in support services in higher education and taught classes in composition, technical writing, tutor training, and surveys of literature (world literature, American literature). 

For a few years, I actually was employed outside of a higher education setting when I worked as a technical writer.

Other than those four years working in the private sector, I have been a student and/or an employee at nine different colleges / universities. 

At midlife, I shifted my focus to gerontology. 

Current Position: Adjunct / Lecturer from Fall 2016 to present in the Gerontology Program under the supervision of Dr. M. Catherine (Katie) Ehlman Health Professions Center 3068, (812) 461-5332 mehlman@usi.edu within the College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712.

Courses taught:

·         Gerontology 215: Health Care Aspects of Gerontology

·         Gerontology 215 (renamed): Intro to Global Aging and Healthcare

·         Gerontology 321: Sociological Aspects of Aging

·         Gerontology 317: Continuum of Care and Community Services

·         Gerontology / Sociology 343: Death, Dying and Bereavement

Word of the Year for 2023: Breath(e)

 

Image by Sharon Brogan
via Creative Commons

I have long given up making resolutions. 

Instead, I choose a Word of the Year. 

I like how malleable a word can be over the course of a year. 

This year, I am choosing BREATH(E). Yes, I put parentheses around the final letter to create a two-for-one word: 

breath and breathe: noun and verb. 

I like the verb breathe because the form is a command. "Breathe!" invites me to stop, live in the moment, relax, and to take an inventory.