Grades were due today, most faculty wrapped up their year and closed down their offices. In theory, at least – those of us on nine-month contracts finished up, officially, at 5 p.m. today. Most of us will be back to work tomorrow.

Evening light on the back porch can be really sweet.

Early morning light at the Jittery Joe’s Roaster, here for the monthly Cars and Coffee. Probably my last one for a few months as travels get in the way.

University commencement, which means we all don our academic regalia and pretend we are wizards. It’s kind of awesome.

The west side of Sandord Stadium, where we enter, will be torn apart in the coming weeks so they’ve gone ahead and started removing some things, like the 1996 Olympic Torch that was enshrined here.

Along the way south, a few roadside scenes.

So many events on campus these days.

Two colleagues are leaving us, heading off into well-earned retirements. Professor Patricia Thomas and I started the same year. We’ve partnered on many projects, shared many tales of woe over students and I will truly miss her around the building.

Professor Lee Becker is also heading out. As director of the Cox Center for International Journalism, he asked me to talk with visiting journalists from countries around the world. Even asked me to teach in Kazakstan, which I really wanted to do but just couldn’t make work.