On and Off Campus: Five Haibun
Kismet, photographed by Rama, 2019. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 France (CC BY-SA 3.0 FR). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kismet-IMG_6007-gradient.jpg.
The Game of Wits
Across the United States, colleges and universities are struggling to deal with AI-related plagiarism by their students. During last week’s conference in southern Missouri, I had lunch with two English professors, one from Arkansas and the other from Missouri. I learned from the Arkansas professor that some students use special eyeglasses to access relevant information while taking an exam or writing an in-class paper. It sounded like something out of a science-fiction movie. Who would have thought about this kind of technological development five years ago?
In the meantime, institutions of higher learning continue to embrace technology that detects plagiarism. A few days ago, a young professor in my department showed me how he can keep track of a student’s entire process of writing a paper. It was surreal to see how the software reveals all the changes the student made throughout the writing process. It almost seemed like entering the inner thoughts of a student.
AI-generated paper—
I once used
a typewriter
In a Hurry
For two days in a row, a driver who arrived at a four-way stop later than I did proceeded through the intersection and turned left, almost causing a collision with my vehicle. These incidents made me wonder why people are always in a hurry on their way home in the afternoon. I thought about three possibilities.
First, they are happy to leave their workplaces. Second, they miss their loved ones so much that they can’t even waste a single second on the road. Third, they have an urgent need to take a shower once they get home.
four-way stop—
he turns a blind eye
I raise my hands
The Slow Driver
A close colleague at my university retired nearly ten years ago. We were good friends, and she often warned me when school would be closed on a certain day. As a workaholic, I automatically came to campus except during winter break. Without her warnings, I might have come to campus on MLK Day or Labor Day. More importantly, a graduate of a Baptist university in Oklahoma, she was proper in her speech and conduct, reliable as a colleague, and committed to “doing the right thing.” In short, she modeled excellent character and professionalism.
Both of us tended to go home late. One night, I took a back road with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. There was little traffic. My car slowed down because the white car ahead of me was going 30 miles per hour. I found it a little annoying and followed the car more closely than I should have. A mile later, I stopped to merge onto the main street and turn right. I was curious about the slow driver, so I turned left. Voilà! It was my colleague.
I was not surprised that it was her. Most people would not drive 30 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone. She didn’t see me, but the next day, I apologized for my impatience. She laughed, saying that she was used to impatient drivers following too closely, yelling at her, or honking at her. I still chuckle when I recall that night. Now I find myself driving as she did in those days.
the way to work—
the slow driver ahead
my boss
A Bookstore from Thirty-Eight Years Ago
As I was watching a YouTube video about a university marching band gathering on the streets of Manhattan, Kansas, a vaguely familiar store came into my view. It was Varney’s Bookstore. Within seconds, I remembered that it was where I bought my first textbooks when I came to the university as a graduate student in August 1988.
I don’t recall all the books I bought at the time, but I do remember returning one after finding a used copy elsewhere. A Korean student who had come to America as an orphan told me that I could return the new book to the bookstore for a full refund. I was surprised to hear that. Was that possible? In Korea, at least in those days, returning goods for a full refund was very rare. If a customer insisted on a refund, store clerks might raise their eyebrows or even yell at the customer. So, it was a refreshing experience to receive a full refund from Varney’s—no questions asked, no raised eyebrows.
Sadly, a Google search revealed that the store closed in 2016 after 126 years in business. The store is gone, but it is alive in a YouTube video—and in my fond memory.
first week in America
the smile from
a stranger
Saying No Without Shame
An email from a former colleague invited me to a house party four weeks ago. He was a close friend of mine, but I didn’t like the idea of mingling with strangers for a couple of hours. At my age, I didn’t have to smile, make conversation, and look pleasant before coming home exhausted.
The party was two days away, and I had to RSVP. I sent him a polite email saying that I was too busy to attend but that he and I could have lunch together next month.
He replied within ten minutes, saying that his Gmail account had been hacked and that the invitation had been sent without his knowledge. Although I didn’t have to go to the party after all, I was still glad that I had not hesitated to say no. Sometimes, saying no is not something to feel guilty about.
party cancelled—
saying sorry but
secretly happy
About the Author
Professor of English and Creative Writing and Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Theology, Missouri Baptist University
John J. Han, PhD, is the author, editor, co-editor, or translator of 38 books. His forthcoming book, Echoes from the Hills: Critical Essays on Ozarks Literature (co-edited with C. Clark Triplett), will be published by the University of Arkansas Press. He has also published more than 3,000 poems, primarily haiku, in a wide range of journals and anthologies. In addition to his long tenure at Missouri Baptist University, he has taught at Kansas State University, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Washington University in St. Louis. He has also served as a visiting scholar at Georgia College & State University and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.
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