OP-ED: Purgatory Is the Time Between 'Assignment Created' and 'Assignment Graded'

A peaceful Saturday morning. I wake up at 9:26 a.m., rub my eyes blearily, and immediately grab my phone to see if anyone has texted me since 4:57 a.m., when I turned in for the night. Alas, nothing. But what I do see is a Canvas notification: "Assignment Created: Midterm 2."

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Immediately, I sit up and check to see if the exam has been graded. But no. My score reads "- / 100."

Throughout the day, I check my Canvas app, to no avail. It has been two weeks since I took the midterm. Two weeks! It must be graded by now. The grades must be in by now. They have entered the grades. The grades are in Canvas, waiting for us, muted, like a hundred evil gremlins about to be unleashed on our sinful souls.

Two days have passed, with no update. These have been the most difficult days of my life. On the right side of my Canvas homepage, "Midterm 2" looms on my to-do list. Where is my grade? What fate awaits me?