Blogging on the Powwow

I started teaching college students nine years ago in January, 2003. I was slightly terrified. I used to shake with nervousness so badly at the beginning of each class that I would rarely hold my lecture notes for fear students would see the pages tremble in my hands. I eventually out-grew this, but on occasion, I still do get butterflies when I have to explain a concept with which I have limited familiarity. Nonetheless, I enjoyed teaching: developing lectures, talking to students about social issues, interacting with students and watching them learn, and feeling part of an intellectual community. But, I was also a little lost. As many of you know, I was born into this world as a 40-year-old. I struggled to relate to traditional college students. I found many to be entitled, unmotivated, and disorganized in their approach to learning. In 2006 I went to Bridgewater where I was hired to teach in a master's program. Here I discovered graduate students: motivated, obsessively concer...

As many of my readers may know, Kathy Leavitt and I have been acquaintances since elementary school and close friends since high school. After a brief hiatus in early adulthood, Kathy and I re-initiated our friendship in our mid-20s and we have been in near daily contact, primarily via email, for the past 14-15 years. Kathy has been a constant source of support for me. She has heard about all of my woes, successes, and concerns. She is almost more knowledgeable about my career and life than me. In addition to sharing dog stories and tips, gluten-free eating, and our childhood, Kathy has listened to endless stories about my profession and been a constant, positive, source of support. I suffered many failures in my four-year-long search for a tenure-track job before I landed at Bridgewater. Every time I was turned down, Kathy exclaimed, Those idiots! How could they not hire you? You don't want to work for someone who wouldn't hire you anyway, right? It's their loss, no...

It's that time of year. Go ahead, ask me how things are going. I dare you. I shouldn't even be writing this post given my workload this weekend. That's how well things are going. Most days about now, when people ask me how I am, I respond, "Overworked and underpaid...Just like everyone else." Of course, I am usually talking to my academic colleagues, which is safe, because I know that they, too, are overworked, and since we work under the same union, I know roughly what they are paid, as well. I remember once asking a laborer how work was treating him. "The way a baby treats a diaper" was his comment. I've been there. I might just even be there right now. For example, here's my list of work-related tasks to do this weekend. The longer I work in the profession, the more convinced I am that the public largely does not understand the demands of higher education. I heard someone say that being a college professor is a "dream job." It...

I'm a day late, but April 12 is associated with great memories for me. First, it is the birthday of my 3rd grade teacher, Debra Andrews (then--Debra Swinson). I have wonderful memories of being in her class. I felt welcome. She went out of her way to make each child feel special and it worked for me. I felt special. She had a bi-monthly activity where a child's name would be selected from a hat. We each then wrote something that we liked about that classmate. She would copy those statements onto card stock--in perfect penmanship, one card for each statement and hang them on a classroom wall. She also had an exercise where we would reach into a bucket and pull out a slip of paper with a word on it: lipstick, washing machine, typewriter, etc. and we would speak for 2 minutes about that item in front of the class - impromptu. I confess that my favorite memory of Mrs. Swinson (errrr....Debra) is that she let me wear my red earmuffs indoors...during class...all day long - or, tha...

Well, here we go. I am starting this blog to write about my life activities and adventures: academic life, gardening, running, dog ownership, playing in a community band, and our many other adventures on the Powwow River. My guess is that this blog will largely sit empty during the academic months, but I'm looking forward to recording my activities here...and, May isn't that far away, really. So, stay tuned!