Different Generations

Something recently made me recall this conversation with a younger colleague from the early days of Twilight hysteria:

Colleague: I feel old. All the freshman women in my class are into this Twilight thing.

Me: Ah, yes.

Colleague: I asked them what it was and they told me this girl is in love with a vampire named Edward, but Edward is a good vampire that doesn't kill people, etc. But I was like "Isn't that just a copy of Angel from Buffy?" But that didn't seem to resonate with them.

Me: Actually, from what I hear, Twilight sounds basically like a copy of Forever Knight.

Colleague: What's that?

My chair sends me e-mail

To: twice@smallliberalartscollege.edu

From: chair@smallliberalartscollege.edu

T,

Interviews are all scheduled for Tues 5/4, Tues 5/11 and Th 5/13.  
Everyone is scheduled into a slot to talk with candidates, except you.

Could you meet on each of these dates at 10?

Chair

---

From the tone, one would assume that I had been asked once (or perhaps repeatedly) to sign up for a time to meet the candidates. That assumption would not be correct.

Too many committees

This year I was elected to the large college committee that deals with curriculum and other academic issues. This is a committee with a heavy workload, but it has largely been interesting. The makeup of the committee is diverse, but there are no true curmudgeons and there are no aggressively negative people.

I also recently joined a committee that is making revisions to a controversial program. As I mentioned in my last post, the chairperson of the committee seems to lack leadership ability. He gets defensive and is incapable of seeing obvious ways to advocate for the program. For example, if you have announced at the beginning of a feedback session that you will be doing a faculty survey on the program in the next few weeks, and then about 25 more people arrive at the session and one of them asks why you aren't doing a survey, I would think it would be a good idea to repeat the previous announcement about the survey. Or, I suppose, you could sit there and not say anything.

One of my colleagues from another STEM department is relatively senior, extremely reasonable and a good friend. He and I are on this program committee and have been trying to guide the chair to be more of an advocate for the program. This is very painful at times. So much so, I recently confessed to Friend Colleague that I had considered quitting the committee, but I didn't think it would be fair to him. Friend Colleague admitted he had thought of leaving too, but that he didn't because he didn't think it would be fair to me. We concluded that the next time we have reservations about joining a committee, we should check with one another before doing so.

The program committee recently finished revisions and sent them to the large college committee. The chair of the large college committee called me to ask if the chair of the program committee (who is not on the large college committee) should be asked to come to the large college committee meeting. I responded, "I really don't see how that would be helpful." He responded, "That's what I thought."

Things I've Learned This Week

• When your five year old son calls you because "there is crazy pee" in the bathroom, bring a towel when you go to investigate.
  
  
• Do not join a committee that deals with a controversial college-wide program if you care about the program and you have strong doubts about the leadership ability of the committee's chairperson.
  
  
• Do not schedule appointments with students to take place on the day before spring break, even if it was their idea.
  

Conference RBOC

• I'm at a non-disciplinary conference in a city I love but have no time to enjoy it or see my friends.
  
  
• Went to a session this morning that makes me want to try something extremely politically risky on my campus. Why not? - I have tenure. To quote one of my favorite pinball machines: Big risk, big reward.
  
  
• About 10% of the faculty attendees were texting or answering e-mail on their laptops at one point or another during the morning plenary. The irony is that it was a plenary where students were doing the talking.^*
  
  
• One of my fellow attendees had too much wine and claimed that we were both smarter that 90% of the people here at the conference. I asked what he thought of the part of the evening plenary where the speaker mentioned that we academics are often arrogant and think we are better than everyone else.
  
  
• I know it is a discipline thing, and the speaker was from a discipline that does this, but I really, really, could do without being read to. How do people in these fields pay attention when the tone isn't conversational?
  
  

^*To be fair, the sound system was not ideal and I found the panel a little too scripted and the faculty facilitators a little too self-congratulatory.

The kids weigh in

Dalton: I don't want another baby in the house.

Me: Uh, OK, why?

Dalton: I don't want there to be a baby in the house.

Me: We aren't planning on having another baby. Is someone at school getting a new brother or sister?

Dalton: OK. If someone tells you to have another baby, don't listen to them.

Dr. H: OK.

Me:, Dalton, is someone at school getting a new brother or sister?

Dalton: If someone tells you not to have another baby, listen to them.

Dr. H: OK.

Curie: But what if you don't know?

Dr. H: Well we would know.

Curie: But what if you didn't?

Me: Mommies usually know.

Curie: But what if it is a surprise?

Random Kindergarten Notes

1. The kids are counting out 100 trail mix food items for the 100th day of school. I was wondering why the raisins were so hard until I looked at the red box. "Best before 040107" As tossing the hard work in full view is likely to result in a revolt, magically the raisins will become soft and juicy by morning.

2. The school is celebrating Chinese New Year with a parade. Lovely idea, but the Kindergarten students are supposed to bring in flip flops and a bathrobe. You know, to simulate the traditional Kimono. We are thinking of sending the kids in their Judo Gis, as long as Japanese dress is considered close enough.

Merry Christmas

Because he can't put this in his Facebook status line

An observation from Dr. H:

Turns out if you don't attend class all semester, you don't write a particularly good final paper.

Feel my pain

Recent exam answers:

• "A semiconductor only does half of what a real conductor does."
  
  Well, there is no harm in guessing if you really have absolutely no idea.
  
  
• "It handles the downed-sized work of a conductor."
  
  The economy does seem to be hitting everyone very hard these days.
  
  
• "Speciation is the lack of water or water flow."
  
  Ah yes, you were present the day the guest speaker spoke on this topic. If I recall correctly, you spent the entire time texting.
  
  

The questions came directly from the sample questions on the study guide.

An awesome conversation with my daughter

Curie: Where does space end?

[discussion involving planets, galaxies and universes, scientists and more questions]

Dr. H: Hey, Curie, you ask really good questions, maybe you would like to be a scientist someday?

Curie: Oh! Maybe I will be a scientist princess!

Me: That's a good idea!

Curie: Mommy, can boys be scientists? Or just girls?

Me: Both girls and boys can be scientists.

Curie: Really, because I've never seen a boy scientist. Only girls.

Me: Daddy's a scientist and he's a boy.

Curie: No!

Dr. H.: A social scientist.

Curie: He doesn't look like a scientist!

Me: Really, he is. His college degree is in computer science, and his graduate degree is in psy..

Curie: Mommy! You are just making this up to play a joke on me!

Me: No, really, he is. And we know lots of boy and girl scientists.

Difficult Day

I removed this post because I think maybe it shouldn't be up here forever.

Still, I'm disappointed by the whole thing.