Hello from the corner at Caribou Coffee,

It is amazing the amount of time I have spent in this place in the six years I have lived in Menomonie. I wrote the majority of my dissertation in here (I often note that composing the dissertation took two years and $4,000.00 worth the Caribou). This morning I actually responded to an email from a former Stout colleague who also left and teaches some where else. She and I used to have daily conversations here.

I have finished all my classes and finals and I am currently in the throes of grading; while students worry about it, we fret about it also. I know from my own experience, we all too often work for the grade versus work for the sake of learning. We place so much value on that evaluation of our work. I have gone through that recently myself. What I have noticed in my Freshman Composition classes is most students really stepped it up at the end of the semester and it paid off. In my upper level courses I am working through the electronic porfolios. I am using the tool we currently have available, but it is not nearly as user-centered as I would like, particularly on my end.

My current place is so unsettled. My brain is here and needs to be, but I keep looking at things I need to prepare to be ready when I get to Bloomsburg. There is so much to manage. And then there is Lydia . . .  this is a significant issue. She is really quite amazing in all she has accomplished, but there will be some hard work to manage all it from 1,000 miles away. I am fortunate to have someone who will be here and very helpful for her. There are just a lot of pieces to keep organized. Marco, my winemaker friend, noted that I have a social contract with her. He is correct. I have created a situation where she has grown to expect certain things and is comfortable with me. I have also been very fortunate to live next to her.

I have been thinking about other times I have left to go somewhere new. It is such a strange thing. It will be interesting to see how people react or whether they do at all. As I told the chancellor and others, I know I am not that important in the big picture. I know the program will manage just fine. There are two very competent people coming in and they will be more than able to manage what I am doing. It is also different because I will be coming back on a monthly basis to check on Lydia and help her.

I am not sure if I will find time to travel; I think there will be some day trips on the Harley wich will be important for my sanity. All in all, I know that life continues and I am certainly excited about the possibilities in Pennsylvania. It will be yet another learning and growing experience. I am excited to work on some writing and work on my classes. I will be the first to teach a number of those classes so I will be blazing some new trails for the department. I want to do it well.

Well, back to correcting electronic portfolios.

Michael

Hello from the study,

The title of today’s post comes from that Simon and Garfunkel song (The Boxer). I feel that I have been in a fifteen rounder at times, but I am still very blessed. I have good friends and people who have supported me in so many ways. What is it that makes us who were are?

I am just a poor boy
Though my story’s seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocket full of mumbles such are promises
All lies and jests
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest

I think about this . . . . though I am not sure my resistance was squandered. Indeed, some hear what they will and disregard logic, truth or fairness. But it is always up to those who experience such an event to manage it. In the time I have been a sufferer with Crohn’s I have learned valuable lessons. It is hard for me to believe that I have managed this disease for 25 years ~almost half my life. I am amazed by that fact. While I would not wish the disease, its symptoms or its conseqences, on anyone, I have been very fortunate. For in spite of surgeries and other complications, I have been blessed to learn some valuable lessons. I know that more than anything, being healthy is the most important thing that someone can have. All the money, toys or anything else one might accumulate is irrelevant if you do not feel well.

My father once told me to choose my battles wisely and fight them well. I am not sure I have always done that and, perhaps, in this latest one, I failed miserably, but I did not realize it was supposed to be a battle. In fact, I am quite sure it should not be, but nevertheless it was. Though as with all things, or so it seems, it was another thing to learn. I am reminded of Norman Maclean’s phenomenal quote at the end of the his novella "A River Runs Through It," he wrote "eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters." ~ Norman Maclean~ and so it is  . . . in each place we travel and pause we leave something. For those I have offended or failed, I ask your forgiveness. When I have done less than my best while working with you, I can only take accountability for that shortcoming. For those I have been fortunate to help, I am also grateful for the opportunity to work with you.

Menomonie has been, mostly, a joyful place and a time for significant growth. That is quite amazing when one considers I was middle aged when I arrived here almost six years ago. In my first journal entry about Menomonie, I noted it was kind of small town Americana. I still think that. The municipal band plays in the bandshell on Tuesday nights in the summer. Church ladies sell fresh-baked pies and pastries and the boy scouts raise the flag. Flower baskets decorate the streets and the mayor has a very funny weekly newspaper column. I have been blessed to be here. What is a place? Again, I ask that question. As Maclean’s waters, I am haunted by it.

I have appreciated the response of people and I think of Hawkeye’s small speech to his compatriots on the final episode of M*A*S*H. I paraphrase: "I can’t say that I have [liked] you all either, but I have [liked] as many of you as I could." Perhaps the most important thing I have learned is that it is okay to "not like" someone. It is okay to have weaknesses, and more important we need to me as comfortable with our weaknesses as we are our strengths. There will be much to do in the next weeks and I am flying to Pennsylvania in a week or so to try to set the foundation. It is both exciting and a little frightening, but I am very fortunate to work with a former colleague and to be there with his wonderful family. That is most exciting.

More soon . . .

Michael

Hello from the corner of my favorite chocolate shop,

I have been away from blogging for a while at the recommendation of a colleague as I worked through the tenure process because it was noted that I was too honest about things. Well, much like the parallel to the concept of academic freedom, I have decided to write again. It is sad that I allowed some (and not my colleague who is kind and considerate and hence her advice) who have neither morals or honesty to control what I do. That is another one of those growing experiences that seem to come again and again.

I have decided that I find politics infinitely interesting, but the unethical application of power particularly aggravates me. The big news in the last 5 months is that I have been offered a new position at another university. Actually the last time I blogged here I had interviewed with two faculy people from that university. The past year has been a very good experience for me; I have learned how to take feedback and see how to employ that feedback in a very positive and effective manner. I think I have always done that, but for the first time I did it because it was the best way to learn. In other words for learning’s sake.

Another interesting parallel in that experience is how similar it is to what I tell my students. If you just do the work and work to learn and improve the grade will usually take care of itself. However, I know at times there is an exception to the usually. I have experienced that exception at significant times in my life. It merely demonstrates the reality of the fact that as I told one of the iniquitous philosophers I know that I am not a consequentialist. I have learned I am much more of a deontologist. I remember thinking the politics of the church were perhaps the most insidious I had ever experienced. I might have found a place that surpasses that. I certainly do not say that with any sense of joy, and, in fact, it is with some sadness.

To live in Menomonie for six years is the longest I have lived in one place since I graduated from high school. I really like Menomonie; it is one of the best small town secrets in the country. There are so many positive things, and little amenities that most here take for granted. We have a very funny mayor and a city council that genuinely cares for the community and wants it to be a good place to live. Likewise, people here take care of their property and demonstrate a great sense of pride in their houses, their lawns, and I think in their lives. I am not sure if it is that strong German industriousness or something else, but the result is fabulous.

However, the move to the East is not unfamiliar to me. Twenty-one years ago, I was living about 60 miles from where I live now and I am moving back to 60 miles from where I lived there. Another parallel. I need to think about the concept of parallelism. I address that in my classes all the time as far as its relationship to grammar, but what about when it is part of our lives?? H-m-m-m-m-m-m.

Well, the next couple weeks, it is finishing up a semester and doing all the grading. I am back to writing and I will try to check in next week. The picture of the car is what I rented in California during the spring break and what I hope to purchase next. It would allow me to trailer the Harley.

Thanks for reading!

Michael