Ode to LaDainian Crumplinson
Okay, after my ambitious attempt to start a blog on a cooler looking site, I'm back.
I'm back because mostly none of you people are on the wonderment that is facebook and also because in order to read all of YOUR stuff, I have to come to this site anyway. And since I'm here, I might as well post.
Let me talk about my year for a sec, kay?
We have finals this week, commencement on Saturday.
This year has been nothing short of crazy. I suppose I thought that if you can survive college, graduate school, thesis performance and writing, and you then had the fortune to find an actual job, the hard part was over.
Oh no, my friends.
Oh ho ho ho ho no.
A brief list:
1) Move and have a baby. This is difficult.
2) Later, baby develops a mass on her neck. Doctor A, "I don't know what that is, but race down to a specialist now!" Specialist A, "I don't know what that is, let's scan it!" Specialist B, "I don't know what that is. I can't tell from the scan! Go see another better specialist." Me, "Is it cancer?" Specialist B, "Probably not." Specialists C & D, "It's an effing absessed lymph node. No problem." Three days in the hospital and Little E is back to normal.
3) Class preps are like turning in a reasonably major project every time you have a class.
4) Fighting with students because the person you replaced on the faculty was their dear friend and personal hero and you are, well, a complete jackass.
5) People looking at you like you've got a growth coming out of the side of your head everytime you say, "Yeah, I kind of like Shakespeare."
6) Redoing a theatre curriculum in your spare time (12am-1am).
7) Writing a new Shakespeare minor in your other spare time (1am -2am).
8) Grading (2am-3am).
9) Coordinating a theatre renovation.
10) Spending the college's money (i.e., on a production or a theatre renovation) when the college is going through the throes of something.
11) You find out your graduate advisors shielded you from some of the real political machinations of a college after you acted like a jerk to them.
12) Telling your students that "effort does not equal excellence" when many of them come from a culture where they're told that if you work hard, you can do anything. Go Iowa.
13) Feeling lied to.
14) Dealing with a sometimes soulless corporate mindset.
Seriously, though (not that that wasn't serious).
It's been a very busy year. New theatre curriculum. New Shakespeare minor. New May term project where students are sharers in a company. Gearing up to play Richard in RIII and Jaques in AYLI with Pigeon Creek. New theatre renovation. Black box renovation. Four shows and a Christmas festival. Grant proposal. New faculty orientation. Watching students respond to you with incredible work. Finding time to do anything. Watching my wife give birth to a perfect baby. Watching said baby get a sense of humor.
It's been difficult -- perhaps the hardest single year I can remember -- but it has been rewarding beyond measure.
I'm back because mostly none of you people are on the wonderment that is facebook and also because in order to read all of YOUR stuff, I have to come to this site anyway. And since I'm here, I might as well post.
Let me talk about my year for a sec, kay?
We have finals this week, commencement on Saturday.
This year has been nothing short of crazy. I suppose I thought that if you can survive college, graduate school, thesis performance and writing, and you then had the fortune to find an actual job, the hard part was over.
Oh no, my friends.
Oh ho ho ho ho no.
A brief list:
1) Move and have a baby. This is difficult.
2) Later, baby develops a mass on her neck. Doctor A, "I don't know what that is, but race down to a specialist now!" Specialist A, "I don't know what that is, let's scan it!" Specialist B, "I don't know what that is. I can't tell from the scan! Go see another better specialist." Me, "Is it cancer?" Specialist B, "Probably not." Specialists C & D, "It's an effing absessed lymph node. No problem." Three days in the hospital and Little E is back to normal.
3) Class preps are like turning in a reasonably major project every time you have a class.
4) Fighting with students because the person you replaced on the faculty was their dear friend and personal hero and you are, well, a complete jackass.
5) People looking at you like you've got a growth coming out of the side of your head everytime you say, "Yeah, I kind of like Shakespeare."
6) Redoing a theatre curriculum in your spare time (12am-1am).
7) Writing a new Shakespeare minor in your other spare time (1am -2am).
8) Grading (2am-3am).
9) Coordinating a theatre renovation.
10) Spending the college's money (i.e., on a production or a theatre renovation) when the college is going through the throes of something.
11) You find out your graduate advisors shielded you from some of the real political machinations of a college after you acted like a jerk to them.
12) Telling your students that "effort does not equal excellence" when many of them come from a culture where they're told that if you work hard, you can do anything. Go Iowa.
13) Feeling lied to.
14) Dealing with a sometimes soulless corporate mindset.
Seriously, though (not that that wasn't serious).
It's been a very busy year. New theatre curriculum. New Shakespeare minor. New May term project where students are sharers in a company. Gearing up to play Richard in RIII and Jaques in AYLI with Pigeon Creek. New theatre renovation. Black box renovation. Four shows and a Christmas festival. Grant proposal. New faculty orientation. Watching students respond to you with incredible work. Finding time to do anything. Watching my wife give birth to a perfect baby. Watching said baby get a sense of humor.
It's been difficult -- perhaps the hardest single year I can remember -- but it has been rewarding beyond measure.