The Labyrinth and the Garden and the Bible-o-phile

Check out these blogs too--there's a lot of overlap. All venues harbor labyrinths and gardens, the academic world among them.

Two lessons I learned on my first job:

a. if you take notes, you'll be assigned to take notes
b. the less there is at stake, the harder people fight over it

Argh, just a comment--this seemed particularly true at Wayne State, where I was a faculty member in the English Department for six years (I didn't get tenure). There was vicious and snide animosity among younger faculty. The older faculty seemed to ignore it or look on in amusement, except for one mid-level faculty member who accused the junior faculty of throwing tantrums (we had asked for representation on the hiring committee).

There was bitter hostility over the formulation of a "department charter," which had been requested by the dean. Older faculty vs. younger faculty again. The fight went on, and by the time I left, four years or so after the beginning of the charter effort, no charter had been written.

Several extraordinary experiences from my time at WSU:

1. one bitterly cold winter morning, I parked my car in the dirt parking lot (Wayne did not have a lot of amenities) and got my briefcase. I turned toward the building where I taught and caught a glance of snow crystals blowing off the roof of a nearby apartment. They sparkled in the morning sun. The bright blue sky was dazzling.

2. It was a late March day--the wind was blowing, maybe fifty miles an hour. I had never been in wind so strong--the Santa Anas of Southern California can't compare. I walked down Second Avenue, pulling myelf forward parking meter by parking meter.

3. my first real snowstorm: late afternoon, the snow was coming down in big flakes, the street turning silent white. I stopped for gas and asked the attendant if this was a blizzard. "If this isn't, I don't know what is," he said.