Interesting days, politically. And I mean in the department. There is a contentious job search situation, and I am finding myself stuck between a good buddy and the acting chair of the department. They are apparently not prone to see eye-to-eye. I'm trying to go to bat for him, because it has to be done and it looks like I'm the only one that will do it. Don't think, however, that I'm not unaware that this is my tenure year. It is taking all my rhetorical skill to phrase things "carefully."
Meanwhile, in the meeting I attended this afternoon, I was reminded that good intentions are far from the same thing as good policy or even good procedure. One of our more quixotic colleagues has a gigantic plan for tuition and state budget activism, including hearings and reports and press releases, etc. The problem is, he brings it to the faculty senate in half-baked form, then the questions start raining down . . . and the measure, predictably, goes down--only to be referred to committee, where it should have gone in the first place. The lesson: don't half-ass a senate proposal.
I find myself grouchy at all this, lacking patience, wanting to shake some of these people and say, "look at yourself, look at where you are! GET A GRIP!" Either that, or go live in a cave and say "LEMME LONE"
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