My Dean's Report (I)

Vita at WWC

dorm painter diesel disc-er (spring field prep) asst
fire "chief"  eng dept chair tennis coach NEH summer
seminar in composition athletic dept secy chair task
force for curriculum reform dean of college and
academics Lily Foundation Colorado Springs Seminar
Curriculum Development NEH Proposal Reader &
Evaluator. St Louis Workshop  Presenter (work &
academics) Carnegie Mellon Summer Program for
Academic Leadership NEH summer seminary in
Literary Criticism & Theory freshman seminar coordinator
writing competency coordinator director of humanities
major local fool & self-designated fundamentalist.

Used to be the annual Dean's Report was intended
as self-study and reflection:  how can I be a better
teacher if not person. These were the days of "group
dynamics."  Over time (and with Spence McWilliams
insistence) it became an "instrument"--an annual
resume-update and tool for extended tenure
assessment and evaluation.

This is the difference (attitude, outlook)  between
AMATEURISM and PROFESSIONALISM.

While I know there are good things to be said about
professionalism and that no one stands up in forum
to say "well, can't we be a little more amateurish
about this" -- I have always hated the loss of our
initial muddling-thru: what the... ? what the hell...?
spirit as we seemed inexorably destined to become a not
so jolly Green Documental, nail-it-all-down,litgatigation-
avoidance professional place--nothing less then the
terminally degreed need apply and everyone's a doctor.

Anyone can improve my terms and images.

I lost the zip drive that had a chunk of my Annual Dean's
Report yesterday--left it in the library computer where
I'm working these days while new windows are installed
in Jensen.

So I'm starting over from scratch. From scratch is a
good place for me to begin again, seeing as it's become
a fundamental aspect of my pedagogy.  Begin again and
again finagin!  Each class starts up from old scratch.

Origins are uncanny: mostly I can barely conceive of
their conception--every move I make, step taken,
word uttered IS a beginning however it it seems and
feels like a continuity in the middle of things like
stepping hard in a puddle of water,

Origins, originating, generation begetting, starting
from scratch, zero-basing, tabula erasing, re-inventing
wheels--in the same category with Be Here Now which
is impossible because I am carried along by my agenda.

Every class a new beginning.  Redundantly.
I often ask students: which would be easier to
determine-- the beginning of the universe or the
first time someone (probably female: me, stereo-
typing always for the sake of argument) tied a
neckerchief around a dog's  neck?

Think about it.   We can vote.
                              xxxooo, Sam
(to be continued)