Gosh--it's been over three months since the Contentious One added to his collection of rants in this space. Of course, as a consequence, my thousands of fans across the world have been in a funk--especially those hard-core CI followers in Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Belgium, and Malawi. But not to worry--I'm back! Let the celebrating begin.
What's been happening in the last three months? And what can we learn from these things?
Lesson #1: Health care remains amazingly expensive and out of whack. Our daughter had emergency surgery in August--a ruptured cyst on her right ovary. In the hospital before lunch; out of the hospital just after dinner. Total cost? $26,000. That's right--two, six, zero, zero, zero, a mere $3500 an hour. After several reductions and allowances--including insurance--our share became around $2,000--but that's still two grand out of pocket for less than a day in the hospital. WTF.
Lesson #2: College has become less demanding. Back in the day, the courses that I took as an undergraduate were pretty challenging. It wasn't at all shocking to have three or four textbooks in a course (and we walked to those classes in bare feet through 8-foot snowdrifts, too--and we liked it!) These days, I get all kinds of pushback (love that word--one of my favorites right now) about "how many theories we have to learn" and "how many chapters there are." (Never mind that the current set of readings is about 149 pages, total, to cover a minimum of three weeks of classes.) I've just heard a lot of whining lately, not to mention some serious misunderstandings of what's involved in higher education and how the game is played. ["Why aren't the tests open book?" "Writing assignments--what is this, an English class?" "This class concerns me--I guess I'm going to have to talk to the Admissions Office (!) about it."] But, bottom line, we are expecting less of these kids.
Lesson #3: The culture wars are still very nasty. And incredibly bizarre. I'm constantly flabbergasted by those who think (a) that beleaguered, oppressed top 1 percent needs to be shielded against higher taxes, (b) those gay people need to be told that they can't marry (even though they can't marry now anyway!), (c) the President is an evil Socialist, (d) God controls everything, and (e) unless you think that the U.S. is the most exceptional nation in the world that you should move to Teheran. And, in a nation of 300,000,000 people, that our "best and brightest" include the likes of Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and Rick Perry. (And let's not forget Mr. Herman Cain, former pizza chain CEO, who has about as much foreign policy experience as Larry the Cable Guy.)
Lesson #4: We all need positive strokes. I didn't realize until September how depleted my ego was--my very sense of self. After submitting 162 pages of material in the fall of 2009 to a promotion committee, and being told by that committee that 162 pages was insufficient, and that a promotion was not going to happen for several other reasons, I began to question my value in the world. And then along came Shannon--an angel from a publisher, a publisher that needed help getting a textbook finished. I reviewed 9 chapters of that book; I wrote 13 boxed items for that book; I revised several of those chapters from top to bottom; and I wrote a summary along with discussion questions at the end of each chapter. And for the first time in memory--certainly the first time this century--I felt recognized and appreciated. Shannon didn't seem to have enough superlatives--each new piece was either "excellent," or "flawless," or "perfect," or the like. And I just gobbled up all those strokes like a man who'd been wandering around the desert for 3 days with nothing to eat or drink. In the end, Shannon said she hadn't worked with anyone better in her 15 years in publishing, and I was floating. (And I made some pretty darn good money too!) I came to realize that I work in a place of benign neglect--no one ever really hassles you (thank goodness for that), but no one ever really tells you the good stuff that you need to hear, either. As best I can, I need to pay all this forward a bit: it's sometimes hard to do so with a whiny or inept student, but I was reminded of what that glow feels like and why it matters. Here's a big hug for y'all.
Thanksgiving tomorrow--my favorite holiday of the year. Have a good one.
