Waiting on Orders

 I'm reading a book about D-Day by Stephen Ambrose. I've read a lot of books by Ambrose over the years. I gave up on him due to the "plagiarism" scandal at the end of his life. I wasn't a fan of that. And I'm still not. BUT, I've been stunned (as my readers well know) by the magnitude of plagiarism taking hold in academic circles, see for instance Harvard's president, et al. I wonder if there is a study there somewhere. Regardless, Ambrose is a greater writer. More on that later. 

What I find interesting is his description of the landing at Omaha Beach. The first invasion he discusses is Utah, and for the most part that sounds rather staid. But boy, Omaha was a goat fuck. 

Land Acknowledgements and The Clovis People

As I said, Andrew has a land acknowledgment in his syllabus. Specifically, it says: Land Acknowledgement: As the first land-grant institution established under the 1862 Morrill Act, we acknowledge that the state of Kansas is historically home to many Native nations, including Kaw, Osage, and Pawnee, among others. Furthermore, Kansas is the current home to four federally recognized Native nations: The Prairie Band Potawatomi, the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska. Many Native nations utilized the western plains of Kansas as their hunting grounds, and others—such as the Delaware—were moved through this region during Indian removal efforts to make way for White settlers. It’s important to acknowledge this, since the land that serves as the foundation for this institution was, and still is, stolen land. We remember these truths because K-State’s status as a land-grant institution is a story that exists within ongoing settler-colonialism and rests on the dispossession of Indigenous people and nations from their lands. These truths are often invisible to many. The recognition that K-State’s history begins and continues through Indigenous contexts is essential.

Syllabii

I've finished my syllabus for my class. I think this is important because the syllabus is the first moment that the professor gets to put his stamp on the class. I was using a syllabus that came from Dr. B through Dr. C. I didn't care for it. 

Step 1, . . . styles. No one uses Word styles correctly. Usually, that's the first thing I do. So the first stamp of Dr. Hannah that the students see will be Calibri. Then they'll see my nicely formatted tables. 

Memes

I'm teaching a class in the spring for KSU and it's on "Research Design." I think the actual name is "Seminar in Adult Education Research." But I like the more colloquial, Research Design. 

I have posted this image because one of the first assignments I have is a discussion of Chapter 1, but the students have to include a meme about research design, then discuss why they chose that meme. 

Some may say that that seems a bit juvenile for a "graduate-level" class filled with Master's students in Adult Education and those seeking their PhDs. BUT, the professor in my last class started with this little ice breaker, hers was synchronous rather than asynchronous, but still it was just a tad meaningful, so I think I'll try it too. 

Continuing Saga

One thing I notice . . . continuing yesterday's discussion about my "friend" LB, is that I'm not sure if she even knows if she wants to be a fan or friend. Why? Well, cause every now and then I notice that she deactivates, and in one case blocked my account, from a fake account she set up. 

I think about this often. the way I see it, one,  . . . she’s checking whether I noticed. I think her blocking and deactivating is her way of wondering: “Is he watching back?” . . . “Does he care?” . . . “Is he aware I’m here?” . . . . It's like she can’t decide whether to re-engage or fully detach.

Fan or Friend

I had a friend, a close friend for many years. We've all seen those movies or read those books where a "soulmate" style friendship is described. This is what we had and it was everything that the books and movies make it out to be. Actually, it was quite a bit more. 

Regardless, it fell apart. When I look back at our friendship, I realize that it lasted well beyond the expiration date. What does that mean? It means when I review the timeline of our friendship, I realize now that it would have been better had we stopped being friends about ten years before the end of our friendship. There was nothing positive or worthwhile that emerged from the final ten years. It would have been better had we stopped years and years before. 

Outlier

I had to travel to Michigan this past weekend. I don't care for Michigan personally. I've been here enough times to know this is not a place I'd like to live. This weekend was the worst trip here I've had . . . why?  . . . snow, super cold, and for a funeral. 

I only met Anne a couple of times. The first time was in Key West for a wedding. That was a great time. My wife and Anne were both bridesmaids for Anne's sister. I got to hang out with Anne's husband, the groom, all of the groomsmen. It was a memorable and terrific time. Still, I interacted with Anne, only once or twice the whole weekend. 

Hypocrisy Again

Maybe it's because it's on my mind, but I struggle with all of the hypocrisy. Not just the challenges I see in my day-to-day life, as I discussed yesterday, but also in the news in general. 

I read an editorial today that discussed the WaPo story about the "double tap" incident that is currently in the news. These two images that I posted, other than the land vs water aspect . . . what are the differences?

Unreal Hypocrisy

My (former) colleague J told me she had a talk with my old boss a few weeks after I resigned. She asked him, "How do you think he'll like the new place?"

What did he say?

He said, "I think he'll find there's a lot of nepotism."

She told me about it. At the time he said it, I thought it was absurd. The place I was leaving had a significant amount of nepotism and familial hiring. It also worried me because one of the things I wanted to leave behind by going to the new organization I was moving to was the back-scratching, the politics, the nepotism, and the favoritism. The good news . . . I've been at my new company for a year. Not even a hint of nepotism or favoritism. There's one daughter-in-law of a senior manager who works in a department, and one husband-and-wife team who are both lower-level employees. But nothing beyond that. 

Shifting the Conversation

I just had another article published (HERE). Woo-Hoo! Sadly, this might be the least impressive of the bunch.  

The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), an organization of which I am a member since I earned my Associate Safety Professional (ASP) certification, has published my article on translanguaging.