Bottom-Up Reform, Higher Education Reform & Grey's Anatomy

I want to thank all of the faculty and staff at UMF who have been supportive of me as I've been publishing my "Crisis in Higher Education" series with The Farmington Flyer. I believe everything I am saying and I truly wish it didn't have to be said because the more I know, the more disenfranchised I feel from the institution I have studied at and worked for, for the past four years. I especially want to thank the person (who must remain anonymous so as not to jeopardize their employment) who informed me this week that my articles have become the discussion of the infamous President's Council. If you're not aware of what the PC is, it's okay. I didn't know it even existed until a month ago. Ostensibly, I've only been able to gain a little knowledge of it -none of it from the administration, of course -but what I know troubles me.

Here's what I've heard: the PC is a group composed of the upper administration of UMF and the Director of Athletics. Not a single faculty member sits on this council. The PC is responsible for, among other things, creating schedules. The Director of Athletics sits on the council to make sure that there are as few conflicts as possible between athletic practices and classes. In addition, the PC decides issues of tenure, hiring, and firing (for all those people they don't give tenure to). It's quintessentially tyrannical and disgusting. **Disclosure: if any member of the administration reads this and would like to elaborate on the President's Council's duties or refute my claims, please do!**

But I'm happy to be telling you about all this. Why? First, it is a gesture toward transparency, the ultimate check and balance. Second, it is just another way in which I tell the story of the student. Here, I am standing up for the rights of students and faculty who are being subverted. Maybe it's not much, maybe it's nothing at all, but it is an attempt at the very least to work from the bottom to call for institutional reform. It's the reason I applied to a Master's program in Social Work. It's why I will tell my 'coming-out' story for an art (queer-art-politics) project this weekend. I don't have time to set up a tent and Occupy something and defend the proverbial 'little man.' But I am a visual/written artist and I can tell a story and hope, hopelessly hope that someone listens.

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Some other food for thought: where did Grey's Anatomy go? I know it's become this kind of primetime soap opera, but it was so delectable! They just killed Teddy's husband and now I want the second part! Also, anyone unfamiliar with Mumford & Sons or Fela Kuti should get familiar.

Mel is back on Tuesday and even though we can't see each other for at least a week, I'm cracking a huge bottle of wine for her in celebration.

A little Thanksgiving LitCrit

I'm currently waiting for the crabmeat-stuffed haddock (or is it the other way around) to come out of the oven and the lobster risotto smells delicious on the stove! We're just having a small family dinner this year so I've spent most of the day reading waiting for the Criminal Minds marathon at 4. I can't stand the Westminister Dog Show or the Macy's parade and ABC and NBC have come up with these new, modern cartoons that AREN'T Charlie Brown or Frosty the Snowman, so I've got a half hour until serial killing and Matthew Gray Gubler's hair come on.

I read the NYT and Slate today and I thought I might visit asmainegoes.com, a forum for all things political in Maine. Admittedly, I'm not up on my Maine politics, but I like to see what most of these ordinary hard-working men and women think about their state and this is what I found: http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/occupy-aroostook. Okay, so you might be as annoyed as I am about another Occupy protest, especially one that seems more about counteracting the Tea Party or espousing the liberal agenda Obama won't take on and not about ending bank bailouts. (I like some other parts of the platform too, but let's not get into the nitty-gritty.)

First paragraph: "Prof. Alice Bolstridge is the organizer. She is a poet who taught Literary Theory, Creative Writing and American Lit at the Oklahoma State University. Literary theorist are academics who write and often speak in Litcritalian, an obscure dialect of English using familiar verbs drained of familiar meanings and neologisms meaning nothing at all. Litcriticians know almost nothing yet believe they have a unique understanding of everything."

Literary theory is frustrating. Agreed. Yes, many theorists write in this cryptic language that seems to rely upon its obscurity to both make meaning and display the intelligence of the author. Me: I appreciate lucidity and erudite insights. Indeed, I've spent many a post criticizing theory and theorists for the way in which they often obscure what they are actually talking about or seem more intent on displaying their own prowess the way a peacock flaunts its feathers. But this attack is ad hominem outrageous! What does Professor Bolstridge's background as a theorist (not to mention her success as a scholar of American Literature and Creative Writing) have to do with Occupy Aroostook? Professor Bolstridge has been remarkably clear in demands and even intimates her aspirations from the implementation of said demands, as you can read in the AMG post. The author writes a self-defeating argument. Okay, you disagree with her. Okay, maybe you don't need to take Occupy seriously (especially the one at Harvard). But why do you need to open with a personal attack in order to start a discourse of disagreement?