Often I hear people claim that, “God put me in the right place at the right time!” I have never heard anyone credit God for delivering them to the wrong place in their lives. Others of course attribute success to luck, which I guess is as mysterious a force as a deity. And I rememberContinue reading “God, Luck, and Planning”
Tag Archives: teaching
Night of the Burning Posse
This is another of those crazy memories that just pop unbidden into my brain. At Temple University, the theatre majors were a pretty closely knit group. Oh, of course there was gossip and back-biting (I quote myself: “My mother always said, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all, or go intoContinue reading “Night of the Burning Posse”
Commence to Begin
I’m always amazed to see kindergarten, middle school, and all other kinds of milestone graduation ceremonies. This never occurred to us when we were kids. We moved straight from grade to high school. Our grade school was grades 1 to 8, and when grade 8 was finished, there was no ceremony. For us there wereContinue reading “Commence to Begin”
To Paraphrase the Alien in Plan Nine from Outer Space:
“All you faculty are stupid!” We often see a dichotomy between an upper and a lower class. And sometimes this division is false, but persists nonetheless. For example, on an academic campus, we may see a prejudice on the part of maintenance workers who look down on the faculty. I never did. My first realContinue reading “To Paraphrase the Alien in Plan Nine from Outer Space:”
Men! Stay Out! Except…
So there’s a big deal these days about using the “correct gender rest room.” And maybe this is a provocative notion, but maybe we should just get over it. Here’s why. Years ago, I was at the Rites of Spring progressive rock festival (ROSfest) in Gettysburg, PA. One of the things you have to knowContinue reading “Men! Stay Out! Except…”
Too Many Angels
I was outside on “Holy Saturday” (which seems like it should be truly a day of rest amidst the constant Easter services but apparently isn’t, and counts as a “vigil” day) and looked down the street to my neighbor’s house. Without my glasses, I saw two white-clad figures I took to be angels. My inclinationContinue reading “Too Many Angels”
Journey…Into The Past (Lives)
Years ago, when I was an undergrad at my first college (a small private that proved to be inadequate for my proper theatre training—hence my transferring to a real theatre program at a real school), I heard this crazy metaphysical thing: how to see what you looked like in your past lives. The method wasContinue reading “Journey…Into The Past (Lives)”
List My Work History
Buckle up and get your reading glasses–this is a long one. Recently someone insinuated that, since I spent my life in academia, I didn’t know anything about working real jobs. (It was phrased in terms of never wearing steel-toed shoes.) So I thought I’d compile a list of all my work experiences in and outContinue reading “List My Work History”
Bias Against Education?
Someone recently said to me, “People in ivory towers must never have heard of hard-toed shoes.” This was clearly a dig from a “working man” (really, a lifelong office jockey) who clearly has some disdain for Academia. This is not the first time I’ve experienced this. I started college two years after my high schoolContinue reading “Bias Against Education?”
Whistling Backstage, Dark or Not
There’s an old tradition that one does not whistle backstage in a theatre. Like most theatrical traditions, you don’t question it, but nevertheless I often wondered about it. And for years I taught the reason for this in my Intro to Theatre course; I don’t know if I read this, or just made it up,Continue reading “Whistling Backstage, Dark or Not”
