red wine and dermatologists

Some of you may recall my speculating that I might be allergic to red wine. This was a prime example of self-diagnosis. The thing is, I was suffering terribly from itchiness. I was reduced on many occasions to wrapping a cold, damp towel around my feet and ankles at bedtime in order to get some relief. Of course Craig suggested a visit to the doctor, but where I come from, we just suffer... Actually I did mention the itching to my doctor at my annual female visit late last spring and got the usual advice of changing soaps, laundry and otherwise, and so on. And so I continued to itch. What drove me to visit Craig's dermatologist? Well, I realized that people sitting next to me in meetings might be secretly repelled by my scabby wrists and hands. Yup, it was that gross. I had even tried forgoeing the red wine -- no discernible improvement (thank god). So I finally scheduled an appointment last week. As I recounted the visit to Craig, he said "Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you he is quite parsimonious." No kidding. I was called in and sat down. He asked what was wrong and I launched into my tail of itching and soap changes and lotions and.... he swiveled in his swively chair, grabbed a wooden stick with a pointy end and scratched my forearm three times. Then he jumped up and promised to be back in a few minutes. I sat there thinking I hadn't told him about the damp towel and I studied my arm. Eventually he came back and I held out the arm. "Hives" he pronounced. "Neuro-systemic". He then scribbled out a prescription for something better than benadryl and dashed out. I filled the prescription, took two at bedtime and the itching is history.

Christmas pic

When research calls

I am frantically collecting data for the paper I will be giving in two short weeks in Chicago. I needed some more Russian subjects and a friend at work volunteered that at the divey coffee place he likes to hang out at they are aplenty. So last night I popped the kids into bed and headed out to the Coffee Break. You get old and forget that places like this exist (ok, probably this is the only one in SLC). A pretty large place divided into three spaces. Back room with couches and comfy chairs. Main room with tables and the counter for ordering. Many pierced and tatooed young people bustling behind it. Then outside with heat lamps for the smokers. It looked like I had a big crowd, but the numbers shrank when it became clear that the task involved reading words on a screen. Many of them had come to the states prior to much schooling and simply weren't up for it. Still I got half a dozen which was pleasing.

Christmas challenge

So, the staff in our office, probably like office staff everywhere, love to decorate. They don't need much of a pretext before the place is dripping with festive cheer. Halloween and Thanksgiving were all out - the latter quite weird. I don't know, but a large cardboard turkey on all the adminstrators' doors sends some sort of message...
Of course once the turkeys went back into their boxes, out came the tree, garlands and other sparkly bits of holiday cheer. It wasn't long before one of the faculty complained. We had a long disucssion on the separation of church and state and I promised to look into the matter. Well it turns out the US Supreme Court has actually ruled on this issue, and the tree is not a religious symbol. You just have to call it a 'holiday' tree and it's all good. Personally I think that is some serious semantic slight of hand. Of course it's part of Christmas! However this does move the issue to one we can discuss as a department. When I had suggested that option to said faculty member, he asked if we were "really going to debate the Constitution". Now that it's no longer a constitutional issue, just one of personal preference, well, I guess we can have at it in a department meeting... That should be fun.

Winter has arrived

We have had a dry fall and the ski resorts are still mostly not open, but yesterday it snowed. Here is a picture Catherine took of the front garden.

Thanksgiving

Through the miracle that is divorced parenting, Craig and I ended up alone on Thanksgiving. I made a roast beef dinner because I think turkey is horribly overrated and I don't live in England so can't just go round making this meal every week. After we ate, we went to see 'Dan in Real Life' which was charming. We brought our red wine to go bottle and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The next evening friends converged and Catherine and Sam were back. Catherine and I had picked up a massively on sale version of the game 'Scene It' the TV edition. We forced the guests to play, but this was fair as a couple of them forced their nowhere near ready plum wine on the rest of us. It was bit of disappointment for C and S as the shows featured were all relics from before they were born. Some who protested loudly that they never watch tv and wouldn't be able to play were outed as 'Welcome Back Kotter' watchers in their distant past...
We went to bed late with the kitchen an utter mess. Craig and I slept in and got up to find a clean kitchen and a freshly baked batch of muffins. Thank you Catherine! Sam mumbled 'suck-up' in disgust, but ate a few of the muffins.

O Canada

Up late last night - that problem of reaching the point of being really tired when not yet possible to go to bed and then not being able to fall asleep when at last bed is available. At least a chance to watch bad cable channels we don't subscribe to AND more importantly imbibe some Canadian content. Most curious was an ad/public service announcement entitled "Canadian Trailblazers". The one I saw was a vignette about a research geneticist working in Vancouver. I thought, how quaint to be a small enough place where we can all feel a community and celebrate the Vancouver trail blazer even on TV in Montreal.

1920s party

Here we are at a do last night.

Extroverts Unite

More on the subject of Myers Briggs. So there were about 15 of us this session this morning. We all shuffle in at 8:30, grab coffee and sit at one of the tables around the room. We had a really interesting presentation on Jung and the test and so on. We also did some worksheets to see what we thought were are preferences in the four areas of the test. Finallly they gave back our profiles -- lovely packets with lots of graphs and snippets of "this is you" types of information. They then talked about how extroverts and introverts are pretty evenly distributed in the population and said they wanted to begin by having each type group together and talk about being extroverts and being introverts. Pause. No one moves. Why, because we have already segregrated ourselves. All introverts on one side of the room, extroverts on the other. That was a good laugh.

Understanding your triggers

So, the leadershiIp development workshop that I attend every three weeks or so on a Friday morning today focussed on Myers Brigg's analyses of the participants. It was a riot. The nickname for my particular personality combination: "life's adminstrator". So all you family members who suspected that I was born to chair.... you are right on the nose.
We also got tid bits on what are likely triggers or stressors for us- not a surprise to learn that people not willing to pull their weight was one of mine. And on that note, let me share an email from one of my colleagues. The background is the dept executive committee's proposal to state that basic merit (we evaluate everyone once a year for research, teaching and service) in the category of adminstrative service requires that a faculty member: 1) attend monthly department meetings; 2) attend the annual department retreat; 3) serve on 2 committees per year.

"One additional thought: if we make attendance of meetings & such a
condition for basic merit (conversely, if non-attendance is penalized
by "demerit"), we may find ourselves astray from the regulations of
the Faculty Handbook & under potential legal scrutiny from those who
want to challenge such procedures."

The latest is his threat to dig up his yellowing, ancient contract -- 'legally binding' he is quick to assure us -- and prove that nowhere does it say that he has to attend faculty meetings. Did I say that I love my job!

HALLOWEEN

More pictures to come, but for starters, here is my cross dressing son!

update from the admin trenches

Here's a gem from my inbox today:
"I have received a letter from a gentleman in prison who would like to learn Serbo-Croatian. Do you have any suggestions for texts that he might use at the beginning level?"
Hmmmm.

Another favorite moment - ran into a faculty member for whom I had just written an RPT letter, Said colleague had received the necessary copy and remarked gushingly: "Thanks for the letter, I had no idea you could write so well!"



On a more personal note, I've decided that I might be allergic to red wine, which as you will all recognize, constitutes a bad revelation in my world. I've decided to eliminate it and see whether the symptoms disappear. Of course they may be replaced by extreme crankiness and then we'll have to reassess.

dinner party

Saturday night we had people round for dinner, which is the only way we know to finish any sort of house improvement project. We finally put up all the Ikea panels in the family room - behold:



Then we set a beautiful table:






Then we danced! Ignore the red eye!

Road Trip

Today we went down to BYU to meet with some of the language program people. I must confess that in the eight years I have been here, I had not yet set foot on their campus. I did go to Provo last weekend for one of Sam's soccer games, but today was the first visit to that other campus. I was really impressed. First off the campus is beautiful and second, the people we met were really terrific. It was like so many meetings I have had since becoming an administrator - all overwhelming with the sense of possibilities. Of course, then we get in the car to drive back and contemplate who among our disenchanted or already incredibly overextended faculty we could enlist for a new initiative and reality sets in a little.
Letter season is grinding along. It is actually quite rewarding to delve into people's projects and try to understand them in a way that makes it possible to write a good letter. I'll learn a lot at least.

flying solo

uh oh. My other half in the land of chairdom has to fly home to a family emergeny in Spain so I will be ON MY OWN for the next six days. I have to run a faculty meeting on Thursday and, more horribly, spew out the first couple of our several letters of support for faculty sabbatical/grant/leave applications. This latter I was planning to take the lead on anyway, but it just feels a tad daunting knowing that editorial support will be in SPAIN on a significant time difference. Perhaps this is why I am well on my way through a bottle of red...or maybe I am just well on my way through a bottle of red.

ironies

So, last week we had to meet with an instructor whose last set of course evaluations were woefully poor. The meeting included such highlights as explaining that answering your cell phone during class on a regular enough basis to have it much noted in the evals, was just not on. There were also the usual laments about digresssions, homework never returned, and my personal favorite, the recomendation to get drunk before tests. Imagine my surprise when today I got through campus mail a notification of this instructor's nomination for a distinguished teaching award. I had to ring the person in charge and say I couldn't really see writing a glowing letter since I had just finished writing a summation of our little chat from last week and it was anything but a glowing endorsement of the person's teaching.

Administrative Update

The Co-Chairs have made it through the beginning of the semester, but not without some moments worth blogging about. Where to begin? Well, we appear to be a perfect team. We had been feeling this when we got through our first unpleasant meeting with a faculty member at which we played off each other and although faculty member left disgruntled, s/he was still on speaking terms with one of us (it wasn't yours truly as you will understand in what follows). This was highlighted in a meeting last week with a handful of the full professors. We have them meet as an advisory committee since each of them has more institutional memory than the two of us combined. It can be helpful, but also really grim. After this particular meeting, F said, "I thought that went pretty well." To which I replied, "What? Well? They called you "too sensitive" and me "Mussolini"... exactly how did that go "well"?" Well, I guess it did underscore our yin/yang-ness. (I think my siblings might empathasize with the Mussolini characterization.) Perhaps I should say what motivated the comparison. F and I subscribe to the wacky view that faculty members should attend departmental meetings and the yearly retreat. We realize this is 'out there'. After all, people are drawing a full-time salary and there is one meeting a month... but, hey, we think participation is in fact part of our jobs. So, after the retreat, we sent letters to all the absentee faculty noting their absence and hoping to see their full participation in the future. This did not go down well. I was reminded of my equally heinous record-keeping last spring when I kept track of who came to the job talks by our external chair candidates. One of the senior folks was heard to say that he wanted to "do something about the letter". Now, I'm wondering, perhaps he should go to our Dean to complain that we pointed out that he isn't doing his job and he is upset about this.
Other fun items.
Learned that one or our senior faculty members encourages a donation of a bottle of wine in return for writing a letter of recommendation....this came to my attention when the Mormon receptionist appeared holding a bottle at arm's length saying "what should I do with this?"
We see more clearly the ramifications of having no written by-laws or procedures. We cannot in fact vote on anything because we literally do not know how. What is a quorum? Do we vote by ballot or show of hands? Can people vote by proxy? By email?
Our working slogan is: Inventing the wheel, one spoke at a time!

Moscow shoes

As promised in an earlier post, I am uploading pictures of the impossible shoes spotted by me this summer on the streets of Moscow. This is just a brief sample. Enjoy!

Rainmakers

So our most recent camping trip has finally convinced us that we could in fact hire ourselves out to drought stricken regions. Our continued forays into the wilderness are nothing if not testimony to the the triumph of optimism -- "really, it must be possible for a family willing to drive hours in cramped quarters to be able to then sleep days in cramped quarters and at least not be WET". Last fall we made two such trips. First we went to Green River, Utah for Melon Days (mid-September). The idea was to camp overnight and then do a day raft trip. Rain was so bad that we spent the night at Craig's parents an hour away and then went to the raft company early morning. It was sunny but not warm. There is always a driver and a guide for these operations and, after conferring, they agreed that we could "do the Green". This meant a drive along a treacherous road in a van towing the raft. Well, we couldn't "do the road to the Green". At a certain grade we began to slide sideways towards the 30- foot drop to the river. Our guide retained a semblance of calm although later began reliving the experience in Yoda-ese: adventure, danger, a jedi seeks not these things. He also asked us not to send his boss copies of the pictures of us ankle deep in mud or bracing the side of the van as he eased it backwards so that it retained its inches from the edge margin. A month later we tried again. I had booked us a campsite at Goblin Valley for the Saturday night of UEA weekend (Utah educators gather and students get Thursday and Friday off). The site was booked for Friday so we stayed that night in a motel in, you guessed it, Green River. By the morning, after we had watched a serious amount of cable (we don't get many channels at home), the rain was full on. We drove hopefully onwards to Goblin Valley, where we discovered a sea of red mud. We joined the other unfortunates under a large picnic shelter, ate our sandwiches and watched the torrential flow. Ryan and Sam put on the rain ponchos which we had picked up at a gas station en route and headed out among the goblins. Here is a picture of the place so that you can imagine it:

Others also ventured forth. The rest of us stayed in the shelter and amused ourselves by watching the more hearty attempt to regain the shelter. This required ascending a steep and muddy slope. Some participants in this game were wearing flip flops which added to our entertainment value. Needless to say, there was no way we could pitch a tent in the muck, so we drove home.
I attributed these failures to off season planning. Perhaps mid-September or mid-October were too late. Next time we'll do August - full on summer month. Which brings us to our most recent trip.

Camping

This will merit a full blog on the order of why we have such appalling luck when we try to get back to nature en famille. This weekend's trip ended up beautifully with a gorgeous day on Sunday. We rafted down the Green River for a few hours and here are the pics. Prior to that there was lightening, rain, hail and White Trash in the campsite...

SHOWTIME

So, perhaps you're all wondering what being Chair and actually being in situ is like. First, there are a lot of meetings. I feel a surprising need to acquire a Blackberry or some such device. My brother-in-law who is also at the U and has also taken on an administrative position put it well this morning. We were at a day long (although I skipped out for other meetings after lunch) workshop for new administrators where we sat next to each other around a very large boardroom table in the very serious central administration building. At one point he leaned in and confided that he actually finds the "whole administrative thing remarkably enjoyable". I have to concur. I find myself composing memos in my head. And you know you're pretty much a goner when presentations from the U's internal auditing department about fraud are surprisingly riveting. As far as day to day operations, we are in high gear with classes starting on Monday. There is a kind of frenetic energy level which I love although I cannot see my desk and I have yet to finish unpacking my office.
Just to keep things really exciting we have a family camping trip Friday-Sunday.

pictures

beautiful England pictures

England pics

We have been busy and I haven't had my laptop hooked up with the ability to upload pictures, but I think I can get a few off mum's computer so you can see the fun we have been having.

Things in the neighborhood

In addition to Moscow's central mosque, the neighborhood where I am staying is also home to CERAGEM. For those of you unfamiliar with this place, google it. Basically some rich South Korean has littered the world with centers of massage beds which you may use for free. THe beds are automatic and have some magic heat and jade rollers -- all designed to heal you of anything that ails you. I dragged Liz there today to see how it compares to our local in Salt Lake. First difference, you have to get past the requisite Soviet style guard man - not difficult, just a card to fill out and flash. You then emerge in one of Russia's run down courtyards not visible from the street. We took a wrong doorway and ended up in some other "fitness" room where there were all sorts of primitive stretch and strength apparatus littered about. Finally found our place which was much bigger than the one in SL (30+ beds). Despite the expected session times as advertised, there were a couple of figures who seemed permanently ensconed. TN|BC

Not knowing the conventions

In the space of under 12 hours I managed to embarrass myself in both a casino and a monastery. And that my friends is the beauty of Moscow. Friday night we were the guests of a friend who runs the biggest casino in town. We had a lovely meal and then thought we'd have a go at a game. Having never strayed beyond slots in Vegas, I was thrilled when friend summoned a croupier to open a roulette table for "a couple of high rollers" (that would be me and Liz). Our total incompetence astounded the manager, croupier and the people playing black jack at the next table. But we did win $30. Beginners luck. The next morning we went with the children to Novospaskii monsastery. It was a last minute decision and we arrived without the requisite head scarves. Never mind. In front of the guard booth there were two laundry baskets of loaners. I picked out a garish number and as I wrestled with it, Liz's husband Vasya handed me a different one. It was bigger and was proving really tricky to get around my head when I realized that everyone was laughing. Turns out it was actually a wrap around skirt to cover my inappopriate trousers.

Brides on parade

As some of you know, I am in Moscow to record examples of Russian urban legends, but I'm game for pretty much anything folklorique. So imagine my delight yesterday, when visiting our old neighborhood, to get a blast of modern wedding ritual. The bridge over the canal near the Tretyakov gallery has become the place for brides to come and be photographed. Possibly because it is beautiful with lots of water fountains, but also because there is a non-through road on which one can easily leave a Hummer limo. There is also a park with inviting spots for brides to be photographed cradling live doves. I kid you not. Anyway since I was last here the bridge has sprouted a tree of "locks of eternity". This is a tradition I am not familiar with. Basically the happy couple brings a padlock with their names and wedding date etched and locks it to the tree. I have pictures but no way to upload so you'll have to use your imagination for now.

Dinner Moscow Style

Last night I met up with some friends for dinner. We sat on the patio of a Georgian place on the Arbat - all very charming until that (inevitable) Russian moment of drunken youth vomiting en passant. He never slowed so left a trail 15 feet long for all to enjoy mid dinner. Ah Moscow. We then got to watch the passing hordes squeal and avoid or tromp obliviously through the man's last supper.
Liz gets back this afternoon from her mountaineering expedition. She called last night to say that she had fainted from altitude sickness and had to be carried off the mountain. Looking forward to all the stories over a nice dinner this evening.

Jet lag

Am suffering extremely delayed jet lag. After a swimmingly easy adjustment in England I am now back on Salt Lake time. Finally fall asleep between 3 and 4am and fight to get out of bed before noon. Probably doesn't help that dusk lasts until midnight and by 4 it is already dawning.
Relieved to have Alison's clarification about from whence she is not losing hair. Enjoyed the pics of mum on her blowup pal.
I am about to head out on a photography project I have dreamed up.

MOSCOW

It is pouring with rain. It rains in Russia like everything else Russian - with huge excess-- A cloudburst that results in immediate street flooding. I left the flat to come read my email and immediately regretted my choice of footwear. There was, just outside the gate, a sea of water. Helpfully someone had arranged some broken bits of brick into stepping stones and I joined the queue of people waiting to demonstrate their sense of balance. I spent most of today just lounging around the flat. Towards late afternoon I was drawn to the windows on one side of the apartment where I saw a sea of kneeling men at prayer. There appears to be a makeshift mosque down there - I shall go and investigate tomorrow. A little later out the other windows there was something transpiring in an embassy compound - It looked like a wedding or maybe a theatrical performance. THe bride wasn't wearing white but something huge and golden and at one point a man in a suit picked her up and twirled about with her. Then it started to rain and everyone ran inside.
I intend to post regularly because this place continues to be as weird as always. You just venture outside and are amazed.

More pictures

Back by popular demand...

Ok, so here is the before and after picture of the "accent" wall in the family room. Most members of the family loathe the new color, but I don't see any of them wielding a brush.

pics

Here are some recent pictures - Catherine suffering through my idea of a birthday cake (key lime cheese cake) and Ryan with friends. God, is pregnancy in the water?

At last an update

I don't have the hang of posting regularly yet and fear that I shall lose my miniscule audience! So here is a little update. The children are out of school for the summer and it is the time of year when I get wiggy according to Craig. I can't bear to see them splayed sloth like in front of the TV, xbox or computer, but seem to lack the wherewithal to keep a constant assault on this slothdom. Miraculously, the past few days have been like a dream come true for me. In fact, as I write this I can hear C, S and a friend downstairs playing a furious game of monopoly. This has been going on for hours, interrupted only by a trip to the bowling alley. It is pouring with rain so have roasted vegetables for dinner which seems hugely unseasonable for June in Utah.
I have, of course, been following the baby updates. Arrival of new niece in California -- finally someone bearing the Hacking last name for the next generation. And of course we have all been avidly been following Alison's blog (or was that boobs?). I am enjoying these pregnancies vicariously. Daniel is over the moon about Olivia and I don't have to contemplate a sleepless night!

A Slice of Americana

So, we went to Catherine's dance recital this evening. The yearly recital, where girls grouped by age, tap, shuffle and often stumble their way through a series of dances, is a flourshing aspect of at least a Utah girlhood. "Suzanne's School of Dance" where Catherine and two of her friends go weekly looks to have around 200 girls from 3-18 trying to step in time. And Suzanne is just one of many valiant women across the Salt Lake valley imparting the love of dance. Every other year the recital is held on the university campus at Kingsbury Hall with costumes. In the off year, there are matching T-shirts in a Church basement. This year was Kingsbury Hall. Dressing rooms, bright lights and, oh, the costumes. I shall try to paint a picture for those of you who don't immediately know what such an event might look like. And stay tuned for photos and perhaps even video to be added next week.
First, the costumes, because clearly this is mainly what it is all about. Each group does three dances and hence, gets three costumes. They are a wonderment of spangly, sequiny, stretchy delight. The very young girls also get at least one dance in yards of tulle. Lest they look too innocent, this is offset by another number in an outfit that Craig remarked "wouldn't look out of place with a pole". The dances fall under one of four rubrics: jazz, hip hop, tap and ballet. Ballet is only for the little girls, and hip hop only for the big ones. The hip hop dances are all to songs that I am quite sure Mrs. Stott does not grasp the lyrics of. My favorite of the evening was Sean Paul's ode to marijauna backing a bevy of jaunty, very blond mormon girls.
But it's not just dancing. There's more! In addition to the dances, there is tumbling. After one of their three dances, the girls demonstrate two tricks that they have been working on. The audience is subjected to an astonishing array of aborted handstands, failed cartwheels and split second head stands. This is all done on blue mats that have been dragged on stage. As an audience we begin to get the hang of the routine and the appearance of the blue mats becomes Pavlovian. We know we are in for some class entertainment. No one is any good at any of the tricks and most people are beyond bad. Why must they do it? Why must they confront the mat of shame? It did make us contemplate buying the DVD of the evening just for the sheer comic value. But given that Catherine was among those who "misjudged" her trick... we thought it might just be unkind.
I promise pictures.

Who's on third?

I'm not in charge yet but that doesn't stop people from turning to me. "I have a student who failed second semester Latin and is begging for a passing grade so he can continue. Should I give it to him? He's very keen on all things Roman". Oh, and "all the women in the class complained that he gave them the creeps, and one told me he's on the sex offender registry". Thank god we can leave aside this issue, because he can't decline a latin noun to save his life, let alone pass third semester. Incidentally, he is on the registry -- a source of information that certainly wasn't around in my student days. Weird.

office space

My co-chair has moved his stuff into the administrative suite. He managed a sweet swap with someone eager to move to the quiet corner of the department that we currently occupy. For those of you who haven't seen our digs, we inhabit a building which challenges even the best sense of direction. Our offices extend along labyrinthian hallways. Someone explained to me when I arrived here that the zigs and zags were designed to maximize windows to the outside and indeed, unlike my previous place of employ, I do have a lovely view of the foothills. My former job had us housed in what was to have been a parking garage and as one friend wryly observed, the offices were the size of parking spaces. I too will move to the centre of the office labyrinth, but must wait until an office is vacated. This will probably be on the last possible day preceding my official appointment so I expect to be rolling dolly loads of books on June 30th.
I won't be teaching a class again until January and some part of me must be clinging to my last grading. I still have stacks to get through by Monday. We have a new online system for posting grades which gives an ominous countdown when you log in: "you have 5 days, 4 hours and 37 minutes left to post your grades". I fear I shall be down to just minutes by the time I get it all done. In the meantime I have planted some herbs given to me by the children for my birthday. I have only looked at the handheld GPS device from Craig - it promises to involve a steep learning curve, but I am very excited to have it. We can start geo-caching on weekends --- or I can use it to find my way from my new office to the bathroom.

parenting in the breach

"Mom, for school tomorrow I need a dark blue tablecloth and a centerpiece featuring a moose." I felt the rest of my day taking a turn for the "not an evening with a glass of red wine and the latest New Yorker." But, really it wouldn't be parenthood without these random last minute requests. So we hunkered down with Google Images, construction paper and dried out glue sticks. Oh and a glass of red wine for me... A week ago it was the other child with such a request. 7:30am. Me at table with mug of coffee and newspaper. Small voice says: "today is colonial celebration day, and, um, I need a costume." What? (Small inner voice wondering why any curriculum is celebrating colonialism...) Fortunately request was accompanied by illustration of man in long waistcoat, britches, and ruffle at shirt neck. Out came the sewing machine, fabric remnants, and a couple of linen dinner napkins. See results below. Too early in the morning for an accompanying glass of red wine.

rah rah

So, one of the challenges of department leadership is publicity. You have to let people know who you are, what you have to offer, and hope that some of them will want to partake. We haven't been terribly good at this, but there has been some movement. The college has encouraged us all to have a professional portrait done. This so that we are "press ready". You know, something eventful happens, faculty member X steps up as talking head, and said portrait can be dispatched. These pictures now hang in a glass case outside our deparment where they don't do much to inspire. First, we are rather decimated in ranks -- many people just didn't acquiesce to the studio session ---; second, those of us that did, look not so appealing. We also have a departmental brochure which sends a curious message. At some point, someone chose the slogan "gateway to the world" as our mantra and in keeping with that the front of the brochure features a black and white photograph of gates to a cemetery. What message are we sending? We are "gateway to the underworld"? "Studying with us is like being dead"? We have our work cut out for us.

Moab!

So, we went to Moab this weekend because Craig had a "gig" - two nights playing in a tavern that was frequented by the sort of clientele that Europeans secretly believe America is full of. Let's just say there were more patrons than sets of teeth. The town was also host this weekend to an antique car show so there was no room at the inn. Fortunately Craig had booked early and managed to get us lodging at the Lazy Lizard... Blast from the past -- or someone's past. Anyway the place is a bonafide hostel - we paid $26 for a private room. Bathroom across the hall complete with mold and an astonishing array of shampoo left by travelers. The room was surprisingly comfortable, or perhaps tomb like. It was warm already (high 80s) and the Lazy Lizard doesn't do air conditioning. We slept like logs. Saturday we did an amazing hike up a gully - still some pools of water.

и вот началась новая жизнь

Department seeking chair

"Do you feel a rising sense of nausea, or are you at all intrigued?" asked my Dean. And so began a tenure as Department Chair - actually Co-Chair, since a colleague and I are going down in the annals of academe as one of the rare experiments in shared governance. The official takeover isn't until July 1st, a date by which we will have both managed to be conveniently out of the country. The current Chair seems to manage largely in absentia so we thought we'd give it a go... Until then, there is an endless round of meetings to "get up to speed." This is useful since as everyone knows, academics largely self-select for absence of administrative skills. Indeed I believe an interest in things beyond Slavic linguistics probably marks me as a lost cause researchwise. Upon general announcement of our appointment at least one of my senior colleagues mitigated congratulations with the comment that "I knew you wanted to Department Chair" -- read: I saw something unseemly about you and lo and behold it has come to pass. Nonetheless, I am -- to mimic my undergrads -- psyched! Which reminds me that one of my junior colleagues, viewing such enthusiasm, asked if I was planning to have an MRI. I don't know why embracing departmental leadership is viewed as such a bizarre act, but it seems a prevalent reaction so stay tuned. There may be mental breakdown in my future.
For now, I am excited to be learning how things really work and thrilled to have the chance to work with my colleagues to fashion a 21st century department we can be proud of and excited to work in.