"Is that a dik dik?"

experiment 626

the best of all possible good things: PUPPY!!!!!

my family in Calgary got a puppy. he is the Christmastime mini-beast.

The Crumb

In 2006, one of my favourite people, R, sent me and three other favourite people, an email entitled "A Crumb Has Ruined My Life." A couple of days ago, we got "The Crumb, Part II."

"A Crumb Has Ruined My Life" (2006)

By R.L.

Save me from myself.  

My room: littered with papers, pens, pencil shavings, bottle caps, days old Starbucks cups, highlighters, trident gum wrappers on the desk, floor, beside table, plates, utensils, sugar , remnants of food that I once enjoyed but did not make it fully to my mouth and now line the floor, desk, any place a crumb could find its way, it's there. 

Now for the clincher. 

Today: sit down to begin the tedious task of studying stats.  I open my books.  A crumb, or something that looks incredibly similar to a rolled oat, is found in between the  pages.  I pick it up and eat it.  I PICK IT UP AND EAT IT.  ONE SINGLE BLOODY ROLLED OAT THAT COULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG?!  Maybe it was still in there from one another stats student who, like me, likes to eat when studying, and accidently split his/her rolled oats.  In fact, maybe it wasn't a rolled oat.  Hell, its not like I examined it before I popped it in my mouth or anything.  no no.  My thought processes were as follows: Food.  Eat.  Now.  ONE SINGLE CRUMB and my life is now over as we know it.  I've gone to the dark side, show me thelight...soon... otherwise I fear the time of redemption is slowly closing and it may be too late for me.  

"The Crumb, Part II"  (2010)

 I was sitting on the couch yesterday, snacking on some delicious coconut shrimp.  I ate these with enthusiasm, dipping them delicately into a lovely spicy sauce, and lovingly eating them all. 

Then I realized that I had eaten them all. 

I was sad.  

Then I looked down and saw a little morsel had dropped onto my sweatpants.  

REJOICE!  

I eagerly picked up this left behind, but not forgotten crumb, and hurriedly stuffed him into my mouth to enjoy! 

...

....

Chewing... chewing.  

Ah, yes.  It was a pencil shaving. 

Crumb Fail.  

Faculty Experiences with Bullying in Higher Education - Causes, Consequences, and Management

...While academics have paid little systematic empirical research attention to bullying in academic settings, this has not been the case in several popular online outlets and more traditional trade publications. For example, http://bulliedacademics.blogspot.com and www.mobbingportal. com/index.html represent some online destinations. In terms of a respected “industry” publication, the Chronicle of Higher Education has published numerous articles recently on the hostility and mistreatment that occurs on campuses (e.g., Fogg, 2008; Gravois, 2006). This suggests that academic settings are worthy and in need of concerted attention by researchers in workplace aggression and bullying...

...When bullying/mobbing occurs, it tends to be long-standing. McKay et al. (2008) found that 21% of their sample reported bullying that had persisted for more than five years in duration. In our 2008 study, 32% of the overall sample (faculty, staff, administrators, etc.) reported bullying lasting for more than three years. This percentage increased to 49% when we focused on faculty. It may be that academia is a particularly vulnerable setting for such persistent aggression as a result of tenure, which has faculty and some staff in very long-term relationships with one another. Both conflict (Holton, 1998) and aggression (Jawahar, 2002) research note that the longer and more interactive the relationship, the greater the opportunity for conflict and potential for aggression. Further, while ensuring a “job for life,” tenure may also restrict mobility so that once a situation goes bad, there are few options for leaving. Zapf and Gross (2001) observed that the number of actors was linked to the duration of bullying. They found that the more people who joined in the situation, the longer it went on, concluding that it may become increasingly difficult for witnesses/bystanders to remain neutral as bullying proceeds and intensifies...

...While injustice perceptions are common in all work settings, institutions of higher education may present numerous (sometimes unique) opportunities for such perceptions by faculty. For example, student evaluations of instruction are used in many important faculty personnel decisions such as discretionary salary increases, promotions, and reappointment and tenure decisions. Research clearly demonstrates that the content of the course, and “tough” grading, can adversely impact student ratings of teacher performance—leading to stress and frustration (which we discuss below), especially among junior (untenured) faculty. To combat this problem, some faculty may resort to grade inflation as a way of improving their own student evaluations—which, by the way, is often resented by other faculty members. This problem may differ according to academic disciplines and across academic departments. Faculty members are also evaluated using subjective, often ambiguous, criteria, as evident in reviews of scholarly/ intellectual contributions, department- and college-wide service, continuing growth, and community service. Few institutions have clear standards for judging such contributions and, instead, rely on general guidelines or descriptive criteria for making such evaluations. Such judgments often lead to perceptions of distributive injustice, unfair treatment associated with outcomes and procedural injustice, and unfair treatment associated with the decision-making process used to determine those outcomes (Greenberg & Colquitt, 2005)...

...Finally, the mechanisms available in higher education institutions may not be appropriately suited for helping faculty deal with these tensions due to their highly formalized structure and limited mandate (Leal, 1995). For example, in the United States and Canada, unions are designed to handle issues between faculty and the administration. They are not set up to handle member-on-member issues. Also, faculty members are less inclined to utilize these formal mechanisms because they take control of the situation out of faculty hands and into those of administration, impinging on the sacred value of autonomy...

Keashly, Loraleigh; Neuman, Joel H.(2010). Faculty Experiences with Bullying in Higher Education - Causes, Consequences, and Management. Administrative Theory & Praxis, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p48-70

What to do now?

I am a single white tenured male who is being bullied in a primarily all female department. I am a full professor, have a new book coming out next week, however have been called in my dean's office along with another female colleague of 3 years (I have been here 15 years) and had my course schedule changed to work primarily with freshmen... an insult in many cases. Today we did course evaluations and a student came to me and told me that both my dean and the other colleague had pulled them aside a told him to be certain about his narrative answers on the evaluations. He came to me with a "heads up" and told me he did not know what was going on, but I needed to look over my shoulder because he felt someone was out to get me. This guy is 40 years old and former military. So what do I do now?

Signed,
Confused and Angry

Get serious University of Virginia!

There’s even more to the Univ. Virginia tale. A couple of years ago, UVa recruited WBI (and others with extensive experience with university communities as well as being researchers and consultants, in other words, heavyweights in the field) to come to campus. UVa instead brought in a “motivational” speaker. At WBI, we pass on several on-site speeches when employers resist creating a solution for the problem that prompted the request in the first place.

The result at UVa was that nothing was done after the speech. The former President’s office was not engaged in discussions about bullying, and possibly the specific Kevin Morrissey complaints. If something had been in place, Morrissey would not have had to resort to pleading with HR and the other institutional helpers as his phone records indicated was done. HR may be implicated in Morrissey’s death. And the feel-good motivational speaker actually encouraged this negligent employer to believe that it had adequately addressed bullying on campus with a speech alone! Get serious UVa. What will it take to get American employers to stop the carnage within the ranks?

From: http://www.workplacebullying.org
Also: UVa Report after Morrissey suicide – No negatives for boss Genoways

The Anxiety of Influences

And WHY was I so predisposed to shopping? Probably because I've just finished Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, famed pen-name of British author Madeliene Wickham. I have been reading the Shopaholic books since 2000's Confessions of a Shopaholic and, --what I really want to write here is some sort of excuse as to why I would spend two days absorbed in chicklit. It's embarrassing, right?, to admit you enjoy such drivel. But I won't make excuses. I truly enjoy drivel-- Kinsella is a gifted comic writer. In addition, she is a clever person in general whose ability to market herself has me planning my own entry in the publishing industry.

According to Wikipedia, Kinsella graduated from New College, Oxford in 1990. She worked at at investment firm until the publication of her first novel, under her real name, when she was 24. After six pretty successful novels, "Wickham" sent the first Shopaholic book to her current publishers under the pseudonymous Kinsella and they jumped at promoting this new voice. Kinsella did not divulge her real identity until five years later.

Mini Shopaholic continues to follow the shopping-induced traumas of Rebecca Brandon (nee Bloomwood), who now has a two-year old daughter named Minnie and a birthday party to plan for her workaholic husband. It's great.

I gave up. I went shopping and spent $200 on jeans. There. I said it.

\

It took me six months to cave. In that time, I've not bought a thing to cover myself other than black tights and a shall while in Istanbul. I'm pretty proud of myself. But then, I went "Christmas Shopping" yesterday and somehow ended up in Holt's clutching a pair of Sevens. I'm done. & I'm going shopping on Boxing Day. 

(pic from fashiongonerogue)