Today was the season opener for the Georgia Bulldogs (and many other university teams), who soundly defeated Georgia State – anyone not see that coming? Several events this weekend have me thinking about the athleticization of higher education in the U.S. Surprisingly, I had great attendance in my classes yesterday. Guess those pop quizzes are working! However, as events unfolded yesterday and today, I began to ponder if the primary function of UGA is academic or athletic in nature. For your consideration, I offer the following facts (with commentary of course):
The Main Library was closed today for fear the tailgaters would use it as a pit stop. As an academic, I find the closing of the building that most symbolizes knowledge and education quite troubling. The message is clear – focus on the game rather than your academic pursuits. The even greater concern is that no one seems to care that the library was closed – except those of us who needed to use it. I truly needed to work today, but did not have access to the tools I needed for my research. Further, given that there are 10 of us sharing an office (because the university doesn’t have the space to house our department), I have a cubicle in the library where I work. Closing the library denied me a space to work. The fact that the media reported the reason for the closing as fans propensity to use it as a pit stop furthers the notion that the library now symbolizes nothing more than a restroom to our society. We visit football stadiums for fun, excitement, etc., but we visit libraries to relieve ourselves.
Students, faculty, and staff who pay for university services forfeit their rights to those services on game days. Aside from the closing of the library, I provide two examples for your consideration. First, parking increased $120 this year, but most of us forfeit our right to park on campus during game weekends (see previous blog entry). The university is prohibiting people for using their offices and the library as well as accessing facilities for which they pay fees (which aren’t cheap). Second, last evening I tried to take the dog (I’m keeping Puff while Jillian is in DC) for a walk at Lake Herrick (the nature center located next to the intramural fields). I went online and checked the parking map to make sure that I could park there (many individuals must surrender their parking spaces at 4:30 pm on Friday). The parking map indicated that two of the lots were designated for RV parking, but that the rest were open. As I turned into the drive that leads to the parking lots, I was stopped by three staff members who informed me that I was not allowed to park there. I explained that I wanted to use the walking trails (a facility I pay a fee to use every semester) and that I had checked online and the 2008 map indicated that there were some lots available. The proceeded to inform me that I was not allowed to use the facility regardless of the information on the map. Some of us pay so others may play. Note that my payment is in educational sacrifice as well as monetary forms.
Education receives massive budget cuts, but the athletic budget seems to be fine. Many states are facing huge economic problems this year, and the state of Georgia just implemented some fairly drastic budget cuts for higher education (although states such as Arkansas and Missouri seem to be faring much better). UGA is currently in a situation where it will not be hiring desperately needed faculty this year, departments have cut travel for faculty and graduate students to attend conferences to further their own education, and some departments are even cutting staff positions to decrease their budgets. My department cut one staff position, cut travel, and is trying to get us to cut copying expenses (hard to do when most of us are virtually paperless). While we cannot get alumni and others to provide funds to defray these cuts, we can get donations to build things such as the Vince Dooley Memorial Garden. True, the athletic association is monetarily independent from the university (this is the same with most institutions), but this is about principle. The state takes a hit in tax dollars, while athletic departments don’t seem to be struggling (I’ve yet to hear about any travel cuts associated with an athletic team). Have we reached a point in our society where we’re willing to fund a university’s athletic endeavors, but not it’s academic ones? The state budget cuts received about two days worth of media coverage – athletics receives an entire year. After all, news stations have sports anchors rather than education anchors. At what point did our society begin to privilege athleticism over education?
UGA suspends campus alcohol policies during game days. At the beginning of every fall semester, the UGA instructional faculty receives a letter from the provost instructing us to be careful of our discussions about alcohol in classes. Further, the campus has a relatively strict policy concerning the use of alcohol by minors (although recent media reports have questioned the equality of enforcement). However, on game days, come one, come all with the alcohol! Tailgating on campus is quite the tradition and alcohol is a must for tailgaters. What sort of message is this sending students? Clearly, if this was tantamount to the safety of students, the university wouldn't acquiesce to the desires of football fans. Would it? Do we value entertainment above education? Where does concern for the other fit into this picture?
I have come to the conclusion that, in the minds of most, institutions of higher education no longer exist to provide an education to the next generation, to seek solutions to critical social problems, or to discover new knowledge that improves the human experience. Rather, they serve to meet the athletic/entertainment needs of the masses. In no way do I intend for these comments to serve as an indictment of the University of Georgia. This is not a UGA phenomenon – it’s happening all over this nation. I am deeply disturbed by the move our society is making with it's view of higher education. At what point do we stand up and say, “The purpose of universities is education, not athletics!” In the words of Dennis Kucinich, “Wake up America!”
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Anger and Incompetence
A friend once told me that she never wanted to be in the situation where I was mad at her. Her logic was as follows: In all the time I have known you, I have never seen you angry at another person. In fact, you don’t seem to get mad or angry at people (although I’m often upset with people). Several other individuals present concurred, and stated that my lack of anger was probably a good thing as I possessed the power to be incredibly vindictive. As I reflected on the statement, I responded that I could only ever remember being angry at a person once in recent memory, and that all were correct concerning my desire for revenge. Since this conversation (about four years ago), I can recall two additional events where I was actually angry at someone. In the past 10 years, these three incidents are the only situations where I can actually recall being angry at another person. One was a circumstance in which someone said something about a member of my family, one was a circumstance in which someone who should have known better made a completely inappropriate comment that was offensive a large number of people (including myself), and the final one was upon learning that someone whom I trusted implicitly had betrayed a clearly private conversation. Although I had never fully considered it, I now recognize that one of the qualities I like best about myself is that I do not anger easily and only when justified.
However, I have recently become aware of a threat to my relative lack of anger to others that could potentially render this quality detrimental to me. The beast: INCOMPETENCE! If I were on Inside the Actor’s Studio, my response to James Lipton’s “What turns you off?” would be incompetence. Historically, my response to such individuals has been dismissal. After all, why tolerate incompetence? However, recent events have demonstrated that it is not always possible to escape incompetence (although not for lack of effort on my part). I currently have no choice but to maintain relationships with a handful of individuals whom I deem incompetent. Not only are these people trying my patience, but I have found myself on the verge of intense anger on numerous occasions. While this may seem understandable to many, it is a new experience for me, and one I am not quite certain how to handle. I wonder…am I becoming less tolerant of people as I age? Do I simply not possess the ability to work with certain types of people? Have I reached a point where my standards are so high that people cannot meet them? Am I setting people up for failure? As both a scholar of interpersonal communication and as a human being, I am troubled by these questions. I find myself replaying situations over and over again in the hope that I have somehow missed the slightest glimmer of ability in another. I offer more help than I should. I consult friends and colleagues, and yet, I still find myself on the verge of anger when I encounter incompetence. Will I leap from the precipice into full blown rage? Do I need to undertake some intense change? Will this experience lessen with time? How long with this progress? I find myself with more questions than answers. Yet, the fact remains – I detest incompetence!
However, I have recently become aware of a threat to my relative lack of anger to others that could potentially render this quality detrimental to me. The beast: INCOMPETENCE! If I were on Inside the Actor’s Studio, my response to James Lipton’s “What turns you off?” would be incompetence. Historically, my response to such individuals has been dismissal. After all, why tolerate incompetence? However, recent events have demonstrated that it is not always possible to escape incompetence (although not for lack of effort on my part). I currently have no choice but to maintain relationships with a handful of individuals whom I deem incompetent. Not only are these people trying my patience, but I have found myself on the verge of intense anger on numerous occasions. While this may seem understandable to many, it is a new experience for me, and one I am not quite certain how to handle. I wonder…am I becoming less tolerant of people as I age? Do I simply not possess the ability to work with certain types of people? Have I reached a point where my standards are so high that people cannot meet them? Am I setting people up for failure? As both a scholar of interpersonal communication and as a human being, I am troubled by these questions. I find myself replaying situations over and over again in the hope that I have somehow missed the slightest glimmer of ability in another. I offer more help than I should. I consult friends and colleagues, and yet, I still find myself on the verge of anger when I encounter incompetence. Will I leap from the precipice into full blown rage? Do I need to undertake some intense change? Will this experience lessen with time? How long with this progress? I find myself with more questions than answers. Yet, the fact remains – I detest incompetence!
Friday, August 1, 2008
A Night of Firsts
Delta Flight 4397 leaving Atlanta at 9:25 pm on 31 July. I arrived at the airport super early because there were no traffic delays in Atlanta, was the only passenger on my shuttle from long term parking, was the first person in line to check my baggage, and got through airport security in under 5 minutes. Wow! A series of firsts for me. When I checked my bag, the skycap informed me that the flight was delay to 11:00 pm, when I arrived at the gate (which had been changed), the flight was delayed until 11:36 pm. After I had dinner ($17 worth of a sandwich), I settled in to wait for two hours. I opened the laptop and connected to the Internet via my AT&T laptop connect card (I refused to pay $10 for 24 hours of Internet service). Before I could pull up the Delta website so that I could receive updates on the flight status, I received an e-mail from Delta confirming my flight delay. I opened the Delta website, typed in my flight number, click go, and received a glaring red message screaming CANCELED.
Although a tad perturbed that there was no announcement at the gate to this effect, I immediately packed away my laptop and grabbed my phone. I called Joanna (whose wedding was the purpose of my trip) and had her look up the Delta Skymiles phone number (I learned this on Morning Express with Robin Meade some weeks ago – it’s quicker than waiting in line – people were in line for hours). Bob informed me that Delta had graciously already booked me on a 6:15 flight the following evening. Since Joanna and Clint’s wedding rehearsal is scheduled at 4:00 pm tomorrow (yes, I’m writing this in the airport), I informed Bob that this was unacceptable and requested to be put on a different airline. He informed me that he could not do that since Delta had availability. Having taken persuasion and numerous other communication classes, I responded that Delta actually did not have availability given that I had to be in Hot Springs, AR at 4:00 pm tomorrow. He asked if he should transfer me to someone else who might be able to help me. I, of course, said YES!
It was then I met Debbie from Tampa. I informed Debbie of the situation (okay, I actually told her that the wedding was tomorrow at 4:00 pm as I figured this would make the situation appear much more dire). Appalled at being the person responsible for the lack of an officiant (how odd, Spellcheck doesn’t know this word) at a wedding an running the ceremony for 400 guests (Joanna, I know the chapel only holds 160, but I thought a larger number might produce better results). Debbie, with whom I am now in love, said, “I can book you on an 8:30 am flight.” Wow! Debbie has got to be the best Delta employee ever – she deserves an award! Although this is not the first time I have been stranded at an airport, this is the first time that I have received such service.
Currently, it’s almost midnight, and I’m sitting in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. I’m spending the night here because the hotels are so expensive in this area, plus, I need to be back here at 6:30 am. By the time I got to a hotel, I would only have about four hours to sleep before I had to be back here again. So my final first, I’m spending the night in the airport. My concerns right now: where is the bag I checked, and what am I supposed to do in the morning.
By the way, I may scream if I have to listen to the instructions for traveling with an infant over the loudspeaker again.
Although a tad perturbed that there was no announcement at the gate to this effect, I immediately packed away my laptop and grabbed my phone. I called Joanna (whose wedding was the purpose of my trip) and had her look up the Delta Skymiles phone number (I learned this on Morning Express with Robin Meade some weeks ago – it’s quicker than waiting in line – people were in line for hours). Bob informed me that Delta had graciously already booked me on a 6:15 flight the following evening. Since Joanna and Clint’s wedding rehearsal is scheduled at 4:00 pm tomorrow (yes, I’m writing this in the airport), I informed Bob that this was unacceptable and requested to be put on a different airline. He informed me that he could not do that since Delta had availability. Having taken persuasion and numerous other communication classes, I responded that Delta actually did not have availability given that I had to be in Hot Springs, AR at 4:00 pm tomorrow. He asked if he should transfer me to someone else who might be able to help me. I, of course, said YES!
It was then I met Debbie from Tampa. I informed Debbie of the situation (okay, I actually told her that the wedding was tomorrow at 4:00 pm as I figured this would make the situation appear much more dire). Appalled at being the person responsible for the lack of an officiant (how odd, Spellcheck doesn’t know this word) at a wedding an running the ceremony for 400 guests (Joanna, I know the chapel only holds 160, but I thought a larger number might produce better results). Debbie, with whom I am now in love, said, “I can book you on an 8:30 am flight.” Wow! Debbie has got to be the best Delta employee ever – she deserves an award! Although this is not the first time I have been stranded at an airport, this is the first time that I have received such service.
Currently, it’s almost midnight, and I’m sitting in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. I’m spending the night here because the hotels are so expensive in this area, plus, I need to be back here at 6:30 am. By the time I got to a hotel, I would only have about four hours to sleep before I had to be back here again. So my final first, I’m spending the night in the airport. My concerns right now: where is the bag I checked, and what am I supposed to do in the morning.
By the way, I may scream if I have to listen to the instructions for traveling with an infant over the loudspeaker again.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Oh the Irony
The University of Georgia notified us in the spring that the cost of parking would increase by $120 a year beginning this fall. The mumbling and grumbling then ensued. Although I recognize the university’s need to break-even (public institutions do not exist to make a profit), I am troubled by the drastic increase over the course of one year. I am further troubled by the fact that the $480 it now costs to park anywhere close to my office on campus comes with restrictions. For example, I am required to surrender my right to park on campus during football games (unless I want to pay an additional sum). I wonder if cost of football parking will increase by the same percentage this fall. Additionally, I am allowed to park in one lot and only one lot. This is really surprising given the size of this campus and the fact that I must traverse it just to teach my classes. The counterargument to this is that the University maintains an excellent bus system to facilitate individuals’ movement on campus. While the bus system is quite good, it’s obvious that anyone making this argument has never attempted to use the bus system during class changes between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. The result of all of this – I resigned myself to the fact that I will pay more for parking this year.
I went online earlier this summer and applied for parking (we have a weird lottery system – well, sort of). Today, I received an e-mail confirming that I had been awarded a parking space on campus – no real surprise as I am high on the priority list for the lots I selected. The e-mail told me that I would need to log onto the parking website to confirm my lot and pay for the privilege to park at the place where I work and attend school. I clicked on the link in the e-mail to complete this transaction, and a new window popped up. This was surprising as I have been through this process three times before without pop-ups. The pop-up was from Microsoft informing me that the site for the link I clicked was potentially unsafe and cautioning me that I might not want to proceed. Puzzled by this, I double-checked the link in an effort to ascertain what the problem was. It was immediately obvious – URLs do not contain the “@” symbol. This led to my search for the appropriate URL, which I did find, and successfully paid for parking. The irony (in hypothesis format as I am teaching methods this summer): As cost of parking increases the services related to parking decrease.
I went online earlier this summer and applied for parking (we have a weird lottery system – well, sort of). Today, I received an e-mail confirming that I had been awarded a parking space on campus – no real surprise as I am high on the priority list for the lots I selected. The e-mail told me that I would need to log onto the parking website to confirm my lot and pay for the privilege to park at the place where I work and attend school. I clicked on the link in the e-mail to complete this transaction, and a new window popped up. This was surprising as I have been through this process three times before without pop-ups. The pop-up was from Microsoft informing me that the site for the link I clicked was potentially unsafe and cautioning me that I might not want to proceed. Puzzled by this, I double-checked the link in an effort to ascertain what the problem was. It was immediately obvious – URLs do not contain the “@” symbol. This led to my search for the appropriate URL, which I did find, and successfully paid for parking. The irony (in hypothesis format as I am teaching methods this summer): As cost of parking increases the services related to parking decrease.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Critters are Taking Over
Literally…The critters are taking over. In the past week, a series of critters have invaded my space. While my farming background makes me no stranger to animals, my current visitors are leaving something to be desired.
The Chipmunk. By far, the chipmunk is the cutest of the critters. I first noticed the little munk Sunday morning on my patio. I opened the blinds on the back door to see if the sun had hit the patio table yet (I like to eat breakfast on the patio if the sun isn’t completely up yet), and there was the munk. I cannot recall ever being that close to a munk, so I decided to observe in the hope that I might learn something about munk behavior. After some investigation of my patio and light frolicking, the munk jumped into my strawberries. Given my lack of experience with munks, I found this feat quite impressive – the jump was over a foot. However, what happened next changed my view of the munk from once of appreciation to one of disdain. Munk proceeded to take a bite out of every ripe strawberry save one! I did not appreciate this, and as a result scared the offensive munk away from my patio. So much for my homegrown strawberries!
The Rabbits. The rabbits rank just below the chipmunk in cuteness, but they rank lowest in annoyance – kudos to them. I don’t really have an issue with the rabbits, yet. During my morning walks/runs the past two weeks, I have noticed several rabbits seem to have moved into the neighborhood. I’m fine with this as they are better neighbors than some of the humans in the neighborhood, but as with the munk, I was a little surprised to see them in so urban a setting. The rabbits watch me, and I watch them. Thus far, they have yet to find my plants, so I simply enjoy them. However, I am concerned that I will awake one morning to discover my plants destroyed.
The Spider. The spider is another matter. Now, I happen to like spiders. They are some of the most useful creatures God ever invented because they eat the unwanted bugs. My problem with the spider is location, location, location. The spider has decided to build a web across my back door. When I arrived home from school yesterday, the mail had yet to run, and I forgot about it until around 10 pm. When I remembered I needed to check my mail, I opened the back door and walked outside – right into the spider’s web. If you have ever had the misfortune to become entangled in such a web, you are well aware that it takes a massive effort to disentangle oneself from a spider’s web. Bad spider.
The Flies. The flies are at the pinnacle of my annoyance. Over the weekend, five flies infiltrated my residence. Three have now passed, but two remain are working round-the-clock to vex me. These two flies are the craftiest flies I have ever beheld. They appear to have the ability to sense when I am approaching with an instrument of death and immediately take to the skies. Further, they have taken to using me as their landing pad when I am seated on my loveseat. This is quite inappropriate! I do not believe I should be forced to tolerate this behavior in my own home. They were not invited and should therefore be expunged. My message to the flies…BEWARE: Death is imminent.
The Chipmunk. By far, the chipmunk is the cutest of the critters. I first noticed the little munk Sunday morning on my patio. I opened the blinds on the back door to see if the sun had hit the patio table yet (I like to eat breakfast on the patio if the sun isn’t completely up yet), and there was the munk. I cannot recall ever being that close to a munk, so I decided to observe in the hope that I might learn something about munk behavior. After some investigation of my patio and light frolicking, the munk jumped into my strawberries. Given my lack of experience with munks, I found this feat quite impressive – the jump was over a foot. However, what happened next changed my view of the munk from once of appreciation to one of disdain. Munk proceeded to take a bite out of every ripe strawberry save one! I did not appreciate this, and as a result scared the offensive munk away from my patio. So much for my homegrown strawberries!
The Rabbits. The rabbits rank just below the chipmunk in cuteness, but they rank lowest in annoyance – kudos to them. I don’t really have an issue with the rabbits, yet. During my morning walks/runs the past two weeks, I have noticed several rabbits seem to have moved into the neighborhood. I’m fine with this as they are better neighbors than some of the humans in the neighborhood, but as with the munk, I was a little surprised to see them in so urban a setting. The rabbits watch me, and I watch them. Thus far, they have yet to find my plants, so I simply enjoy them. However, I am concerned that I will awake one morning to discover my plants destroyed.
The Spider. The spider is another matter. Now, I happen to like spiders. They are some of the most useful creatures God ever invented because they eat the unwanted bugs. My problem with the spider is location, location, location. The spider has decided to build a web across my back door. When I arrived home from school yesterday, the mail had yet to run, and I forgot about it until around 10 pm. When I remembered I needed to check my mail, I opened the back door and walked outside – right into the spider’s web. If you have ever had the misfortune to become entangled in such a web, you are well aware that it takes a massive effort to disentangle oneself from a spider’s web. Bad spider.
The Flies. The flies are at the pinnacle of my annoyance. Over the weekend, five flies infiltrated my residence. Three have now passed, but two remain are working round-the-clock to vex me. These two flies are the craftiest flies I have ever beheld. They appear to have the ability to sense when I am approaching with an instrument of death and immediately take to the skies. Further, they have taken to using me as their landing pad when I am seated on my loveseat. This is quite inappropriate! I do not believe I should be forced to tolerate this behavior in my own home. They were not invited and should therefore be expunged. My message to the flies…BEWARE: Death is imminent.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Discovery through Loss
Recently, I lost a jump drive. Okay, not really recently - several months ago, but I just now realized that I lost it. In my quest to find aforementioned jump drive, I searched in all of the "usual" places: my desk (the one at home and the one on campus), my work tables, and then my bag. Now, bag should actually be plural as there are four bags. At first, the realization that I actually have four bags disturbed me, but as I pondered further, I realized that I actually use all four bags (i.e., discovery #1). I have two laptop bags, a messenger bag, and a backpack. One laptop bag attaches to my luggage, but won't hold much more than my laptop, a book and a couple of legal pads. My other laptop bag is the one that I use on a daily basis because it will hold my laptop, a few books, legal pads, student papers, etc. However, it does not attach to my luggage, which forces me to carry it when I travel. Since most of my travel is through the massive city that is Hartsfield Jackson International, this becomes very tiresome. The backpack is necessary given that some days I cannot fit everything I need in my usual laptop bag. Indeed, many a day I carry a backpack and said laptop bag. Finally, I have a messenger bag, for those rare days when I don't need my laptop and the backpack is too big. Thus, to each bag a purpose! [As an aside, the backpack was a gift and the messenger bag was free with purchase from Express.]
As I searched through these bags for the elusive jump drive, I found a number of items that I simply forgot I had (i.e., discovery #2). I found a number of pens and pencils (great since I'm a writing utensil snob), a jump drive - NOT the one that prompted my search, dry erase markers, legal pads, almost enough money for a gallon of gas, a dead bug, some debit card receipts, and a couple of "extra" computer cables. Discovery #2 was the most exciting of my discoveries for two reasons. First, I found supplies I had already purchased, which negated my immediate of purchasing more supplies. Second, the fall semester will begin in a few weeks, and I no longer need to purchase the standard fall supplies as I can now do my shopping at home!
When not in use, my bags reside in closet of my guest bedroom/office (if it's just me here, it's the office; if there are guests, it's the guest bedroom). As I began to pull the bags out of the closet, I noticed that it was impossible to walk in my walk-in closet. I found this highly disconcerting and proceeded to take everything out of the closet and engage in what I term a ritual purge (these take various forms about three times a year). A ritual purge involves pulling everything out of a space (usually a closet, but occasionally a box or desk), sorting through everything, and dividing it into four piles: keep, trash, recycle, or donate. Two recycle boxes, five donation boxes, and a trash bag later, I can now walk all the way to the back of my closet and touch the back wall. Even better, the closet now holds boxes of data that were sitting in the floor of my office! Discovery #3 was the most time consuming, but ultimately was very rewarding.
Discovery #4 was the most painful of my discoveries, but I think pain is often a part of the self-discovery process. I realized, in the words of Jillian, "Todd, you're a packrat." My packrat pain exists at two levels. First, there is the trauma associated with the fact that I am hoarder. To assuage my anti-materialistic readers, rest assured that I don't hoard normal items. No, in the grand irony that is the ivory tower, I hoard...my previous academic work (all the way back to high school). August begins year 10 of higher education for me, which means I've hoarded a LOT of stuff. Even sadder, I hoarded papers of which I have electronic copies. For the environmentally aware, these papers found a new home at the Athens-Clarke County recycling center. The second trauma is the realization that my proclivity is genetic. Yes, I am the son of hoarders. As someone who studies families for a living, I know that in many ways we're all becoming our parents. However, that does little to lessen the pain that accompanies the realization that I am becoming my parents. C'est la vie.
As look back on these discoveries, I am fascinated by the fact that they are a direct result of me losing a jump drive, which I have yet to find!
As I searched through these bags for the elusive jump drive, I found a number of items that I simply forgot I had (i.e., discovery #2). I found a number of pens and pencils (great since I'm a writing utensil snob), a jump drive - NOT the one that prompted my search, dry erase markers, legal pads, almost enough money for a gallon of gas, a dead bug, some debit card receipts, and a couple of "extra" computer cables. Discovery #2 was the most exciting of my discoveries for two reasons. First, I found supplies I had already purchased, which negated my immediate of purchasing more supplies. Second, the fall semester will begin in a few weeks, and I no longer need to purchase the standard fall supplies as I can now do my shopping at home!
When not in use, my bags reside in closet of my guest bedroom/office (if it's just me here, it's the office; if there are guests, it's the guest bedroom). As I began to pull the bags out of the closet, I noticed that it was impossible to walk in my walk-in closet. I found this highly disconcerting and proceeded to take everything out of the closet and engage in what I term a ritual purge (these take various forms about three times a year). A ritual purge involves pulling everything out of a space (usually a closet, but occasionally a box or desk), sorting through everything, and dividing it into four piles: keep, trash, recycle, or donate. Two recycle boxes, five donation boxes, and a trash bag later, I can now walk all the way to the back of my closet and touch the back wall. Even better, the closet now holds boxes of data that were sitting in the floor of my office! Discovery #3 was the most time consuming, but ultimately was very rewarding.
Discovery #4 was the most painful of my discoveries, but I think pain is often a part of the self-discovery process. I realized, in the words of Jillian, "Todd, you're a packrat." My packrat pain exists at two levels. First, there is the trauma associated with the fact that I am hoarder. To assuage my anti-materialistic readers, rest assured that I don't hoard normal items. No, in the grand irony that is the ivory tower, I hoard...my previous academic work (all the way back to high school). August begins year 10 of higher education for me, which means I've hoarded a LOT of stuff. Even sadder, I hoarded papers of which I have electronic copies. For the environmentally aware, these papers found a new home at the Athens-Clarke County recycling center. The second trauma is the realization that my proclivity is genetic. Yes, I am the son of hoarders. As someone who studies families for a living, I know that in many ways we're all becoming our parents. However, that does little to lessen the pain that accompanies the realization that I am becoming my parents. C'est la vie.
As look back on these discoveries, I am fascinated by the fact that they are a direct result of me losing a jump drive, which I have yet to find!
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