I won’t take up too much of your time with the ongoing woes of Pyrite University (in fact, I sincerely hope this is the last post where I even mention it), but it’s central to what’s going on in my life just now, as well as being at the core of this “Bloom” post.
It’s always a shock when a university closes its doors and Pyrite was a long-standing institution which makes it perhaps more of a shock. It’s easy to think “well, we’ve always made it through before, so we will now,” even when thinking that required the Powers That Be at Pyrite [“Go, Fool’s Gold!”] to ignore stacks upon stacks of financial statements and data. (Not that any rank-and-file staff/faculty ever saw any of that information.) The fact is, Pyrite had a history of financial crises that go back to its very founding – read the official history and take note of how many times that issue is raised.
It’s sad to say, but colleges close often enough that there are best practices to follow (here, here, and here are three good places to start, along with this thread which is devoted how professors handle the final weeks) and Pyrite deliberately ignored every single one of them, beginning with how the decision to close was announced and then pulled back for a fruitless fundraising campaign, to a complete absence of senior leadership on campus following the ultimate decision to close, to summarily terminating benefits with no notice. Perhaps instead of Pyrite U, I should have chosen to refer to the university as FUBAR U, run by President Charlie Foxtrot. It really has been a cluster of galactic proportions.
I have very strong feelings about how this mischief was managed and I’ll leave it to lawyers to sort through the debris and figure out Who Knew What, When. However, what I DO know at this moment is that saying that “it’s hard on all of us” and “it’s just my job” are two of the emptiest phrases in the English language. In fact, any time someone aims those phrases at me, Mellencamp lyrics run through my head: “Hey, calling it your job ol’ Hoss sure don’t make it right/But if you want me to, I’ll say a prayer for your soul tonight.”
I’m one of the fortunate ones who quickly found employment. My new job (hopefully, the last “new job” I ever have!) is outside of higher education. I thought I’d be conflicted about leaving that field – I’ve worked in it and loved it for more than 20 years – but in the end, it was an easy decision for me. I’m excited about my new opportunities and I’m very much looking forward to beginning that job in a few weeks; a start date that lets me finish a document drafting class I’m currently teaching for a law school.
In the meantime, I’m working to enjoy this enforced stop and bloom a bit. You don’t realize how worn down you’ve gotten until you don’t have the weight on your shoulders any longer. It feels like walking a red carpet in borrowed Harry Winston jewels to not start every day muttering, “You’re just tired” as I girded myself to go into a workplace that had become toxic enough to be the origin story of a supervillain.
So I’m spending my days painting and experimenting with new-to-me techniques that stretch my abilities. I’m reading light fluff, losing myself in the madcap films of Kay Kendall, working on a wonderfully frustrating puzzle of cats on bookshelves (so much brown!), and enjoying the fact that my houseplants made it through the winter. Clumps of bright yellow daylilies are blooming in the front yard, the gladioli are budding in the back yard, and a groundhog and his (her?) two teenage groundhoglings have been spotted sunning themselves on the grass. I’ve visited the County Art Show and scratched myself on briars finding mystery geocaches. I’ve finished switching out heavier clothes for summer florals and have a list of basics I’m looking for to round out my not-quite-a-capsule wardrobe. I might throw the bike on the back of the car and finally finish the Conqueror Challenge I’m so badly overdue on finishing.
Life isn’t a luxe cruise, of course. Chores need to be done and my Beloved and I are learning how to replace a belt on the clothes dryer. I’ve got sweet gum saplings to cut down and summer bulbs to plant. And some semi-deep cleaning to do in the house; maybe even windows to wash. It’s all part and parcel of this maddeningly beautiful journey that is modern life.
And it’s nothing short of glorious to have time to do some of it.
Stop and bloom, Divas. Wherever you are right now.
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