Tracy Revels

It Gets Quiet, So Fast

I'm always astonished by how rapidly Wofford can empty, how quickly the halls can become hushed.  The way students decamp with such alacrity just before a holiday is rather amazing.  Of course, Thanksgiving is late this year and everyone seems more than ready for some visiting with friends and feasting with relatives.  When they return, that last week will be all too short and then finals will be upon us and everyone will wonder 'where did the semester go'?

Of course, not everyone has departed from Wofford.  Some students remain, and our athletes have special obligations and opportunities (Go Terriers!  Beat James Madison!).  Many professors take this time to come into their offices and catch up on work and grading.  Since I'm not headed to Florida, I keep telling myself that I need to not only grade and write exams, but clean the office and get everything nice and neat so that when we start bringing job candidates in, they won't be appalled by the department chair's disorder.

Yeah, right.  Like that's going to happen.

I do hope everyone who reads this blog will have a very Happy Holiday, however it is spent!

Welcome Juliette!

Our history colleague, Dr. Tim Schmitz, and his wife and Foreign Languages colleague Dr. Catherine Schmitz became parents on Friday night.  Juliette Margot Andrea Schmitz was born at 9:21pm on November 14, weighing 7 lb 11oz. and measuring 20.75 inches.

Mother, baby, and daddy are doing fine! 

Needless to say, everyone around here in History (and over in the Foreign Languages suite in Olin) is simply over the moon about this beautiful little girl!

You Just Might Be....

Everyone knows that I think Jeff Foxworthy is the funniest comedian in America; I often joke about the fact that I either went to school with or I'm related to the people in his routines.  Thinking about his favorite saying "if you're X, you might be a redneck" made me realize that I could do the same thing with a group of people that I know a lot about.  So, if you're any of the following...you might be a Wofford College professor!

*If you can drink your weight in Ms. Rita's coffee....

*If you can work a crossword puzzle during a faculty meeting....

*If you can doze off at your desk....bonus points if you can doze off during your own lecture!

*If you steal candy out of other departments' candy jars....

*If you've ever helped Dr. Abercrombie catch a critter....

*If your students tell you that you have cool shoes....

*If you've ever scaled the fence behind the Science Building because you got locked in....bonus points if you did it in a skirt.

*If you've ever taught class while wearing a foot cast/a 'Beat Furman' shirt/or a pirate hat....

*If you can drive a golf cart that belches smoke (on purpose)....

*If you can curse Banner Web in three languages....

*If you can actually use 'quintessential' in a sentence....

*If you've been deeply depressed by a travel interim that didn't make....

*If your office has been moved four times, including a stint in the Black Science Annex....

*If you're married to one of your colleagues....

*If you've ever used the phrase "he cleans up well" upon spotting a student at a football game....

*If you or any of your friends are known as 'Herniators'....

*If you consider classroom and lab disasters to be 'teaching moments'....

*If you wish your place was as nice as the Wofford Village....

*If you've ever hurried to class on a Wofford bike....

*If you've ever written to the Dean to complain about those kids who park in the Horseshoe....

*If you leave messages like 'geeky historian' or 'nerdy scientist' in the log in section of the computer screen for the colleague who has the room after you to find....

*If you've ever threatened to leave a student in a foreign country....

*If you've turned your favorite hobby into an interim project....

*If you know which colleague is walking down the hall by the sound of his/her footsteps....

*If your name has ever appeared on someone else's test....bonus points if your name was ever a correct answer!

And finally---if you are giddy in your excitement about your new iphone then---you might be the Wofford College President!

What Does Failure Equal?

I realize that this blog probably makes me sound like Pollyanna or Susie Sunshine.  I'm certainly not either of those ladies, though I do feel very fortunate to be at Wofford and to be able to chronicle daily academic life at this institution.  Career-wise, I have been incredibly blessed and I'm happy to talk about it.  But that doesn't mean that every day is great or that things always go well.  Like any other academic I have my share of regrets and I frequently experience a sense of failure.

One core regret is that it took me so long to complete my research projects.  Many people pick up their dissertations, polish them, and get them right out to publishers.  For several years I simply couldn't look at mine, and it was easy to say "oh I have all these other things to do" instead of working on Watery Eden.  It took a lot of nagging and cajoling from the Friends of Wakulla Springs before I could dive back into the project.  And it really should not have required a decade to write Grander in Her Daughters.  I went through so many periods of feeling bad and uncertain about the research; again, I have to give a lot of credit to a persuasive individual (Dr. Catherine Clinton, a former Jones Professor) for setting me on the right course and saying "get it done now."  I actually like research but I need to learn better discipline in making research a regular part of my academic activities.

Another problem I've faced this semester is feeling like I'm not getting through to all of my students.  I had a very large number of them drop my classes.  Of course I understand why some students had to withdraw---this person was ill for a couple of weeks, that person was simply over-extended with classes---but I don't understand the overall number.  I feel like I've worked extra hard this term, tried new techniques like the class blog and getting tests returned quicker.  But the results were not what I expected!  I suppose regrets and even out right failures can be instructive, however.  I plan on making some changes next term.  Lower class sizes and smaller classrooms will probably be helpful.  I'll miss the huge screen in MacMillian Theater, but if it means keeping more students I'll be glad to go back into a 'normal' classroom.

I've struggled with the new duties of chairmanship.  While I've sincerely enjoyed many aspects of the role (especially advising and working with the majors), I worry that I haven't done as much as I should.  I keep having the feeling that there is an invisible person tugging at the back of my jacket.  I have yet to dislodge that mysterious individual who makes me think there's something more that I should be doing.

Many of my other regrets are purely personal.  Why didn't I start exercising when I was younger; why didn't I learn to cook when I lived at home?  What was I thinking to have waited ten years to buy a house and why can't I see it as anything more meaningful than four walls and a roof?  I shouldn't have waited so long to find a church family.  I should have done a better job with finding interests and hobbies outside of work.  Almost every weekend I find myself thinking about things that I should have done.

At the risk of sounding too optimistic, I take some comfort in what my colleague G.R. Davis said---"Having a total failure is also having a teaching moment."  I may not like always being the one who is taught, but whoever said learning should always be pleasant?  If regrets and failures lead to change, to doing better, then they're worth having.

I See And Observe!

Last fall semester, I had a student in my Sherlock Holmes humanities class who was a natural-born storyteller.  Almost every Monday he would be spinning some tale, either of his high school adventures or his weekend mischief, that would have his fellow students spellbound.  His papers showed promise, only needing to be more carefully proofread and tweaked.  I fussed at him whenever I felt he was being just a bit lazy, and I told him, over and over again, that I thought he had the makings of a good writer.  Maybe he should grow up to be an English major.

He would roll his eyes and insist that he wasn't about to do that!

Today, when he came in for advising, he sheepishly admitted that he's discovered he loves words, enjoys writing stories, and just 'likes to think about what literature means.'  And he's going to be an English major.

I feel like Sherlock Holmes after a particularly brilliant deduction!

Vote For History

I hope anyone who reads this, who is a registered voter, will go and vote.  I found myself at the Camp Croft precinct at 6:50 am this morning, in a line of about 75 people.  I've never waited in line before!  So already my day has been a bit historical. 

I especially urge you, if you are a woman, to go vote.  Please remember that women are still relatively new to this privilege of citizenship.  Nine generations of my family have lived in America and I'm only the second generation female born with the right to vote.  American women endured hardship and ridicule to win that right; some were even arrested and cruelly force-fed in prison.  If you say "I don't care" or "I can't be bothered" or "the line is too long" then you've demonstrated your lack of respect for your female ancestors.

Also, if you are a member of a minority, remember the many years of disenfranchisement, intimidation, and brutality that deprived your forefathers of the right to vote.  No one who marched in Selma or on Washington, who was attacked by dogs or clubbed by policemen just because he wanted to cast a ballot, would agree that voting "takes too much time" or "isn't worth the effort."

And if you're young, remember that 18 year olds haven't had the franchise for all that long either!  You do matter, your voice does count, and the way your generation organizes, via text-messaging and e-mails, is going to be the wave of the political future.

Election Day is a great day to be an American.  It's a time when people come together, and even though we have very passionate political viewpoints, we can still get along and respect each other.  Whatever the outcome, this will be one for the history books.  We should vote because we care about our future, because we are informed about issues and want a voice in who represents us in the halls of power.  We vote for the future, not the past; yet with every ballot cast, we also honor that past, that legacy that makes us who we are today and for all the election days to come.