"Shar lee Ebdoe"

"Je suis Charlie". That phrase has made the rounds since the two terrorists burst into the Publishing Company Charlie Hebdo (shar lee ebdoe) in Paris and murdered 11 journalists and 1 security guard.

It means of course “I am Charlie” or I am in solidarity with the freedom of the press, and with those who have been killed for their freedom to publish.
I did not get a “Je suis Charlie” button to wear, because I am not Charlie. Do not misunderstand me. I am beyond angry about what happened. I am more disgusted with gun violence than I have ever been and after Sandy Hook I didn’t think I could be.

I just think that something bigger needs to happen than wearing a button for a week or two. Something has to happen, we have to reach the tipping point where the people of the world say, “no more, we will have no more”. It has to become socially unacceptable to use violence to express your unhappiness or religious views.

I would like the press to refrain from stating perpetrators names in print or over the air. They can be called perpetrators of violence. They don’t get their name even mentioned. Think of the younger Tsarnaev about to go on trial for the Boston Bombing. He and his dead brother have had their names etched in history, made famous and the younger brother will by the end of the trial have had his photo splashed over every news media imaginable. he has a large twitter following for God sake.Two losers in Boston become instant celebrities. Don’t let these miscreants have the 6 months of fame. Let them continue to be what they were before their rampages, anonymous and worthless.

Of course that won’t happen because we have freedom of the press. That is the bitter rub, two losers kill journalists they don’t want to have the freedom of the press. Then because we have freedom of the press they are made internationally famous. How stupid is this?

I don’t want to hear one more story about the Kouachi brothers being disaffected, and poor, with no future prospects. They chose to come to France, and when you think of the many people in the world that have harder lives than they did, I can’t get weepy over their solution to go out in a blaze of gunfire killing as many unarmed people as they could. Poor us ( in both meanings) is a lame excuse, and saying you are defending Muhammad is ridiculous.

Every other God (Christian, Mormon, Jewish, Buddha, Vishnu and more have been lampooned with no rampages. No bloody Christian rampages for Jesus, no gunning down the cast of the Book of Mormon, no killing people for selling souvenir Buddha statues in the gift shop. Even the Pope is satirized and his bishops haven’t raided the set on SNL to blow up the cast. It maybe their justification but to most everyone else their justification is bull shit.

Je suis pour change. Je suis pour an international effort to put Jihad terrorists out of business. No more, no more, no more and keep the presses rolling. “L’esprit de l’escalier,” (Long live the press, print)

"Teaching in New York"

What is it like teaching college in New York? Is teaching college in New York that much different than HS in Ca? If we are talking about students, no. Students are the same everywhere. If we are talking about everything else the answer is definitely yes! Here’s why:

For one thing the two schools I teach at are older schools. Lehman is located in the upper west Bronx and it goes back to the early 1900’s. It was originally an all-women’s college specializing in nursing. The nursing program at Lehman is still one of the best programs nationwide. Lehman was a military base in WWII, and armaments were stored in the large buildings. The school added buildings after the war and went co-ed in the late 50’s. It serves about 10,000 students both full and part time. It is part of the 12 campus City University of New York system. Some of the other schools are, CCNY, Baruch, Queens College, Kings College, Brooklyn College, Hunter and College of Staten Island.

            I love the buildings at Lehman. They are Gothic cathedral type and named after past distinguished professors and school administrators. Carman Hall, Schuster Hall, and Davis Hall are just three of the 7 buildings housing academic subjects. Leonard Lief Library which is one of its newest buildings is pretty state of the art as far as libraries go. The student body is about 60% Hispanic, 30% Africa-American and 10% Asian and white. Those figures mirror closely the race profile of the upper west Bronx. Lehman College has both B.A. and M.A. programs. The English Department shares the third floor of Carman Hall with Economics and philosophy. That is where I work.

The other campus I work at is the College of Staten Island (CSI for short).  What is unique about CSI is how spread out it is. It probably has the same number of buildings as Lehman but on a campus at least twice as big. It wasn't built to be a college. Until the late 1974 it was a State run center for disturbed kids called Willowbrook. Geraldo Rivera did a show about the abuses going on at Willowbrook in 1972 and got the place shut down. Soon after that they discovered that one of the gardeners was a serial killer. They dug up quite a few buried bodies on the grounds. Some say the place is haunted and some teachers won’t teach in certain “rooms or buildings” if you get my drift.

            That doesn’t worry me!  I‘ve taught the dead before. I had some 1^st period classes at Poway High School that could be described as the “morning of the living dead”. CSI has beautiful open grass spaces, and lots of trees that are breathtaking in October. What I like about CSI so much is, it has only 8,000 students and so I‘ve never experienced the campus being crowded. One Friday night when I ended my class about 6 pm and began walking to the (shuttle) bus stop there was no one else out walking around. In the chilled twilight I had this big beautiful quiet place to myself.         

College teaching is fun and interesting. No hassles from parents, no counselors begging you to give a good grade to someone that clearly didn’t earn it, and no administrators telling you that data is your friend, testing is your friend. However, before you get the idea that these are perfect jobs let me turn the coin over and show you the other side. The teeth grinding side. 

For one thing my two commutes are not fun. It is 45-50 minutes one-way from Upper East Side of Manhattan to Lehman College on the upper West side of the Bronx. I must walk a half mile to the train station (subway), then stand in the tube with other commuters waiting for the trains. I get the 4 express train (in theory: less stops but in fact just as many) which will take me to Kingsbridge Road. It is not a fun ride. Sometimes I stand; sometimes if I’m lucky I get a seat. No matter what, at 8:30 in the morning it is a crowed “cattle car”. Sometimes I have to listen to Karaoke singers, listen to people asking for spare change (even a penny will do), religious ranting, and bodily noises (not yet identified), people eating smelly food and so forth. Then I walk another half mile from train station to the college. The reverse trip is another 50 minutes.

            At Lehman, professors are on a strict paper count. I can only run 1,000 sheets of paper in 15 weeks. Not per class, in total! I always go through it and have to find other places to run off a class set. Sometimes I have to go to the print shop near my house and pay to have handouts printed. Supplies are nonexistent; I bring in everything from a stapler to scissors. I had to get a bigger rolling bag just to carry everything. I share an office with 2 other professors. But they are tenured full-time professors so they get all the file cabinets and shelf space. Thank God I have my own desk. Finally, the English Department secretary is an absolute troll. She is mean and for some reason doesn’t like me, or maybe it’s just part timers she doesn’t like. I try to avoid her at all costs.

            CSI is an even longer commute. 2 hours+ to get there and 2 hours+ back. At least it’s only one day a week. The Department secretary there is not very helpful but she is pleasant. We can make the copies we need but all other information you need like computer passwords, copy codes are nowhere to be found and when you ask, you get the “look”! My son said it best, “Dad, when you are an adjunct (part-timer) you are on your own”. So true, so true.

            I use chalk boards, and teach in old rooms with wooden floors. In some respects if you took a black and white photo of me at the blackboard, it might well look like I was teaching in the 1950’s.  Despite the commute, the lack of support, the lack of supplies and occasionally being reminded that you are merely an adjunct; I like teaching college here. Most professors are unique characters and students treat you with respect. Most students try hard, and I have the freedom to design challenging classes and fun ways to communicate with students. Maybe the best part is that my Austin, Rebecca and I all teach college and that means we can get together for lunch at Neil’s and talk shop over a spirited bowl of split-pea soup. Thank you for reading.

Changes Coming for The Bailey Post

              

 The Bailey Post says Happy New Year to you and yours. The Bailey Post began in April of

2010 as a way of (me) facing impending retirement. People always said to me, you should write Will, when you get out of full time teaching. But I discovered early on I was NO story teller in the fiction sense. I am not entrenched in academia enough to write books or academic journals so I turned to the one thing I could write and that was social commentary, observations, character sketches, and satire.

            I think I have developed my own style, my "voice". Having said that, just because someone develops a voice it doesn’t mean anyone wants to hear that voice.  I have made people laugh, get angry, get furious, cancel their membership in the Will Club, and on occasion I have gotten people to contribute to the Post. The Bailey Post used one of the most basic blog platforms available without much gloss or glitter. The equivalent of publishing on the backs of grocery sacks and envelopes. It didn't get much improved (except the writing) over the years. So 163 published posts and 4 ½ years later it’s time for changes I am pleased to announce the birth of the New Bailey Post. The New Bailey Post  will have improved style, color, readability and interest. It will make a concentrated effort to add readers and more contributors.

               The New Bailey Post will enable you to subscribe to the post and when you do, new posts will be sent to you automatically. It will have links to twitter, Facebook, the web, dribble, slobber, upchuck, puke and other social media sites. It will have photos that I hope will be submitted by (you) the readers, and I will retain a soothsayer, palm reader, psychic, and astrologer on staff to satisfy “all your throw your money away” needs.  Since I am back teaching full time (what possessed me to do that?) (Oh yeah, boredom) I can’t write as many blogs but until the day I put down the chalk and eraser for the final time; I will endeavor to write a blog about every three weeks. 

               So, my friends and loyal readers it's also time to refresh my readership list.  Let me know if you want off the mailing list for the New Bailey Post. We will still be friends. No one is required to stay on the mailing list. This is not a Prison Blog. I would like to get each of you to think about contributing one article for the post sometime this next year. You don’t have to be Ernest Hemingway to contribute to this blog and by the way trust me Ernest Hemingway will NOT be contributing to the blog. 

Keep your eyes open for the  first edition of the New Bailey Post.

PS:         On a personal note, I am still battling a 3+ week upper respiratory virus, my son Austin got married to his sweetheart on Dec. 29^th, (pictures soon)and I made Merry (not Mary) over Christmas.  I finished a grueling (for me) full semester teaching and enjoyed most of it. I’ll teach three classes again this spring. Two at Lehman College and one at College of Staten Island. Austin finished his first semester of PhD studies and Rebecca successfully taught 3 college classes.