Back to School

This week marked the beginning of the academic year, and what a whirlwind of a time this has been! A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the faculty retreat: two days in an isolated location that allowed for a focus on re-entry. That get-away was followed by an entire week of highly-structured on-campus inservice activities for faculty, staff and administrators. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that the sum of these pursuits tended to wear us out a little too much (I’ll admit that for me, at least), and by the time we got to this week, and to welcoming students back, we were probably a tad below 100% of our optimal operating function. But, get started we did.

The first day of classes presented some unexpected challenges above and beyond just trying to keep track of all the course staffing and statistics. One instructor in my division announced on Monday morning that he needed to schedule himself into heart bypass surgery and would be out for the term. That afternoon, a student, apparently mentally-ill, was exhibiting threatening behaviors. Of course, while issues such as these crop up on a regular basis, the first-day first-week timing was problematic.

I was extremely pleased that the first staff newsletter of the year, distributed to the campus in electronic form (as a large PDF file), was issued. Page 5 had a brief profile of me (including a photo), and the article on the faculty retreat (page 9) included several of my pictures (sans photo credit) from that experience.

Here we go: another school year is upon us!

More Blog Stuff

I know I reported, just 8 days ago, that I had successfully completed the blog migration process. Oh, if life were only that simple: that a job can actually be over with!

If you want to see how I’ve spent part of my time this weekend, go the ORblogs website (Forum section), and find the “No ping here either…” discussion thread. What fun this website maintenance job is!

More About Pain

A recent article in Time magazine addresses The Mystery of Pain. (Of course, we’re talking physical pain here, although, I believe, emotional and psychic wounds can lead to just as much distress as physical ailments do.) This piece was of interest to me because physical pain has been an ongoing nemesis in my life…for almost all my life. For the timespan of most of my twenties (about seven and a half years), for example, I experienced daily, often-times debilitating, headaches. And, it was during these years that I began to cope with periodic lower-back pain as well. I ultimately interpreted both of these physical conditions as reactions to the overwhelming stress in my life at the time, namely finding myself in a marriage that was the completely wrong place for me to be. When I left that relationship at about age 30, I was able to turn around the crippling nature of these physical conditions, get myself off the medication (Valium) I was using to cope, and make some progress in the areas of physical health and emotional growth. (The obvious smack-in-the-face exception is the fact that I moved directly from being addicted to Valium to a lifestyle of alcohol use and abuse, and that subsequently took a few more years to overcome.)

There have been some small portions of my life where I have lived relatively head- and back-ache free, but those times seem rather a dim memory. I continue to cope, the best I can, with daily pains in these parts of my body, and succeed pretty well most of the time. They have become, simply, conditions I have learned to live with.

But, I have aged. And I’ve not acquired the ability to get rid of chronic conditions, but, rather, seem to be an unwilling “collector.” I am not one of the people identified in the Time article who has a deteriorating body and is asymptomatic. Nope. When something is “off” with my system, I feel it, often times, it seems, with a higher degree of intensity when compared to others. I have recently written here, for example, about my diagnosis of Chronic Myofascial Pain. This is a condition that dominates my awareness in terms of the feelings (or lack thereof) in my lower extremities all-day, every-day. I’ve apparently not yet made significant-enough progress in my learning curve about this condition, given that my attempts at self-treatment have yielded virtually no change. The bottom line is: I live with these chronic pain conditions everyday AND try to be as functional a human being I possibly can at the same time. I find this pretty challenging.

The writer for Time asks “why does the same problem hurt one person and not the next?” Good question! I often wonder this myself. He suggests that we consider three factors: the “pain-inflammation connection;” “neural blockades;” & “depression and hormones.” Although I’m sure that the inflammation connection is a large part of my physical stuff, the relationship of depression to pain, of course, intrigues me. That has to be part of my dynamic as well, given my propensity to perpetually struggle with my emotional health. I’m convinced, in fact, that if I could find the right something (drug? herb? sleep potion?) to help me with chronic depression, then these other ailments would not loom as large for me as they currently do.

The article concludes with the statement that “today pain remains a tantalizing mystery.” (Duh. You think?) For now, we are advised to “cheer up, pop an Advil, keep working, go to the gym, eat something and buy your spouse a present.”

Ohmygod. I certainly feel reassured about handling my pain now. Thanks, Time.

People's Parade

Apparently I’m not the only one to notice the highly-political nature of much of the Eugene Celebration parade a couple Saturdays ago. The Eugene Weekly published their one-page “People’s Parade” article three days after I shared my “Parade Politics” photos with you.

Group Bonding

I have written previously of my honor to serve with such distinguished individuals as my former faculty (and other) colleagues at MHCC. They are truly a great, great bunch; not a day goes by that I don’t think of them (and miss them a lot). (Some more than others, of course: you know who you are!)

But, all the while I am missing my old friends, I am making new ones here at UCC. I believe I took a step forward in making significant (and forging stronger) relationships this week as I had occasion to call my first all-division meeting. On Wednesday morning the group convened as a whole (all the math, science and liberal arts faculty) for the first time with me as director. As I have been doing a lot of listening lately, during this get-together I gave myself permission to do something I don’t normally do during meetings: dominate the air time. Similar to the approach I took when I began my position at MHCC, I delivered a monologue that outlined my biographical storyline…a description of the personal path that had led to sharing this slice of space and time together.

From all that I can tell, the meeting went well: my overtures to the group well-received. Near the end of the meeting, I explained that the purpose of my (rather too long) narrative was to assist in the trust-building process. I believe that, for teams to work together smoothly and effectively, trust is an essential characteristic. And that to build trust, “time together” and “knowing the other” is critical. And I sincerely hope that my group now feels they know me better as a result of this exercise.

Although I ran overtime, and the meeting ended somewhat awkwardly and abruptly, several hung around and talked to me afterward. The comments I have received since then, in public and private, have all been positive and supportive. One particularly feel-good response (he reported immodestly) came from an instructor who said she was happy to now work for “a man of character.” Ooooooh, wow.

On top of that, another person who attended this meeting, shortly after, discovered this blog and wrote to inform me that “I just wanted to say that I really like the person who emerges from your writing, and I now trust even more in your goodness as a person and a leader.”

As you might imagine, all of this is really feeling incredibly wonderful. I’m guessing that the “honeymoon period” I’ve been enjoying here will continue for a little bit longer. I’m crossing my fingers for that, anyway.

Soundtrack suggestion:

Here come old flattop he come grooving up slowly
He got joo-joo eyeball he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker he just do what he please

He wear no shoeshine he got toe-jam football
He got monkey finger he shoot coca-cola
He say “I know you, you know me”
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together right now over me…

Oh
Come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah oh
Come together
Yeah come together

(“Come Together” – The Beatles)

Friends & Colleagues

“Shirley & Grattan”
September 17, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold

On June 30, 2004, I left the employ of the Oregon University System, the result of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education-directed reorganization of the Chancellor’s Office. While I may have moved on from that job, I did not surrender my attachments to the people I worked with, and I have been in periodic (though not frequent enough!) contact with many of these friends and colleagues since we departed on that day.

This last weekend, amazingly, many of us got together as a group for the first time since our unit, the Office of Academic Affairs, was dissolved. The occasion was the 70th birthday of our former, beloved leader, Senior Vice Chancellor Shirley Clark. It was planned as a surprise party at a restaurant in Eugene, and from all appearances, we succeeded in pulling it off. A quite-wonderful time was had by all…providing us, I think, with some much-needed re-bonding and support. It seemed apparent to me that, given the circumstances of our abrupt and unceremonious dismissals from the world and work of the university system, there is still some healing taking place…even this far down the road. I believe we needed this coming together, and the occasion of Shirley’s birthday was the perfect excuse.

Happy birthday, Shirley. And be well…

“Shirley & Vicki”
September 17, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold

Blog Migration

As you may recall, I changed the URL of this blog in June to its current location here at http://technomonk.us. Although I reported last month that the “restoration” of the blog was complete (among the issues I encountered: I had to upload, again, all the photographs), since June 23rd I’ve struggled to truly finish off the migration process. That is to say, I have been frantically attempting to resolve some remaining site-feed issues, and have been frustrated beyond belief trying to fix them. My approach to finding an answer included at least three or four hours, spread over several weeks, reading the help files for Blogger. No help. I emailed the “support” email addresses at Blogger.com and at Technorati.com. Nobody answered. What was I to do?

I Googled the problem, of course: and I read the experiences of several individuals who had migrated their blogs from one URL to another. Nobody seemed to have had the problems I was encountering, however. That is, until I discovered someone who had migrated his blogspot blog … and thoroughly documented his process. Peter Forret at http://blog.forret.com ultimately saved the day. His entry “Migrating from blogspot to a ‘real’ blog” provided the final bit of technical detail I needed to resolve my issues.

I finally finished all of this off today. Thank you, Peter!

Freedom of Speech

“Retreat”
September 14, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold

During Thursday and Friday this week, I attended a retreat of UCC faculty as part of our beginning-of-the-school-year inservice activities. The event was held at the Big K Guest Ranch in Elkton, Oregon (about 30 miles from here). The place is truly in the middle of nowhere. After driving about 18 miles north of (I-5 Exit 136) Sutherlin on Highway 138W, you take a right-hand turn onto a gravel road and proceed onward for another four miles…an experience bound to rattle your bones and car frame, even at 15 mph. However, the setting is quite idyllic, and a great spot for a group our size to get away and do some retreat-type work. The organizers constructed a very worthwhile agenda, and I was amazed at the effort and energy expended to make this a wonderfully-successful experience for everybody.

A lot of the time together was spent in small groups, examining topics relevant to both new and returning instructors. Even though I am not an instructor anymore [I was one of two administrators present (the other being the college president)], I found I was able to participate fully. And, the greatest benefit to me was getting to know faculty from my new, large division (as well as the entire campus).

On the final day, yesterday, we held discussions (during both the morning and afternoon sessions) on a variety of hypothetical ethical-dilemma situations. The final scenario involved a student who wore a t-shirt to class that had a (unidentified) racially-offensive message on it. The questions: what to do? How to handle this?

A variety of perspectives were offered. One person offered thoughts about a dress-code. Others provided suggestions aimed at trying to control student behavior and, hence, suppression of the t-shirt’s message.

I could not hold my tongue. At the end of the discussion (and our time together), I raised my hand. I offered the thought that a t-shirt was not offensive in and of itself, and that this was neither a dress code nor a student-conduct issue, but rather a free-speech one. Freedom of expression is one of our most cherished and important constitutional rights, I said, and that, especially in a college environment (where we are presumably devoted to a free exchange of ideas), we cannot stomp on such a fundamental American freedom. I observed that quite a number of campuses over the last couple of decades have attempted to restrict student behavior with speech codes, virtually all of which had been struck down by the courts on constitutional grounds. I tried to convey the message, and personal (legal?) opinion, that we cannot attempt to silence a student merely because his or her message might be offensive to some.

Of course, I likely sounded like an over-the-top civil libertarian. And, I know, I delivered this message with some degree of passion, but hopefully not so extreme as to offend my new colleagues. The ACLU has an excellent summary of this issue on their website, as well as descriptions of many specific cases involving freedom of expression (including t-shirts).

Parade Politics

Here is a little bit more parade-day color, this time offering up some political commentary.

You might notice the similarities between this part of the event and the peace rally I reported on earlier in the year…



“Pinocchio, Our Leader”
September 9, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold

“Fact Free”

September 9, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold

“Peace Train”
September 9, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold

“Marching Flags”
September 9, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold

Celebration

“Eugene Celebration”
September 9, 2006
© 2006 Jim Arnold, Roseburg, OR

I guess it’s maybe a tad strange to talk of a “celebration,” here on the eve of the fifth anniversary of 9/11, but the city of Eugene held its traditional, annual fall festival this weekend, the Eugene Celebration. The theme this year was “Shake Revel & Roll” (…not that it ever really means that much what they call it…the event follows pretty much the same format year-to-year). I drove up there in time to view the big Celebration Parade on Saturday morning (it started at 9:30 a.m.). Despite threats of rain, it turned out to be dry, and by the end of the parade (and for the rest of the day), sunny. If you’ve never attended (or heard of) this parade, it is quite an event. There is always a lot of variety, and on occasion the entries can be downright outrageous. Some years the city has erupted into a heated debate over the appropriateness (or not) of what certain groups have chosen to do for the parade.

As far as I could tell, no entry this year would have generated such controversy, but with Eugene, well, who can tell. They debate everything there, and it’s one of the things I love about the place.

Peter DeFazio, our esteemed congressman, was there, as he is every year. (See “the honorable slime scooper.”) My picture of him this time turned out better than usual. There’s a photo here of Laura Kemp as well. She’s my favorite Eugene musician, and I was able to get a great little Laura “fix” when she played at the Saturday Market stage that afternoon.

I’ve chosen a few other select few photos of the event to share with you here…which only give the barest minimum flavor for the experience itself.

I hadn’t been to a Eugene Celebration for three years, so it was really good to be able to be there this time. Probably the most memorable Celebration, for me, was the one that started on September 14, 2001, three days after the attacks. There had been considerable debate that week over whether the event should even be held, but they started it off with a solemn community gathering and candle-light vigil. It was quite inspirational and very memorable. It’s on my mind tonight as I think about the state of the world five years ago this evening. Just how different is the world now, compared to September 10, 2001?

Learning Curves

I was educated as a chemist (a lot of my formal education is in that discipline, anyway), and I remember thinking a long time ago that chemistry is life. Well, that orientation has changed; biology is life is more where my head is at now.

I spend so much time these days paying attention to my body (primarily its limitations), that it’s practically laughable. And, here I am trying to learn all I can, as fast as I can, frustrated a lot by mostly having to teach myself.

Of course, I speak of the incredible learning curve I’m experiencing right now regarding myofascial pain. I have an entire new discipline to master as I try to learn all about myofascial trigger points, referred pain, self-massage, and living with a chronic pain condition. The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook is rapidly becoming my bible, from which I do daily readings, guiding my daily practice for health-seeking.

Here is another definition of a trigger point (see also “Survival”): “a highly irritable localized spot of exquisite tenderness in a nodule in a palpable taut band of muscle tissue” (Davies & Davies, p. 19)…which they elaborate on by saying “a trigger point hurts like the devil when you push on it.” There are apparently several methods available for relieving trigger points (and the pain that can subsequently be referred to other parts of the body), some of which require the services of a professional (a savvy doctor or physical therapist, for example); there are other methods one can pursue independently. I have a doctor, of course, who diagnosed this condition for me, but in the time I have before my next appointment, I’ve been studying up and attempting to start a regimen of self-care that includes locating and massaging the trigger points responsible for my pain. This is requiring a lot of time with the trigger-point reference manual, trying to identify muscle groups with which I have limited familiarity, probing my body, and struggling to locate my trigger points so that I may massage them. (This is turning out to be a non-trivial task!)

At any rate, I have intensely steep learning curves both at my new job and in the health area of my life. This is incredibly tiring, but I guess it’s merely playing out the hand I’ve been dealt right now.

Listening and Leadership

Inspired by NPR’s This I Believe series…

I believe in listening. And in leadership. And that the two go hand-in-hand.

In the past two years, I have been in leadership positions that more directly affect the lives of people I work with than I ever have been before. While I’ve long seen myself as a student of leadership and organizational culture, and have led countless groups while working on specific tasks and projects, lately I’ve been called upon to provide direction, vision, and a voice for a large collection of other people on a day-to-day basis. It’s been a period to put my values regarding listening and leadership to a real test.

For I believe that effective leaders should listen to those they are charged to lead. All too often, I see leaders who seem to be “know-it-alls” or “fixers”: individuals who only listen to their constituents long enough to have a reply or “the solution” at the ready before the other is even finished talking. This kind of behavior is extremely off-putting. Who wants to be around somebody like that?

And I believe that listening demonstrates our respect, valuing and trust of others. For leaders to earn respect, they must show respect. So I believe that true, just shut-up-and-sit-there, good old non-judgmental listening is the primary way to do that. Trust and respect just naturally flow from good listening.

I have a dramatic personal experience illustrating when, as one being led, I was not listened to. A couple of years ago, with the most honorable of intentions, I was attempting to speak to the CEO of an organization on behalf of a group of employees; at one point in my report, I was rudely interrupted and informed the information I was sharing was not welcome or appropriate…that everything in the organization was, now, as “good as it gets.” It’s difficult to convey the intensity of that episode in this brief description but, I was, in essence, verbally and emotionally assassinated in public for attempting to express the “sense of the group.” For me, it was the single most appalling example of “leadership” that I had ever witnessed. I left the experience embarrassed, hurt and angry. And, forever, unable to respect the “leader” any more.

I run my show a lot differently. A LOT DIFFERENTLY. I believe in the power of stories, and love listening to them. I encourage my folks to come in, sit down, and tell me what’s going on in their lives. I listen. Because I care. And, I respect the variety of the human experience. That is, I respect them. I appreciate everything everyone does on behalf of the organization, and, after I have listened to them and their issues, I frequently advise them to pace themselves and to stay healthy. We’re all in this together, and we must take care of ourselves and trust each other along the way, or bad stuff will happen. Of course, bad stuff will happen anyway, but we’re much better equipped to handle those times if we tackle problems as part of a trusting team, rather than a stray collection of individuals who happen to share the same organizational space for a part of our lives.

Leaders. Followers. Everyone. Believe in this.

And listen…


The people who come to see us bring us their stories. They hope they tell them well enough so that we understand the truth of their lives. They hope we know how to interpret their stories correctly. We have to remember that what we hear is their story. (Robert Coles in The Call of Stories, p. 7).

Just A Suggestion

Dear Roseburg,

Yes, I know: I’m the new guy and maybe I should wait awhile before I offer you any specific suggestions about how to make this a better place. But I guess I just can’t help myself! Here’s my idea for the day.

Recycling. We can do better.

This is what I mean…

When I first moved into these apartments in mid-July, you’ll recall that I commented on the dearth of recycling bins available. I was sure I was missing something. I mean, yes, I found the recycling bins; it’s just that there appeared to be only a very, very few, very, very small, garbage-can-size containers available to handle the recycling for about 150 apartments! How could that be?

Well, I found out. When I was at the Douglas County Fair last month, I had the opportunity to chat with the county employee who handles the local recycling. He let me know that the apartment complex is within the law (by basically doing the minimum allowable). Apparently they are obligated to provide a way to recycle, it’s just that there are no specifications regarding the scope or seriousness of the effort.

So, this is legal. Wow, too bad. I asked: so, how about if I want to recycle items on my own that aren’t accommodated by the inadequate apartment-complex bins? Where do I go, and how do I do that?

I knew there were a couple of recycling “centers” around town. I had found one of them when I wanted to recycle the newsprint packing-material from my move; this was a small, unattended facility in a parking lot, and I had stuffed the material into the bin marked “newspaper” there. I was somewhat mystified by the very modest nature of this place, but it handled what I needed it to at the time. I kept wondering where “recycling central” was, though. Surely, in this day and age, a city the size of Roseburg had more ambition than I was discovering!

However, I found out at the fair, not only was my path of discovery on track, but that it was really worse than I had imagined. For example, all recycling items need to be carefully sorted here (we’re still separating brown glass from green, for example), and then physically carted to one of the recycling places. Which, only a very small percentage of us here in Roseburg, or in Douglas County, actually do. There is no curbside recycling, with intermingling of items to be recycled. (Portland! This I miss!)

And why is that? Why is recycling treated so casually here?

Apparently, it’s because of the landfill (commonly, “the dump”). It’s exceptionally cheap and easy. Anybody can drive out and leave anything there; for free. Is that right, Roseburg? And, once a week to have garbage hauled away from your house, it’s only $8.00/month?

Essentially, it appears there is zero financial incentive to recycle here; we simply throw things away, I guess.

I walked by another of the recycling places today. There is one closer to my apartment than I had been aware of earlier. It’s a larger facility than the one I had visited to dispose of my newsprint, but, really, it’s ugly. It, too, is unattended. (It appears to be unattended to.) It’s very messy. There was shattered glass all around and I would have been sorry had I driven there. The bins for paper were absent (which is what I have always needed on a regular basis). And, from the number of bees buzzing around, it seemed a bit as if there must have been a lot of garbage around, too. Even for a place with this function (it’s a dump-site as well, of course), it is pretty embarrassing.

Without financial incentive, and apparently little intrinsic societal value placed on recycling here, it looks to me like our efforts are pretty anemic. What can we do about this, Roseburg? And how soon can we do it?

Sincerely,

The New Kid in Town