Take Time to Smell the Flowers

Department

Art

Document Type

Editorial

Publication Date

8-21-2015

Abstract

Because I have just retired in May of this year, this Friday will be the first time in 42 years that I will not attend the annual university fall faculty meetings. While I am not dismayed at having to spend the better part of two days attending workshops and having to listen to administrators update the faculty and staff on myriad university matters, including budget (always a major concern), enrollment and student retention/recruitment, assessment, curricular changes, new policies, and committee reports (occasionally long-winded ones), I will no doubt miss all the excitement a new academic year affords. New beginnings signify a fresh start, and the college teaching profession, like no other, provides teachers in the late summer/fall of every year the opportunity to work with entering freshmen eager to break ties with home to chart a new course for their lives; seasoned sophomores and juniors are by now swimming well with the currents; and seniors, in their last year of college, are just a few months away from being ejected from a comfy, embryonic environment. Little do the latter know what to anticipate in the real world, and little are they aware that their senior year will be the last of four of the best years of their lives.

Publication Title

CounterPunch

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