The soul has greater need of the ideal than the real for it is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

No time to say hello goodbye

It's a tough week to get everything done, and next portends to be no better. I just have to keep plugging away and hope I don't miss anything too important.

But as the wheels keep turning and I continue to try to make things keep functioning smoothly news comes in.

Mackenzie Phillips had an incestuous relationship with her father.

What!?!?! Why?!?!! "Why did you do that for?" To quote Terry Crabtree from Wonder Boys.

Do I really need to know this?

Does she need money so badly that she's willing to lay bare a detail of her life that not only do I not care about, I do not want to know? Or is she just a publicity whore?

Ewww!

And perhaps what's most offensive to me is that the goddess Oprah has her on tv to talk about it. Shame on them both.

Keep that shit to yourself, or tell a therapist Mac! I am not interested.

I repeat! Ewwww!

So this is news in someone's estimation. Wow, what happened to news? When did journalism schools become prep schools for reporters for the National Enquirer? Of course, Oprah is not journalist. Perhaps was once, in a broadcast, lite fare kinda way, but now she's just a conglomerate. So news is not her concern. But this?

Ewww!

Speaking of news, when did it go to hell? It was obvious it had happened during the Bush administration, but exactly when the shift occurred, I can't tell.

At the University last week there was an article on a bulletin board I saw with a large note on it. It said, "This is why we do journalism." It was signed by the head of the department.

Being who I am I just couldn't help myself I took it down, got out my sharpie and wrote, "No,this is why we are journalists. Take an English class."

The note has disappeared. I cannot imagine why.

While I'm reporting the sour news of the day I'll make note of the fact that a 22 year old mixed-up kid came to me with some news I also could have lived without. He has questions about his sexuality.

Now why do you suppose he came to me with this news?

It's of little consequence, I informed him that we have counselors on staff who are most willing to listen and not judge, and that he should take this matter up with them. And that I am there to help him learn how to be a better actor. I am not qualified to provide him with life coaching.

I may be crazy but I am not stupid. I watched a couple of friends go down this path to ruin many years ago and I shall learn from their hard learned lesson. Not only that but he's 22(speaking of ewww!), he looks like he needs to go back into the oven for about a decade before he's finished.

I found it all amusing, and now confine my conversations to the classroom (used to be that I talked to students on the way in and out, not anymore), I will not have even the whiff of impropriety.

So now that I've wasted a few minutes of the morning I'm off to campus. I hope this job brings me joy soon.

And so it goes.

Love