and now for something(s) completely different

1. Every time I read "maverick" either in this week's readings or in anybody else's responses I'm immediately reminded of Cedar Point's new roller coaster for next year by the same name (I'm still on the media list, so I'm told these things even though I refuse to go there and spend money--fools. Then again, being on the list means I can go free if I want to, hrm...) Anyway, it's called Maverick, and a maverick is a stray cow, no? So why the heck is the icon for this coaster a big freaking black horse? A whole generation of people that go to that park are undoubtedly going to think the horse is there for some reason, form some connection between "maverick" and this symbol, and go around just a little stupider than they would have been otherwise. It bothers me, probably more than it should (and probably because I know far more about their marketing dept. than I ever wanted to know).

But really, this is why I think people need to be taught to do their research. Because that ONE time they don't research something and go for the thing that "looks cool" they could be completely utterly wrong. What the heck is wrong with people? Did this coaster need to be represented by an animal? Couldn't it just as easily had some completely innocuous logo? (At least they didn't go the old west vs. let's kill the indian route... maybe that racism would have been too blatant for them. *sigh*)

2. I had professional development for school-2 yesterday, which is nearly a-ok cause we get paid for it. Nevermind that though, somebody in my department gave my boss a bad review. And when he asked who it was, she raised her hand.

Now, this is a girl that judges people instantly, thinks she's better than the rest of us, and so on. I really am glad I don't have to work with her much. But I get the idea that she's never HAD a bad boss, ever.

Sure, he's a little hard to approach at first, but you know what? He's got my back, and the back of everybody in the department. If students go to him to complain he backs us up and we never have to deal with it and it's the most beautiful thing in the entire world. Beautiful, I'm telling you.

So clearly she's never worked in the situation where you might land on your ass in front of the dean because little miss anorexic and entitled wants you to change her D to an A because ohmygod her mommy says she's a great writer and all, and not had anybody there to say that you were indeed doing your job for failing the girl for never showing up and not turning in half the assignments.

3. On that note, I'd like to add that said boss once said the most enlightening thing I've ever heard about teaching, "If I'm not hearing students complain about you sometimes, you aren't doing your job." That was one of those "whoa" moments. Sure, you don't want 'em to hate you. But if they deserve to fail and they want to pass they *aren't* going to like you, they are going to complain, and that's okay. I'd heard (mostly from other grad students ) pretty much the exact opposite, that you have to have some way of "dealing with it" to keep them from complaining, to keep your assessment scores up, to keep your job. But if you have the right supervision that's completely not the case.

So yeah to recap: research = important, my co worker is a ho, and being an honest hard ass is rewarding.