Don't be nasty, now.
Admitting when you're frightened and ignorant can be the first step in overcoming fear and ignorance.
Or not.
It can also be the start of the process whereby the white flag of defeat is raised by those who cannot, simply cannot, face the next onslaught with the requisite courage.
Look, I'm saying that I don't know what I'm doing because I'm just being honest with my readers, even the ones who will kvell because of the headline.
Right now, even in the writing of this tiny bloggette, I am relying on Young People Who Know More Than I Do to assist me in the learning of this new program for blogging at the CHE. Nice folks are offering advice and URLs; they offer emotional and technical support from afar.
So far today I have had three cups of coffee, three Diet Cokes, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a big bowl of chocolate chip ice-cream, all just to get me to the point where I can write these words in a new kind of little box.
Pretty soon I will start on the hard stuff: vodka gimlets, wine, lamb (with fresh oregano and feta, wild rice, lighted grilled heirloom tomatoes), and, if my confusion continues, sambuca. At least then I'll have an excuse for the distinct lack of clarity I bring to any new task.
Another part of the new regime (I see all change as sea change nowdays; the introduction of a new fax machine in the main office of our department, for example, caused me weeks of anxiety and estranged me from at least one otherwise friendly administrative assistant) asks us to put our posts into categories.
I can choose from “Leadership and Governance,” “Meaningful-Labor” (why the hyphen?), “Athletics” and “Prospecting” (looking for gold?) but there's nothing about relationships (unless you count “Student Affairs”) or what is known outside the academy as “Life” (no”Popular Culture” or “Stuff” or –godforbid–”Humor”).
Okay, there is a category for “Labor and Work-Life Issues” but “Life” comes third in the line-up plus there's that pesky hyphen again (not that there's anything-wrong-with-that).
I'm sending this — and my virtual self — into the air now, tossing myself over the software waterfall, and hoping to see it on the Brainstorm Web site (and, if I'm really lucky, a little illustration will accompany it).
Wish me, please, a bon voyage and, with more urgency, some good luck. I'm going to need it.
3 Responses to Newsflash: I Don’t Know What I’m Doing
akafka - July 27, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Gina — you are a category all to yourself. And you’re doing just fine! -Alex, an editor at Brainstorm
reincarnate - July 27, 2009 at 4:25 pm
SO are you saying you did know what you were doing when the old CHE published your stuff? That the CHE is giving you less space than before? One of the BIG improvements you can make in your writing is have a point and get to it quickly. I’m sure that’s why they give you categories, to force you to think about what you’re writing. My advice: take a crash course in newspaper writing. And please…”three cups of coffee, three Diet Cokes, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a big bowl of chocolate chip ice-cream, all just to get me to the point where I can write these words in a new kind of little box.” if this is true, you need psychological help quick!
hanley - July 28, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Barreca, you are not alone here. The new layout has already confused me, and I’m just a poster. I’m also maybe not the standard for internet accessiblity. CHE (I am just now noticing this is the acroynm for the site; seems like an easy target for some of the red-staters trolling these boards) had me complete a profile before I could comment here, which is a bit of a pain when I was once able to comment under names like Harry Lime and Nick Ray and other pseudonyms too esoteric for a 25 year old to mess around with. Now? My name. I have had to settle on my frigging name as my comment ID. CHE has socialized its own boards. No, but that’s just a joke.
Student affairs. I like this. This is funny.
While completing my extensive CHE profile questionnaire (what are your thoughts on a Proust rock musical? Do you experience a burning, tingling sensation when you talk to poor people? Are Volvos still viable?), I had to check off a box for my Primary Responsibilities. They did not have boxes for anything practical, like Not Dying. So I picked “Distance Learning,” as it was the most closely related to what I did in college, my bed being about a mile from most classes.