Smorgasbord Abs

Apologia

What is that foreign language? An apologia? What is that, an apology? Yes, even for those of you with no Latin will recognize in the sonorous term apologia something that looks remarkably like our word, apology, and we all know what that is.

Or do we?

If you go to dictionary.com you will find that a meaning of the word is: an explanation offered to a person affected by one’s action that no offense was intended. It is certainly in this sense that we understand the remark attributed to the Duke of Wellington, “Never apologize—never explain.” And the slimy Charles I of England once said, “To apologize is to lay the foundations for a future offense.” Was that before he was sentenced to be executed??? And one last quotation is from American writer and entrepreneur Elbert Hubbard, who advised, “Never explain: your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe it anyhow.”

Well, funnily enough, none of those is how I am using the word apology today, on this cold and snowy day in Jordan. The oldest use of apologia was a formal argument to speak in defense of anything that may cause dissatisfaction. It is more explanation than excuse. It does not ask for pardon but rather seeks to offer light to those who may need it but may not want it. That is what an apologia is, and one who makes such an argument is known as an apologist. Both Paul and Augustine were apologists.

There is certainly a risk in embracing so ancient a term with such an ambiguous contemporary resonance to it. Easily, one thinks of hapless presidential press secretaries, usually called names like “shameless apologists” for a morally bankrupt administration, and it doesn’t take a degree in linguistics to recognize that apologists, in the evolution of the species, became savvy public relations experts and spin doctors. So, by beginning the blog entry calling oneself an apologist is to risk confusion and court disaster.

Why the apologia?

Well, I missed February.

As recently as 12 hours ago I received an email from a lifelong friend wondering where the blog entries are. “Why in 2012 has there been only one blog entry?” opined lovely Dawn, and then last week my sister told me of dear friend Sylvia proclaiming me a “slacker” in terms of the blog. Recently a student asked me when I was going to get back to the blog. (I didn’t know he was a reader of the blog!) And then not too many days ago our head, the great John Austin, asked me if I still wrote blog entries. I said, “You know I have only done one entry for 2012! By this time in 2008 I had had 14 entries!” JA laughed and said, “Good! That means I am keeping you busy!”

So, yes, I missed February, and I missed writing blog entries. As you can see, I still have something to say, and can spend an entire page of text not even explaining my absence, but defining a word! So, I am back, and want to catch you up as to how John Austin has kept me busy!

On February 1st I boarded a plane with a delightful and smart colleague named Lilli. We were Boston-bound to join John at two job fairs in the Boston area over the next 9 days. That should have provided ample time to write blog entries, sketch out the characters we met, weigh in on the recruitment psychology, discuss Boston politics and football (don’t forget—I was there during the Superbowl). Somehow I also thought I would read 5-6 books, maybe brush up on Spanish or French, prepare professional development lectures, exercise every day in the hotel gym and eat bacon every day.

Guess which of those things was the only one checked off on the grand To Do List. Hmmm….I remember coming back from the Bangkok job fair in mid-January not having exercised during that job fair. It was a pretty weak gym in the hotel, and there wasn’t much free time for walks about Bangkok. And they had free sandwiches and candy throughout the day. And a breakfast buffet. So I came back from that job fair determined to go to the gym every day. AND I DID. I hasten to add that sentence before your holier-than-thou smirks broaden too widely. So for 17 days in a row I went faithfully to the gym. Now, some of that was reading lecture notes on the exercise bike, but you certainly couldn’t call that slothful! So, as I geared up for the Boston job fairs, I determined—every day I will go to the gym. I did make it one time—I checked out the gym, noted that it was pretty nice and then somehow never returned.

Each day, I guess due to the jet lag, I arose about 4:00 AM (without the aid of an alarm clock, of course). It turns out that John and Lilli, in their respective rooms, also had arisen by 4:00. None of us ever called each other in the vain hope that the other(s) might be sleeping in before we met officially at 7:00 for the breakfast buffet to discuss that day’s strategies for recruiting and interviews. My 17-day-straight gym regimen faded away and I joked to someone that my washboard abs were turning into smorgasbord abs. At least I kept a light-hearted look at my softening physique!

But at 4:00 AM there were emails to answer. Remember that Jordan is 7 hours ahead, so by 4:00 AM school had been in session for 3 hours at least and people always have something to squawk and crow about. So there were emails, the American daily newspaper, the great coffee machine in the room, resumes to read and organize, and the glorious sunrise over the back bay of Boston to enjoy. Who has time to go to the gym and maintain washboard abs between 4:00 and 7:00??????

Lilli and John and I would meet over breakfast and strategize, or check our appointments for the day. All in all, we interviewed 67 people during that trip to Boston, a few more than once, but that is at least 67 half hour interviews. It was actually fun since John and Lilli are fun and smart and make for great company. But that is a lot of togetherness time! We generally interviewed until 6:00 PM (sometime forgetting lunch, well just twice—you don’t make that mistake more than twice!) and then John would have evening plans with donors or board members, Lilli would unwind and shop for her sons, and I would visit with Boston friends. Since we all collapsed, again in our respective rooms, about 9:00 PM, I asked all the Boston friends to come down to Copley Square so I wouldn’t waste time traveling (or risk falling asleep and ending up either in Providence or Maine on a train). So each night was a great treat for a couple of hours. I visited with college friends Jill and Susan, dinner with Anne’s daughter Judy and her family spending the year in Cambridge, dinner with KA former student Ghassan, dinner with former colleague Peter Greer, and an evening with members of the greater group of the Denison Singers. Good meals—pizza, fish, Asian noodles, burgers—and great conversation. Then collapse about 9:00…I didn’t make plans for Superbowl Sunday because I figured I would not make the duration of the game. I watched faithfully (remember I am a sports nut) and then some time in the second half I dozed off, happily secure that Boston was a ahead. I woke up during the news to find they had lost and Boston police were trying to keep down any violence in the city in the aftermath. Oh well.

Copley Square is a great place to be even if you have only a few hours free a day. Of course there is the skybridge, or whatever they call it, skywalk thing that takes you to this enormous mall with book stores (!!) and fun restaurants. But across the street is the main branch of the Boston Public Library. John and I took in a tour one evening there, and it was an enthusiastic docent, eager to tell you about the scandals of the building in the late 19th century as the building opened and people had such disdain for the classical style and the murals inside. It is a gorgeous building and the tour made it even more exciting. Then at the end of the square is the Old South Church, a church I have wandered into for years, ever since coming to Boston for the Harvard model congresses. I decided to go one late afternoon and see if the senior minister was in. I had read her sermons on-line and always marveled at her beautiful and elegant sermons. She was in, and we went and enjoyed tea. I asked her about the church. She asked me about Jordan. I thanked her for her sermons and wondered if she knew how far away someone read them and appreciated her meditations. We enjoyed the new friendship in the café of the Public Library. Ahhh… very nice…

So what else has kept me busy? I have been leading a new sub-committee on evaluation and appraisal, creating, from scratch a new system for evaluation and appraisal. So that has taken time. Then there has been the Office of Student Life cracking open a cheating ring (and by the way, students came forward to inform with disgust the cheating and purchasing of work going on) and the fall-out and discussions about that, the book orders, and, well, as John said, he has kept me busy.

But I have missed the blog. I didn’t mean to go nearly five weeks—all the other stuff just kept going and got in the way! But I am back to the gym for the cardio/reading time and so it is imperative to get back to the blog. There are always things to share, such as the work of some students in art history as they break through the B barrier into the realm of A’s, or the ones who refuse to sharpen their writing skills, and so the divide between the soaring and the soar-less yawns wider and wider. And there are the Oscars to discuss and the campaign. Oh, there are things to share!

Right now the boarders are outside enjoying the first campus-wide snowball fight since the winter of 2008. The picture is from Jordan, sent, from sir, with love.