Life at the Fair

Oh, my. This is the longest I have been blog-less, or rather, not writing the blog, since its inception 67 months ago. Have I run out of things to say??!??!

No, I have been hanging out a Fair.

In the old days when I talked of a Fair, it meant one thing: the Ohio State Fair. I didn’t grow up going to fairs—remember, I am at heart, an urban boy with little desire to see animals in their natural state (haven’t you read enough blog entries to know I do not enjoy riding animals??) But starting in 1980, the concept of “Fair” changed mightily when I was selected to be part of the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir. That summer, the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school, being at the Fair, probably changed my life. The Fair was a wonderful excuse to leave the real world behind—we lived on the fairgrounds, all 300 of us in the choir, and we sang 110 concerts in about 20 days. That’s a lot of singing and socializing. Not a bad way to spend time! And of course, at night, we all became like carnies, wandering the fairgrounds, doing whatever before the curfew in the dorms. We wore uniforms. We made instant friendships. We ate a lot of fair food. We collapsed into bed at night and woke up bright and early. Then at the end of the fair, we went back to our other lives.

Ha! That was in 1980. In 1981 I went with a part of that choir on my first European tour. In 1983 I was a counselor at the Fair with the choir the year my sister had been selected. Over the last 30 years I have gone back probably 20 times for Alumni Days in August. One of my dearest friends in adulthood, Tony Buscemi, was in the choir the year I was a counselor. And I have breakfast twice a year with a friend from my 1980 summer at the Fair. Since 1980 that concept of “The Fair” has always been a symbol of the halcyon days of youth. Wonderment! Friendship! It is certainly not exactly like the real world…

So in 2013, as of this week, I have spent equal times at a Fair and equal times in my real world (and by real world, let’s be honest—I live in a gated community slash beautiful campus in the Middle East…but that is as “real” as my world gets 75% of the year!)

I have been away from the blog, and silent, and exhausted because of a Fair. Not the Ohio State Fair, natch, and not a Fair with Funnel Cakes or Choirs or Country Stars, but Job Fairs. I have been to 6 job fairs in 2013 and it has kept me busy busy busy!

Actually, when I read my description a couple paragraphs back of the State Fair Youth Choir back in my choir days, it isn’t as far off as one might think from the 2013 job fairs…let’s see, if I substitute a few words, it really is so similar! I have been to six job fairs this year (two in Bangkok, 1 in London, 2 in Boston, and 1 in San Francisco) and I interviewed about 267 people for half-hour interviews each. That’s a lot of interviewing and socializing. And at night, one becomes like a “carnie” in the hotel, going to the socializers, the mixers (they actually use that word in 2 of the fairs) making instant friends of the people you hope to attract to your school, sad to say good-bye when they reject you or go home. You work from dawn to dusk. You stuff your face at the breakfast buffet. You fall into bed exhausted. You wake up the next morning ready to go and smile and interview. And you wear a suit and tie—essentially, your school uniform. The job fair world exists in fancy ballrooms and suites and hotel breakfast buffets, and then at the end, you go back to your real world.

The job fair world is not so far away from the State Fair Choir World, except instead of standing and singing, I am sitting and interviewing. And I look better in my suits and ties than I did in the choir uniform—although, in 1980, I must have been pretty studly and tanned if you look at my State Fair Choir photo.

By the way, this August marks the 50th anniversary of the inception of the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir. I will be there again, and will be part of a 1000-voice choir singing its praises and traipsing down memory lane. Ahhhh…

Since I can’t leave well enough alone with only one connection, hmmmm….there is another connection as well. You know I am obsessed with Downton Abbey. I am two episodes away from the end of Season 3 (yes, I know what happens in the end—the spoilers were all over Facebook) and I adore the show. I watch it with Peter and Hadley, two of our teaching fellow interns this year. Anyway, I was thinking how much life at the job fairs is like Downton Abbey. Hmmm… Downton Abbey treats every character, the members of the family and the members of their staff, equally, in terms of their narrative strength. That is certainly among the keys of its success. On the show, they all have emotional lives, dreams, ambitions and disappointments, and a back story.

That is like the job fair. When you show up at the job fair, there is a sign-up time. There are about 200 schools at each fair, with anywhere from 400-700 candidates, all wondering where they might end up. You stand behind your table in the ballroom, all 200 schools, and the bell rings, and the candidates are let into the ballroom. They move around, looking at the schools from A-Z (seriously, from Angola to Zimbabwe!) and what jobs are available in each school. They form a line, you meet them for about 60 seconds, set up an interview time, then research the candidates, trying to decide who will be the best match with your school. From that initial meeting you learn about them, meet them by the elevators, exchange smiles at the breakfast buffet, puts notes in files, wait for the interviews and try and develop a relationship in 36 hours. In the interviews and reading the confidential reference letters, you learn about their emotional lives, dreams, ambitions, and disappointments. In the interviews you piece together their back story.

I guess that’s where the tie between Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey and the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir is so similar—it is about those relationships that keep you interested and obsessed. That exciting moment when lives intersect!

So I have been at the fairs. I always think I am going to go back to my hotel room in the evening, snuggle up with a good book, write a blog entry, and enjoy a quiet evening for hours. One new pursuit this year is that I would go back to the hotel room, make a podcast for my AP Art History class back in Jordan, send the podcast by email, but then I would fall into bed. Usually by 9:30! The days are long—we meet for breakfast at 6:30 or 7:00, begin the work, and plow through for over 12 hours. Yes, I think I feel like one of the servants in my beloved Downton Abbey, although I dress more like Matthew Crawley.

The highlight of these job fairs is meeting the interesting people. It would fill many pages of the blog to chronicle the people I have met—ex-pats working in Burma trying to find the right school fit and mend a marriage; the single man in Bangkok trying to land a history teaching gig and live in an exciting place as a 30-something; the loud, funny, Mainline-Philly woman in London trying to find a school where she will fit; older people like Anne and Carl looking for a last adventure; college seniors like Dan and Meg trudging over in the blizzard in Cambridge hoping for a placement before the last semester is underway; Zach, the senior who speaks Old Slavonic hoping that a school might place him; the Denison graduate Guari who thrilled me with her deep knowledge of English literature, India, and Granville; the polite Pakistani math wunderkind named Adam who had an offer from every school on the planet; Melissa, the bubbly theater teacher from Charleston whom we charmed and then lost in San Francisco (I guess more money in Abu Dhabi means more than charm!); the California couple who exuded such excitement at the mere thought that KA would want to interview them; the English woman in Bangkok who charmed us and dumped us with the most cursory email I have ever seen; the charming Ellen who accepted our offer and I knew in a moment we will be BFFs next year; the sister-brother pair that astounded us with their scholarship, commitment to boarding school life, and ties to a legendary education family; the couple in Bangkok that when they left, head John Austin proclaimed, “They are creepy.” Ahhh…it has been a whirlwind 8 weeks with the six fairs.

John Austin and I went to all six of those together—three of them were with colleague Lilli, 1 with colleague Mazen, and 2 with colleague Reem. What bonding you do when you are together non-stop at least 12 hours a day!! The best part of the job fairs comes when you are trying to close the deal, and hoping they will join us in Jordan. Inevitably, at that point they begin to interview us. Is it safe? Do you like it? What challenges do you face? John lets us answer these important queries, and I have been known to mist up when I talk about my nearly six-years at the school. It is as if all the blog entries are right at the tip of my tongue and I try and articulate what has been so important, challenging, life-changing and inspiring about being at KA.

Not so far from being in the All Ohio State Fair Choir. Both have taught me grit.

As we walked back into our hotel in San Francisco on the bay, Reem sighed and said, “So many lives changing here in this hotel.”


One more strange connection between Downton Abbey and the job fairs. Okay, I am remembering a New Yorker cartoon from last February depicting a couple standing at a crossroad. A sign in the cartoon indicates that Downton Abbey is to the right and the Jersey Shore is to the left. A couple stands at the sign deciding which pop-culture road they should take. Jersey Shore, that infamous reality show (I have never seen it, but I know so much about it, since the characters are ubiquitous!) about, as I understand, people partying, drinking, and participating in various kinds of mayhem. Jersey Shore is one of MTV’s highest ratest programs. Downton Abbey is PBS’s highest ratest program. I guess one of the things I haven’t resorted to—yet—is asking candidates which of the two programs they most prefer! Maybe that would help during some of the deadlocks in our decision-making!