Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

In the world of females a hairdresser can mean a variety of things. Cultural understandings and conceptions place the hairdresser as the equivalent of a woman's bar tender. The labored male, tired from life's trials and expectations, seats himself lazily at the bar. The apt bar keep absent-mindedly wipes the bar top down while pouring a drink and asking him "What's your trouble?". He's a sponge-like wall, absorbing all the drinker has to say. It stays within the bar, under layers of bourbon, scotch, and beer. The over spill tray, filled with remnants of an evening's work, is cleaned and washed at shift's end...much like the soul seeking a drink. In contrast, the hairdresser laborers over and on the customer. She gently brushes the hair, lifts it off the face, removes unsightly strays, and hides markers of age. She can even turn lackluster noir locks into golden bounces of light and luster. Her fingers massage the head, often making the customer rela...

Funny thing about college teaching . . . the first week is just that . . . and for the most part a wash of syllabi disbursement, the "this is what you will and will not do" lectures, and then the second class is disrupted by students with little sense of social decorum.  These are usually the ones who do not show up the first day of class.  Eh, don't get me wrong, I do what I love and love what I do . . . but, every now and then social disorder annoys me.   Along with the first week madness, there is the beginning of sign-ins.  Some students begin this task the first week.  Some start it the second week.  Most do it the second week, as the add-drop period ends.  Moments of advising the first week are never anything like the second, particularly if these students are in upper level seminars and grades have started coming in from the first week's assignments.  While advising times are established throughout the semester, any professor worth ...