Gravitas

Over lunch today, I read one of my favourite columnists at the Globe & Mail and just felt the urge to engage in conversation with all of you out there. (Besides, when there is  first-year essay marking to do, procrastination permeates every cell.) In this Saturday’s edition, Johanna Schneller interviews Morgan Freeman about the just-released documentary Prom Night in Mississippi. Have you heard about this documentary? It sounds amazing, and unbelievable at the same time.

Set in the small town in Mississippi where Freeman lives, Canadian film maker Paul Saltzman and producer Patricia Aquino tell the story of a high school that has two proms: one black and one white. With the help of Freeman, the students work to bridge racial divides by combining the two proms. Even though some stubborn racist parents still organize the white-only prom, most of the students now go to the combined soiree.

In talking about his acting career, Schneller quotes Freeman as saying that “These days it’s all about gravitas, characters with authority and wisdom….” My big red Webster’s says that gravitas means “seriousness or sobriety, as of conduct or speech”. The online version extends the definition to include “substance; weightiness”.

Including this quotation in her article is just one of the reasons I like reading Schneller. I think she sees the metaphor of the man in the story of his ideas.

Two different proms in 2009 (apparently there are several counties in the American south that still support this notion.)? Crazy. Unbelievable. Racism. So sad, this hate we have for one another. You think we’ve come so far and yet such blatant racism  reminds me how much work we have to do.

Over to you now. I have to get back to my marking/grading. What strikes you as gravitas  in your world?

Suddenly: A Mini Review

I recently finished Canadian author Bonnie Burnard’s Suddenly, which was sent to me by the marketing folks over at HarperCollins Canada. I have not yet read Burnard’s prize-winning  A Good House, but have always heard good things about it, and in particular, about Burnard’s talent of intuitive simplicity. I didn’t know what that meant but was intrigued. After finishing this latest novel, I think I have a good idea.

Set in London, Ontario, which is a small university city two hours outside of Toronto for those of you not familiar with the Canadian landscape, Burnard tells the story of the friendship of three women who are in the later part of mid life. Seamlessly easing between contemporary scenes and  memories of the main characters, we the readers build ideas of who these women are as individuals and as unit. The characters are strong as a result, and the friendship seems realistic.

The over arching narrative of Suddenly is the death process of Sandra, the book’s main character. Using journals she’s kept throughout her adulthood,  readers get glimpses into cultural changes that have presented themselves over the past forty years. As Sandra’s disease progresses, the journal entries offer access points to Colleen and Jude, and the emotional reactions to the changes they live through.

The link to the book’s Browse Inside feature is available if you click here. Unfortunately, the first example of how I interpreted Burnard’s talent to tell so much using so few words is on page 93, but that page isn’t accessible from the feature. Instead, let me set this up for you. Sandra is reminiscing about a card game where the three women are discussing Colleen’s reaction to her husband Richard’s philandering.

And then she’d offered her best theory, which was that looking outside a marriage was about nothing more than sexual boredom, and that if someone did a survey, they would likely find that first marriages were vaginal and second marriages oral. Whether Colleen was grateful or appalled, she couldn’t tell.

“The vagina can lose some of its dark appeal,” she told her. “At least,” she said, “that’s Jack’s thinking.”

Jack who had sworn, having got in her both a first and a second wife, that he would never, ever be bored. Realpolitick, she’d called it, shrugging her shoulders. Or, if Colleen preferred, growing old together. …

Through crafty scenes that on the surface seem jejune, Bernard draws for us intimate details about the nature of friendships.

The characterization of the women themselves is as subtle as the portrayal of their relationships with one another and their partners and children. On page 98, I felt as if I really knew Sandra: Young women like her, without the easy appeal of prettiness, and with the confusion that must create, had to look at things a little differently if they were going to survive. Sandra had probably been looking at things a little differently all her life, or at least since she’d first noticed, when? at five? at six? that absence of pretty-girl appeal given back to her from other faces. If you were ever told growing up that you “have a nice personality”, you, too, know exactly what Sandra is all about.

There are more dog-eared passages that I could share, but this post is already a bit too long. Suffice it to say that I would recommend this book, but I want to warn you, it’s emotionally exhausting to read it. Death always is.

Carol Shields wrote about A Good House that “Its grace, its generosity, its humanity are present on each of its pages.” The same could be said about Suddenly. And, like Shields’ The Stone Diaries provided, access to women’s lives outside our own is a great gift.

Working Wise, Wise Work

Last weekend, we celebrated the first graduating class of our masters of public relations program. While small–there were only three students–the energy and excitement was palpable at the wine and cheese reception, and the next day at the graduation ceremonies where Tracey, Denise and Jolinne cleaned house on winning awards. The entire weekend, including the days spent in preparation, caused me to reflect on my work as a professor. Seeing students graduate has to be one of the top rewards for the work we do in the academy. It is for me, at least.

Jolinne and I, celebrating her accomplishment

Margo Husby Scheelar has written that “our students are the greatest gift we will ever get. Publications may burn. Research will become dated. The lives we touch with compassion, with strength, with belief in potential and assistance in reaching that potential will make more of a difference than anything we do to bolster our own professional egos and status.” I think the immediate satisfaction we get from connecting to our students is why Husby Scheelar might have prioritized the student-professor relationship. Certainly, I get great joy in doing research, and especially because I have a fantastic research partner and I meet people who believe in books and reading. I mean really, how great is that?! But the satisfaction that comes from seeing three women walk across a stage and later thank you for your role in that is intensely validating.

I’ve often come across people who think that being a professor is easy, that my time is my own and that I must make a lot of money. Let this be known: that’s all crap. The pay is fair, but an average work week for me and my colleagues is 60-70 hours. In addition to teaching duties, we have to do research and publish and we have administrative duties.Those of us who value teaching, have to work extra hours to make our courses relevant, timely and fun. If we love research and want our work to add to new knowledge (and if we want to be promoted), we have to work on weekends and at night because course prep, teaching and marking take up all of our regular work week hours. And, let’s not forget the committee work, the advising, etc. etc. that counts as 1/3 of our responsibilities. While our work might be considered wise work, it’s a challenge to work wisely.

In preparation for the graduation weekend activities, I had to contact two of my colleagues who have retired. Marie and Judith were instrumental in convincing me to move to Atlantic Canada, and were supportive of me and my work since the day I arrived eight years ago. Over the years that we worked together, I saw how dedicated they were to our program and to our students. They, too, toiled in the intellectual trenches to try to prepare students with skills and foundational knowledge that would guide them through the next phase of their lives all-the-while trying to run the program and do a little bit of research on the side. Now that they’re retired, they seem to be just as busy with their own lives, doing their own things. Marie is writing a book while taking breaks to go on cycling trips. Judith, too, is writing and is doing it in between riding and working with her ponies. They tell me they barely think about working at the university and have a hard time remembering what that work was like because they’re so busy with other activities.

Judith and her pony, Bert

Seeing Judith and Marie, in preparation to watch Jolinne, Tracey and Denise walk across the stage, caused me to reflect on why I have dedicated my life to this profession. I really cannot think of a better job, but I need to somehow work more wisely so that I can see better the other side of the fence. I take great pride in my role–albeit very small–in getting a master’s degree into three brilliant women’s hands. But I need to remind myself two things: 1) that if I don’t work wisely, I’ll get sick and I will not be around to help others, and 2) it’s just a job.

Thank you Judith and Marie for your wise council. And, congratulations to Denise, Tracey and Jolinne!

It’s just a job, yes, but it’s a great one.