Me and Bill Gracie working on my thesis, 2004

Western isn’t perfect, as you know, and we should not idealize it in a sentimental way. The hard fact is that it is better than much you will experience elsewhere. [...] The essence of Western College is hard to catch. It cannot be bought. It cannot be sold. It cannot be captured. It cannot be mimicked. It is too spirited, too lively, too full of zest for that. Think of it carried comfortably by each of you wherever you may be around the world, next September or fifty years from now.—Dean Hoyt of the original Western College, 1974

I got my undergrad degree at the School of Interdisciplinary Studies (aka The Western College Program, known to its friends simply as “Western”) at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Long-time readers of this blog will know that Miami has decided to dismantle the program for a variety of reasons—mainly, stupidity, greed, and politics. (Read my previous posts on the subject.)

In the past four years, it’s become so crystal clear to me what a tremendous impact that place had on my life. It was a living/learning paradise—beautiful dorms, classrooms, and campus, small class sizes, and most importantly, terrific people. I met some of my best friends there, met my wife there, and got married there. I wouldn’t be who I am without it, and it tears me up to think that it won’t be around for future students.

My friend and teacher, retiring Dean Bill Gracie, had some final words for the program in his speech to the Western College for Women Reunion, June 16, 2008:

The decision in 2006 to remove the School of Interdisciplinary Studies from Miami was a decision of surpassing irrationality and foolishness. It has effectively destroyed Western as we have known it and loved it and it has damaged Miami itself. In my nearly 40 years of work in the English department, in the Office of Liberal Education, and in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies I cannot cite a more pathological act or crueler experience than the one all of us witnessed and endured two years ago: our students were betrayed; our faculty and staff were displaced; our alumnae and alumni were bewildered, and—in some cases—alienated forever from Miami. I was ashamed to be a member of an academic administration that behaved so dishonorably.

If it is true that many of the charges pressed against us two years ago were false (and demonstrably false), it is also true (demonstrably true) that the young men and women of the Western College Program continue to impress us with their intelligence, imagination, and unpredictability. As they have for so many years, Western College Program students win University recognition in numbers that are entirely disproportionate; in other words, Miami’s smallest division wins more than its fair share of awards. We like that. In the past three years, the percentage of seniors graduating from Western with Latin honors cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude was higher than the percentage of such students in the School of Engineering, the Farmer School of Business, and the College of Arts and Science itself. In the past six years, Western seniors have been named recipients of the Goldman Award, arguably the University’s most prestigious
post-baccalaureate award, three times; John Obricyki, who attended this afternoon’s luncheon, is the most recent Goldman winner. In fact, twenty-five percent of the Goldman winners in the past 16 years have been Western students.

The decision to close the School of Interdisciplinary Studies seems odder now than it did even in the summer of 2006. But tonight is not the time nor the occasion to analyze that decision at length. Some future study of the tragedy will surely be written, and, perhaps at that point, we will learn what motivated the University to destroy a small and cherished part of its own history.

Not only has Miami destroyed a terrific program and a beautiful history, they’re destroying the physical environment as well. Here’s a flickr set of photos showing where they’ve graveled over the beautiful lawn/commons area where we used to check in for orientation, fly kites, hang, play kickball…

(Kumler Chapel, in the background, is where Meg and I got married.)

I hate to resort to cliche, but:

Don’t it always seem to go
that you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone
they paved paradise
put up a parking lot.

When we were teenagers, my best friend and I used to listen to George Carlin cds before we fell asleep. He was our philosopher king.

see it bigger

Last night my wife said, “No more Joy Division. No more.”

This last week we watched both Anton Corbijn’s biopic Control and Grant Gee’s documentary Joy Division. I’d recommend both if you’re a fan.

Some notes:

• How essential Manchester was to the sound, and how much Joy Division’s music was rooted in place. One interviewee called their music “ambient noise” for the Manchester environment. Another said they took the landscape of Manchester and “made it cosmic.” Make it cosmic. That might be a good rule of thumb for writing about place…
• Ian Curtis had a box of words that he’d bring to rehearsals, and when they needed lyrics, he would pull words out the box.
• Remembered David Lynch talking about the myth of the suffering artist: in order to portray suffering, an artist doesn’t need to BE suffering, he just has to UNDERSTAND suffering. Suffering is often counterproductive to creativity. (Ian Curtis killed himself on the eve of their breakthrough US tour.)

Here’s my favorite performance — “Transmission” live on the BBC:

No language, just sound, is all we need know
To synchronize love to the beat of the show
And we could dance
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio

see it bigger

Here’s a little map I did during the second-ever Vizthink meetup in Austin last night. Local graphic facilitators Marilyn Martin and Sunni Brown moderated, and they did a great job. Met some good folks, learned a few things…it was a good time. If you’re an Austinite interested in visual thinking, keep your eyes and ears open for the next meeting at the Vizthink site.

Oh, and by the way: my post “For Successful Powerpoint Presentations, Look To Cartoonists” was chosen as the winner to the Vizthink prompt, “PowerPoint: A powerful tool poorly used or a poor tool overused?“

They said,

He not only had an interesting take on the topic but his post actually spun off a good amount of discussion on his own blog and beyond.

So thank YOU, my brilliant readers. Your comments make everything posted here much smarter. Cheers!

I prefer to think I’m just a man, not a poet part time, business man the rest….I’m no different from anyone else, just a run of the mine person. I like painting, books, poems. In my younger days I liked girls. But let’s not stress that. I have a wife.— Wallace Stevens

She said there ought to be one place you thought about and knew about and maybe longed for but never did get to see.— Alice Munro, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”

I just doodle until I find a character; you go with the one that has a certain little spark of life….After that, I really can’t force them to do anything. They know what they want to do if they’re strong characters. And they surprise you! If they want to do something, there’s nothing I can do to stop them.—James Kochalka

At last I do not know how to draw anymore!— Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) at the end of his life

Some doodles I’ve been doing with a brush and ink.

some words / for the creator of the universe / who makes it rain / on the baseball game

Yesterday is a mystery, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a mystery.

There’s only about 20 birthdays you should be allowed to celebrate. And the others? You’re wasting cake and paper….When you’re 20, you get a birthday. Any time you enter a new set of tens: 20, 30, 40, 50, you get a birthday. 21, you get an awesome birthday. And then, THAT’S IT. A birthday every ten years. “I’m 26!” Great, go to work. Who gives a s***?—Patton Oswalt on when you should get a birthday

To humble us: Things other people accomplished when they were your age.

“Oh, look honey: it’s my Citizen Kane year.”

(My wife rolls her eyes.)

To give us hope: late bloomers.

I’d like the middle path, please…and some cake!

Artist/cartoonist Gary Panter signed his new book and gave a slideshow presentation at Domy Books last night. My buddy Adam has the last word:

Here are some good pictures of the same event at the Houston store.

a big / wide-open space / and a cowboy hat / but / what matters most is / the swagger

Speaking of cowboy hats: this morning at a construction site, Meg spotted a cowboy hard hat:

Also, scanned this out of an old scrapbook:

And, to finish off the theme, let’s not forget one of my first blackout poems:

I’m not so much a fan of the hats, but I definitely need some boots.

How to blog teach, write, make art:

1. Wonder at something.
2. Invite others to wonder with you.

Yes or no?