Both this year, and my little holiday-break-from-reality, are about over. There are just a couple more days of laziness left before the whistle blows us all off to work once again on Tuesday morning. Ah, so.

I’m including a photo here that I’ve been hoping to use in an entry sometime soon, so I’ll take this opportunity to post it now. I took this shot during a peace demonstration in Portland last March, and have entitled it “On Leadership.” It seems to me that the message sums up a lot of what’s wrong with this country: from the occupant of the White House, to leaders we experience on the local level, to those in our own work organizations. Any thoughts?

Here’s a photo from The Season…dinner by candlelight on Christmas eve…with my “adoptive family” in Eugene. Even if the weather outside was frightful, the company was totally delightful.

And: here’s a suggestion…if you haven’t checked out my flickr photo website lately, you might want to do that. I’ve uploaded some more pictures recently that give a hint of some things I’ve done since entering the “digital age.”

So it was, on this mostly lazy day, that Teller wondered what could conceivably happen next. Just when he believed that things would certainly settle down on the Cascadia College campus (it was late December, final exams were over, and his faculty had scattered to the four winds, after all), stuff kept happening: events that were, unfortunately, consistent with the perpetual, overwhelming feeling of trying to function in a totally whacked-out (to use a technical term) environment. Sadly, Teller’s experience of the current “holiday break” seemed to be a continuance of the end-of-term craziness that he had just lived through.

For, even before the current semi-lull, there had been increasing intensity surrounding the conversations (that is to say, expressions of extreme doubt) about the institution’s leadership. One afternoon, for example, after the Thanksgiving holiday, Cascadia’s president distributed, to all staff, a draft version of the position description that would be used to recruit for the provost position sometime after the beginning of the new year. (Dr. Mennace, the current provost, was, at present, occupying the job on an interim basis.) Several of Teller’s faculty members had criticisms of the document, some of whom forwarded their concerns to the president. Many were just plain terrified that Dr. Mennace would not only apply for the job, but eventually secure it on a permanent basis. This prospect caused a huge amount of distress among Teller’s faculty, who, as noted previously, had significant distrust for just about everybody in the current administration.

Following the document’s distribution, Teller was approached by faculty members, often several times a day, about his intentions. Practically every single one of these interactions was not only to engage in a conversation about the status of his thinking, but also to encourage Teller to submit an application for the job. For although Teller was a member of the current administration, he had something that others in instructional leadership apparently did not: the trust of the faculty.

Naturally, Teller was flattered by all this attention. But he was not as elated as might be expected. The feeling of being wanted was, of course, exceptionally wonderful. However, the chaos that was the Cascadia College campus was not something Teller was convinced he could positively affect, even from the senior academic officer post: if he had the skills to provide assistance, to facilitate the change that was required, did he have the will? Did he have the energy?

Teller had become even more convinced of the continuing downward spiral of the institution during the previous twenty-four hours of this “break,” when one of his department chairs, a very talented person in the sciences, informed him that she was leaving Cascadia at the end of the current academic year. She had just accepted a teaching position in a neighboring state. This would be the second major loss to that department during the year, and Teller interpreted the development as yet another sign of the institution’s decreasing viability. When an organization keeps losing its best and brightest (and this was part of a pattern of continuing massive turnover, with three top-level administrators also leaving during the Fall quarter alone), when anyone who has an escape route uses it, then there is something definitely very rotten, as they say, in the State of Cascadia.

Of course, Teller continued to have his own struggles with the college’s leadership. For although Dr. Mennace was the chief instructional officer on campus (at least for the time being), he bore little similarity to Teller with respect to education, experience, philosophy or interpersonal skills. In terms of both personal and professional background, Teller and Mennace came from vastly different worlds. Whereas Teller was (among many things) a researcher, scholar, intellectual, therapist and consensus-builder, Mennace embraced a military model, viewing himself a field commander in a theatre of action. While Teller listened, Mennace gave orders. The following relationships seemed to apply: Teller/Mennace = comedy/tragedy; yin/yang; order/chaos. In other words: an obvious mismatch (given that there seemed to be no way to “complement” the Mennace paradigm).

Not surprisingly, the matter of leadership-style differences manifested themselves on a regular basis, and this had happened again during the holiday hiatus. In the case of a faculty member who was apparently skirting some safety rules, Mennace (being “the decider” that he is) expressed an inclination toward summary dismissal. Teller was nothing short of appalled, as he argued for a more (humane) developmental, due-process kind of approach.

Teller was extremely grateful that the holiday was finally here. Perhaps he could put these struggles aside for a bit. He was going home, to stay away from the office and the instability of the campus for an entire ten-day stint. Teller wanted to relax. To breathe. To spend some time with friends. And to prepare his own escape: he had some job applications he intended to complete.

I haven’t made up my mind yet about more troops…Hypothetical questions – I’m not going to answer those today…. I will tell you, we are looking at all options, and one of those options is… more troops.
[George W. Bush, December 20, 2006]

Do you remember? Wasn’t it just last month that we were deliriously and deliciously enjoying the results of the election…and its aftermath? On the national scene, we were able to elect both a Democratically-controlled House and Senate. And in Oregon, both houses went solidly Democratic as well. Bush-buddy Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is, of course, gone, replaced by an individual, Robert Gates, who so far has projected every appearance, especially during his Senate hearing, of being able to distinguish reality from fantasy.

So, tell me: why are we still getting rhetoric from W that sounds as if he’s going to ignore both the will of the people and the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, to only, perhaps, send in more troops? What freakin’ planet is this guy from? And, he’s going to increase the size of the military? This is his plan?

During yesterday’s press conference, Bush indicated, as straight-faced as one is able to muster in such circumstances, that “I am willing to follow a path that leads to victory… Victory in Iraq is achievable.”

Oh. My. God.

Here’s a shot taken at Mt. Tabor Park in Portland early last March…just as there was the hint of spring.

Ah, spring: it’s all we (or at least I) have to look forward to right now, as the winter solstice, tomorrow, brings us to the new, bleak, all-too-long, dark season. It’s wet, dreary, and bone-chilling cold here in Roseburg today as I write this. Winter is only just arriving, and here I am dreaming of the time of renewal that begins three months from now!

As I contemplate living, alone, through the rest of the holiday season here in southern Cascasdia, I’m thinking of the City of Roses…the place I endured a love/hate relationship with the last two years. Here are a few memories I have of that place:

Some Things I Miss About Portland

• Living in my (rented) house
• My friends & colleagues 
• KINK FM Radio
• My anonymity
• Low (relatively speaking, that is) gas prices
• Powell’s Bookstore
• PDX
• Mt. Tabor Park and the view
• All the movie theaters & the large movie selection
• Malls that are malls
• Kinko’s, Starbucks, Noah’s Bagels, and assorted-other convenience spots

Some Things I Definitely Don’t Miss

• Traffic
• The east wind
• Freezing rain
• The prison-like campus buildings
• Worrying about personal safety
• High prices on car/home insurance
• Crowds (especially this time of year)
• Getting lost
• Pervasive panhandling
• DEQ inspections