Friday, May 23, 2008

Uneasy Lies the Head That Wears the Chair

As Dr. Johnson more or less said, "The prospect of being hanged focuses the mind wonderfully."

Thus, I begin my time as chair of the Media Studies Department in and for the University of San Francisco. I look forward to it because it is an impetus to growth in the sense that the things I will be expected to do are not things that I am constitutionally inclined to do, that is, *lead*, no matter how you define the concept.

I loved being a reporter because a very important aspect of that job is to sit, to watch, to veil, to lurk, to self efface. And then I got to pounce by which I mean I got to write from a safe distance from those I wrote about.

But now, even if I do not lead -- already I'm shrinking back from that boast -- I must *herd*. Or, at minimum, figure out which way the herd is going and at the key moment scamper around in front! (Oh that's cynical, more crumbs in my beard from my days as a reporter.)

So, eyes bright and coat glossy, I look forward to expanding my oeuvre. One does, after all, want to do a good job, to be fair, to be efficient, to be honest. Thus, today I ordered a book on determining my "management style."

If it turns out I have one, I will let you know.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just be careful about giving in to readily to old man's tears.

....J.Michael Robertson said...

And if I laugh at any mortal thing,/ 'T is that I may not weep; and if I weep,/ 'T is that our nature cannot always bring/ Itself to apathy

So there you go.

Anonymous said...

What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.

....J.Michael Robertson said...

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.