Riding off into the sunset?

I like the chair of my department. He is not a fan of following protocol for the sake of following protocol, directs with flexibility and is open to suggestions, and, most importantly, keeps things in perspective. He is likely the best chair I will ever have.

For the past 2 years, I have chaired a committee for a student examining the landscape representations of Butch Cassidy. What a great topic! Seriously! It is especially fitting that this student is doing his research in Laramie, home to the Wyoming Territorial Prison, the only prison to house the infamous outlaw.

However, this student struggles with several mental disorders (the details of which I, myself, am not overly familiar with) and, thus, struggles to organize items in his life...including his thesis work. For example, last spring we worked on his outline and proposal. Although we met, at a minimum, every other week for four months, neither of which were finished by semester's end.

Over the summer he largely finished his fieldwork and wrote approximately 400+ pages of material related to Butch Cassidy. An emphasis needs to be placed on "related to..."

The analogy I've come up with to describe what was handed me back in August is this:

Imagine having 5 Star Wars puzzles: Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, Luke and Leia, Han and Chewy, X-Wing and Tie-Fighter, and R2D2 and C3PO. Now imagine mixing all the pieces together and throwing away the cover shots so you have no idea what the imagine should ultimately look like. Again, it's all related to Star Wars, but there's no real way to make sense of what you've been presented.

This is what I was faced with.

This inability to organize was brought to my chair's attention last spring and reemphasized this past December. The lack of progress and my uncertainty as to how to approach it constructively (less he spin out of control if he took a comment overly personal) were weighing heavily on me.

Last month my chair offered to help. He would serve as co-chair using the excuse that this was my first thesis project with a student to soften the blow. We proceeded step-by-step with the proposal and made what I would describe as amazing progress on the introduction. However, when we got to the literature review, my chair began to realize what I have been facing over the past couple of years.

The three of us meet every Thursday and this week my chair went after this student...hard...and unrelenting. I nearly stepped in as it was beginning to escalate to a level I was uncomfortable with. But I'm thankful I didn't. Long story short, my chair is now giving me the option of removing myself from this student's committee and allowing the student one more shot with another committee chair.

Let me be clear, this student is a bright, friendly and likable guy, and has chosen a great topic, but I am relieved to watch him ride off into the sunset.

"On Dynasties" or "Why I'm Rooting for the Patriots"...

When I was kid, I never fully understood why at the end of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show there would always be two potential titles for next week's show, but there were, and I found it somewhat humorous.

As most Americans know, the Super Bowl will be played later today. I find myself rooting for a team that the vast majority of my friends are rooting against.

In the past, I've noticed that if most of my friends who follow football are strongly supporting one team, I'm with them. There seems to be a consensus of who is 'good' and who is 'evil' as those who follow the NFL, and possess a soul, will select a team to cheer for based on this. Take for example, the Dallas Cowboys. During the mid-1990s, The Evil of Which We Do Not Speak (as the Deer Slayer and I most often refer to this team) had a good run winning 3 Super Bowls in 4 years. However, of all my friends who follow pro football, only one was cheering for them in any of those games (and he grew up a fan of the team). The consensus was present.

This year, I fear, the consensus is against the Patriots.

So why am I rooting for the Patriots? Two reasons: coach and quarterback.

COACH...As much as I might say I don't care for Bill Belichick, I'm even less of a fan of Tom Coughlin.

QUARTERBACK...Four years ago, I was cheering for the Giants, in part, so that Eli could step out of the shadow of his older brother Peyton. He's a good quarterback and seemed like a nice guy. At the start of this season, however, he argued that he should be considered one of the game's elite quarterbacks. This bothered me...a lot...because at best, he's only the third best quarterback in his conference!

All of this to say...GO PATRIOTS!

Next up..."On Dynasties!"