Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. margarine, butter, or oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
3 cups uncooked rolled oats
2 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/3 cup peanut butter (optional)
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Beat the eggs until they are bubbly.
Add margarine (or butter or oil) and both sugars.
Mix well.
Gradually mix in the yogurt.
Add the oats, baking powder, and cinnamon.
Mix well.
Stir in the raisins, walnuts, and/or peanut butter (optional).
Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan.
Bake: 350 F for 30 minutes.
Serve warm.

9/11/2001: No Words

Remembering a Friend

Nancy working a pre-show table for For Every Man, Woman and Child.

Today is Nancy M. [Johnson] Resh's birthday.

She died suddenly over the weekend of November 15, 2010.  She was young, in her 50s.  As soon as her family had been notified, I set-up a memorial page on Facebook.  Now, I am quite confident she would never, ever have opened a Facebook account for herself (and I know this because I tried to talk her into it several times--but if she did have one, it was very private), but I did it for her students, family, and friends--Deaf and hearing alike.  I was amazed by the sudden outpouring of grief expressed on that page; even today, I look at it and whisper to myself: "Wow!"  Nancy affected a lot people in a lot of ways.  I can only legitimately write about how she affected me.

Nancy was a good friend: she accepted me for who and what I am.  While she considered herself to be a Southern Baptist, she had no qualms at my declaring myself to be a secular humanist, an atheist.  I'll never forget when, on a very, very rare moment of weakness, I shared with a student that I'm an atheist: the student began to cry.  Why did that student cry?  Out of disappointment, fear for my supposed soul, something else?  It angered me; it hurt me; I felt unaccepted for who/what I am.  I turned to my good friend, Nancy, who helped me laugh it off.

We accepted each other because, and this was a strong tie between us in our friendship, acceptance of differences was important to both of us.  We both got angry at a lot of the same things: violation of people's basic human rights, mistreatment of the Deaf, lazy and/or manipulative people,  bad (ex- or mostly ex-) husbands, uncooperative computers, intolerance, self-centeredness, badly made coffee, and so on.  We both laughed at a lot of the same things--we joked about almost everything.  Our friendship mostly centered at and around our jobs, but since our jobs were the center of our lives  (at least they seemed to be), our friendship grew rapidly.  We did a lot of projects together and we supported each other in individually lead projects, too.  While my projects were more scholarly-focused, Nancy's were more people focused--we balanced each other out that way: I kept encouraging her to work on scholastic projects; she kept pushing me to become more involved with people (instead of books and DVDs).  I considered her to be one of my best friends.

The things I have learned (or re-learned) from (or with) Nancy: not to take my job so seriously, to stop and have fun once-in-awhile, to take better care of myself,  and to ignore all the bullshit we (all of us) encounter day-in and day-out.

I have noticed that several people have wished Nancy "Happy Birthday!" on the memorial Facebook page.  I have to say it: I don't believe that Nancy "is looking down on us" or that she exists in some form of afterlife (in heaven or elsewhere).  I do believe, however, that it would have made Nancy cry to learn just how loved she was and still is.  I do believe that Nancy would have been shocked by all the affection sent in her direction.  I do believe that all this affection and attention is a source of comfort for both her friends and her family.  I do believe that the words, "Happy Birthday Nancy!" have special meaning--rather like "Happy Hanukkah!" or "Happy Halloween!"  They are words of love, and as such are powerful.

Drawing by Giles Johnson.

Sabbatical

I took a hiatus for the summer, but now I'm re-fueled, ready to restart the writing engine.

So, let's begin with a small discussion about sabbatical.  The central concept of a sabbatical is "rest" which might also include training and/or research, reflection.  Many universities and colleges have changed the label for this so-called "time off" to such terms as "Faculty Professional Improvement Leave" or some other productive-work type directive.  Indeed, my own university seems is quite clear about what is expected of faculty on sabbatical:

The university permits a tenured faculty member who has completed at least seven years of full-time service to the university and has the rank of assistant professor or higher to be freed of instructional or official responsibilities and granted a faculty professional improvement leave for the purposes of:  upgrading professional skills; acquiring new skills; or intellectual and professional development that will be of benefit to the individual and to the university.

I look at my small neighborhood of ten houses (a dead-end street near the downtown of a tiny city), and reflect upon the work that the sixteen adults do.  One of us is on Welfare; another is on Disability; five of us are retired (on pensions and/or Social Security).  Nine of us hold full-time jobs.  Of the working adults, only two of us have a college education of any kind--the two professors.  The one on Welfare has a B.A. and is looking for a job.

I know how my small neighborhood sees me: working hard for nine months with three months off for summer vacations, unless I choose to teach extra classes then.  Even my own mother seems to see it that way.  I cannot speak for teachers, or for professors at other universities and colleges, but I can tell you that during our summers "off" the tenured and tenure-track faculty at my university (on all campuses) are expected to complete research and work toward completing publications.  Regardless, no one--teachers or professors--is paid during those three months, regardless of what they do or do not do: it is a nine month salary, not twelve.

So, please excuse me if I feel a bit defensive about being on sabbatical this semester: I've published a lot in the past several years; I've taught a lot in the past several years; anyone will tell you I've done a lot of service (committee work, involvement with students outside the classroom,...).  I need a rest!  That's a moot point, however, because I have promised to dramatically improve my ASL fluency and to complete three chapters and an introduction to a book during my "rest"--at minimum.

Good night!