A little clip–nothing to see, just listen–of this morning in Greenville.

The past week has presented a real challenge at work; the part of work that is most divorced from engaging students, the part of the job that involves dealing with people other than students.

It’s certainly not unusual to hear that there are people in administrative positions who are neither qualified to execute their jobs, nor have the awareness to realize how to improve, or to learn the necessary skills. We can all note that some haven’t the sense to be aware of issues, the smarts to understand problems, the vision or imagination to solve problems, or the integrity to work with others in an honest and constructive fashion. People like this rise through the ranks of every field, academe is not at all unique in this respect.

There are some solid citizens in that administrative ether, and I’m very happy to have had experiences with a few at each of the schools where I’ve been lucky enough to work. But there are far more who are just ill-equipped. And profs are just a slice of the broad population; some are good folks, some aren’t so good.

I’ve written about 1000 words to expand on this, but have deleted all of it. It’s all just a cycle that repeats–good folks, not-so-good folks, and downright nasty folks move in and out of our spheres. That’s the world we’re in. I’m not perfect, neither is anyone else. Just move on…right?

__________________

And so we have. A beautiful, light fog upon arriving at the beach this evening: