Adjunct Walkout/Teach-In Day

 

Some questions I posed to Wednesday's local National Adjunct Walkout/Teach-In organizers:

 

 

Thank you for your leadership with Wednesday's event and ongoing organizational development/advocacy!

Several tough questions/thoughts occurred to me:

 

- I don't believe JCTC is over-administered.  If anything, given the number of adjuncts, probably not enough staff.  For example, it's very difficult to reach people in many administrative offices by phone.  I'm assuming they don't have time to answer the phone.

 

 - I don't like the term "part-time" because I teach six classes at four institutions.  I am not teaching "part-time."  I'm teaching full time (plus a non-teaching retail job, which no doubt pays more per hour), just across institutions - and being paid part-time.  'Contingent" is probably better but no one knows what that means.

 

 - I think shying away from part of this being about money is a mistake.  One of the reasons I'm more tired and not as well prepared in class Monday is because I work 16 hours over the weekend at the mall.  If I was paid more teaching, I probably wouldn't work at the mall.  Also, the more time I spend at the food pantry, the less time I have to sleep and grade and do lesson planning. etc.

 

 - "Full-time" faculty at JCTC - especially after the new regime imposed this spring  - with additional teaching and advising responsibilities for "full-time" faculty and administrators - and with additional administrative tasks because these can't be spread over adjuncts -  are also very overworked/underpaid.  We only hinted at this.

 

 - Students can and do have choices - they exercise power - probably not so much by lobbying their state legislators or talking with administrators - but by voting "with their feet" - to go more in debt to go to the private and private, for-profit schools (such as Brown Mackie, etc. - where some of us also teach) - where they may get more hand-holding and lower academic standards (or IUS, where my son goes, which I believe receives more state subsidy than KY schools even in all-Republican Indiana) - or by not going to or staying in college.  Certainly, higher tuition, the slow end of the Great Recession, and perceived low value may be among the reasons why our enrollments - especially in face-to-face classes - have dropped.  If potential students don't think it's worth it to go to college, or don't think we offer the best product/best value, they won't sign up and take our classes.

 

- That House bill won't help me, since I already  have a Ph.D.  How about what one of my private school offers - free tuition for at least one or two classes for my spouse or child?

 - Would some adjuncts be better off if the state had eliminated tenure as it tried to several years?  Would there then be one tier instead of two tiers with more administrators (to pick up the slack from vanishing "full-timers") and everyone being paid less/getting fewer benefits than the "full-timers" currently do but being paid more/getting more benefits than adjuncts currently do?

 

 - Of course, this is part of a larger trend in the economy - more "contingent" work; lower pay; more "home businesses" - post-Fordism, flexible specialization, McDonaldization, Walmart-ization - whatever you want to call it.  Will students/taxpayers/donors/voters/policy-makers be creative/resourceful/generous to help us out/help our students out when many of them themselves are losing full-time work/benefits/job security/decent pay?

 

 - We hinted at this.  There's some trade-offs here.  The state maintained much of K-12 public school spending and did NOT increase taxes partly by gutting human services and postsecondary ed spending (plus maintaining or hiking prison spending, which one of our colleagues mentioned).  If we don't want taxes raised, do we want K-12 cut or human services cut more?  In the short run, there may be some zero-sum game.

 

 - A broader issue that may give us part of our niche at the same time as it challenges us:  the massive educational inequality/underinvestment in K-12 public schools/poverty/mediocre academic standards in our feeder schools, particularly JCPS.  A broader crisis in urban education both gives us much of our mission while it also makes our work very hard - and makes it hard for us to attract support from voters, policymakers, and even potential students and donors in Prospect, Pewee Valley, and even Crescent Hill and the Highlands.

 

I look forward to seeing/hearing about what may come next with the momentum built by today's event.

 

 

-Perry

Roasting Stephanie

“Love is blind,” they say.  But, I’d like to think that I have my eyes wide open when it comes to the love of life, my wife Stephanie Gregory, who’s here today to be roasted.

Many of you know Stephanie as an educator, a church deacon, and a wife, mother, and daughter.  But today I’m going to try to fill out your picture of Stephanie a little by sharing with you a little about two of her other traits, her mischievous sense of humor and her penchant for footwear.

Stephanie gets her mischievous sense of humor partly from her family.  And one group of people she shares it with is her students.  Stephanie teaches elementary school over in New Albany.  First thing in the morning she may be speaking with some of her students about where they live.  After reporting to her what neighborhood they live in, they turn to Stephanie and say:  “Mrs. Gregory – where do you live?”  Stephanie says, “I live in Louisville.”  And her students ask:  “How do you get here?”  Without batting an eyelid, point to her wet hair, Stephanie says:  “Well, I swim, of course.”  Believe it or not, Stephanie’s second graders usually believe her.  Her fourth-graders – not so much. 

Stephanie also shares her sense of humor with the kids at church.  For example, after worship, she might say to now five-year-old Rose, granddaughter of Martha Miller, “You’re coming home with me, right?  Little Rose looks a little worried and then says, “Uh . . . I think I’m going home with . . . my parents.”  Once in a while, Stephanie pulls out all the stops, and gets caught.  Rose loves pink, and one Sunday Stephanie said:  “Rose, you’re coming home with me.  We’ve got a pink house, and I just got a pink car!”  Without hesitating, Rose said.  “Sure!  Let’s go!  I want to see the pink car.”  Well, Stephanie doesn’t have a pink car.  I don’t remember how she finessed things, but she was caught.

We’ve talked about Stephanie’s mischievous sense of humor.  Now I want to talk about her penchant for footwear.  When Stephanie was growing up, she lived with her Grandmother a lot.  One morning at the breakfast table, she said:  “Grandma, I think we need to buy me some more shoes.  I’m out of shoes.”  Grandma Gregory looked puzzled, but she said:  “Are you sure?  Let’s go up to your room and see.”  Stephanie was a little hesitant, but up they went.  Grandma Gregory went into Stephanie’s closet, and counted 89 shoes.  She was very stern with Stephanie:  “You’re like a little Imelda Marcos.  This is way too many shoes.  Why don’t we go through your shoes?  I bet some of them don’t fit or are worn out.  And some of them you have probably forgotten about and will still fit and still look great.  They’ll be like new shoes.”

Ironically or not, Stephanie grew up to have problem feet.  She’s generally tackled this now, but one of her strategies has been to buy good, expensive shoes, especially Dansko and Birkenstocks.  Vincent and I got used to her buying these shoes.  In fact, Stephanie and I went to a co-ed bridal shower for one of her colleagues a few years ago, and we played a Newlywed-type game where Stephanie and I had to answer the same questions, separately, and then we’d see if our answers agreed.  We were asked how much Stephanie had paid for her last pair of shoes, and I didn’t hesitate.  I said “$120.”  I knew that because that’s how much all of her pairs of shoes cost.

Stephanie still goes astray occasionally, and sometimes she gets caught.  Every once in a while, Stephanie comes home and tells our son Vincent and me:  “I bought some shoes, and I got a great deal.”  “A great deal” is always a bad sign.  Vincent asks:  “How much did they cost?”  And Stephanie hesitates and says, for example:  “$65.”  And both Vincent and I yell at her.  I say:  “$65?  You know what’s going to happen.  You’re going to wear them a couple of times, and then you’re going to have to give them away, because they’ll kill your feet.”  Vincent and I have the “$100 rule.”  If the shoes cost less than $100, Stephanie has no business buying them.

Stephanie has gotten caught in other circumstances too.  One summer Stephanie lived for a couple months in my little apartment in Illinois.  The apartment was furnished kind of primitively and only had a little 1950s black and white TV, that we somehow got attached to cable.  It only got the three basic stations, plus Fox, PBS, the Weather Channel, and QVC.

One night Stephanie called me and said:  “I was watching TV tonight and saw a great deal on QVC, but they were Birkenstocks, and they’ll match a couple of my outfits great, and so I bought them.”  I said:  “Honey . . . . what . . . color . . . are . . . they?”  Stephanie hesitated, and looked nervous, and then said:  “I don’t know.”  It turns out that the shoes did match some of her outfits, but when she bought them she had no idea if this was the case, because she was watching a black and white TV.

I’ve tried to share with you something about Stephanie’s lesser known traits, like her mischievous sense of humor, and her penchant for footwear.  I’ve also hinted out how she sometimes uses these traits in her public roles, like when she kids her students and bonds with guests at church about shoes.  I feel can give you a broader perspective on Stephanie.  After all, I’m in love, but I’m not blind.

 - Perry

Appalachian mission trip reflections

God, I believe, calls each of us to a ministry.  And God may call us to many different ministries over the course of our lifetimes.  God, I also believe, gives us opportunities to explore new possible ministries, to develop skills for ministries, and to exercise leadership, including spiritual leadership.

There were lots of these kinds of opportunities during our Eastern Kentucky mission trip.  And the trip affirmed for me the concept of call.  Let me elaborate on each of these.

Because our mission team was so small, everyone got a chance to shine and lead.  This was the case even though on a trip with a bigger team, some of us might have been eclipsed by others who were more outgoing or more assertive.

Our chances to lead came at our home base (the house next to the First Presbyterian Church of Hazard – where we cooked, ate, cleaned, played, and had devotions), at the work site (at the two houses which he tried to help the Housing Development Alliance finish), and out on trips where we experienced the beauty of the mountains and learned about the issues that mining raises.

I took a photograph that I love of the three young people – Hannah, Emily, and Ethan – scrubbing the floor of an HDA house that was almost done.  But Emily is taking a break to chance the station – or whatever – on her smartphone.  I was initially skeptical when the kids started listening to one of their phones at this site.  But the kids had all just cleaned a pile of gross garbage out of the front yard and the street, they were into the music, and they seemed to be working even harder to the sound of the music.  I eventually was happy enough that I moved on to our second house, leaving them and Hilda to finish up.

Later that night I was leading food preparation for dinner when I decided there were a couple of more food items we needed.  I wondered whether I should stop cooking and take time to drive to the grocery store to buy those items.  But, after a while, I decided there was no need for me to do  this, when I could simple send the kids to the convenience store a couple of blocks away, which should have what we needed.  And off they went on what turned out to be a bit of an adventure, but they came back with what we needed, and I was happy for them to take the lead on this.

Many of you know that I’ve been involved in a bit of a career transition.  It now looks that I may teach college next year.  It’s been almost 10 years since I taught college students, and occasionally in the past I wasn’t firm enough with my students or I wasn’t very popular with my students, or both.  While on the mission trip, I was sometimes firm with your kids, and they usually listened to me.  And often they still seemed to like me, which was I nice combination that gave me some good experience and confidence going into teaching. 

On those long car rides, they kids also share with me some insight and information on youth culture, which I’ve fallen a little behind on, and on school norms.  For example, they told me that kids a year or two or three away from high school shouldn’t be surprised if they were told to put their cell phones, tablets, and laptops away before class.

Finally, your kids and Hilda and I, along with the carpenters, electricians, HVAC people, and landscaping team formed, I thought, a pretty effective cross-generational, cross-gender, cross-class, and cross-cultural team.  Many of my classes will definitely have to also be this if I am going to succeed back in the classroom.

So, I thank God and you all for this opportunity to serve, learn, grow, and lead.  I’m also thankful for experiences that confirmed for me that I might have a new call and prepared me a little for that call.

May it be so.

-Perry

10 years ago

In late October here in Louisville fall has been rather warm. That was not the case 10 years ago when my family and lived in Minnesota. 10 years ago this weekend I headed south for the weekend, while my wife, son, and dog went north instead, past Duluth, MN, to the North Shore of Lake Superior, to Grand Marais, MN, and beyond. Despite the warmer weather in Georgia, I’ve always been a little jealous of my family, as my wife told some very entertaining stories about their visit up there.

I had found them a cute motel along the lake, with little cabins on one side of the road and on the other side, big white Adirondack chairs, next to the lake (which didn’t really have a beach). They got there late, but the motel had advertised pizza. So when my family asked for food, they pulled some frozen pizza out and popped it in a toaster oven, and that was their dinner. It was cold that night – there were already no leaves on the trees up there – and so my wife cranked up the radiator heat. The heat took a while to get going, and at 3:00 a.m. my wife woke up to our dog vomiting, because he had gotten so hot in the room. They rushed outside and crossed the road. I’ve always enjoyed thinking of that vision: Stephanie, Vincent, and Frisco sitting out in their pajamas on the Adirondack chairs, looking out at Lake Superior at 3:00 a.m.

In the morning, my family got up to watch Canadian TV about the actor who played Dumbledore dying. And then they drove on to Judge Magney State Park, where lots of hiking was in store. At one point, my wife urged them down a hill, but our son stopped, sat in the middle of the trail, and cried. It’s downhill, said Stephanie. But, Vincent cried and blurted out, “eventually we’ll have to come back up a hill” (to get back to the car). So he stayed put and Stephanie and Frisco went on.

Entertaining memories – memories of a wintry late-October Minnesota weekend – that I missed.

-Perry

Hail to the chief!

At the risk of offending my Republican, independent, and Clinton Democrat fellow Toastmasters, and our guests, I am going to speak today in praise of the work of our President, Barack Obama. With a high unemployment and profound political polarization, this may seem like an odd time to be praising the President. But, ultimately, President Obama’s record makes my task an easy one.

I’m going to praise the President’s leadership in five areas. I’m going to talk about he has led our country out of two wars, help prevent economic catastrophe, begun to reform three critical sectors of our economy, tried to ease polarization, and served as a role model for all of us.

Let me first talk about the wars. Some people may argue that it was President Bush that laid the groundwork for the withdrawal from Iraq and that the situation in Afghanistan is so complex that any president would have begun withdrawing troops from there. The latter is just not true. When President Obama asked his generals in 2009 to prepare plan that involved starting to withdraw U.S. troops 18 months later, they essentially declined to do so. President Obama had to get out his laptop and type out a three-page plan that made way for the withdrawal a year and a half later. It’s only because the President took that initiative that the withdrawal is underway.

Let me now talk about the economy. Tea Party folks, bless their hearts, like to ignore what was patently obvious in the fall of 2008. Capitalism, let to its own devices, can destroy itself. Sometimes the government has to come in and save the day. As much as President Obama might have had to hold his nose about the bank bailout, the auto bailout, and even the fiscal stimulus package, long-term zero-percent interest rates, and the temporary extension of ALL the Bush tax cuts, he had the government do what it had to rescue the economy.

The three critical sectors of the economy that President Obama has begun to reform are the energy sector, the banking and finance sector, and the health care sector. Let me focus on the health care sector. Regardless of what you may personally think about the universal health care mandate, you must concede these facts: The United States has the highest-quality health care in the world. But the United States also spends more money on health care than any other country, for among the worst overall health care outcomes of any wealthy country. The health system is broke. Obamacare, if you want to call it that, is a good stab at fixing it.

Let me now talk about easing political polarization. From the point of view of summer 2012, it’s easy to forget that President Obama TRIED to appoint three Republicans to his original Cabinet. He jettisoned some of his most cherished policy objectives that were particular anathema to Republicans: the “public option,” “cap and trade,” and repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. And parts of his program that have been enacted he borrowed from Republicans: The health insurance exchange system was an idea of Senator McCain. The universal health insurance mandate was an idea of Governor Romney. Most recently, the administrative version of the DREAM Act, for young undocumented immigrants was an idea of Senator Rubio.

Finally, let me talk about President Obama as a role model. I want to refer you to the photograph that most of you should have in front of you, a photo I like quite a bit. I understand that a man was retiring from the White House staff in 2009 and he and his family toured the White House and met with the President. The man told the President that his son, then five, had a question for him. The boy told the president that he wanted to know if the President’s hair was just like his. President Obama leaned down, as you can see in the photo, and asked: why don’t you see for yourself? When the boy hesitated, President Obama said, “Go ahead – touch it, dude.” After the boy did indeed touch the President’s hair, he nodded that, yes, indeed their hair was the same. Throughout his three years in office, President Obama has generally avoided talking about race. But this was an occasion in which this boy, African-American, seemed to appreciate that the President was also African American. Now, I’m not African American, but I can tell you this: As a biracial person, with an immigrant father, with roots in Asia, and with a funny-sounding name, I also appreciate that the person in the White House is a biracial person, with an immigrant father, with roots in Asia, and with a funny-sounding name. President Obama’s story helps convince me –like many others across the country and across the world – that anything is possible.

I’ve spoken today in praise of the work of President Obama. I’ve talked about how President Obama has served as a role model, tried to ease political polarization, begun to reform three sectors of the economy, helped save our economy, and led us out of two wars. I hope that I’ve persuaded one or two of you to do what I plan to do in November: the vote to re-elect President Obama. Think about all of the difficult challenges the President has faced in the past three years, and all he has been able to accomplish despite these challenges. I can only imagine what he could accomplish in four more years. Watching that would help remind me – and Republicans, independents, and Democrats alike – that, truly, anything is possible.

-Perry

Progress!

Click on each of these images to see evidence of Vincent's school progress. The information below was from the English he was essentially taking for the fourth time - for the second time for high school/college dual-enrollment credit.

Medical innovations

All three of us have been embarking on medical innovations. At a quarterly visit with one of Vincent’s doctors, the doctor heard more stories about Vincent’s long sleeping and sometimes sleepless nights and laid out a path for Vincent to take a waking-up medication that might require a sleep apnea diagnosis – so off Vincent is to a sleep specialist later this month. Although Vincent’s got less than a month to finish his English class, he’s been periodically energetic, apparently writing down ideas for novels, scripts, or video game storyline ideas. Vincent apparently came back from a counseling session with this idea – ostensibly to do research for Asian-themed story lines – by going back – 2 ½ years after quitting – to St. Matthews Martial Arts, where teachers all seemed to remember him.

As I continue to go to physical therapy to work on my knee, I’ve gone back also for an aspect of the shoulder-neck-back problem that began during a June 2006 visit to Michigan. I had hoped to combine knee and shoulder visits – but I’m having to separate them , for reasons of time – and so I’m going not only for essentially do-it-yourself work on my knee, but also work on my shoulder, for which I need more help. On my first visit my PT found evidence of shoulder problems and gave me a chiropractic-style intervention that I’ve only gotten for this injury (not for the knee injury). We also took about her idea (an epidural) and my idea (acupuncture?). PT for two different injuries for a while.

Stephanie’s forays into sewing classes helped her realize that it’s not easy to find patterns that fit her, and some patterns may produce clothes that need to be altered. That – and a return to Weight Watchers, with its new Points Plus system – got her not only to count points (plus) again but to use our gym membership regularly. After going to the Breckinridge Inn gym/pool twice in one year (for some $600 – that’s $300 per family visit), we’ve gone five times in the past month – including three times in the past week. Now, in turns out that some of the knee weight machines actually bother my knee. But between swimming and weight machines and the stationary bike/”elliptical” machine – both of us have been losing weight.

-- Perry