Last Year #3: Last All College Retreat

F'n'A

Will I ever get over being a fan girl?  Today I had one of my wishes come true when a rawk 'n' roll hero, our math teacher and Plow United's  drummer, Sean Rule, dedicated a set of tunes to me.   At lunch time, on the back deck of the Student Center, our own rock group F 'n' A (Faculty and Administrators -- not what you were thinking) performed a bunch of tunes and ended with their hit single, "Bobcat Radio." (Please support the COCC Foundation by purchasing a copy here.  Like several others, I got to sing a chorus with Sean:  "Are you ready for Bobcat Radio!"  After the set, Sean said it was dedicated to me.  I looked calm, I'm sure, but in my heart I was jumping up and down and squealing like a little fan girl (something I actually did when I saw the Rolling Stones at the San Jose Civic Auditorium in 1968.)


Why?  Why did this rawk gawd dedicate the noon-time song set to me? Because earlier in the day I'd told him that this was my last all college retreat.

I've always enjoyed the all-college retreats, even the "State of the School" speech by the president du jour.  This year the "theme" was "Lassoing Student Success" and the College Community Development Committee members wore cowboy hats, chaps and various other country-western accoutrements.  I've always enjoyed the retreat -- even those ones with terrible keynoters, like the woman who gave a classroom lecture on teamwork and leadership.  Fortunately, this year our speaker was quite enjoyable if a little long-winded -- Dr.  Rod Ray of Bend Research.  He was funny and had good advice for going through hard times, which our college may be facing as our enrollments drop.  He also had strong connections to the college since both his mother and step-dad had been important college community members in the mid-sixties.

I myself actually gave the keynote at this event in 2003 when the college welcomed its new president, Jim Middleton.  I was terrified all summer thinking about giving the speech.  I wanted to incorporate science fiction, because he'd said at his interview that he enjoyed sci-fi when he had time to read.  I also wanted to get across one of my core personal beliefs -- humans are born but to die so we need to cut each other some slack, grant each other some grace.  I also decided to fall back on one of my favorite schtick -- changing clothes on stage.

I used to perform this schtick as part of a speech about how I became a woman through community college teaching.  In that presentation I reviewed Deborah Tannen's ideas about the differences in masculine and feminine communication styles and then talked about how being masculine (interrupting, challenging, linear, independent) had helped me through graduate school but wasn't helpful with a student population that needed the more feminine style of support, relationship, equality and interdependent.   As I described my change, I took off the square-shouldered gray suit I'd started in and got down to shape-showing silk top and pants.

For my college retreat speech, I got rid of the suit (jacket, shirt, skirt) to reveal pair of hiking shorts and t-shirt, my strip-change symbolizing my transformation from an uptight urban character to a Central Oregonian. 

Sean Rule of Plow United

But of course, there was something deeper going on -- as there always is.  But more about that anon -- for right now, I think I'll go back to jumping up and down and screaming.