My Major Award

 

I forgot to mention something kind of funny about yesterday: I was so excited about getting the Major Award from Rich that I forgot my official plaque. We were almost out the door when I realized I didn't have it, and he said he didn't have it, so we rushed back into the reception room, and it was lying on our table. Whew! But look how beautiful my Major Award is!

I had a meeting today with the committee I'm on, which chose the Staff Excellence winners (and so's my buddy, and we both won - does that look bad?), and people said I had to bring my Major Award to show the Dean. He did appreciate it. Also, another committee peep who had been there yesterday was blowing bubbles, and someone came to try to convince people to be on yet another committee that I had served on, and I put in a plug for it too. I wish all meetings were that fun! The Provost was walking by and saw the Dean, so he stopped and looked into our room, and the Dean said, "Uh oh, I'm in trouble!" You could tell the two of them really get along.

One thing I've noticed about the Major Award and the movie it came from is that people my generation (X) and older tend to love the movie, but Millennials and Gen Zers don't find it very interesting. Someone told me this, so I did an informal poll of some younger coworkers and grad students, and it does seem to be true. My theory is that my generation and the ones before were thrown out the door as kids and told not to come back until dinnertime, so the world of A Christmas Story where adults are slightly the enemies and the kids have a secret world rings true for us. Sadly, the younger generations didn't suffer from this benign neglect - they were driven everywhere, and all their playdates were planned. How are you supposed to learn to deal with other people if you don't have to deal with neighborhood bullies and tattletales without Mommy saving you? How are you supposed to learn to navigate the world if you don't have to bike everywhere? At first I was just puzzled by this gap in the enjoyment of the movie, but now I feel like it's highlighting some deeper societal issue. And it feels like a looming issue.

Jilly Moose sent me a couple of photos of her moose dressed up for St. Patrick's Day. Behold Mr. McSwanky!

And Whiskey O'Moose!

I haven't thought of dressing my stuffies up for holidays, but I certainly have enough beads around the house for most, if not all, of them to celebrate Mardi Gras. Speaking of stuffies, my new dragon has a name: Uther! He's named after King Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon. Travalon loves the King Arthur legends.

Famous Hat