the "things you wish you could say" thread

[ergative]

I once had a student express consternation that I was teaching him about topics he'd encountered in kindergarten, but it was harder now. I worked very hard not to laugh in his face, but I did allow myself to remark, as gently as possible, that at the Master's level we do explore topics in some more detail than we do at kindergarten.

[FishProf]

Well PiTA-colleague, you brought this on yourself.  YOU decided to go around me to get what you wanted, and it worked.  I don't understand why you are upset that I shared the email chain authorizing your little power grab with the department.

Oh wait, was it because you threw me and several others under the bus to get what you wanted??  And you did it in writing?  And now no one trusts you?   

[mamselle]

^ Hmm, economic justice....like chickens coming home to roost, or the passages in the Psalms where the psalmist imagines their enemies being trapped in the traps they set for others.

(Unrelated)
You know, you guys really don't want me to NOT do what I'm doing to finish this up....the online system dropped ALL the attachments and shifted out the identifying memos on the deposits and charges, and you're going to need those when/if you ever go through an audit.

This is NOT me, "not having a life and needing this attachment to make meaning for myself!" (I have six other quite fulfilling lives, thankyouverymuch, and I'd like to be getting on with them.)

No. This is me being trained, as a Camp Fire (Girls, then) counselor that you always leave the campsite woodpile in as good or better shape than you found it.

And, me not wanting to be called up a year or so hence to explain stuff that I can recall now while it's still fresh, that I won't have a clue about later--because I will, indeed, have moved on.

(Also unrelated)

I'd love to go out and yell at the guys using the leaf blowers on the apartment lawns just outside my window to "get a rake," but they wouldn't be able to hear me....

OK, back to work. Hurdy-gurdies and pipe organs for the music theory class today, with some Pythagorean acoustics thrown in.

I love my silly-sweet, nerdy-mathy middle schoolers who eat this stuff up.

M.

[AmLitHist]

Dean, the only reason I've been attending these ridiculous, useless division meetings is that they're virtual, and I'll be damned if I'll let you dock me 8 hours of sick leave when all I have to do is log in and keep my camera off.  Still.....can you please keep the rah-rah, happy horseshit stuff to yourself later today?  My students and I are chugging along just fine without the various "inspirational" chit chat; just give us the necessary news/updates and be done with it, please.

[dr_codex]

<unrelated, although I'd be happy to skip those meetings, too....>

Look. I know that you don't want that gig, and that you and the boss have been spitting at each other for months. But you haven't suckered me into running the rodeo yet, and until that happens, YOU need to answer then boss's emails. I'm done with being your owl.

And that goes for the boss, too.

My 5-year-old comes home with the "drama" every afternoon. I don't need yours.

[smallcleanrat]

There's a real difference between 'giving up' and 'giving out'.

Isn't there?

[mamselle]

I do say this, to myself...I wish I'd listen...

"Stop seeking solace in screens. Their seductive, sollipsistic shallowness is not satisfying. Just stop..."

...as she turns to yet another BBC police procedural series and re-watches all of "Prime Suspect, yet again...

M. 

[AvidReader]

No, there was not a "system error" that you "could not do anything about." The system is set to close assignments at 11:59 p.m. You logged in at 11:58:33 to begin submitting your assignment. When the clock ticked over to 11:59:00, the system performed its due diligence and closed the assignment. It worked exactly as intended.

AR.

[fishbrains]

"Stop seeking solace in screens. Their seductive, sollipsistic shallowness is not satisfying. Just stop..."

M.

Persistent consonance seems to present a side-effect of some concern.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I have actually said this, but it doesn't seem to matter.

Stop telling me that the only news I can trust is Fox 'News.'

Where is your evidence that the election was rigged? Apparently, I cannot trust the 5+ other news organizations? Really?

Pulling my hair out. Trying to not have a brain aneurysm listening to your brainwashed crap!

[the_geneticist]

There's a real difference between 'giving up' and 'giving out'.

Isn't there?

I think so?

"Giving up" sounds more like emotional exhaustion.  Like you are physically capable of doing something, but don't have the emotional space/motivation to do it.
"Giving out" sounds more like a physical injury or weakness.  Like if your knee gives out and you can't run because you can't put any weight on that leg, regardless of how much you want to do it.

Hope you're doing OK.

[Economizer]

I truly wish that I could instruct teachers and professors of Government and Political Science to cover and discuss the subjects of franchisement and disenfranchisement in class and seminar. The subjects appear to me to be looming. There was scarcely mention of such in my vast number classes and my tutelage in regard to those very serious matters.

[fishbrains]

[deleted] (sorry!)

[mamselle]

^ Unrelated

"What, that funny-shaped piece of metal? Naw, that's just the cam shaft. We don't need that..."

M.

[EdnaMode]

"What, that funny-shaped piece of metal? Naw, that's just the cam shaft. We don't need that..."

M.

^
Oh no!!

....

Dear Stu,

Trying to argue about not being allowed to retake an in-class reading quiz that is less than 1% of your overall grade is really not what you should be focusing on right now. You should be more concerned about your overall grade because you need to earn above 95% on all the rest of the work in the course, and the final comprehensive exam to earn a D. And your major requires a C in this course, so even with a D, you get to take it again. Grade info is available on the LMS and the late drop deadline, and how much work was left in the semester, was discussed in lecture this week, which you also skipped. The syllabus (also on the LMS) explains that when you skip class, you don't get to retake the quiz you missed. If you spent as much time reading and doing classwork as you do whinging, perhaps you could pass but that would also require you to build a time machine and go back in time to mid-January and put some effort into the course. Or if you'd paid any attention to the academic progress flags I sent out earlier in the semester. But no.

Tired of this,

Dr.  Mode