best class since next year

i need to write more about my teaching experience, and ramble less.  i have some ideas, but for now? i'm going to homecoming.

given that this is the only time i will be going to homecoming the year after i graduate, i want to take full advantage.  probably the highest numbers of friends there and friends returning.. so, i thought, how can i approach it differently..?  it's not good enough for me to just show up.. i have to be weird.

i'd been tossing around some ideas, but on Monday night i spontaneously put together an opinion piece (about 1 a.m.) and sent it in to my friends at the Collegian.  i've spent some time reflecting on what i enjoyed about my experience at Hillsdale, and then trying to find what was unique about it — different from the typical "good" college experience.  so that was my starting point.

it's one of those things that you think is great when you do it, but afterward you don't really know what to think.  when i went to sleep i was pretty happy with what i wrote.   it had unique observations, satirical humor, decent style, and i even tried to give it a point!  and i wrote it all in one sitting, which is pretty rare for me.. but, when i read it in the morning i was a whole lot less confident in it.  why was i writing it at all? who was i writing to?  was it too strong?

the biggest theme for my opinion pieces is simply attempting to make people think.  if the best way to make them think is to make them mad at me, so be it.  another way to make people think is be unclear — a specialty of mine.  i'm hard to understand, by nature. part of my controversy-promoting approach is that i don't always say what i actually believe.  i want it to start conversations, even if it's all in the readers head.

so, here it is.  "Alumni homecoming advice"

in a few days i'm going to post an explanation of what i was thinking, what i meant, and why.

by the way, that's not my headline.  i sent in a few suggestions (including the title of this post), but i guess they didn't make the cut.. and i'm not complaining!!  i mean, if i'm known for anything it's for ridiculous headlines..so this feels bland.  seriously though, i'm grateful for getting printed on such short notice.  sweethearts, the whole bunch of 'em!