best i've never had*

evidently while i was in downward facing dog last night trying to shake the bad mojo from every one of my seven chakras, my colleagues carried on with their forum on what to do in the wake of the ban on affirmative action in the state of michigan. "angry black students" lined up to take the mic and raise some hell in a teach-in. my old head senior colleagues love hosting teach-ins.

i curled up in a flannel and cotton ball after my bath, blogging about how i loathe the undergrads right now.

one of the students, a woman, challenged the assembled panel of professors about why there are so many white people in the center for afroamerican and african studies. she demanded to be taught by an all black faculty. (this is how CAAS was configured initially in its earliest days). so one of the students, a black man who is part of a fraternal organization, jumped up and grabbed the mic. he exclaimed, "wait a minute, i have learned more from professor kelly quinn in the CAAS office than i have from some of the Black professors and I have never taken her class."

one of my white male colleagues just came to my door as remarked how sheldon, the student who said this about me was one of the angrier, more militant students there. so, paul reckoned, this was a big deal.

and to think i was at home cursing them on-line wishing that they would all disappear.

when my pal and colleague beth told me of this shout out this a.m., i welled up with tears.

please don't type anything snide in the comments. it's just that this really matters to me. to have our students see multi-racial, multi-generational coalitions of people working together really matters. it is what i think that the work, my work is about. it is really fucking exhausting. a lot. and it is really fucking lonely to be here by myself. but i do have the fellowship and respect of some. and that is rewarding.


*for the record, miss bird coined this phrase in reference to braggy braggy men she/we wouldn't sleep with, but who in their braggy braggy bluster would rave about their prowess. she used to observe, "that fellow is the best lover we never had, miss quinn." like for example, googie is one of the best lovers we never had. and maybe one of the hairiest? just maybe.