January, 2012: I recently gave CMM a new look, and a using a still from The Blackboard Jungle, which starred the underrated Glen Ford as a dedicated teacher who struggles with his inner city students–among them a young Sidney Poitier. We have come a long way since 1955 when BJ was released, and I am inclined to read this still metaphorically.
This blog began as a chance to explore the land of the forgotten, that peculiar place to which society exiles women who never marry or choose a life partner. Single women face unique and often daunting challenges in the worlds of work and leisure. Their stories are seldom heard, and, when they are told, it is usually in service of a “how-to”…avoid staying single. Some women choose to remain single. Others find their single status just happened, with no effort on their part either to run away from relationships or to be unsuccessful in seeking them out. As I explored this topic, I realized that a single woman’s point of view provides a fresh perspective on politics, life and culture, and other subjects as well. So like the brave spinster who pays her single supplement to take a round-the-world cruise, I expanded the arena in which I would make my views known.
But the pull of my professional home proved too strong for even the roughest seas, and so Call Me “Miss”! has gradually found a new focus: higher education, for it is in that domain where I spent my working life. College and university campuses are wonderful places to visit, and you might even want to live on or near one. Colleges and universities are a generous source for fascinating, informative, and infuriating news. My take on them has been one of an affectionately critical insider, but that too is evolving, for as I continue to read of the naked greed of administrators and faculty and the appalling lack of self-awareness of members of the academy in general, I find, to my great sadness, the affection waning.
I use hyperbole and satire when I write about higher ed, because I fear if I tried to write a simple critique it would be filled with the anger and disgust I feel when I think about how degraded a noble profession has become.
You’ll find even now occasional essays on other topics. I hope you enjoy them all.
I was idly Googling myself at one a.m. when I came upon your smackdown of me on your blog. I loved the cartoon representation of me. But honestly compels me to say that I am not nearly that goodlooking.
Cheers,
Robert Paul Wolff
And it is also true that Martin Peretz is nowhere near as good-looking as Ray Milland was. Thanks for being a good sport. I wonder if you recognize any landmarks in my Collegeland, USA posts.
Great blog! I just stumbled across it.
Please check out my work-in-progress documentary about higher education reform, I think it’s something you might be interested in.
http://www.elephantoncampus.com
Good luck with your film project. I cannot agree with the proposition that student loans should be forgiven. You took the money….you pay it back.