Oooh, Nice People Saying Nice Things To Me

There's A Mob By The Bus Stop (But They Look Friendly)

On my way in to Wednesday Office Hours today, I stopped by the Public Safety office to get my two-vehicle-held-on-by-Scotch-tape Fall 2006 Parking Permit. As I am officially a part-time faculty person, they can't give me one of those vehicle hang tags they give "real" faculty. (grin)

Then back to the Rood Hall parking lot -- and already I can see a huge mob scene by the bus stop. Which I have to walk through between the parking lot and the building with my office.

But they looked friendly enough. And some guy was photographing with what I, as a former yearbook and semi-pro photographer, would call a "real camera", so I asked him what was going on. "They're taking the kids downtown."

I'm assuming "the kids" are the freshmen/new students. And taking them "downtown" wasn't some old 30s movie shorthand for arresting them all and throwing them in jail. In fact, all the students seemed to be wearing name badges on neck strings with the logo New Student Welcome printed on the badges.

Okay. Safe enough crowd to walk through.

Then someone leaning against a railing shouted, "Hi, Dr. Phil!" and I said "Hey!" back. Without prompting or bribe, this student yelled out, "This is Dr. Phil -- he's the greatest Physics teacher in the world!" To which I replied, "It's true." Which got a lot of freshmen smiles.

I should've asked my former student, now New Student Welcome group wrangler, what grade I gave him. (grin)

Late To The Party As Usual

Wow -- I've been quoted by another blog.

Actually, I've been quoted in bits and pieces before, but it was all between 2004 Clarion people. This one came clear out of the blue from writer Meljean Brook, who referenced part of my commentary from this entry.

Gee, thanks!

And One Pleasant Flake

Phone call for Dr. Phil. Uh, I knew where this was going. "Is this about a Physics class?" "No, it's about a private issue." "Is this about the television show?" "Well, it's something you haven't covered recently."

Mmmm... I don't recall having covered anything on my television show recently. Ooops, have to turn down the snark-o-meter.

I don't know where she got my office phone number, but in as many places as I can on my webpages, it says "I am not the Dr. Phil on television." And I link to the Other Dr. Phil's FAQ page -- though they change that address from time to time, so some of my links are unfortunately bad links. Sigh. A Dr. Phil's damage control job is never done.

I still get phone calls. And e-mails. And letters. And the occasional package. (double-sigh)

Dr. Phil

Hmmm...

I Wasn't Going To Enter This Frey

... because there's a LOT of commenting going on about The Harlan Ellison Incident as WorldCon 64 in L.A. this past week. If you don't know what I'm talking about, there's More Than Complete Coverage on Patrick Nielsen Hayden's LA Con IV summary, and perhaps a shorter bit on Jim C. Hine's discussion of the offense and response.

Anyway, so much is written by other (and sometimes more witty and sometimes with a more vested interest) blogs that I figured a Me Too comment from this little space wasn't going to do anything. But my 2004 Clarion classmate Eric Joel Bresin's new blog comments on a call to rescind Harlan's SFWA Grandmaster award.

It's okay to be repulsed by a person's actions, but still enjoy their story. A person is not there (sic) story. Repeat with me: a person is not there (sic) story. If you disagree with that, well then, I'm sure you'll agree that we should stop lying to newbie writers about rejections: "They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting your manuscript." No, actually they really are rejecting YOU!

Wither Grandmaster Ellison?

Here in West Michigan, yesterday's front page story was about taking away the crown of the Greenville MI's Danish Festival Queen because it turns out she did some "lingerie wrestling videos". PLEASE -- I bring this up not to make fun or embarrass or to say women are just as boorish as guys -- I have a point to make.

The Danish Festival Queen is tied into the Miss Michigan competition which feeds into the Miss America competition. There is a clause where:

pageant contestants sign a contract agreeing to represent the festival and community as a role model.

Lingerie wrestling videos are the sort of thing which some people, especially in conservative West Michigan, find to be in questionable taste. WOOD-AM radio's morning talk show commented that it's the buyers of such videos who make it so, more than the videos themselves. So they've moved on to the First Runner-Up, who no doubt was screened for suitability herself.

My Question Is This

Does the SFWA Grandmaster Award come with a morals clause? If it does, then stripping Harlan of the title might be something to debate. If it doesn't, then this issue might be something to debate -- but yanking the award ex post facto could be problematic.

Those suggesting that Harlan not be invited to participate in WorldCon events in the future are on much more defensible ground. As someone pointed out in all the stuff I read today, Harlan could still buy a WorldCon membership just like any other SF fan and attend on his own dime. Maybe he should -- and if he behaves himself, perhaps some will call him rehabilitated.

Sigh

I'm still not sure why I'm even raising this issue, because I'm sure someone will misconstrue my motives and call me an apologist for Bad Behavior, when this is nothing of the sort. Harlan did wrong at WorldCon. I've never met the man, but I've "heard stories" for years. It may be a little late to fire up the torches and sharpen the pitchforks... Writers have egos -- some Big Name writers have Big Egos. It'd be nice if everyone could play together nicely. Alas...

Dr. Phil

The End of Summer

Sigh

Freshmen and other student types are unloading their lives onto campus. Some other area colleges and universities have already started classes. My two month break from the classroom is just about over.

No more staying up til 3 or 4 in the a.m.

No more getting up at 6 a.m., after only two or three hours of sleep, knowing I can go back to sleep after Mrs. Dr. Phil goes off to work.

No more having time to post multiple LiveJournal entries. (sniff)

No more having a tank of gas last a week or more. It's back to a new tank every two days. On the other hand, the paychecks begin to flow again, so as long as the money doesn't go our faster than it comes in... (grin)

No more watching episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Spike TV -- or the weirdly addictive Cash Cab on The Discovery Channel -- in the middle of the day.

On The Other Hand

I get to play with two different classes, rather than two sections of the same class, so I don't have to try to keep them in synch. And both classes are the first and second semesters of the same course, so they use the same textbook.

And I get to write more quizzes and tests and generally mess with the minds of all my Physics students. (gleeful-grin)

And I've got all three Blazers running properly just about now, so maybe I won't have to try to schedule in any repairs during the Fall semester.

And the weather is still full of less-than-maximum-hot days and the nights promise to move from the mid-60s to the 50s. Mmmm -- blankets.

Good thing, too, since the blue box fan I bought for the pre-Mrs. Dr. Phil some 24 years ago died yesterday. It kept shutting off on HIGH, like it had an overheating protection circuit -- which it might have had -- so I didn't run it on HIGH. Dumb me, I figured it was a lubrication problem and really didn't want to figure out how to oil it. Didn't occur to me to check to see if 24 years of fuzzy dust had blocked nearly all the cooling vents... too late now.

So bring on the Fall Semester and the crisp Fall weather.

I'm ready.

Dr. Phil