Playing Hooky From Sabbatical To Do The Dean A Favor...Finally A Chance To Present in Bellarmine Hall.

When new faculty arrive to Fairfield University, they are oriented by the President in the Diffley Room of Bellarmine Hall. The gorgeous property (an administrative castle, of sorts, on our campus) overlooks a gorgeous green lawn and the Long Island Sound - a view that is home to Graduation Commencement that welcomes families, friends, and our faculty together to celebrate our students and their success.

A week ago, my boss (in academic terms, a Dean) asked me if I'd be willing to come to campus to speak at the AJCU (Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities) fall meeting for Schools of Education. Following my mentor, Kwame Alexander, I thought, "Always say yes," and responded, "I'm not sure. I'm supposed to be budgeting my time and getting to my research work."

In other words, I declared, "Count me in."

And I began doing research on who my audience would be and speculating on how I best could represent CWP-Fairfield, the National Writing Project, my colleagues across campus, and the community outreach we do. So, I went narrative style. I told them a story of why I came to this particular campus and am doing the work I believe in. I shared the stories of grants over the last 4.25 years ($375,000 worth thus far), the success of Writing Our Lives conferences, and the work with Bridgeport Public Schools. I alluded to my research, the establishment of Ubuntu Academy, the teacher institutes and the Young Adult Literacy Labs that brought 152 youth to campus this summer and 24 teachers. I shared the story of John Legend, LRNG, my national mentors, and the investment of Syracuse University. They got the Brown School story, my philosophy, and the way Nancy Cantor taught me that Scholarship in Action really does matters.

I talked for over an hour and then answered questions and was most interested by those given to the Dean asking, "So, how does this guy's work get received by the Tenure and Promotion committees?"

Good question, because I haven't a clue about that world. The conversation went to the level they were there to discuss and I knew it was time for me to leave. I had to get a photo, though, of me with the Sound in the background. I stood there for a while looking for Humpback whales (the Sound, after all, is environmentally in a period of rebirth), but had no luck.

Yet, I felt like luck was pouring on me. What a wonderful opportunity to speak to Deans from the likes of Gonzaga, Canisius, Fordham, and Loyola, and to share my zany, whacky, whimsical and quirky story. It helped me to realize that a career has never been what I'm after. Nope, I'm simply after the narrative that is being composed by me and the Great Whatever. I have no clue what any of it means, but I will take my interpretation of it to continue doing as I do.

I will invest in youth. I will invest in teachers. And I will remain on the ground acting as an intellectual Robin Hood. That is what matters to me most.