Faculty Meetings Faculty Meetings Department Meetings Department Meetings Faculty Meetings Etc.

In a sudden, spirited move, Dr. Wendy Kohli entertained our Educational Studies and Teacher Preparation meeting yesterday with a bit of light-hearted humor. A "Peace" meeting scheduled earlier this week was canceled during the storm and we were presented with a special gift from the chair of our department.

It was Get Along with your Co-workers gum that she found at a novelty store in New Haven. The package is worth quoting here, as it is brilliant:

Instantly change the way your Co-workers affect you! (quote) "I love the ketchup stain on your tie, Ed! It makes you look so beatnik and edgy."

Chances are you spend most of your week working alongside people you might not otherwise frequent in th world. For the sake of the job, we've got to make it work...even if there are times when you'd just love to staple someone in the head. Or stab a sharpened pencil through their hand. Or tie them up and tell them in a shrill voice how you really feel. We've created this gum for exactly these times. Effects of gum may be increased by wearing earplugs.

Warning! If you don't find the effects of your gum strong enough, just quit your job. Life is too short to spend time with losers. And you don't need the stress.  

Given that academics love their meetings, the wit was greatly appreciated. All of us had a good laugh and it made the dialogue a little easier to endure. Luckily, too, no one chewed their gum too loud at the meeting to annoy the person next to them.

I think I should stock up on such gum for the countless other meetings I have to attend each week.