179. Saturday's Blog: Work Love

First a Public Service Announcement:  Did you know that my sweet yarn-haired Dogs Steal Yarn Cari is no longer at her old blog address, but has moved to Dispatches From Utopia?  Please update your feedreaders.  She's starting to feel a bit lonely over there in Utopia, and a person shouldn't be lonely in Utopia.  That's just not riiiiiight. 

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When I got in my car to go to work Thursday, all I could think was, "I love my work.  And loving your work has got to be right up there in the top three things in life."

This has been a very, very good week. I have a new graduate student's summer school classes to cover.  I love the subject matter, I love my new student, I love the other students in the class, I love the professor.  We're watching Bergman and Antonioni films and (they) are discussing them (but oh, how I would like to join in on the discussion!) as they relate to readings by Kierkegaard, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Kant, Hegel, et al. 

On the first day of class, when people were introducing themselves and telling a little bit about why they were there, my student ended her introduction by saying, "And I have a hearing loss, so this person will be here to assist me," and introduced me.  The professor asked me to talk about myself a little bit and what it is that I do. 

This was handled so well.  In so many of my classes previously, nobody knew why I was there.  The entire semester would be over, and a student would ask me if I was there for the professor, or would finally get up the nerve to ask what I was doing and why.  In the present case, all the strangeness was taken away immediately.  Everybody knows why I'm there now, and I'm getting to be a more and more familiar face around campus. 

On Thursday, I had an extra-long day because in addition to the four-hour class, I had orientation events to cover before and after the class.  At each of these large events, more and more people are noticing what it is that I do -- noticing that it's a person sitting there doing it, and are being very open about expressing their admiration (though the questions still keep coming about "is that voice recognition software?"). 

I am only human -- I mean who can deny that it is one of the best feelings ever to be admired for what one does?  A dad of one of the new students came up and asked me about how long I've been doing this, said he was so impressed with it, and went on to say that he is wondering about this as a career for his middle daughter. I gave him my card and said his daughter can write to me if she wants to know about what to do to get started and where to go to school, etc.

I never did meet the person for whom the CART was being done and demonstrated that day, because she did not identify herself to me.  One of the reasons for putting the captions up on the big screen is so the person who needs it can remain anonymous.  However, by the end of the evening, the coordinator of the ACCESS program for the deaf and hard of hearing came up to my elbow and said, "E.... says she wants CART for her classes." I guess I made a good impression. 

The exposure of the service and the reaction of the rest of the audience members, as I'll tell you about, probably had a lot to do with her feeling comfortable enough to ask for the service.  So many undergrads don't want it, because they don't want to stand out and, as I often say jokingly to them when I meet them, "Who wants to be stuck to a middle-aged woman all day?" (Though I hasten to add, I am not yet at the middle of my expected life span. Heh.)

During the evening presentation, which was a very engaging speech by a very engaging speaker who comes frequently and travels around the country to give these diversity and inclusion speeches, my work turned out to be the source of some entertainment.  Maura was talking about someone whose frustrations have built up and built up and she finally "blows" and says, in response to something seemingly innocuous (dropping a napkin on her foot), "Why'd you have to go and drop shit on my foot?!"  All the students in the audience loved the fact that "shit" appeared on the screen in the captions, so Maura ran with it.  We have worked these events before together, so she looked at me and I waved to her.  She waved back and then said to the students that they needed to get out more. She said, "Shit shit shit shit shit shit," and everyone looked to see if it came up on the screen, which of course it did.  They loved it.  Then Maura and several students in the audience participation part of the program continued to play around and push the envelope to say things like "balls" and "dyke" and "hornymoon" (heh) to see if they would appear on the screen.  Much over-the-top anticipation, dramatically looking at the screen, and laughter all around. 

Each time this happens with a new group of students means that an entire new class has seen me and knows WTF it is I'm doing around there.  This is good.  Very, very good. 

I am starting to worry about being TOO BUSY for this fall semester.  Good thing I'm eating my greens and going to yoga and the gym, eh?  I need to keep healthy and fit or I won't be able to cope with it all.

I'm not complaining. I'm rejoicing and hoping it doesn't end. 

And to top it all off, I've got radishes.

Harvest Photo of the Day

The impending rain forced me to take a very quick and slightly out-of-focus (so what's new, you might be asking) shot of these babies I harvested yesterday.  We've got red radishes, purple radishes, and my personal favorite:  French Breakfast radishes (those are the elongated ones with the red tops and white tips)

Comments

[Sarah]

I'm so glad you are enjoying your full life!

[molly!]

Your work life sounds great! Glad to hear that things are going well, in work and the garden. :)

[Alida South Africa]

Congratulations on doing such a wonderful thing for people who can not hear like we do. I think you rock. I teach and when other teachers teach my class I also want to participate, but have to bite my tongue and keep quiet! Maybe now that the students learn to know you, they might be more open to discuss things with you when there is an opporunity.

[Alida South Africa]

PS Can I say 'shit' here? Where I teach I can't say it!

[Manise]

Enjoying ones job and being recognized and appreciated for it is a good thing. Very happy for you!

My radishes are also the French breakfast ones, though need 2 more weeks until ready to pick. Can't wait! What are the purple ones called?

[Katy]

So, you are really getting paid to go back to school to learn things without being tested on them months later... right? Cool.

[Carole]

I think the path your career has taken now is wonderful, Norma. Totally unexpected and really rewarding and that's just fantastic.

[Marcia Cooke]

Too hot here for radishes now, but that is one lovely bunch you've got there! I'm going to try again towards fall. What you are doing now sounds so much nicer than depositions, by the way!

[marianne]

I really enjoy reading about your work and knowing how appreciated you are... lucky students. lucky you!
Those little French breakfast radishes are SO pretty.

[Melissa]

This just warms my heart. My mom was a sign language interpreter and she knew some interpreters who refused to translate swear words. I think she'd be fascinated with what you're doing.

[Dani in NC]

You are truly blessed to have a job that you enjoy. I can't even imagine something like that in my life. You are very lucky and it sounds like you realize it instead of taking it for granted.

[margene]

Now Norma's Life is FABULOUS! It should be. Love the radishes...just gorgeous.

[Lynn]

My broccoli is ready! Some of it, at any rate, and it's TINY. I used to grow (in a different garden) big 8-10-inch wide heads; these are two inches wide, but already looking like they're going to open up to flower, so I'm going to harvest them and let the side shoots come along. And I think I'll plant some radishes, too.

[Cookie]

Of course, you're busy. People want talent and, honey, you are talent.

[Anne]

You should totally get a T-shirt that says "I am the voice recognition software"!

[Kristen]

I am so glad to hear things are working out! Surf that high, baby, you deserve a nice, long ride!

[Cathy-Cate]

I really want to know how the radishes got their name. Do the French eat them for petit déjeuner, really? (Crêpes radis, sure!) But I (heresy!) don't care for radishes, so I have no imagination as far as radishes for breakfast.

It's nice to be appreciated as far as CART, eh? But I think you need to go beyond Anne's suggestion and get a T-shirt with ALL the answers to the (stupid) FAQs on it that you've listed in prior blog posts! (But people wouldn't look before they asked, anyway.) Moo cards, maybe?

[Angie]

I love your radish photo---they look wonderful. I met a person providing CART services to a co-worker this past week. We had a bit of time to chat during the two-day seminar covering the challenges of the work you do. She even tried to do a little recruiting. :D I did give her your blog address, so she (Leanne from Illinois) may stop by. Because I read your blog, Norma, I had something to talk to her about and wasn't too ignorant. :D

[Sheepish Annie]

Oh, thanks for the reminder about going to Utopia! I keep forgetting to change that in Bloglines...

[AmyP]

Radishes = fartfood. Very pretty though.

[Gillian]

Nice to hear that things are going so well. My radishes are a failure, mostly leaf with a small, not quite radish at the bottom. I will likely rip them out.

[Knitnana]

Lovely radishes!!!

And loving what you do is worth it's weight in homegrown veggies!
(((hugs)))

[Helen]

Will your work leave time for knit-blogger meet ups around the 24th of July?? We'll be in Burlington around then for a few days, and I'm plumb tired of missing you!

[Lorette]

I know I'm late on commenting on this one, but I had to stop reading and catch my breath after "radishes=fartfood". We buy bags and bags of radishes at the market every week. I especially love the tiny little ones, but the big fat ones are good if you slice them and braise them in a bit of olive oil (what isn't good that way?).

[Jan]

That radish photo! Gorgeous! It made me forget the rest of your post...what did you say again?