Essay: Tom Bailey "On Becoming a Military Family"
EDITOR’S NOTE : The Harbor Light Newspaper is dedicated to anchoring our readers to northern Michigan’s sense of place. We believe a community is defined by its stories, which is why we are elated to present another in our series of guest essays about life in this region. Tom Bailey, known in our area for his passionate and successful work as executive director of the Little Traverse Conservancy, shares with readers a much more personal connection to the land we all hold dear.
--Kate Bassett
On Becoming a Military Family:
Reflections on Home, Land, Security
By TOM BAILEY SPECIAL TO HARBOR LIGHT NEWSPAPER
“It’s not just the kid who joins the Army, it’s the whole family,” wrote a friend. Our sons were close childhood buddies. Her words echo in my mind as I learn firsthand how true this is. Since my son’s enlistment, I have embarked on a whole new host of adventures.
Among the more mundane of these is acquiring a new vocabulary, composed primarily of acronyms. I could not have envisioned, just a couple of years ago, that I would have conversations such as:
“Wow, those ASUs sure are different than the old Class-As!”
Huh? Well, as I’m learning, here’s the translation: the new Army Service Uniform (ASU) with its black coat, white shirt and black tie is very different than the old familiar “green suit” (Class-A) with green shirt and tie. One’s Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) translates roughly to “job description.” An Eleven-Bravo (11-B) is a rifle infantryman, while an Eleven-Charlie (11-C) is a mortarman, who is also qualified as a rifleman. The braided blue cord on the dress uniform’s right shoulder (oops, I mean on the ASU...) means that the wearer is an infantryman, which is especially significant when one tours the National Infantry Museum (NIM) at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
A more significant adventure is visiting military installations. I toured the NIM after my son’s graduation from fifteen weeks of grueling training at Ft. Benning. I was awed by the displays and also noted that there was a special deference shown to the soldiers wearing those blue cords. I was impressed and proud as the graduation ceremony took place on a field seeded with soil brought in from battlefields around the world ranging from Yorktown and Gettysburg to Normandy and Iwo Jima–truly hallowed ground. I was overwhelmed with admiration for the accomplishments of my son and enormously, unabashedly proud of him.
My Essay For Tenure - News
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That image has stayed with me throughout my tenure at the Conservancy, and has served as a reminder that we all have our own reasons for protecting the natural integrity and scenic beauty of the North Country. I had no idea at the time that I would one
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Lee Skallerup Bessette has contributed an essay to the forthcoming book Women Writing on Family entitled: Professional Nurturer: How to Write about Family (and still be seen as professional). Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe took part in the DAAD's Germany Today
The Two Body Problem: Tenure Bid
I was completely freaked out by the thought of writing this paper because of the scholarly theological, pedagogical, and psychological readings I would have to do to make a scholarly treatise. Moreover, among faculty this paper is generally reviled for its hoop-jumping reputation. However I had lunch with an accidental mentor, who convinced me that his 5 page (the minimum) life story was perfectly passable in his tenure bid. He basically said, "Don't spend too much time on it." So even though I am not looking forward to this paper, I will dial it down on the anxiety list.
They look very interesting, but you are right, they are a scholarly treatise. If you don't mind me asking, are you a religious person? I ask because I am not (in fact, I'm a secular Jew), so that is why I need to approach that essay from a different angle. On the other hand, I have a strong formation in the classical humanistic tradition. As an example, in high school in my native country, I had to take 5 years of Math, 5 years of French, 4 years of Latin, 5 years of History, 5 of Literature, 4 years of Physics, 4 of Chemistry and 3 of Biology. That goes along very well in my university (and I probably wouldn't have applied for a job otherwise). One thing I've realized since I started blogging is that it helps me reflect a lot on my teaching. You might want to go back to some of your posts to see if there is anything that can help you articulate that essay.
Not sure if this helps, but I have almost the opposite problem. The teaching statment that I prepared to go on the market (which I have done now three different times) and for my tenure package begins with about one page of my personal philosophy. I have had folks comment that it my teaching statement is on the long side and that I should "get rid of the extra stuff" in my teaching statement. I am a spiritual person (Hindu), and I really believe that being a professor in engineering is my calling. This has influenced my approach to teaching quite a bit. I write a lot about helping students to achieve their innate potential and realize that a career in engineering is a possibility for them. I also am a female professor, and I think this puts me in a somewhat unique position (given the low number of female faculty in my field) to help mentor female students in engineering. These ideas both translate into my teaching in that I try very hard to take a personal interest in each student's success.
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