holiday wishes, tongue firmly in cheek

[aslant]

from a friend at work:

Please accept, with no obligation, implied or implicit, the best wishes of F___ A_______ (sometimes hereinafter referred to as the "wisher") for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all . . . . . and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "America" in the western hemisphere or that there are not other hemispheres of equal dignity), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee (or lack thereof with regards to any or all of such factors) (and further not to imply that the winter solstice should be considered a holiday for those afflicted, through no fault of their own, with some form of psychological or physical depression occasioned by the natural reduction of sunlight or increase in precipitation due to seasonal factors (or increase/reduction for those in the so-called Southern Hemisphere))

Lewis & Clark College is sometimes a very peculiar place, but as my newly-adopted home, I'm beginning to learn and love some of its customs...

Comments

[circadian.livejournal.com]

ah! what are you studying / doing at LC? I went there for my master's in teaching, and a friend of mine started a master's program there this fall....

[aslant.livejournal.com]

i work in institutional advancement as a grant writer, for the college and both grad schools. i just started in october :)

i do work with some of the gsec faculty on some projects -- did you ever work with greg smith or mary clare? i work with vern jones a little, too.

[circadian.livejournal.com]

yes! I have worked with ALL the people you mentioned. Greg Smith is one of my favorites - he's brilliant, but quietly so. Mary Claire is a delight too...as for Vern. Well, Vern is Vern. :)

what a small world! i hope you are enjoying your work!

~ amie

[aslant.livejournal.com]

i'm helping greg to find funding for his place-based education research, and i work very closely with mary clare and se-ah-dom edmo on their indigenous ways of knowing project (iwok), not sure if that was around when you were here, but it is a big thing in all 3 schools now, they've gotten a lot of funding for it. cool stuff.

vern - ha :) he is a strong kind of guy...we're trying to get funding for some of his ELL stuff. he is so tied to the lc community, it's insane! did you know all his kids have gone here? i think that's kind of cool. but sometimes that kind of institutional knowledge & longevity can be scary :)

[circadian.livejournal.com]

Ah, well I hope Greg gets all the funding he wants. He deserves it as does the program. He was my cohort leader when I was in the program...I took a weekend class with Mary Claire on chinese medicine as a metaphor for counseling/teaching. It was lovely -- I'm not familiar with the indigenous ways of knowing project, though it sounds great.

Yes - i did know Vern's kids all went through the program. It is nuts, but it's cool that he is so dedicated to the program. :)

[nevers.livejournal.com]

hahahahha.
bizarrely this makes me feel warm and fuzzy and included, rather than making me feel "ugh political correctness is just ridiculous and this is a great satire of it."

[aslant.livejournal.com]

it kind of makes me warm and fuzzy too :) i have the feeling that's the spirit in which she sent it, too. i always feel so conflicted about 'christmas' and it's kind of nice to laugh about it!