Things

El Senor called me up today while I was with Jyg. I talked to him for a bit, but he wanted to ask me if I heard about John Updike. When I replied yes, he laughed. I didn’t understand what was so funny about the writer’s passing. I suppose he didn’t like him or there must’ve been something else that was tickling him. I pressed. “Well,” he said, “Dr. Williamson…” I already knew this was gold.

Dr. Eric Miles Williamson is possibly one of the best writers at Panam at the present moment. I’ve never taken a class with him, but I’ve known people who have. Their opinions of him range from completely negative to completely negative with a positive aspect. Let me explain the latter. In college, you grow accustom to two types of professors, am I right? You have the means ones who push all this work on you, make it impossible to pass the class, [insert your generic negative stereotype here], and then you have the easy ones who, no matter how much you mess you, you can still expect at least a B. However, the great professors are both. The way Dr. Williamson comes off those that I know who’ve taken him, is that he’s a touch professor, but he cares. Life isn’t easy and Williamson isn’t either – or so I’ve been told (notice how I stress this because I know somewhere out there, there’s some punk looking up this man’s name to find something that will say “He’s evil, rotten, mean. Made me want to cry all semester long,” and he’ll find this blog and say “Aha! I’m not taking him,” but by all means, one should take professors like him: it’s for your own good). He’s going to give you a challenge.

I also happened to read his novel Two-Up, which I reviewed (sorta, but not really) on Good Reads. It’s a great book, but I won’t get into that because, as you have noticed, I’ve completely went off the track with my original topic.

Anyway. I was talking to El when he told me about the John Updike incident. “Well, Dr. Williamson wrote a review about John Updike. He said how he hoped Updike would die already – this was a few weeks before it happened – and go to heaven (I think he said heaven, but could’ve meant hell) and when he got there the only books he would have to read would be the ones he wrote so that he could die of boredom.” Harsh, but funny.

I miss school.

Sigma Tau Delta Update Again

According to our constitution – and all constitutions, if you think about it – the Vice President is supposed to take over the president position if the president leaves. Fine. However, neither Jyg nor the acting president knew that last year’s vice president was still going to school. So now the whole organization has the complete lead officers, as Jyg took up the position of Treasurer. I think the organization will suffer greatly from the lack of duties the last president failed to complete, but nonetheless it will survive.

Sigma Tau Delta Update

Jyg informed me earlier that the mess with Sigma Tau Delta, Alpha Lambda Psi chapter, has been cleaned up slightly. With the acting president (Jyg is acting Vice President) and former Vice President, the organization is being lifted. Former VP has offered to help the two stray officers with the Office of Student Development’s update packet tonight. I was also informed that the organization kept the cubicle. I suppose with much problems as it was, the cubicle was probably paper work was probably turned in. However, there are still money problems and the case of the missing former adviser. We’ll see how it goes. But I’m just grateful for small favors. Hopefully the organization will survive the year.

Leadership: When you mess up, blame the last guy

I just got word that Sigma Tau Delta, Alpha Lambda Psi chapter, is in the shithole right now. Why should I care? Because a year ago, I was president of the chapter and I was left with the difficult task of picking up the mess my predecessor left for me. I killed off several things that the last administration started so I can right the organization and hope to get some asses in the seats. That worked for about a semester and then those people graduated. 

In fall, we were faced with more difficulties because personal lives and agendas started to seep in. Believe me when I say this, I was guilty of this as well. I was dealing with the downfall of my relationship as every month seemed to threaten more and more the inevitable break up. I did my best to keep it together, juggling proteges who didn’t want to deal with me and school work as my college life was coming to a sudden end. 

I was also really nervous with the fact that the organization wouldn’t have a president after I graduated as no one seemed to want to take the position. One person, finally said she would, although never hinted as such, but did say she wanted to run for a new position. I took that as a positive sign. 

Now, almost a year later, I’m having the secretary turned president and the historian turned panic historian trying to pick up the pieces that the last person should’ve picked up before leaving. The departure of a beloved sponsor only meant rough seas. No matter what they do, they will never be truly able to replace that sponsor. Before I left, we had three sponsors that I kept up to date on a monthly basis (twice, one in e-mail and one face to face). When Jyg contacted them to see if they were still on board as sponsors, both replied by stating they hadn’t been kept contacted about the organization for about a year, indictating that since I graduated and stepped down as president, they hadn’t received one update about the health of the organization. 

So in the midst of this, because I told both Jyg and the new president that I would assist them in anyway I could, I find out that the inductees from last semester were not sent to Sigma Tau Delta, nor were their names included in the list of new members. Whether or not their dues were sent and their certificates received is a whole other thing. 

Now I hear from another member of Sigma Tau Delta and a member of the other English organization on campus (EMO), that the last president holds the blame on me and my treasurer as we left the organization in a mess. Before leaving, I made sure to tie all loose ends. The only things I left open, because the next group wanted to extend the deadline, was a book drive and the modified constitution, making the group a nonalcoholic one. Apparently, my treasurer is also blamed for leaving a mess with EMO, as she was president of that organization and failed to transfer the bank account fully over to their treasurer, which isn’t a big shocker because of conflicting schedules. 

What other mess did I leave? It’s one thing with me being a bad leader, but I can’t think of a single thing I did that would make me shoulder the blame. The last president left without holding elections for a replacement, without notifying the remaining officers what had to be done, without notifying headquarters about the new inductees, without updating all the sponsors, without having the new treasurer passing the account to the next president, without turning in all the proper paper work to OSD, without securing the future of our chapter. But I’m to blame. Sure. Okay. Whatever. 

I concede.