I woke with a severe migraine yesterday at 5:21am. I had gotten it sometime during the night while asleep so there was no chance of taking a rescue medication until I woke up. The ironic thing is that my brain was trying to wake me up because I kept dreaming I was having a migraine. You would think my mind would have flashed a big "wake up! You really ARE having a migraine in real life" sign instead of vague dream-like images I ignored. I could feel the pain in my head when I moved, but attributed it to my dream. I eventually woke and realized I was beyond immediate help. This was going to be an all-day affair and if I am lucky I won't have to go to the ER.
I've written about migraines before in this blog and every time I have one of this level I feel the need to hash it out again. I was told at some point that as I got older, they would diminish. Keeping in mind that Spanish class proved to be a definite migraine trigger, I would say that outside of the Spanish outlier, they haven't. I still take a daily preventative medication and just when I think I don't need it anymore, something like the one I had yesterday happens. I still can't figure out what the trigger is. I have some ideas, but when I go through them again and I don't get a migraine, I'm never sure if that is a trigger or not.
Friday the 6th, Jill, Natalie, and I celebrated my birthday. I turned 46 on Sept. 1st, or as I like to call it, 29 again. Jill took us to a Japanese sushi place by her house and we ate and talked for a few hours dining on all sorts of wonderful sushi, rolls, and sashimi. I didn't have alcohol because I took allergy meds earlier in the day so that wasn't it. I've eaten Chinese and Japanese food before without causing a migraine, so that wasn't it. I was at work, but it wasn't an unusual day, so that wasn't it. The only thing I can think of is that school started this week and I had something really, really irritating happen.
As anyone who is even vaguely familiar with UW-Milwaukee knows, parking on campus is right up there with parking in New York City. I had both of my classes on Wednesday the 3rd, and both teachers made specific points that they will under no circumstances accept emailed homework assignments. Large, bold font also announces this in the syllabi for both teachers. There are several points I want to make about this, so hang in there.
First, both classes are foundational classes to the Professional/Technical writing track of my English degree. They are classes that not only teach you about those very same subjects, but also prepare a student for the work force. They are almost vocational in nature. What's wrong with the point of not accepting emails? Do they honestly think that workforces do not accept email? Are they so cheap that they don't want to print anything out? One teacher stated she liked to comment on the page as she was reading. What? Has she never heard of Word comment? I just can't fathom why we can't email assignments.
Second, one of the teachers then makes an assignment due, for the next day, when we DON'T have class. AND she makes it a non-graded mandatory assignment. AND we have to drop it off, IN-PERSON between the hours of 9am and 2pm at her "Study Abroad" booth in the student union. She tells us that this is her way of making us aware that we can study abroad in London next spring. I have to take a deep breath here, because I can still feel myself get really angry over this. The assignment turns out to be a one page memo answering a few questions about ourselves. This is something that could EASILY be emailed in two seconds versus the 1/2 hour I will need to go to campus, find a parking spot, give it to her, and leave. AND I work a 10 and 1/2 hour day on Thursdays, from 6am to 4:30pm. The only time I would get to do this is on my lunch, and that isn't going to happen. Now, if my office was still at Columbia Hospital, I guess I wouldn't have minded so much. I would have been right across the street. But, I'm not at Columbia anymore, I'm in Glendale at the River Woods outpatient clinic. 20 mins from campus, at best. After class was over, I waited for the other students to leave and then I went to talk with the professor. I stated that I heard her say no emails, but I went on to explain my situation and asked if I could email mine. Nope. She told me I could "drop it off after work, and slip it underneath her door". I then told her I wasn't going to be on the east side of Milwaukee, and she just repeated herself with a breezy, airy smile. I sighed and told her that I would be going to a friend's house on Friday and could make a detour over, but I will not stop on Thursday after work because I had two errands to run that were in Mequon and Saukville that had to be done by 5pm when the store in Mequon closed. I was NOT coming back to the east side of Milwaukee to slip a one piece page of paper under her door when she wasn't even going to be there. I must have shown some irritation because she relented and said Friday would be fine.
Third, both teachers made comments about being too "old" to learn these "new" ways of doing things. The discussion was about emails and D2L, which is the electronic version of the classroom. I've taken several courses that use D2L (desire 2 learn), and I think it is an excellent tool to get people acquainted with electronic forms of communication that isn't for a fun purpose. It is also the classroom for all online classes. It is a serious, work environment that is similar to what happens in the work force. I know this because I am in the work force. So I don't understand when I get two teachers, both in their 60's who announce to a class of 20-somethings that they are too "old to learn new tricks". What the hell am I paying tuition for then? And WHY would anyone choose UWM's programs if they have professors that are too old to keep up with standard, current workforce practices. Especially in something that will use technology for its standard practice. I am appalled at this. Both as a student and as a taxpayer. And, less-so, as a woman. Both teachers are women and I feel they are just adding to the stereotype of old women who can't use computers. Hey, that's fine if you are not teaching the next generation of kids who will be entering the workforce in a few short semesters. You want to hole up in the 1970's and stay there, that's your problem. But, you have NO right to call yourself a teacher of current practices then. And, just because you are tenured, doesn't mean you get to rest on your laurels, waste taxpayer money, waste student tuition money, and make the younglings dance circles around your schedule.
After this semester I have 19 credits left for graduation. I am so close. But, instead of warming to UWM, I find that I am becoming increasingly annoying and disgusted with them. I really miss UW Sheboygan. I'm not going to transfer to a different school with only 19 credits left. I have no idea if a different school is any different, better, or possibly worse. I will stick it out, get my degree, and finally put this chapter in my life to rest. I have to keep reminding myself that I have had teachers who are normal, nice, and interested in teaching students and not for personal gain. Who don't put on an air of quirky antiquity when trying to teach a forward-thinking technology class. Yes, I understand that the basic principles of writing are the same. What I'm trying to learn is how to apply that to today's business practices and if I have teachers that won't even use an established form of communication, why am I here? Not using email is akin to using an abacus in a calculus class.
I just hope this is the only real bump in the semester. I can't take another 15 weeks of quirky teachers who pull this crap out of their hats and call it an education. I really can't. This is why college is for the young. They don't know any better. But I guarantee you they know how to email. And that brings me to my last point. The younglings of today are past email. They will be more advanced in using technology than I will ever be, and if I can see the problem with having professors that won't use what is available in the workforce, why should they invest their, and their parent's, money into a university system that could be so much more greater than it is? Why? Why as taxpayers should we accept shoddy services for our money? Why are we giving tenure to professors who have no interest in keeping current? And, why does this bother me so much that I get a migraine so bad that I consider removing my head as a treatment option?
