|
Twenty-ninth Job of Bob - College Student Part XII - A few more favorite profs and teaching styles: Frandy; Penn; McMahon; and, Irwin
This entry was posted on 6/29/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
Before I leave my reminiscing about the college effort as an old guy, it would be remiss if there was not mention of a few more instructors and professors that had memorable stories and or delivery styles.
On arrival back to regular college after the attempt at nursing school, it was clear there would need to be some math if I were to go further in college. Madison Area Technical College provided deep-down ground level classes in many fields - that was their job as a tech school. I signed up for a basic math class.
Upon waltzing into class the first day, it was a hodge-podge of younger and older students. There at the head of the class was a small framed guy with a swoop of hair on his forehead much like Conan O'Brien from late night television. He was well preserved and fit. He was armed with different colored chalk; and, his room was walled by old fashioned black boards..
"I bet some of you have not been in school for years. Let's get warmed up," he said with a cautious smile. "What's two times three?" And he wrote it on the board. There was stunned silence. This guy Mr. Frandy was either nuts or trying to be funny, I thought. Not so. The warmup continued until the numbers gradually got bigger. Each day the numbers slowly and methodically got progressively harder. For me, this style of learning was perfect - even god forbid....fun.
Then one day about mid-semester I happened by an open classroom door and there was Mr. Frandy teaching Calculus. This was in the early days of my college time. I had not yet learned to research the class material and instructor beforehand.
So, one day I looked up the bio on this guy Frandy in the school handbook. Low and behold he was not the consummate Master Degree tech school instructor. "Doctor" Jack Frandy had a PhD in Mathematics from Purdue. And, he was head of the math department. Here was a guy who walked the walk and got in the trenches. Here on first blush we all thought he was a joker. But, this guy was so far above us we would never know his knowledge. In fact, it must have been an effort for him to teach to such a rabble of idiots. He never let on one hint.
Doctor Frandy retired before I could take another math class from him. What a shame, I might have veered a slightly different direction in school. But I will never forget that cool, methodical teaching style. I will always be glad I got to see him work his trade on the front lines.
------------------------------------
My first psychology teacher was a thoughtful man named Alan Penn. I remember his three succinct exams. No messing around with copious essays and the such. The exams had a lot of multiple choice questions. The more the better because that seemed to make your odds better. They were tough exams digging deep into the huge psych book. I got an "A" in the class but Mr. Penn stumped me on two questions on the same exam and I will never now forget.
One question asked what was the name of that thing when you just could not quite remember a name or word. I missed it somehow in the book. Surely the answer was not, "Tip of the tongue." I surmised it must be a lofty 50 dollar phrase....wrong. It was indeed officially called, "Tip of the tongue."
Not far down the test came the question asking what was the name for someone who tricks you into letting them in your house to sell you something. Surely it was not, "Foot in the door." I surmised it must be a lofty 50 dollar phrase....wrong again. It was indeed officially called, "Foot in the door."
Everytime I hear those old phrases I think of Mr. Penn and his, "I got yah," smile.
------------------------------------
Because I was half way thinking of majoring in English or Journalism, I ended up taking a composition class and then a short story class with a young teacher named Craig McMahon. I remember him most for his love of short stories. I had loved short stories in high school so I jumped at the class. This of course is a writing style from a bygone era. But, Mr. McMahon brought to our attention scores of short stories written by famous writers.
He also crafted the class to follow the history of short story writing going back to Washington Irving and Herman Melville, through Mark Twain, and up to contemporaries like Kurt Vonnegut and Lorrie Moore. I feel bad just mentioning a few of the obvious writers. Mr. McMahon brought to life a craft that modern literature has left behind. And too, in a world of computers, big screen televisions, spy novels, and video games, short stories have fallen by the way. I too had fallen victim to the trend of forgetting the art ever existed.
But, in just that one semester, Mr. McMahon dusted off so many stories and so many subjects they covered it was almost overwhelming. I will never read a short essay, article, or story again and not think of that pleasant semester getting lost in those once forgotten tales. It was like getting reintroduced to an old friend.
------------------------------------
Some of my early journalism classes were taken at MATC. And there was a lead teacher - one Mike Irwin. Thinking in tech school I might like to explore journalism, I took a feature writing class. The problem with tech school (especially a large tech school) as an older student, it is like being a kid in a candy store. The flag-ship campus of the Wisconsin technical college school system offered a treasure trove of subjects to wade in. I started taking classes in several fields - journalism was just the tip of the iceberg. So much for being focused as an old dude (another urban myth). Anyway, the instructor was a salty guy. He was a seasoned writer and was often published in the local papers. And it sounded like he had some type of farm or farmette. He would ride an old motorcycle to a creative writing class I also took with him during one summer session. He insisted we meet at a park for that class - to get the hell outside of the stuffy building.
In those days they called the MATC campus paper The Slant. I wrote several opinion pieces; it was the era of President Bill and Monica and the several wars in the former Yugoslavia - wars we were being incrementally dragged into. There was plenty of political fodder to gnaw on. Then, I stumbled onto a one-credit independent study class option in Journalism. I was to present a subject idea to the Journalism faculty for approval. When living somewhere other than Wisconsin, I always missed the Friday fish frys. Already accumulating a good portfolio of political diatribes to my credit in the college paper, I needed some other gig; I just could not get this fish fry idea out of my head - review fish frys.
I thought the faculty would toss my fish idea in the trash because it might not be a lofty enough serious journalistic contribution. But, Journalism instructor Mike Irwin thought different. This was the same guy I had already taken a couple classes with and knew the cut of his jib well. It turns out he specialized in Rural Journalism. That involves immersing one's self in the culture of rural and agricultural America and writing about it, to name only a couple dynamics of the specialty. To my surprise he gave me the green light on the fish fry critique idea, and I did the project and got an 'A.' The credit would later transferred to the university and will forever sit on my Bachelor of Arts transcript.
Interestingly, a footnote on the journalism connection is that at the time I wrote about fish frys, I also wrote those scathing political opinion pieces for the college paper regarding war, Bill Clinton, and Monica. No one ever e-mailed or called me on the carpet for my opinions. However, once I missed getting a fish fry review in an issue of the paper and to my stunned amazement, people I never met before, instructors, academic staff, students, and janitors stopped me in the hallway and said they missed seeing the fish fry review. It was then that I started to take colloquial culture much more serious.
In the feature writing class us students were all excited to write our little master pieces. However, no one seemed to know when to shut up on paper. Frustrated with our long winded stories, Mr. Irwin passed to each of us a business card.
"Now," he said. "Write your next story on the back of this card."
He also said in response to people that just could never seem to finish a story, "You just got to know when to quit moving comas and sentences around."
In the spirit of efficiency and economy of words in writing, I need to end this chapter; here's to you Mike Irwin.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Specialist Chad Derek Coleman, 20, of Moreland, Georgia was killed on Friday, August 27, 2010 in the Dzardan district of Paktiya province, Afghanistan. He died during convoy operations when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an command-wired roadside bomb (improvised explosive device). He was one of two soldiers killed in the incident. Coleman was assigned to Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Coleman was friends with Private Adam Novak the other soldier killed in the incident. Both soldiers had Wisconsin roots and were both 20 years old. Coleman was born in West Allis, Wisconsin and grew up in Franklin, Wisconsin until he was 16. His family then moved to Moreland, Georgia. Chad was an only child. The Journal Sentinel went on to say that Coleman was remembered as a young man who loved fishing on Lake Michigan with his grandfather and hunting. Chad had a long interest in the military. He enlisted in the Army in October, 2008 as soon as he turned 18, completing boot camp the following March at Fort Knox in Kentucky. He then went to Fort Campbell for more advanced training, becoming a cavalry scout. Coleman had been serving in Afghanistan since January of 2010.
The Newnan Times-Herald out of Newnan, Georgia notes Coleman attended Newnan High School from August 2005 to the spring of 2009. Some of Coleman's military awards and decorations include: Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Army Service Ribbon; NATO Medal and Weapons Qualification: and, M4 rifle (expert).
The Website findagrave.com notes Coleman had been injured in another attack just a few days earlier, but he was treated and returned to duty.The site went on to mention Coleman received the rank of Specialist posthumously.
An obituary sourced from the Journal Sentinel on line regarding Chad and posted on the Website legacy.com notes he was born March 15, 1990. At the time of his death Chad Coleman was survived by his parents Brian and Shanon Coleman; his grandparents Dale and Mary Coleman; his great-aunt Marion Beveridge; his dogs Hunter and Brownie; and, his cat Borden. Specialist Chad Coleman was the 21st Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
101,395 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10,028 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,466 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1636 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
911 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011
32,129 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
12,137 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
33 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since October, 2001.
148 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
