further evidence of my insanity

The last graduate student association meeting of the semester starts in half an hour and I am, indeed, going to run for president again. As if I don't have enough to do - even if I rarely do it. Still, there's that nagging voice in the back of my head reminding me that there's still more to accomplish with the grad students before I leave. There's always more to do! And for some reason, I feel like it's my job to get it done. Nothing like an over-developed sense of responsibility.

Of course, putting my name on the ballot doesn't exactly guarantee an extension of my position. Then again, I haven't heard anyone else express interest. Perhaps I cut some people off at the knees when I said I'd run again - there is a small streak of politeness running through the grad community that avoids confrontation (we prefer the passive-aggressive standing around in the hallways and picking each other apart instead) - but I do have some momentum going this year. We put on a conference; we're organizing an in-house symposium as I write; we've instituted a Monday coffee hour; we've garnered more support from the Dean's office with budget increases and increased access to the big guy.

Attendance is still sporadic at our events - socials, formal meetings, brown bag lunches - but (call me the fox jumping too low for the grapes) I think much of that is attributed to the strange population that makes up education. Most people have spouses, if not children; we're returning students with lives off campus; and we're an odd mix of people with our devotion to education providing our only commonality. Perhaps that's just this place, I don't know...