Thoughts on a Liberal Arts Education

Thoughts on a liberal arts education:

“What you need from college is an excellent liberal arts education that will give you a broad base of judgment and perspective that will stand you in good stead no matter what sort of career you pursue.”
- Garrison Keillor, August 18, 2010

I graduated from college with a degree in Cell and Structural Biology with an emphasis in Immunology. As I neither became a lab technician or a doctor, my specific skills have never been useful to me.

However, my upper level college classes taught me systems theory, how everything is interrelated to everything else. In biology, the increase of one hormone would change the expression of a protein or a molecule, turn on or off a gene, or make an organelle grow big or tiny. Certain things counteracted other things, a constant movement of weights and levels.

Much of what I learned 15 years ago is now hopelessly out of date. However, those skills and that way of thinking has been invaluable in my working life. System theory is true in every part of life, and not relegated to microbiology. Economics is the easiest example of systems at work, but so too are organizational structures, supply chain develop and quality control procedures.

So, to every person who graduates college from some obscure field or discipline with a narrow focus, keep in mind that what you learn is never half as useful as how you learn.

Brief Snatches of Poetry among the Traffic

One of the more annoying things about modern life (or at least my modern life) is that things that I do to relax or stay current with the world can quickly mutate into an additional “need to” items. It’s silly, but there are definitely times I find myself saying:

-But, I haven’t read all the NY Times yet. That’s a waste of good paper. Or the Atlantic, the Economist. There are several articles I really wanted to read.

But, free time isn’t really something I have much of these days. And quiet time reading a magazine if often perceived in our house as sinfully gluttonous. You know, because there is always SO MUCH TO DO.

However, as I do drive for hours and hours each day, I do like to listen to audio programs, podcasts or audiobooks, often by the dozens.  One thing I like to do is listen to “The Writer’s Almanac” hosted by Garrison Keillor. Each day it has some minor literary trivia followed by a poem, sometimes contemporary, but often not, and usually not by someone I would normally go read. Also, their catchphrase “Be well, do good work and keep in touch” is probably the best and most elegant send-off I know. So, every few days I will download the latest 5min segment and listen to it while I drive or do some minor task. There are few things I do nowadays that really remind me of my graduate days in creative writing. I suppose this little thing keeps me from feeling like I’ve lost all literary sensibility.

Today’s poem I listened in the car after dropping the kids off to school. I think it will become one of my favorites, or at least for awhile.

Graduates of Western Military Academy by George Bilgere

One day, as this friend of my father, Paul,
was flying over Asia,
he vaporized a major Japanese city.

True story. They’d been chums
at a military academy in Illinois
back in the thirties.

My father was the star: best in Latin,
best in riflery and history,
best in something called “recitation,”

and best at looking serious.
In the old yearbooks he has exactly the look
you were supposed to have back then:
about fifty-two percent duty, forty-eight percent integrity.
Zero percent irony.

But somehow, all my father got to do later on
was run his own car dealership. A big one,
but still. While Paul
got to blow up Japan. My father
ushered in the latest models.
Paul ushered in the Atomic Age.
It seems unfair, but there you are.

Paul had been an indifferent Latin scholar. Weak
in history and recitation. For these and other reasons
My father took a refreshing swim
across a large, inviting lake of gin,
complete with strange boats and exotic shore birds,

which resulted in his internment
under some shady acres I occasionally visit.

While Paul went on for decades,
always giving the same old speech. Yes,
he’d done the right thing. No doubt about it.

He improved his skills at recitation
and developed a taste for banquet food.
To this day he struggles with his weight.

“Graduates of Western Military Academy” by George Bilgere, from The White Museum. (c) Autumn House Press, 2010.

Still Life with Lawsuit

It’s been an interesting couple weeks here at Chez Bark. After weeks of writing and posting most of my thoughts online, I started having to work on something that I didn’t feel comfortable writing about. Or, at least, not in any way that was appropriate, funny or vaguely interesting. So, I’ve been silent.

The short of it is this: I have been called as a witness in a civil case to give a deposition.

On the face of it, it seems fairly straightforward. However, things do get more interesting. Much of the case centers on my activities and my advice. And, to top off the Shakespearean nature of this, my retelling of these events differs from either party. Or, I guess it’s more like “Rashomon”. I’ve needed to hire a lawyer, search for documents and scour through thousands of emails. It’s been long, laborious and more than a little frightening.

I have been tempted several times to go on a general rant about all this, but I believed and still believed it to be unwise to rave about the legal system, either of the warring parties, or how I’m completely blameless in all this and wish it would go away. 

However, as more time goes on, I find that I still have things to say about all this, but different than I would have expected. This process has made me think a lot about certain things: 

1. Lawyers are bad - To have someone working in the legal system that sees you as adversarial is really creepy. Lately, I’m constantly wondering if I’m going to be hit with a lawsuit over this case or dozens of other transactions for which I participated at some level or another. When you realize people can file a lawsuit over nearly anything, it makes you feel really exposed.

2. Lawyers are good – My stress level went down considerably when I hired my lawyer. I like to think I understand the legal system generally. But, to have someone who understands the intricacies of legal procedure, can talk shop with other lawyers, and who has my back (legally) is like having a very expensive bodyguard carrying a bazooka.

3. Lawyers are expensive… – Just engaging my lawyer for this process has already started racking up fees. I get an ulcer thinking how expensive any protracted legal activity could get.

4. …but worth it. – In a conversation with my mother, she stated that she thought it was strange I didn’t use a lawyer before. 
- well, who do you use to review contracts and make sure you don’t get into trouble? 
- I don’t. I’ve just done it myself.
- [long pause] oh.

5. Memory isn’t what you think it is – one if the more distressing things that come from an event like this is that all the major parties have different recollections of the same events, recollections of events that didn’t happen, or no recollection at all. Once again, “Rashomon”.

6. Friendships aren’t always what you think they are – both money and stress makes people act strangely, and I’m sorry to say that certain personal and professional relationships are weaker than I expected. 

7. Legal stress is like being bullied by ghosts – in the last couple weeks, I’ve wondered worriedly about the past, fretted at the future, and felt paranoid about a 100 things that I can’t control. But, when I take a moment to breathe, I have to remind myself that I’m a witness in a legal case, not a defendant and that the shadows on the wall are shadows and not ominous images of my doom.

Or, at least, not yet.

When I mention this situation to friends, most our sympathetic, but many see this situation or ones like it as inevitable. As my career and business grows, I seem to be interacting with more people who work out their differences through the courts. And it’s also true that handshake agreements or simplified contracts don’t cut it anymore for what I do. Often there is just too much money at risk. In recent years I’ve spent far more time than I would have ever guessed sitting in courtrooms or speaking with lawyers. I guess it’s one of the bittersweet aspects of my life now.

Joy.

Do you ever imagine your life as a comic book character?

Ok, the last couple weeks have been a little difficult with the start of school and new series of clients coming on line, and several new challenges that I will have to go into more detail later.

In the meantime, I find myself identifying with comic book and movie characters. I don’t think I’ll be putting on a pair of tights anytime soon, but sometimes it would be really great to slice through a battalion of storm troopers without having to think of the political or social implications of telling off people that bother you.

Seriously, lightsabers rock.