Re: Political turf problems

[Stephen Newmann <newmann@msmary.edu>]

:)  Lynne, Tom Sawyer made white washing the fence "fun".  Sure, anything 
can be fun.  Same as anything can be interesting.  It's not a quality 
that is inherent in the task so much as something inherent in the 
attitude one brings to the task.  My students tell me the lecture they 
attended last night was boring.  bunk!  My son tells me the music I 
listen to is boring. bunk!  Heck, my wife has told me that I am boring. 
(something reiterated by a few of my students on occasion).  Bunk, bunk, 
bunk!!!  I am not able to make everything I do "fun" or even interesting 
but whether or not it is fun or interesting has a whole lot more to do 
with me than with whatever it happens to be.  --stephen

On Thu, 1 Feb 1996, Lynne Belcher wrote:

> I'm not sure I believe that everything that is effective is also fun.  
> I don't mean to sound like a puritan, but I'm not sure everything has 
> to be or can be fun.  I like to garden, and I find the activity very 
> therapeutic, but pulling weeds in hot temperatures isn't my idea of 
> fun.  If I want to have a good garden, however, I have to do the hard 
> stuff as well as the fun stuff.
> 
> I know we've also talked about how a university community doesn't have 
> to mirror the rest of the world, but aren't there some lessons students 
> can learn that will help them cope with life after college?  Time spent 
> on a project doesn't always equal success.  So even though a student 
> spends a lot of time on a paper, it can still be a bad piece of 
> writing.  I think I learn as much from failure as from success.  As the 
> legendary Bobby Zimmerman says, "There's no success like failure, and 
> failure's no success at all."  (Whatever that means!)
> 
> Lynne Belcher, a proud failure at many things that weren't fun or 
> effective!
> 
>