I’m going to start a series of occasional blog posts about things I love. This series is inspired by the theme of the March 2007 issue of Comment, a publication of the Work Research Foundation. (I did some catch-up reading over the weekend, which is why I’m just now talking about a two-month-old magazine.) The topic of that issue was “things we love,” and its contents have spurred my thinking on a number of fronts. Comment editor Gideon Strauss notes, in the intro to that issue, that “as we consider our loves, we come to know ourselves. It is out of our loves, our commitments, that our identity, our character, grows. It is out of loves, our commitments, that our beliefs, our convictions grow. It is in shared loves, shared commitments, that we discover our truest friends and most enduring communities.”
But before I get into this lovefest, I need to come clean that I don’t always talk about the things I love — about my job, about higher ed, about the Internet, about anything. All too often, I harp about the things that I don’t exactly hate, or loathe, but that annoy or frustrate me. I find that to be counterproductive. This exercise of listing things I love about various aspects of my being is refreshing. It’s helping me to rediscover why I do what I do. Perhaps you’d like to develop a similar list?
Ten things I love about my work as director of communications at the University of Missouri-Rolla
- As cliche as it sounds: It’s the people. I get to work with a team of creative, talented, industrious folks who are full of good ideas and fun to be around.
- I can blog with impunity, on company time. Not here (this is on my own time), but on our Visions blog to promote UMR research and the name change conversations blog we’ve been using to engage people in the conversation about our name change. UMR has embraced the idea of blogging, and our office is on the forefront of this for our campus.
- I get to work with a rock star: Tom Shipley, of Brewer and Shipley fame (“One Toke Over the Line,” anyone?), is our videographer. And he’s a great one.
- Once in a while, they’ll let me teach a course in journalism or writing. That reconnects me with our students, and that reminds me of why the university exists in the first place.
- The enterprise of higher education is a noble one, and everyone involved in it — from the groundskeepers and custodians to the presidents — plays an important part in moving the enterprise forward.
- Last holiday season, a staff member cooked a wonderful lasagna dinner for the entire staff as her “Christmas gift” to us all. What’s not to love about that?
- The work hours are more or less flexible. If my schedule permits, I can take in a workout at the gym.
- Free membership at the campus gym.
- Some of the best health benefits available.
- It’s a five-minute drive (or 25-minute walk) from home to work.
I could list at least a dozen other reasons why I love my work, but you get the idea.
Next: things I love about higher ed.
Andrew Careaga 