Protest Poem (revised)

I am (not)

I am not a union member

I am a taxpayer

I am not a public enemy

I am a professional educator

I am not a free-loader

I am a hard-working employee of the State

I am not a moron

I am a person who teaches kids how to think critically as they emerge into adulthood

I am not a slacker

I am a person who works nights + weekends beyond the 40 hours a week I spend on campus for the low low bargain price of $44,500

I am not a “have”

I am a person who took on debt to the tune of $70,000 for the chance to become a professor

I am not a home-owner

I am a renter because I cannot afford a mortgage (see salary and debt above)

I am not a leech

I am a consumer in the Wisconsin economy who will have less money to spend because of this bill

I am not a supporter of this grotesque abrogation of workers’ rights

I am someone marching in Madison and raising a voice in the Rotunda

I am not a thug

I am an unarmed citizen of a democracy exercising my right to free speech and redress of grievances

I am not the problem

I am part of the solution if only You would listen

Some Good News!

I have had two poems ("Mutual" and "The eagle in the red pine watches") accepted for a forthcoming print edition of Verse Wisconsin. I'm so excited and happy. The editors are both working poets so I am feeling pretty darned good about having two of the three poems I submitted accepted for publication in the new iteration a beloved Wisconsin journal (formerly known as Free Verse). It is a step in the right direction on my quest for tenure.

I also have a brand-new rubric to use when I finally sit down to grade this weekend. I am looking forward to reading my students' papers--it's always a treat to see what their interviewees come up with in response to the question: "What is the invention that has most changed your life?"

I've gotten papers on everything from canned vegetables (available in the store) to snowplows (!!) to indoor plumbing to (of course) the computer.

Life is very, very good. I love my job.