Pelosi in da house
... while Dems in the Senate rock it.
Today, I sent this note to Harvey Jacobs, the urban planning professor I had in 1994. He taught Green Politics.
Dear Professor Jacobs,
In 1994, I took your Green Politics class as a senior German major. I wouldn't expect you to remember me, but our final project was on the history of Madison's waste management and landfills.
But that's not why I write. Yours was the first class, the day after the election in 1994, when the Democrats lost so heavily to the Republicans. When you walked into class, you started our discussion with, "Are you depressed? I'm depressed." The one hopeful thing you mentioned was that eventually, the pendulum would have to swing back. I had to think of that last night as election returns came in--that maybe indeed, the pendulum is swinging back.
I have to wonder, what will you say to your class this week?
Best regards,
Molly Steenson
If I were teaching, I'd say I was hopeful for the first time in many, many years.
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Nice note--I, too, remember feeling depressed in '94. Still, the tide of Bill was so strong that it washed away that angst.
On the other hand, I wonder why profs need to espouse their personal political beliefs in class. It just leads to so much right-wing bashing, validating screedheaads from Limbaugh to O'Reilly & all the wannabes in between.
I think it's irrelevant whether a prof is Repub or Dem--and is probably inappropriate in the classroom. After all, if the class is a history of Madison's waste management & landfills, shouldn't the political discussion be about what did happen and challenging students to ponder why decisions were made, rather than adding judgement on those decisions? As HK Butterfield said, "Let the people of the past live in the past."
So while I totally agree with your political stance, I'm just worried that Jacobs' comment lead to right-wing derision. Let's face it--a Republican student in the class probably would've felt uncomofortable, eh?
Ciao,
joe