From the category archives:
We have had to make some drastic cuts in our department related to the California budget crisis. The process is a painful one but necessary and interesting. To console myself, I think about patterns in nature, where when you cut off a branch, two grow back. Pruning is a pattern and is always good [...]
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For some cosmic reason, the Universe taught me a lesson this week: get your facts straight.
I chaired a meeting to discuss a departmental issue. I didn’t have the facts straight, and assembled the agenda that momentarily threw gasoline on the fire. Everything turned out ok but I learned my lesson.
The next day I got a [...]
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The doorbell rang this morning. I wasn’t expecting anyone so I peaked through the side window and saw a creature that resembled Cousin It in the Addams Family. My heart thumped not being sure what it was. I went to the door, opened it and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi [...]
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Yesterday was a stressful day. Why? Because in my mind, there were so many things that needed to get done but simply not enough hours in the day, nor enough energy to get them all done even if there were.
I watched my body as it tensed up, and all other physical manifestations of stress [...]
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I was puzzled to see the name “Scarlatti” on my calendar this morning for an eleven o’clock. My assistant, who can be a bear when it comes to scaring away people that I don’t need to see, said it was impossible to deny this man. She said he was a man with a strong Italian [...]
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Today I go to Malibu (May’s Landing) again for a retreat with colleagues from the Departments of Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Music to discuss curricular ideas of a core offering that could work for all three departments.
The three departments were at war within one big department when I arrived in 1983 and finally divorced in 1989 [...]
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I get too many emails.
I’m not talking about spam. I have a variety of filters that get most of the spam out. I’m talking about email from people I know from the various parts of my life: my family, close friends, friends, colleagues, students, former students, staff, and then all the email that comes at [...]
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I have a long affection for ties even though I don’t wear them any longer. During high school and college, I hitch hiked a lot. My standard garb was jeans, a sport coat, and a tie loose around my neck. When I first got the job at UCLA in 1983 I wore ties. My students [...]
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From time to time organizations decide to have a “retreat” where members of the company or department get out of their usual surroundings and get out of town. Once out of town, and with usually long hours of discussion ahead of them, participants are able to open up and talk extensively with each other, brainstorm, [...]
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