"The Office" (Workstation series) 58 (attendance edition)

We show up.

That's how we succeed. We roll over, get out of the rack, feed Mister Man, shower in a cold house (40 degrees out and the furnace is off), towel off quick, shovel down the oatmeal, get to campus for the yoga class or the blog post or the low-brass techniques class.

We get on the cross-trainer, run through pre-dawn streets (fuckin' Junior thinks he's going to define a "legacy" by extending Daily Savings), wash the dishes, scrape the windshield, catch the bus, get on the bike, get our asses in gear.

We make it to rehearsals, prepare our lectures, read our notes, do our quizzes, submit our midterm grades, read our mail, meet with students (or teachers), design our courses, submit our textbook requests, serve on committees committees committees, fundraise for the public radio station, produce radio shows, administer non-profit arts associations, organize CD release parties.

We rake leaves, take out the trash, clean the bathroom, call the heating-and-cooling guy, wash the dishes, sweep the kitchen, turn on the alarm, swerve around idiot drivers who are half asleep, get to work.

We stand up under the shitstorm of our alma mater (just as dysfunctional now as when we left 8 years ago), prepare new repertoire, problem-solve recital programs, host guest artists, organize stage and front-of-house crews, rehearse as accompanists, transcribe horn charts, keep up with the discipline's literature, board debark board debark board debark board debark board debark way too many airplanes, produce our passports, swallow our disgust at our own country's knuckleheaded ethnocentrism, deliver papers, recruit new colleagues, speak truth to power, give money to progressive causes, march against war, rant at fascists, laugh at goofy user-generated art.

We stand up in class, model behavior, insist on integrity, demonstrate critical thinking critical reading critical writing critical speaking, speak for the humanity of art and knowledge, coach private lessons, hold hands and offer Kleenexes, advocate for colleagues, recruit for our courses, juggle textbook costs/benefits, cuss the Greenspanian cowardice and the Cheneyian greed and the Bushian privilege that sank the dollar and is costing poor students millions it doesn't need to, trade stories of student nonsensicalities, choke up at their gratitude, watch them fly away to fieldwork jobs interviews postdocs teaching, give away little pieces of our hearts.

We stand up.

We show up.

We help the world keep spinning in the face of samsara.

[This post is dedicated to Dharmonia.]

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Now playing: Ba Cissoko - Mamaya