Lexington Coffeeshop

So why am I posting about a coffeeshop? Good question. I guess that as I'm shutting down the travelling part of my life (at least most of the travelling part of my life) the blog is becoming more of a historical document for me. In a way, it's almost like modern art - I'm recording moods and emotions as much as facts. And for some reason this coffeeshop really speaks to me at the moment. I've been in a black mood for a while now, for any number of professional and personal reasons, and I guess everything is coming together at this moment as I'm sitting here in this lovely coffeeshop. As I wrote earlier, it's right down the street from both Washington and Lee University and also VMI. For that reason there seems to be a steady stream of professors and students coming through here, and while I've been pluggng away grading or trying to put Global Modules together (including this mad scheme to link multiple universities together to discuss the situation in Libya and the broader Middle East) I've been listening to a wonderful series of discussions. For the last four mornings (I always have to be online in the morning because all of my international partners are six or eight hours ahead of me, and if I wait until the afternoon it's night over there and I've lost a day) and there are a couple groups of professors who seem to meet here to have a cup of coffee and chat. And, yes, it's complete nerd heaven for me. In the space of an hour this morning I heard snippets of a conversation comparing the Buddhist and Christian perception of love, and then another professor say "sure, but that's one of the most commonly misinterpretted lines from Vergil." Yes, some of it may have been academic posing (it's not just students who are guilty of posing, you know), but it's still an example of the life of the mind that led all of us into this line of work. One of my main goals since I first stepped through the doors of Champlain eleven years ago was to try and turn the place into a "real" school, and by that I don't mean to turn it into a liberal arts college - that's not who we are - but to always push to create that intellectual/academic "buzz" that you experience at more traditional schools. We've come a long way, but sitting here this week reminded me of how far we have yet to go. The very fact that I can get my students to sit still and spend weeks discussing the Quran or the Analects shows how we've changed - but the fact that my good friends Erik and Steve slave to put together showings of important films to empty auditoriums shows that there is still work to do. However, I never back down from a challenge. So, once again, it's time to gird my loins and continue to push to transform the school. Now, do I have time for another latte?