Have you ever encountered a magnetic person? Another human that you would like to know what they are doing that seems to bring joy to their soul and happiness to their face. This individual seems to, ‘suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,’ with a bit more grace and humility than the rest of […]

Magnetic — The Jazz Man

As a manager of a large housekeeping department for over 25 years I discovered that I had to constantly work on my communication skills. Often I believed that I was communicating effectively, only to discover that some members of my team either had not received the memo or had misunderstood both the meaning and the motive for it. With what I believed were my best efforts I still would be chastised by someone who wondered if I purposely did not choose to communicate with them…or did I choose to enlighten only my circle of friends and favorites. Now I have lived and worked under leadership that indeed did have favorites and cliques and I remembered how I felt being the person that was outside and peering into the window in an endeavor to discern what was going on! It is a horrible and demoralizing feeling to believe that you are a part of a group only in theory but not in practice. So, I am saying that I had the goal of crystal clear communication…and I fell short on numerous occasions. How do I understand that I fell short…because members of the organization that I had been asked to lead felt that I did not communicate with them!

During my search for the holy grail of communication I discerned that effective dialogue between two individuals takes place on a multitude of platforms. Simply put everyone does not communicate in the same manner. We human beings are as different as snow flakes and as diverse as the grains of sand on the desert floor. Some of us receive information aurally while others prefer the written word. I began my management career by having an open door policy. I am not referring to an appointment system of visiting the boss…but the ability to come right in if I was free! I was amazed at how well this policy was received. I had assumed that this was probably normal procedure for managers… All members of our 350 – 400 staff had the right to meet with me at any time that they felt the need to do so. I wrote a lot of memos…probably more than I should…as well as a departmental handbook. Emails and text messages were also utilized to some success. A popular quote regarding supervison in the 1980’s when I began my management duties was, ‘The best supervision takes place where the work is being done.’ Subsequently I visited each of my 30 custodial crews on a regular basis. There was a special dynamic for clear communication when I met with my colleagues at their works site and visited with them and at times broke bread with them.

A major flaw in communication is the easy route of political popular speech. Never say anything that you do not mean. The person that you are speaking with can see through the fog of feel good talk…imeadiately! Never promise something that you do not intend to deliver. It is far better to say nothing at all than a pithy statement that has no substance. I would liken popular rhetoric to preparing to cut into a magnificent wedding cake with the most ornate of frosting and a mixture of colors that cry out…eat me…and then as the knife slices through the exterior…nothing but sawdust spills out…

When we sit and stew and worry and fret and feel marginalized…we are hurting our health and the health of the organization that we are a member of…and we are doing a disservice to our position and our responsibilities to those who are counting on us. It is hard to speak up and be heard…when the speech is negative. The much easier option is to go along and get along and don’t rock the boat…and do not make the boss mad! I stood up for our former chancellor, Dr. Jo Ann Argersinger, and I felt like the Lone Ranger! Being the voice crying in the wilderness is just that…a wilderness experience. But, I have had many negative comments made to me as a supervisor and an manager…and I learned from them…and I appreciated their unvarnished honesty…

The bullfrogs are singing night melodies. The usual panoramic view from my writing porch has devolved into pitch blackness. The rhythms of the day have tucked in their efforts and yielded to the song of the night. Whatever knotty problem or inextricable conundrum that plagued the world of light…has hidden in the shadows. The perplexities […]

Night Writing — The Jazz Man

It is Friday again. We are preparing to drive down to Rendleman Orchard to discover if they have any peaches left. The rolling hills of route 127 are a pleasant and almost fall experience. I kept referring to something that I was going to do on August 1st…until MJ informed me that we could not wait until next year…I then realized that we were not living in July but August! After I retired it became somewhat difficult to ascertain which week day that I was enjoying…the weekends seemed to still contain some of their unique feel…but since our 2020 pandemic it is one long day. After the peach purchase we stopped by Von Jakob Winery and enjoyed some semi-sweet Red! During the evening we had an al fresco dinner at Don Sol with our good friends, Joan and Jim, and I enjoyed the Mexican drink Horchata. As I was ordering I could not think of the name of the sweet drink and so I described it is a big non-alcoholic drink. When our waiter brought my drink to the table it was in the largest mug that I had ever seen! Or as Jim remarked…you did tell him big…

We found a pillow that really is cool when you lay your head upon it. Now I do not mean cool as in neat or keen or spiffy…I am referring to the temperature! MJ had bought a supposed cool pillow a few years ago and found that it was apparently only cool if you were used to Desert climates! She lay her head on the pillow in every direction and side and shape that was geometrically possible…and yet still felt no ice! So, when I bough home a Polar Nights Ultimate pillow and reported the next morning that I had slept in winter comfort throughout the night…not only did MJ want one but Aaron as well.

I participated in wonderful discussions with my friends from our church board, Rob and Kerry, and I am very encouraged that something great is going to happen to our little church! I have been reflecting on a subject that has captivated my imagination since I was a child…the special calling of leaders, both in management and administration and in church leadership. Over the 50 years I have been a reluctant participant in church leadership… on many occasions. I know that I am a bit like the hobo caricatures of days gone by…with the ragged clothes and big shoes, which I require having a size 15 foot, and my meager abilities tied up in a red neck scarf and tied to a stick that I carry over my shoulder. I am a firm believer in holding a leadership position with a loose grasp…and thus being happy and faithful to relinquish that position on a moments notice and to return to the congregation…which is the ‘Apple of God’s eye! I felt the same as a supervisor and a manager for the over 25 years that I served in those roles at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. After my role as a foreman in the Building Services department I never sought another leadership role…but I was beeseched to accept the assistant superintendent position for 12 years and the superintendents role for the last 13 years of my career. When I left I knew that it was time, although I was asked to stay by many individuals. I wish that our political leaders would follow the original model of serving as citizen legislatures who once their time as leaders had drawn to a close would happily return to their roles as informed and engaged members of the throngs of regular members of our society and thereby exemplify the vision of our founding fathers of the entire reason to hold leadership with a loose grasp!

I was pleasantly observing a deer family as I was on campus this afternoon. They are neither worried about the coronavirus nor the up-coming presidential election…nor which political party will be in power in the new year! Their concerns were for their family and the majesty of nature and the magic of life…

The morning had been a bit stormy, with a torrential rain falling dropping 5 inches of water. Flash flooding had occurred in some low lying areas. Alvin and Amy had enjoyed the Wednesday night church service where Brother Bannon had preached regarding the end times that were soon to come to the earth. Alvin and […]

Democracy or Theocracy? — The Jazz Man

It is a cooler day in Carbondale. Again I feel a hint of fall in the air. I visited the Division of Motor Vehicles for my license sticker and was pleased to see their strict adherence to social distancing. A staff member met each person entering the facility at the door and instructed you were to go. I was reared on Walt Disney films and science fiction and Dracula and Frankenstein movies. I wore my cousin, Billy’s Creature From The Black Lagoon mask for a eight millimeter film that we shot. I wish that I still had the copy of the 3 and 1/2 minute masterpiece! The days of my youth were spent riding my bicycle that was fashioned to look like a motorcycle…or later my three speed…which was an elaborate delight! Life contained going to the movies at the Orpheum Theatre in Eldorado, Illinois on Friday night and again on Sunday afternoon. Mom and I would enjoy a humongous root beer and Carter and Choissers Drug store…and they cost a nickel. I throughly enjoyed going to my friend Jackie Brooks house and we would play with action figures such as Johnny West and Stony the army soldier and the Fess Parker rendition of Daniel Boone. Jackie’s mom, Thelma would make us hot dogs…or rather serve us hot dogs directly out of the plastic wrapper…as Jackie liked them better that way. I literally rode my bicycle in from our country home, which was about two miles, and all over Eldorado, and then back home in the evening. Often in the evening we would capture lightning bugs in a jar and marvel at how long they produced their mysterious light. I loved to swim and summers were filled with mom and I and some of my friends and my cousin Brenda making the twenty mile journey to Ponds Hollow to wile away the hours swimming. I learned to float and subsequently floated far beyond the safety rope into the very deep water. As I floated I noticed that all sound dissipated and the people that had been all around me were but little specks on the far shore. I had neither fear nor distress as I was quite sure that I would be fine.

So today we are in the deep water…aren’t we. We are confronted with a pandemic that can take our lives. On top of all of the regular struggles of life has been placed this virus that seems like a science fiction story. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has cancelled all on campus classes after one week into their fall semester due to a surge in coronavirus cases on their campus. With our best efforts we are battling a foe who has no respect for persons or political party or religious affiliation. Believing that you will be alright if you refuse to take the precautions that our health professionals have outlined for us…is a fools errand. Feeling that you are invincible and beyond the reach of a world wide pandemic results in disappointment and disillusionment.

I have felt the surrealism of attending a few events that seem so normal and happy and with nothing to fear. Everything seems good and safe and sane and a sanctuary for human contact and fellowship. But looks can be deceiving. I have seen the happy young people on the beach. I have enjoyed a couple of restaurant meals, al fresco and with masks, and all seemed as it should be and nothing to fear… However, sadly we are not in a Disney movie where everything turns out for the best. We are players in a movie that is a bit more akin to Dracula. We confront a hidden danger that does not reveal itself to empirical studies in public places.

We long for happier and carefree days. I still want to live in the happiness of Lady and the Tramp and Daniel Boone. I can shut my eyes and relive the feeling of total bliss that I felt as I floated in the deep water of Ponds Hollow. All of these pleasure are available to us if we do not allow Dracula to bite out necks…in our sleep…

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I left my beaten path this afternoon and  strolled around what used to be Small Group Housing or better known as Greek Row.  I began my career at the university, 42 years ago working in Thalman Hall, which housed the General Accounting department.  On October 10, 1978, I began cleaning the building.  In those halcyon days the circle of housing buildings and office spaces and classrooms were humming.  

October 10, 1978, was years before the epitome of student enrollment at SIUC.  In those days there were students attending our school from over 70 nations.  The housekeeping crew that I was assigned too was like a mini United Nations.  My crew was assigned the cleaning of the Law School, which was housed in 3 1/2 of the Small Group Housing buildings, along with the General Accounting building and Army ROTC…as well as several of the Health Service offices.

I was so happy to have been hired by the university.  I was literally swimming in emersion studies of the beauty of diversity!  Everything regarding SIUC was exciting to me!  I had been assigned a building where my predecessor had not bothered to do more than empty the rubbish and therefore I was quickly able to illustrate a noticeable improvement in my and the accounting staff’s surroundings.

 My supervisors liked me and my co-workers were people that were easy to get along with.  The night custodial supervisor came to see me during the first week that I was employed and encouraged me to take the crew supervisor exam as soon as I felt that I was ready.  I rushed home to tell MJ and we were excited as the position of Building Custodian paid 48 cents more per hour than what I was currently making…which was $5.54 per hour…and I had already doubled my highest pay to that time!

The assistant director of General Accounting, Hugh Blaney, told me that I was doing a wonderful job and extorted me that the service that I was performing was as important as his job…

I had not enjoyed such encouragement or employment success in my short work history.  I felt empowered and that I had found a home where I was not only appreciated but recognized for my accomplishments.  

Building Services at SIUC convinced me that I could do anything that I put my mind and efforts towards.  Ms. Fidella Doolin was a big name on campus.  She also told me how she appreciated my efforts and encouraged me to seek promotional opportunities.  I purchased two run cakes from her on behalf of the Baptist Women’s Club…and I would have walked over hot coals to facilitate her housekeeping requests.  

Once again it is the Friday before the beginning of fall semester.  I saw with great joy the students return and many of them with their parents.  This sight has always been inspirational to me.  I have been a part of this magical time…for over 4 decades!  When I ponder all of the benefits that I and my family have received from Southern…I am thrilled to see young people starting their journey!  

The Saluki Way is the answer to dreams that have been held closely in the soul of those who encounter the opportunities of a non-judgmental home that wants you to succeed!