life beyond the well…

Monthly Archives: February 2009


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This Recession is EVERYWHERE…

In order to still feel connected to the GA area, I read online articles from the Atlanta Journal Constitution every day.  There are always several articles that catch my attention.  Here’s what caught my eye today:

“Morehouse cuts staff; Clark Atlanta reorganizes after cuts”

An excerpt:

“On the heels of its announcement last week that it was restructuring its curriculum and letting 70 faculty members go, Clark Atlanta University on Sunday said all physical education classes had been canceled for the semester.

The cancellations were announced in a letter to students from the university’s academic affairs office.

The letter also stated that class schedule changes in the School of Arts and Sciences “will be made available to you shortly,” but that class schedules in the schools of Education, Business and Social Work would remain unchanged.

Clark Atlanta isn’t the only higher educational insitution feeling the sting of a foundering economy.

On Sunday, Morehouse College officials confirmed that 25 adjunct professors, about one-third of the part-time instructors employed there, did not have their contracts renewed for the spring semester. Full-time Morehouse faculty and staff were not affected by the move, officials said.”

Wow.  As I’ve been listening to the talks about the recession and reading different news reports, I’ve understood a couple of effects of the recession on higher education.  One effect is that schools are suffering from shrinking endowments and lack of donations.  The other effect is that in many areas, students are opting to attend their local community colleges as opposed to going away to school because it’s a cheaper alternative.  Along with this, community college enrollment is also increasing due to lay offs- many people who are laid off are taking this opportunity to go back to school and finish that degree or take classes to help sharpen their skills.

All that said, the MOST stringent handling of the recession that I’ve observed with schools is a hiring freeze.  So, reading about the cuts at Morehouse and Clark Atlanta is shocking.  I once heard it said that when America gets a cold, black America gets pneumonia.  Unfortunately, it appears to be true in this case as well.


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For Valentine’s Day…

So,  if you don’t have someone to love for Valentine’s Day here’s a suggestion:  LOVE YOURSELF! Take time to love, and BE IN LOVE with yourself. Love your faults, your failures, your aspirations, your accomplishments, your family, your friends, and all of the things that help you be who you are. There’s this one, unique, you that needs your love as much as all of the other things in your life.

I say this because too often, I read or hear about how people get SO depressed from the time immediately following Christmas until February 15. The commercialization of this ONE day starts on December 26, when Christmas decorations come down and lasts until February 15. And it really doesn’t end there, because on February 15, all the remaining Valentine’s items are now 75% off. But I digress…

What I’m really feeling is that people spend all this time waiting, wishing, and hoping for this perfect person. And while that’s not a bad thing, because we all want to be with THAT person, where people mess up is that they fail to love themselves in the process.

When you love yourself, you know yourself. You know your strengths and your weaknesses. You know what you like and what you don’t like- and perhaps even why you feel that way. You know your faults, failures, dreams, desires, aspirations, and accomplishments. You’re okay with who you are, and you make effort to change the things you don’t like about yourself.

Perhaps people should make a Valentine’s Day Resolution, where they resolve to love themselves before they gripe and complain about a commercialized holiday. A gift or a date on February 14 doesn’t equate to love, and it doesn’t equate to perfection. Who knows what the person on that date might be enduring just to be in that spot?

So, I’m rambling, but…it really comes down to this: Love yourself, and don’t let a commercialized holiday get you down. Do it for you. And trust, when you take care of you, all other things will fall into place.