from VCCA Journal, Volume 9, Number 2, Summer 1995, 62-63
© Copyright 1995 VCCA Journal
I missed you at the VCCA convention in October. Instead of joining you in Williamsburg, Victoria and I traveled to Alabama for an old-fashioned Southern wedding. Much as I enjoyed the festivities and visits with throngs of Victoria's family, I missed not seeing you. So did she.
At the two previous conventions, you made her feel heartily welcome, and she was quite taken by the unusual degree of camaraderie--unusual, that is, in most professional circles. We in the VCCS are accustomed to it on many of our campuses and at VCCA activities. I certainly experienced it with our gaggle of English faculty last spring at the first-ever VCCS-wide professional-development conference.
Such kinship nurtures my professional life. I see many of you just once a year--at the convention. This year having missed that one time makes me feel cut off from a strong source of energy and inspiration, not to mention smiling faces. The magic of camaraderie springs partly from a simple fact: you're a lot of good people.
It also springs from shared commitment, a feeling that we're all in this together--with skyhigh workloads, rockbottom pay, slippery benefits, shrinking travel funds, crumbling buildings, and the best damn collection of students no matter how unprepared and unruly some may appear. Together, even in these tight times, when our very mission is challenged, we share the desire and wherewithal to make a difference in the life of every student.
I'm touched at the convention each year to witness the support staff and faculty showcases. They renew my awareness of your many contributions. I like to hear people hoot for their own, just like friends and family at graduation. I like to take in a variety of concurrent sessions, especially ones outside my discipline. They stretch my awareness of what you do. I like to participate in scheduled discussions with the chancellor. They reveal your concerns and his, and allow me to express mine. I like chance meetings with you in hallways and hotel bars. And I especially like to gyrate amongst VCCA's swarm of dancing fools.
So, not seeing you makes me realize how much I miss you--enough to plan for paying my own way next fall. Victoria looks forward to seeing you, too. Many thanks.
Dick Harrington, who teaches English at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, served as the first president of the Virginia Community Colleges Association.