I can still taste the beer.
I say this is a whole new kind of tired not because of the physical effects of my hangover. Believe me, that’s not new at all. What’s new is that I’m tired of this kind of tired. I’m tired of being fuzzy for the first half of each day. I’m tired of feeling like hell and looking out at a class full of students, wondering how I’ll be able to pull off a lecture. I’m tired of a routine of drinking that I no longer enjoy, but feel compelled to do anyway. And I’m tired of throwing away my career a pint at a time.
At this point, you’re probably thinking that this essay is another self-indulgent litany bred by our current culture of confession. And that’s fine. Maybe it is. But there’s a point to what I’m saying that bears directly upon the world of academe. —“James Waite”
—Hung Over Again (Chronicle)
I don’t know what I think about this article… it certainly got my heart pounding, but someone who can write so eloquently about his problem, yet who still feels helpless about it, is probably in some degree of denial.
Seton Hill University doesn’t have a reputation as a party school, which is something that attracted me to it… it’s hard to do my job when the students come to class hungover or drunk — and if that does happen here at SHU, the students are discreet enough that it hasn’t yet disrupted my classroom.
But this article examines what happens when the professor is the one going through the day in a haze. I personally don’t drink; I never did in college because I was too busy, and I don’t now because I’m too busy. But I have gone to class sick and sleep-deprived — sometimes from cleaning up baby vomit (good excuse) and sometimes from becoming obsessed about a software bug (bad excuse). I really miss programming, but I really haven’t had time for it at all (especially now that scholarship in both weblogs and game studies has taken off — there’s too much for me to keep up on).
As for the hungover professor, I think some students would jokingly say, “Well, as long as he gives As, that’s fine with me,” but “Waite” admits his ability to teach is suffering. Hmm… maybe the next time I’m really ill, I’ll call in sick. I tell myself that if I cancel a class, both the students and I will have even more stress trying to catch up. And with two small kids at home, it’s often more relaxing for me to come in to the office — but maybe that’s just the workaholic in me making excuses.
At any rate, I hope Waite writes again with an update.
View Comments
My goodness... the UWEC English department is big, and being a professor is a pretty solitary job (that is, you work with students far more than you work with other professors). If there was a rumor mill in the UWEC English faculty, I wasn't in on it so I'm happily ignorant about who this person was. (Don't tell me, Kirsten!)
When I was doing my undergrad at Eau Claire, I had one professor from the English department for three separate classes, in three different semesters, over three years. He was relatively young, and relatively cool; he was that sort of literary type who wore sweaters and spoke in questions. During my first semester, he was married, working on his PhD, and obviously rather dedicated to his work. During the second year, he was getting an extension for his dissertation deadline, and returning papers a little more slowly. By my third year (my sixth semester of school), he was divorced, coming to class late, and still working on that elusive PhD. It was an advanced college composition class, and he was returning papers without ever having read them, cancelling classes left and right, and showing up with dissheveled hair, wearing wrinkled, dirty clothes. By that semester, I'd turned 21 and started spending more time at the bars, where I saw him every night. Apparently, he had rented an apartment right on Water St., and went to the bars every single night. At Eau Claire, it was totally appropriate to have a drink with a professor at a bar, but the entire class began talking about his excessive and strange drinking habits. He and I were talking about class one Wednesday night over a beer, and he began hitting on one of my roommates. We bought him a couple of shots and went on our way, but he continued this crazy-innapropriate behavior for the rest of the semester. Though I realize something important must have happened for him to go downhill so fast, I lost a lot of respect for him. The next year, he was no longer teaching at the University. I remember being sad because I had taken so many classes with him, and not been given the chance to say good-bye, but I was even more sad for him, and the unfortunate life that he had slipped in to.
Good advice, Heather. It's unfortunate that many people who need to hear such advice call it moralizing or dismiss their parents as people who "don't understand" them. I've never liked watching what alcohol abuse does to people, and I have nothing but respect for the healthcare professionals who have to clean up the messes that irresponsible people casue for themselves and innocent bystanders. Your mother sounds like a wonderful person who really cares about her students (and her daughter!).
Sometimes realizing and speaking of the problem is the first step to a cure. My mother is both a teacher ,and paramedic. There have been many times I have overheard her speaking with my father about the horrible scenes she's had to go into, because people believe they have control over how much alcohol they consume, and still consider themselves fit to drive. She and 2 other teachers went before the school council to attempt a learning process on the problems of alcohol consumption by anyone. They were granted this tool. When a teacher comes in the next day from what they claim was a "good time" , but a rotten feeling that morning. My mother is very blatant about the matter. She was given permission to use examples in any student or teacher's class immediately. In a class of 42 students she will take in 4 cases of alcohol bottles. All visibly marked with words such as "it was a party", " I was with old freinds", " I had a tough day" , " I needed the relaxation", and so on. Each student is given however many drinks the teacher claims to have had.This is not to ridicule the teacher in anyway, but it's to place awareness of the idea of what if's. With these bottles lined up across each students desk, the teacher is then asked six small but impacted questions. Did you drive yourself home? If you did, do you believe you had total control of your vehicle? What would you had done if by some chance you hit one of these students now sitting before you in class? What if you placed their life in your hands for driving under the influence? Is there not someone you are with that would be kind enough to drive you home after such incidents? ( Designated driver) She then offers her own phone number stating, " Call me, No matter the time or the place, I will come to get you and take you home." The last question she asks before she leaves is to everyone. She asks if they know that it only takes one beer , or two mixed alcoholic beverages( 2 because most mixed drinks are watered down) to impair the judgement enough to consider people dangerous behind the wheel of a car? She would probably know this better than anyone since she has to clean up alcohol related accidents.I know those are the one's that she always dreads the most. She says many innocent lives are taken or changed because of people's mistakes. There aren't many kids that get this lecture because of their underage, but there are times somehow kids are capable of purchasing , or swiping from parents stock. However, she doesn't hesitate to let the children that think they know it all realize they don't and probably never will. I know this may sound extremely harsh, but if you had to scrape innocent dead people off of the pavement, and out of cars, you would probably be just as harsh about the subject. The best thing of this article is that it appears this person is noticing there is a problem. There are many different Alcoholic's Anonymous groups throughout the United States. If this person is writing, maybe they should begin searching for for one of these places.