Why are you here?

02/09/2014 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

Just Your Average 68-Year-Old College Freshman

“Why are you here?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question for a college student to ask a lab partner two generations her senior. My answer was a smile. Depending on your age, you may understand what she wouldn’t have.

After The New Yorker said that I’m too old to do cartoons for them—after two meetings in their Times Square offices —I paused to take stock. I needed deadlines to meet, details to sweat, someone to notice if I got things right or wrong. I was hungry to engage. I wanted to consume knowledge rather than feed it to others. I needed something substantial to do. I needed to know if I’m still in working order. The good news, I am.

1984 Good to be smart quote

02/06/2014 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

Just Your Average 68-Year-Old College Freshman

“It’s good to be smart, bad to be stupid.”

— from today’s lecture

Footnotes to get into harvard

02/05/2014 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

Just Your Average 68-Year-Old College Freshman

A boy like me at Harvard.

“It all depends on your footnotes.” said my professor. Any fool can get the first citation onto a page, he was looking in my direction. The second time you cite the same source you list only author and page, or even better, you can use “Ibid.”

But to give Harvard a real woody, you need one last level of sophistication. Foreign terms should be italicized like this—Ibid (use your imagination, ital doesn’t show on FB). Perfect! You’re as good as admitted, you can start memorizing the Crimson fight song. (And to think I almost skipped the lecture that day.)

Oakton Daycare

01/30/2014 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

Just Your Average 68-Year-Old College Freshman

Last-minute cramming for college exams is so common there’s a name for it—it’s called “pulling an all-nighter.” There are students in my classes who pull another kind of all-nighter—staying up and walking the floor with Baby. They’re called “parents.”

Our campus has an Early Childhood Education Center that invites students to bring their child to school with them. They can attend classes and study all day without worrying about a babysitter. Financial assistance is available. You and I pay for this program—it’s cheaper than prisons and the inmates are a lot cuter, assuming they’ve had their naps.

Spring Break – Mayo Clinic

01/26/2014 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

Just Your Average 68-Year-Old College Freshman

It’s not too early in the semester to prepare for spring break (as you know, college freshmen always plan ahead). At this point I’m leaning toward Minnesota. They know how to party. Someone will ask me to take my clothes off as soon as I get there.