I wish I could say I am shocked… but I’m not. The announcement below is probably going to become the norm. Minnesota: leading the way in autism acceptance, I suppose. Special Supports to be Discontinued The University of Minnesota is terminating the Strategic Education for Asperger Students (SEAS) pilot program.…
Category: Writing
All things writing related in my life.
Matters within the university seem somewhat settled, thanks to the support of some good people. I’ve decided not to pursue anything this summer related to school. I know most everything I do relates, in some way, but I need to decompress and focus on my writing and maybe even some…
In several earlier posts I have noted systemic failures at the University of Minnesota. In August, 2006, my misadventures began. By the end of September, my position in the Writing Center ended in disaster and a complaint to the university relating to the experience. The university has been less and…
Thanks to a complete breakdown in the University’s system and a professor I will never forgive, I endured a trip to the Office for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity. It was a stupid situation and far too much for my system. Before the meeting I was already in sorry shape.…
I came to the University of Minnesota’s Department of Rhetoric thanks to a DOVE (Diversity of Views and Experiences) Fellowship. My wife and I relocated from California because we had the impression the department and university would be inviting, supportive, and, most of all, a place where I would not…
I walked out of a class tonight, angry and frustrated. There is a great deal I could write about how I feel and what annoyed me, but the essential information is that there is a limit to the stresses I can tolerate. Even though I speak on surviving college, the…
At the start of every semester, I suffer from extreme anxiety. I dislike learning how new classes will function. I also have a general distaste for classes that seem to repeat the same basic themes and topics. As a graduate student in any given field, the primary figures in the…
This is a rant, based on exchanges elsewhere… One of the unavoidable aspects of writing and speaking publicly about autism is that I am certain to offend someone with nearly every sentence I type or speak. I have been told I don’t know “anything at all” about autism or its…
I am definitely a hypersensitive individual — physically (and emotionally). The cold weather of Minnesota forces me to wear more clothes, including hats, gloves, and even a face mask at times. Thermal pants for the windchill are also required some mornings. I itch. I scratch. I get annoyed. It’s like…
November 29, 2007, was a lousy day. I did poorly, very poorly, on an exam in statistics. The damage to self-esteem was fairly deep. I’m not supposed to do poorly on any test, in any class. I’ve seldom done well with written tests — it is painful to write for…