Names are funny business
Growing up, I had a nickname. My parents called me this from birth, and everyone else followed suit. It wasn’t until I reached my twenties that I realized I preferred my real name and began using it. Nowadays, whenever I hear my nickname, I know it’s someone from my past.
Sometimes names and shorter forms (nicknames and abbreviations) can work the other way around. I have only written Castleton State College on a syllabus or a recommendation, but I have frequently used CSC on the calendar or in notes to others or to myself. At other times you may run across similar abbreviations. For many years I taught at SVA, the School of Visual Arts in New York City, but for the past couple I have been involved with another SVA, Stone Valley Arts in Poultney. There have been moments when I will hear SVA and think of my ten o’clock class rather than a fundraiser.
This fall is the first time that this 228–year-old institution, which has previously undergone nine different name changes, will be called Castleton University. Will it be known as Castleton University or just plain Castleton? Do you suppose it will ever be called CU? (CU might make one think of Colorado University, or perhaps John Oliver repeatedly pointing his second and third fingers toward his own eyes and then out toward the audience.) It will be newsworthy to hear how you, the students, refer to your school. And at your graduation, be kind to those who are still calling your university something else.
More Stories
Letters From London: Bulletin from Belfast
I spent Saint Patrick’s Day in Belfast, Ireland. A good friend of mine, Reilly Tennis, a VTSU student, is studying in Northern Ireland at Ulster University in a town called Coleraine. Sya Barnes, another VTSU student and good friend, is studying at Essex University in Colchester, England, so we decided to meet Reilly in Belfast […]
These worms aren’t good for your soil
As you read this article, there might be a destructive species of worm crawling silently underneath your feet. The Green Mountain state’s soil is being severely threatened by a species of worm that sounds like it should be in a children’s cartoon. The reason why they are called Jumping Worms is because they have a […]
Your life depends on it
I’m never growing up. I’m now a poser in a punk rock sense. When, or if, I go to a show, I stand in the back by the bathrooms. I leave the pit to the younger, more virile people. My back hurts too much for that shit. Honestly, I never trusted anyone over 30. When […]
Time for U.S. to educate and work together
We all know how news in mainstream media tends to be biased in how it is delivered to the public. But, are enough of us aware of just how much information is lost on the citizens, especially in rural areas. Many people tend to live in their own bubbles and ignore the rest of the […]
The ethics of “The Bridge”
The goal of professor David Blow’s Media Ethics course is to have greater understanding of the various ethical dilemmas that media workers deal with on a daily basis and the implications of their decisions. One assignment in this class was to watch a documentary titled “The Bridge,” produced by Eric Steel, and react to what […]
Cutting off my nose to spite my face
Spite is a powerful tool. The majority of the time, if I do anything, it is out of spite. Tell me I cannot do something and bam, I will do it just to watch you suffer. I got into standup comedy after someone once told me I wasn’t funny. I then performed a show with […]