The amazing gone-too-soon David Carr (who also taught at BU, maybe?), a journalist and memoirist, taught a course called "Push Play," and on the syllabus, among all the other stuff, was this phrase: "evaluations will be based not just on your efforts, but on your ability to bring excellence out of the people around you." I have put that (with attribution, of course!) on every syllabus I've ever created b/c it reminds students (I hope) that grades are not pie: to paraphrase Oprah, everyone can get an A! A kid once said, after I explained all this, "so what you mean bsically is don't be an asshole." Which, exactly.
I adore that so much. I've always said that in advertising, as in improv, if you make your partner look good then everyone succeeds. I may borrow it as well! (With attribution of course.) Don't be an asshole -- I'd hope that goes without saying. 🙃
I loved this remembrance of past teachers and mentors. Your mention of the “three martini lunch” being a real thing made me revisit a lunch I had with a friend, who worked in NY at an ad agency in the 70’s. A colleague of hers joined us and had a martini lunch. I was an NYU nursing student…I learned that I was in the right place in my life at that lunch… no judgement whatsoever it was a personal “ah ha” moment about the stresses of the business world. I would experience stress in my career too and would get together with NYU Med coworkers at Limericks Bar on 2nd Ave and 30th Street to decompress . Those moments were some of the best times of sharing and learning from each other during serious “morbidity and mortality”rounds at Limericks .
I know you will be great at BU and your students will absorb so much from you and you will learn from them in this unique time in higher education. Liz, I am excited to follow you in this next chapter. 👏
Thank you dear Lorette. I love how you were able to identify the stresses of the business world, and more so, the importance of being together with your colleagues, and having the time to bond beyond the work setting. Though if I may confess: even one beer at lunch and I would be napping at my desk by 2 PM!
My hope for you, in the not too distant future, is that one of your future students writes an essay like this and includes you as their biggest influence/best memory/most rock-n-roll professor they ever had who encouraged, taught and inspired them to do their best work.
I was in Dee’s class and Midsummer the year after you! 🧡 And I’m pretty sure I had the same 7th grade teacher as well. 😒 What wonderful inspirations and mentors you had. I’m so excited for your new position and your mentoring the next generation! Congrats!! ❤️
Thank you Allison! No doubt Dee impacted more students than she could ever even remember. (As for that 7th grade teacher...well, maybe she got better with time.)
For me, it was my 8th grade English class. First day back from summer vacation. Right out of the box, Mr. Conlon says he wants us to write an essay. I hated essays. So freaking stupid. What I Did This Summer? No. Im not going there. But this was different. This time we had to write about a word. One word. "If". That was it. The spigot turned on and I never looked back. And Liz, I dont have a single doubt that you are going to be someone's Mr. Conlon. I'd say a lot of someone's.
#1 Mazel Tov, this is wonderful for you and your students. You will be amazing and they will be lucky.
#2 Regarding Ms. O'Brien, I would just calmly add a "Times 1,000" to your perfect narrative. We were all going through so much, and the cafeteria was such a perilous space. Lunch in her room was like a refuge from the storm. It was a place where we could just *be*. Instead of being categorized, mocked, etc. It was a place where we could actually relax a little bit and maybe even laugh. The act of asking a girl out was, for me, literally inconceivable anywhere else.
#3 During class, at one point, she had us pair up and write down a memory that we really treasured. And then she had each of us imagine that we had the ability to delete the other person's memory, and they had that ability over us. We each had to make a case to the other of why our memory should not be deleted. She paired me with Beth Horwick and it was incredibly memorable, not just for me to have the ability to speak in that situation, but also for me to really hear Beth and her memory.
#4 She taught me that you literally cannot care about Shakespeare too much, and that also applies to pronouns, rooms, people, and life.
For every teacher who has doubted their choice of professions, for every teacher worried about a performance review, for every teacher who continues to have those anxiety dreams before the school year begins, I say: Thank you for reminding us why it is a calling. Never a job. A calling. Welcome home.
After searching with a college junior for internships and preparing for a high school commencement tomorrow I was feeling a little fearful, to put it mildly, after reading articles and working in marketing where so much is being poorly replaced by AI (IMO in this particular case). This news is hopeful and your post meaningful. I’m trying to maintain hope for my kids and sometimes their disappointment convinces me things are not promising, but this gives me hope.
I wish I had the perfect response to this. I just want to say I hear you -- as a parent and a citizen of a tenuous world -- and thank you. We find the glimmers of hope where we can and I'm honored to be one of yours.
Liz! This is wonderful news, and also the absolute best setup for a career change announcement that I have ever read. WOW! Congratulations! I can't wait to read more about this.
BTW, at the moment, my rising HS junior is very interested in BU!
Thank you so much, Liza! Happy to answer any questions this year for your kiddo… I know it can be a really stressful time. And if you’re on campus, I will expect a visit!
The amazing gone-too-soon David Carr (who also taught at BU, maybe?), a journalist and memoirist, taught a course called "Push Play," and on the syllabus, among all the other stuff, was this phrase: "evaluations will be based not just on your efforts, but on your ability to bring excellence out of the people around you." I have put that (with attribution, of course!) on every syllabus I've ever created b/c it reminds students (I hope) that grades are not pie: to paraphrase Oprah, everyone can get an A! A kid once said, after I explained all this, "so what you mean bsically is don't be an asshole." Which, exactly.
I adore that so much. I've always said that in advertising, as in improv, if you make your partner look good then everyone succeeds. I may borrow it as well! (With attribution of course.) Don't be an asshole -- I'd hope that goes without saying. 🙃
As our current occupant of the White House makes abundantly clear, for some folks, "don't be an asshole" is a really really tall order. Sigh.
I loved this remembrance of past teachers and mentors. Your mention of the “three martini lunch” being a real thing made me revisit a lunch I had with a friend, who worked in NY at an ad agency in the 70’s. A colleague of hers joined us and had a martini lunch. I was an NYU nursing student…I learned that I was in the right place in my life at that lunch… no judgement whatsoever it was a personal “ah ha” moment about the stresses of the business world. I would experience stress in my career too and would get together with NYU Med coworkers at Limericks Bar on 2nd Ave and 30th Street to decompress . Those moments were some of the best times of sharing and learning from each other during serious “morbidity and mortality”rounds at Limericks .
I know you will be great at BU and your students will absorb so much from you and you will learn from them in this unique time in higher education. Liz, I am excited to follow you in this next chapter. 👏
Thank you dear Lorette. I love how you were able to identify the stresses of the business world, and more so, the importance of being together with your colleagues, and having the time to bond beyond the work setting. Though if I may confess: even one beer at lunch and I would be napping at my desk by 2 PM!
My hope for you, in the not too distant future, is that one of your future students writes an essay like this and includes you as their biggest influence/best memory/most rock-n-roll professor they ever had who encouraged, taught and inspired them to do their best work.
Thank you Kathy. (And were those all-nighters together in the editing suite really so long ago? Impossible.)
Master of the house... quick to catch your eye... du du du du du du du du du du du.
Yes. It was the birth of CNN, right? INSANE.
I was in Dee’s class and Midsummer the year after you! 🧡 And I’m pretty sure I had the same 7th grade teacher as well. 😒 What wonderful inspirations and mentors you had. I’m so excited for your new position and your mentoring the next generation! Congrats!! ❤️
Thank you Allison! No doubt Dee impacted more students than she could ever even remember. (As for that 7th grade teacher...well, maybe she got better with time.)
For me, it was my 8th grade English class. First day back from summer vacation. Right out of the box, Mr. Conlon says he wants us to write an essay. I hated essays. So freaking stupid. What I Did This Summer? No. Im not going there. But this was different. This time we had to write about a word. One word. "If". That was it. The spigot turned on and I never looked back. And Liz, I dont have a single doubt that you are going to be someone's Mr. Conlon. I'd say a lot of someone's.
This means the world coming from you, Ernie. Wow. You never "taught" me, but I've learned so much from you over my career.
#1 Mazel Tov, this is wonderful for you and your students. You will be amazing and they will be lucky.
#2 Regarding Ms. O'Brien, I would just calmly add a "Times 1,000" to your perfect narrative. We were all going through so much, and the cafeteria was such a perilous space. Lunch in her room was like a refuge from the storm. It was a place where we could just *be*. Instead of being categorized, mocked, etc. It was a place where we could actually relax a little bit and maybe even laugh. The act of asking a girl out was, for me, literally inconceivable anywhere else.
#3 During class, at one point, she had us pair up and write down a memory that we really treasured. And then she had each of us imagine that we had the ability to delete the other person's memory, and they had that ability over us. We each had to make a case to the other of why our memory should not be deleted. She paired me with Beth Horwick and it was incredibly memorable, not just for me to have the ability to speak in that situation, but also for me to really hear Beth and her memory.
#4 She taught me that you literally cannot care about Shakespeare too much, and that also applies to pronouns, rooms, people, and life.
Michael, these words are so special. Let's make sure she sees them.
Your post was very moving for me. I guess these young people need us just like we needed her.
For every teacher who has doubted their choice of professions, for every teacher worried about a performance review, for every teacher who continues to have those anxiety dreams before the school year begins, I say: Thank you for reminding us why it is a calling. Never a job. A calling. Welcome home.
Thank you, to another teacher who always believed in me and taught me -- and all of her students over many years -- so very well. xoxo
Yes, always a calling
After searching with a college junior for internships and preparing for a high school commencement tomorrow I was feeling a little fearful, to put it mildly, after reading articles and working in marketing where so much is being poorly replaced by AI (IMO in this particular case). This news is hopeful and your post meaningful. I’m trying to maintain hope for my kids and sometimes their disappointment convinces me things are not promising, but this gives me hope.
I wish I had the perfect response to this. I just want to say I hear you -- as a parent and a citizen of a tenuous world -- and thank you. We find the glimmers of hope where we can and I'm honored to be one of yours.
As a COM BU alumna this is so exciting!!!
Thank you Meggie!
Love this so much! Congrats!
Thank you Peggy!
This is fantastic - excited to read this, cheering for you on this journey, and wishing you all the wonders ahead. What fun!
Thank you, Melissa!
Liz! This is wonderful news, and also the absolute best setup for a career change announcement that I have ever read. WOW! Congratulations! I can't wait to read more about this.
BTW, at the moment, my rising HS junior is very interested in BU!
Thank you so much, Liza! Happy to answer any questions this year for your kiddo… I know it can be a really stressful time. And if you’re on campus, I will expect a visit!
Absolutely! We will be visiting schools in metro-Boston from Aug 6-12. Will you be there yet???
Not clear, but let's stay in touch xo
Just wonderful on every level. Congratulations!
Thank you Rob! No doubt I'll be borrowing (and crediting) some lessons from you.
Go for it. And feel free to hit me up for a guest-stint.
Amazing, thank you!
Communications at BU!? Do you know Mark Rosewater?!?!?!
I wish I did! I think he was in film/tv, which was a different department in the same college.
Wonderful article and what a great tribute to your profs, Liz. I know you will fill those shoes, from those who taught you.
You had me remembering some of my high school teachers! I had some that were better than the professors I I have in college. Thanks for the memories.
Holy shit, Liz, congratulations!
Thank you!