Stuff That Works, Stuff That Holds Up.

I love that Guy Clark song, Stuff That Works. No, more than “love it,” I live it. He sings, “I’ve got an old blue shirt and it suits me just fine…so I wear it all the time.” Yep. Spent my high school years wearing Chucks, blue jeans and a flannel over a concert t-shirt, and that’s still my go to. Always has been.  I don’t “clean up well,” never had a suit that looked right on me, so, adulting being what it is, I can vary my go to with a pair of black jeans, black high-top chucks, and a collared, semi-dress shirt…over a band or Harley t-shirt when forced.

Problem is, I’m in front of 18-22 year-olds every day and sometimes, stuff that works for me doesn’t translate as well as I think it will. Every fall, Benoit College publishes The Mindset List which provides random “facts” about the incoming freshman class. It’s popular with academics wanting to “keep up” with the latest to appear cool and groovy before their students. You’d think I’d pay attention to the list, that I’d stop using terms like “cool and groovy” in lectures, but no.

I’m not the only one, but my tribe is dwindling. My colleague, friend, and work-wife, Amee Odom, director of the Library here at Gate State, is younger than I am but an honorary tribe member. She leads a plagiarism workshop every year and includes an example of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury’s, “Under Pressure” alongside the 2010 Vanilla Ice cover version. For years now, none of the students recognize the original version. I’ve not had the heart to tell her they don’t recognize the Vanilla Ice version either, they’re just too kind to admit it. Sure, she could use the Black Maggots cover from 2016 or Shawn Mendez’ cover from 2018, but she sticks to the tried and true because it works. And I applaud her for it.

The other day, I wrote a sentence on the board to demonstrate a revision technique for conciseness. The draft version read: Jim Jones went to the store, used his own money, and bought Kool-aid for all the campers. I paused, gave them a chance to snicker, maybe give me a knowing nod. Crickets. I could’ve bailed, but nope. I revised: Jim Jones bought Kool-Aid for all the campers. I waited. Still nothing.

Now I try to give my students an education, not just writing tips, so I digressed. I relayed the Wikipedia version of Jonestown and then explained how that led to the popular late ‘80s campus drink called Jim Jones Koolaid (come on, y’all remember: Gatorade and Everclear). I noticed a couple of them jotting down notes when I mentioned the Everclear part, but other than that, blank stares.

No worries. It’s all cool and groovy. Like “an old blue shirt, it suits me just fine.” I’d give you more examples, I have plenty, but I gotta split right now. That damn bunch of neighborhood kids are running across my lawn again.