My Lamppost

Bernard Pivot is a famous French journalist and interviewer. He is most well known for the group of questions he asked each of his guests on his show called “Apostrophes”. Each question was designed to better define guests in the eyes of those watching and more importantly helped to cast aside their celebrity in favor of a more human view. Pivot adapted his questions from Marcel Proust’s Questionnaire that was created to understand personality.

MyLamppost asks the same questions of the people it profiles in People You Need to Know About:

Dean M.L. Cissy Petty

1. What is your favorite word? Hilarious
2. What is your least favorite word? No
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Writing the perfect essay, taking a picture that tells a story
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally? People who are duplicitous
5. What sound or noise do you love? The sound of the ocean
6. What sound or noise do you hate? Music jamming next to me in another car
7. What is your favorite curse word?I don’t usually curse. When I do…say if I hurt myself, I say them all as if in one big long sentence. One of my closest friends always emails “wtf” when she wants my attention. She makes me laugh; she’s a preacher’s kid.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Marine biologist studying dolphin and whales
9. What profession would you not like to do? Waitressing
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Everyone you’ve ever loved, your family, friends and pets are all right here.

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The following essay is about Dean Cissy Petty, a lifelong Student Affairs officer. It’s written by a former student of hers and bears witness to the fact that, oftentimes, the least known among us are the most influential.

She’s done this numerous times before. It hasn’t changed in the past 15 years. But the reality today is this, I have never done it before, and I am nervous, very nervous. I know I don’t need to be, but for some reason I am.

“Name? asks the young man behind the counter, who does not look much older than me.

“Danielle, Danielle Weaver”

“Danielle all right on your name tag?”

“Yes, that’d be great, thank you.”

He hands me the blue mesh bag filled with everything I need the next four days. I realize; this is it. This is the start of the rest of my life. I have chosen a career path. As I turn around, I realize she is there, the one who has always been there, she was there, standing behind me on campus, supporting me in my leadership roles for the first two years of my undergraduate career, she was there in spirit, standing behind me when my dad was deathly ill, and she was there, standing behind me, watching me in spirit as I was handed my diploma from St. Lawrence University in May of 2007 and now she was truly standing behind me as I registered for my first NASPA conference.

“How does it feel, you just registered for your first professional conference?” Dean Petty questions.

“Pretty cool,” I utter, for a lack of words.

We make our way into the opening speaker; a colleague of hers had saved two seats for us. I get lost in my thoughts as we are awaiting the opening speaker. I think about how surreal it is that my former Dean of Students stood behind me as I registered for my first professional conference. She knows that she is largely responsible for my choice to enter into the realm of student affairs. I do wonder if she knows how much she has really impacted my life.

Now that I am in graduate school pursuing my master’s degree, I get books that are ‘required reading’ for her, not for class. She wants me to be the best student affairs professional I can possibly be. Over the course of the next three days, I would be introduced to a variety of student affairs professionals who have been in the field longer than I have been alive. Dean Petty introduces me to her friends, both old and new in order to enlarge my network. She knows next year I have no set location in mind and I can go anywhere and do anything as a young professional. She just wants to see me succeed, and be happy both professionally and personally.

Even though I have not seen Dean Petty in three years prior to this conference, her presence was felt in my daily life. Her travels during her year-long sabbatical took her all over the United States and she finally landed at a southern university. I would get e-mails from Oregon, the mid-west and the east coast.

Her notes of inspiration, “Dean’s Dailies”, a daily e-mail which contained a quote, poem or just a positive thought always made me realize I am part of something bigger than I realize, and that at the end of the day it would be alright - whatever ‘it’ was. Even though it was a mass email, it’s a way for her to connect. Some days I felt as if ‘the daily’ was chosen just for me, other days, I realize the words were for one of the hundreds of other students whose lives she has impacted.

Even though Dean Petty is on the other side of the country, spreading her knowledge, passion, love and energy for Student Affairs, I know that anytime I need her, she is standing behind me, loving me, supporting me, challenging me, encouraging me, but perhaps most importantly, I know that she will always be my dean, and nothing will ever change that.

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Counting Democratic pledged and super delegates, Barack Obama still maintains a healthy lead going into the next primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina on May 6th. Hillary Clinton is still trailing Obama by 125 delegates, 150 if you just count pledged delegates. Does Clinton still have a chance of upending Obama? Can she surpass him? Can she convince the super delegates that she is the best choice and despite what the pledged delegate count says, that she is the candidate that should receive the super delegate endorsement? If she does, she will be the Democratic nominee. Obama has alot of work in front of him. it didn’t have to be like this, Barack.

What happened in the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary?
In the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, there were lots of voters who decided their vote at the last minute and among those last minute voters about 60% voted for Clinton. Clinton also received alot of blue collar type votes, lots of women votes and lots of older votes.

But the real question is, why, after months and months of getting to know Clinton and Obama, are there so many people deciding their vote at the last minute? Are people wanting to vote for Obama but still walking uneasy not knowing what’s behind the rhetoric? Did the last debate held on April 16th have anything to do with it? The debate was watched by more Americans (10 million) than any other debate we’ve had so far in this 2008 Presidential Primary season.

Obama is definitely getting rocked a bit by probing interview questions but I guess that comes with the turf when you’re the front-runner because the the only negative to standing on the front-runner throne is that we Americans like to bounce you off of it. Pretty large negative. Just ask Britney Spears. Clinton began her campaign stating emphatically that she was more than prepared to be the next Commander-in-Chief, citing experience in the Oval Office as First Lady and as Senator from New York. Obama can’t match her record as hard as he tries - one term as Illinois Senator - so has tried to rely on rhetoric - “CHANGE” - and endorsements (read: fundraising).

Many American voters will prop you up on good looks and rhetoric but, in the end, it really does boil down to issues and experience which may explain teh high number of last minute voters in Pennsylvania. When pressed by the media about the effect on revenues given an increase in the capital gains tax, Obama seemed ill-prepared to answer. (The question was based on that fact that government revenues actually increased when the capital gains tax was cut. Conversely, government revenues decreased when the capital gains rate was increased.)

We are entering the proverbial 4th quarter of the 2008 Democratic Primary season. It is one thing to build a lead, another to maintain it and quite another to preserve it when the momentum swings to your opponent. American voters are asking the tough questions (through the media and blogs) and this requires that a few layers of Obama’s “issue onion” be peeled back. What is underneath the “CHANGE” rhetoric? Does he understand economics, social policy, foreign policy. Is he poised enough? When TV viewers witness frustration, discontent and non-answers, they project that on to other issues, challenges and confrontations. Can Obama stand strong against other foreign leaders? Can he ably negotiate with Republicans if the Democrats do not gain a majority in the mid-term elections? Basically, does he really and truly “get it”?

Clinton, on the other hand, is somewhat ascerbic and not as good-looking as Obama. She lacks charisma and really does have a whiney voice. Does she have to continually yell into that microphone of hers? Does she think I can’t hear her? But, in the end, who do you trust in the White House? Clinton is right. She has been there. She has had on-the-job training and was given Presidential-type responsibilities while acting as First Lady. She is smart, like Obama, but seems better prepared to stand up to resistance, discontent and threats. She seems better prepared to lead.

The opinon of the Lamppost is this: Obama could have secured the Democratic nomination a while back but super delegates, and now regular voters, are wondering if he really is
better than Clinton and if he even has a chance in hell of beating McCain. So many super delegates are worried, in our opinion, that he will be swallowed whole by McCain. And, we
tend to think this is possible because “change” rhetoric will not fly in the general Presidential election debates. The issues will be debated. A grasp of economics will be required. So will a pragmatic and experienced view of foreign policy.

The super delegates are awaiting a few things before they really commit to either Democratic candidate: one, they want to see how the country continues to vote in the seven (7 Democratic primaries that remain, and two, they will take measure of each as a viable opponent to John McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee for President. The feeling is that if Clinton continues to trail Obama in pledged delegate totals yet continues to mount momentum with primary victories, the super delegates will not support Obama and swing the nomination to Clinton. In effect, the race is tied. Whichi candidate will reach down and grab that “something extra” to convince us of his or her strength, intelligence, quick wit and poise?

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