ON AWKWARDNESS

I've never been known as a smooth operator. I've never been known as any kind of operator, now that I think about it. But in dealing with students from all walks of life, I am constantly surprised by the wide variance in social skills from person to person.

We tend to refer to outliers as "weird," but communication is a skill that needs to be practiced, right? So is it any different from my lack of guitar-playing skills? (Although I suppose communication skills are considered more fundamental than guitar skills, but still...) I don't know if weird is the right way to categorize these folks. Heaven knows I've had my share of "weird" moments...

...at an interview, when I told a room full of people a joke with the punch line "black tar heroin." (ugh. I'm pretty sure this is why I'm not currently working at Ole Miss)

...my "paper eating phase" in high school...(this was a ploy for attention)

...when I try to explain an improv scene who have no idea what improv is - "and then the cow and chicken had a slow motion fight to the death while we sang a Sarah McLachlan song in the background..." (I get some weird looks, but it was a great scene)

I am starting to feel a little guilty about calling people weird. There was a guy I went to high school with that we thought was an alien, because it seemed like his mind worked so differently than everyone else's. It makes me a little sad, to think about how judgmental I was back in the day.

Of course, all of this was precipitated by a student coming in to my office, so make of that what you will.