No news is bad news…or no irony is intended
So it turns out that no news is actually bad news. Note the absence of quotation marks. No irony is intended except in as much as the standard phrase “no news is good news” requires some rejigging and inversion if you work at Acadia University. My guess, though, is that the BOG and their team won’t get the irony even after I’ve unpacked it for them. Because getting it — whatever “it” is — is not one of their strong points.
So let me make it simple for them. Jim Sacouman, our chief negotiator, stood up at the front the Anglican Church Hall in Wolfville today. Behind him was his negotiating team. But behind them all was the united faculty of Acadia University.
Nope. That’s clearly too complex and metaphorical for the BOG executive and their team. They won’t understand what “behind” means except in the anatomical sense. And they’ll only understand the word in that way because their heads are so familiar with their asses.
So let me be a bit more specific.
Jim was wearing a sign while he stood at the front of the hall. It was a sign that I have worn since last Wednesday, the day the AUFA and BOG teams went back to the negotiating table. That sign contains a simple message, but a clear one. It says, “Nobody will be sold out.” That is a commitment.
Get it?
No?
I’ll make it even clearer:
THERE IS NO IRONY INTENDED.
WE ARE NOT JOKING.
NOBODY WILL BE SOLD OUT!
Ashley R replied:
“They won’t understand what “behind” means except in the anatomical sense. And they’ll only understand the word in that way because their heads are so familiar with their asses.”
I don’t mean to make light of the situation, which is increasingly aggravating for everyone involved, but the above excerpt made my day.
Keep your stick on the ice.
October 29, 2007 at 8:42 pm. Permalink.
CS replied:
John Eustace,
This comment also made my day. The news of negotiations not really getting anywhere has frustrated me to say the least and I agree, no news is definitely NOT good news anymore. However, it is always nice to read something that actually makes me laugh out loud.
As a student, I have really appreciated your blog. I look forward to reading it. I enjoy reading your perspective on the strike and your honest account of being on the picket line, for example today’s comments and when you got angry with another colleague. I like the way that the blog is written, keep it up!
I support the faculty’s determination to not be sold out, and I hope that both sides can come to an agreement sooner rather than later for the sake of us all.
October 29, 2007 at 9:30 pm. Permalink.
JS replied:
I agree, it definitely made me laugh out loud.
I, along with everyone else I’m assuming, thought as well that no new was good news; I was totally shocked when I received the update email that talks had broken down.
As CS has said, I as well appreciate your blog it has been very informative and has a human side to it which the media doesn’t.
Keep on fighting as the problem has to be fixed NOW and not in another 3 years when another strike happens because the issues were put off. However I wish, like everyone else, for this to end ASAP, but without sacrifice. This may be impossible.
Anyway that’s all I have to say.
Keep on fighting and keep on writing.
October 30, 2007 at 12:25 am. Permalink.