let them blow, let them blow, let them blow (me)

there is something fucked up when every single school and college in town -- including a school literally within sight of campus -- is on delay, except yours. half of the students live off-campus, and nearly all the tutors do, and the city employees are on delay, meaning the buses aren't running, and the campus is on the freakin' side of a mountain, meaning it gets more snow than town gets, and the plows don't actually go up there, but hey, my 9am's sure to be going on as-scheduled.

this was especially fun when it snowed time-before-last, and greg's car skidded out when he came to pick me up. although it was also fun last time it snowed, when i waited for a bus for an hour and a half before it was clear no buses would be coming.

it's a perverse point of pride with the school, i think. it certainly is with my language tutor, who went to annapolis for undergrad, who used to be dean and who, when i point out the shortsightedness of this no-snow-days policy, launches into a recitation of the motto of the US postal service, despite the fact that even they don't deliver when the weather is too bad. unfortunately, my 9am is my language class. i think it would take a student or tutor dying in a wreck to get them to change their minds, and they might not, even then, choosing instead to recount the tale of the time it snowed two feet and the power went out and they had seminar anyway by candlelight, or whatever.

and i know annapolis is the same way, but annapolis is not on the side of a goddamned mountain. more students and tutors are able to walk to school -- here, with the cost and scarcity of housing close to campus, everyone's at least a few miles away, often more, and again, to get there, you're going up the side of the goddamned mountain. this is not easy on a bike even on a good day. plus, the state of maryland actually owns and operates snowplows. the state of new mexico, not so much. santa fe has a grand total of two snowplows, and those are usually employed in the plowing of the state highway. major public thoroughfares never get plowed, let alone the backstreets.

this doesn't even touch on the unfairness of dragging campus staff to work, either. some of them can choose to come in late, of course, but i'm sure the maintainance and food service staff don't get the option, and i know some of them take the bus, because they ride up with me every morning. so they're stuck out in the snow, as surely as i am. (and yes, because there are students living on-campus, food service staff is rather essential, but other essential employees often have workplace-organised carpools for these occasions. hell, even at trader joe's, such things were worked out, because god forbid the yuppie horde should face down a blizzard with an insufficient supply of shitty chardonnay and seaweed pretzel nibbles because the store had closed.

i'm still feeling unwell, so i may just miss greek. i missed the math meeting yesterday, which i think was probably the best choice, even though quite a bit of ground was covered, and i'm behind now. (and even though i caught this cold/flu from my classmates, six of whom came to class on tuesday suffering from it.)