A Cautionary Tale

17 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Sharing, Wedding

Tags

a Cautionary Tale, Career, Health, Instinct, Marriage, McMaster University, Ryerson University, St. FX University

Photo credit: Etsy

The Wedding

Before our wedding and our idyllic honeymoon at Wickanninish Inn, my future husband and I had to attend a rehearsal for the wedding ceremony. We loved one another, but to a certain extent, I married to please my mother. She would have been very disappointed, had I lived with a man without first marrying him.

As we were driving to a rehearsal of the wedding ceremony, my future husband told me, out of the blue, that there was a condition attached to his marrying me. He said he would leave me if I ever put on weight. I realised that the wedding ceremony would be a comedy and that the marriage would not be valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church. I therefore contemplated cancelling the wedding, but it was late and I was very confused.

Ryerson University

downtown Toronto
a secure position
a secure marriage
Canada’s best research environment

A year later, David started to work in Toronto, where I also found a position. I taught French at Ryerson Polytechnical University, in downtown Toronto.[1] I had to teach eighteen hours a week, but I was teaching French as a second language, nothing more, and I could devote the four Spring/Summer months to research. As well, I was in Canada’s best research environment. I worked near the University of Toronto and its research library.

In other words, I was secure and nothing threatened my marriage and health, except being too thin. However, my husband wanted me to resign. He so insisted that I did resign. I changed my mind during the night, but when I phoned Ryerson, I was told I had already been replaced. I started teaching French as a second language to government of Ontario civil servants.

McMaster University

a fragile career
a fragile marriage
illness

A year later, after he read Open Marriage, my husband asked me to apply for a position at McMaster University, in Hamilton. He would stay in our house and I would rent an apartment in Hamilton. In my eyes, this wasn’t a marriage, but a mere arrangement.

One day, I was asked to see the Chair of my department who told me that the following year, I would teach courses in linguistics: theoretical and foreign-language didactics. I told the Chair that I had never studied linguistics and that preparing the courses might preclude my publishing papers on Molière and related topics. He, the Chair, made it very clear that if I refused to teach linguistics, I would have to leave the university. That is intimidation. I therefore learned and taught linguistics, but, as I feared, my contract was not renewed. I had written a fine article on Molière, but that did not suffice.

My marriage had ended, I no longer had a position, and my health had deteriorated. For the following months, I worked as public relations and admissions’ officer in a college affiliated with the University of Regina. I had to travel throughout the province, which I could not do for long.

St Francis Xavier University

good years
too heavy a workload
illness

A friend suggested that I apply for a position at St Francis Xavier University, in Nova Scotia. He thought my chances were very good. I applied and moved to a small university town. I was no longer in a good research environment and had to use the interlibrary loan service. But I wrote articles on Molière and linguistics. In the mid 1980’s, I was elected President of the Canadian Association of University and College Teachers of French (APFUCC) and a member of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and served on its Executive.

But I had caught a virus and had lost a great deal of energy, so I was fragile. When a departmental war erupted (they are a common affliction), I fell ill (crippling fatigue) and decided to seek a diagnostic and treatment. A SPECT scan revealed myalgic encephalomyelitis. My neurologist told me that the damage was extensive and that he doubted I could return to work. There was no cure.

I had to earn a living, so I returned to work on a part-time basis. However, a new Chair decided to avenge a colleague whose contract was not renewed and would not allow me to work on a full-time basis. I re-entered the classroom on a full-time basis, when this Chair left the University to accept a position elsewhere. For four years, I was the victim of obstructionism.

The Moral

The moral of this story is complex, but quite obvious. All I will say is, first, that, although it was very late, I should have cancelled the wedding. Second, I will say that when I worked at Ryerson, I could combine a career and a marriage. That never happened again. While studying linguistics, I caught an invisible, but chronic and incurable illness. I managed to keep my position at StFX for several years because my workload was normal. I bought a house across the street from campus to simplify my life. But if my workload grew too heavy and my working environment was vitiated, I was at risk. My workload grew to include the creation of language lab components, and the preparation of courses one of which was a course in an area of knowledge I knew little about: Animals in Literature. These courses were prepared during a sabbatical leave. I could not refuse because I was afraid. I fell ill and extremely vulnerable.

At that point in its history, my university’s policy was to eliminate from its Faculty persons who might fall ill. This is what a vice-president told me, which raises bigger questions that I will not address.

But it would be my opinion that there are times when one should listen to one’s instinct and stay where one is safe and happy. I resigned from a good position without making sure there was a way back to safety. I lost my marriage, harmed my health, and put my career in jeopardy. But I’m a survivor and I’m happy where I am.

PS, I have never put on weight.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Miller, his Son, and the Donkey: quite a Tale (16 May 2013)
You can’t please everyone: Æsop retold (21 March 2012)
Le Chien qui lâche sa proie pour l’ombre (La Fontaine)
Etc.

______________________
[1] Ryerson Polytechnical University was Canada’s MIT. It is now called Ryerson University.

Love to everyone 💕

Health Care: a Note to Fareed Zakaria

22 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Sharing, Uncategorized

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

CNN, Fareed Zakaria, Health, Health care, Insurance, Pharmaceutical companies, United States, Universal health care

Fareed Zakaria

Comments on Mr Zakaria’s Report

A few days ago, I watched Fareed Zakaria‘s televised report on health care in various countries. It was an excellent program.

Three initial Steps

The information Mr Zakaria provided has led me to think that there are three initial steps in managing universal health care.

1. In my opinion, the first step is a government-run program, which excludes private insurance except for extras, i.e. for what the doctor does not prescribe and for care provided in private hospitals. But that does not preclude a universal health-care program.

2. The second step would be strict regulation concerning the price of pharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical companies sell medication as though each pill or capsule or whatever was a precious diamond.

3. As for the third step, it would be regulation of fees paid to medical practitioners. At the moment, these fees are not consistent with their years of training and competence. Nor are these fees consistent with the fees paid other well-trained or better-trained individuals. Often, these better-trained individuals are on salary.

As a University teacher, I had to deal with students who would come to my office to request very high marks because they wanted to study medicine and enter a profession that would earn them a few luxuries. So I would explain that they would have to earn their good grades. Many did and I was proud of them.

Tax deductions

I do not wish to impoverish medical doctors and I fully realize that they require offices and secretaries, but so do other professionals. Normally, these expenses are tax-deductible to a reasonable degree.

Doctor-Patient Confidentiality, but a Database

As well, I believe that the doctor-patient confidentiality must be maintained and that one should still choose one’s own doctor,* except that information with respect to the medication an individual is taking, his or her allergies, a health history (surgical procedures, an earlier or on-going illness, etc.) should be available. It seems there should be a national databank accessible to the staff of emergency-care units. Accidents happen.

*I live in Canada but have always had my own doctors.

What if these three steps are not taken?

If these three steps are not taken, there will have to be a sizeable increase in taxes and the rich will have to pay their fair share of taxes. This is plain common sense.

The Other Side of the coin

Moreover, no system can work if people themselves do not look after their health. Smoking and obesity are killers. There are, of course, a few exceptions but, generally speaking, smoking and obesity are killers and obesity is not necessarily genetic. In cases where a condition is genetic, the need for medical attention is legitimate. But nothing is black and white.

Conclusion

There is a lot more to say, but there are authorities in this area. However, these three points seem an essential starting-point. Health care, including medications, is too expensive.