things that never change

on the back page of
the latest issue of the rpi alumni magazine
is an article that takes me back in a number of ways

once upon a time i used to sit down with the week's poly
and vomit up a dyspeptic rant
on a certain website of ill repute

and after reading the back-page article
by one john kolb
[himself a frequent target of the party
for his benighted policies on campus computing]
i found myself tempted to do the same

it's not on the web yet
but let's just consider the title

Education for Innovational Leadership

for fuck's sake
innovational isn't even a word

it goes downhill from there

mainly it's a justification for the multi-zillion-dollar
performing arts center on the hill as being good for
scientists and engineers too

far be it from me
given my own experience to argue that point

but that happens because of people
not because of a building
and this article is full of such specious argument
to justify the institute's giant impulse buy
that i can tell that though i've been gone from troy for a good long while

nothing has really changed