Dormitory Armitage, or: meet your new RA

Meditative up top, jokey below the fold.

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Happy Labor Day to U.S. readers — especially to those who are working today. (As I am sitting in a very busy *bux, I’m quite aware that my leisure comes at the expense of others’ labor, often very poorly recompensed, though *bux is said to have excellent employee benefits.) I’m sure Marlborough Mills didn’t celebrate national holidays, either. I’m not blaming that on management — the point for me in celebrating the achievements of labor organization is to talk about the joint work of labor and management together.

A distressing scene from North & South in which Mrs. Thornton (Sinead Cusack) tells a grateful mother that she can keep her sick child’s place at Marlborough Mills if a sibling can replace her within the hour. My caps.

 This scene reads as horrifying to the modern viewer precisely because of some of the achievements of organized labor — the institution of child labor laws and safety regulations — and the work of management to improve the labor process. Laws prohibiting child labor came about both because of organized labor groups (who saw these laws a means to raise wages for adults) and because of the activities of the wealthy and, increasingly, industrialists (who were troubled by working conditions for children). Mrs. Thornton seems awful to us because she’s “only” worried about her son’s mill, but in her enmeshment in the system of production, she’s dealing as much with economic conditions as she experiences them, as is the poor woman working with her children to keep their family fed. Though some have more power than others, we’re all in the world together.

Phylly presents the Armitage solution to labor / management difficulties (from last year).

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“Our” RA. Richard Armitage, correctly labeled, for anyone who’s confused, in a segment from BBC Breakfast, September 17, 2010. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

After my experience a few weeks ago with a use of the term “RA” with which I was unfamiliar, I was thinking about two ways in which I commonly used the term “RA” in the context of my job teaching students who are seeking a “BA” (an abbreviation I encountered a lot, assuming it meant “Bachelor of Arts” and not what it means in our context: Before Armitage).

[At left: a typical U.S. dormitory room. For an increasing number of U.S. students these days, sharing space in a freshman dormitory is the first time they have shared a bedroom with another human, and educators are starting to question the purpose of forcing students into a shared space arrangement that is often part of the learning experience but inevitably creates friction.]

One of the contexts in which I usually use the term “RA” is operative at the moment, because for about the last two weeks or so, university terms in the United States have been starting. I’ve been bombarded with twice as many messages as usual about the annual chaos, because I am still getting memos from my old job. Yup: the weekend before the term starts, all over the U.S., it’s dormitory move in for first-year students. Many beginning students are required to live on campus in order to facilitate the learning experience and enhance their access to resources that can help them to succeed. At the last university I taught, this event presented the campus with a logistical nightmare, with approximately 8,000 students moving into an area smaller than a square mile –including both university and private dorms– all on one morning. Faculty were ordered to park elsewhere and to stay away unless they were volunteering to help with the move-in.

Recently, I was thinking back to my own “move in” at college in 1987. It was a much smaller institution than most of those I’ve worked at. We drove up in the rental car to the housing office, picked up a key, and drove to the dormitory. My (shared) room was on the third floor. We carried my things up there with the help of students in a campus Christian group, met my roommate (with whom I had already exchanged letters — this was before both telephone deregulation and email), and put up a few posters. It was quickly time for my mother to go (she had to fly home that afternoon), and I walked her down to the parking lot, where she gave me a big hug, told me to work hard, and left me. Sounds a bit triste, but I was sad for all of about forty-five minutes. Leave-taking was harder on my mother than on me, even though I’d been a pain all summer, anxious about the future. I think about her now, as I begin to observe friends my age sending their eldest children to college and  reorganizing their personal priorities as children leave the nest.

Anyway, one person that the first-year student moving into the dorm inevitably meets is the resident assistant or “RA.” Being an RA is a lot of work, but as it is typically compensated with free room and board for the year, it is a competitive and highly desired position. RAs are typically both overachievers with excellent time management skills and people who get along easily and well with others. Their job is, optimally, to create a sense of community among the students with whom they live, and, at a minimum, prevent any tensions between roommates or problems between people on the floor or personal problems a student may be dealing with from escalating into disaster. They also help freshmen navigate campus, answer questions, serve as a shoulder to cry on, and try to ride herd on the crazy level of illicit drinking that many U.S. undergrads do. My RA that year was a sweet, mild-mannered junior whose name was Bronwyn. I don’t remember anything else about her; I was a music major when I started college and was busy in the practice room, so I didn’t spend much time in the dorm or participate very often in the hall activities that she faithfully organized.

I didn’t “need” my RA, but the RA is the first line of defense in anticipating and dealing with student difficulties. I frequently find myself urging students to speak to their RAs for help about developing study skills or dealing with other personal crises.

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Now, the campus I attended did not have co-educational dorms, but can you imagine? You’re moving into your college dorm room (or moving your kid into hers) and a man steps up and says: “Hi, my name is Richard Armitage, and I’ll be your new RA!”

Richard Armitage as Lucas North in Spooks 7.2. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Squee!

“Is there anything I can help you with as you’re moving in?”

Sure, Richard Armitage, my new RA! You can:

Help me move some boxes!

Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Teach me how to live in close quarters with strangers!

Claude Monet (Richard Armitage) moves into Bazille’s apartment in episode one of The Impressionists. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Give me some advice about how to use the university exercise facilities!

Richard Armitage as Lee in Cold Feet. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Get me involved in some intramural athletic teams with friendly fellow students!

Ian Macalwain organizes a rugby game to enhance teambuilding in Red Troop in Ultimate Force 2.2. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Give me some advice on how to my research for my term papers!

Richard Armitage as John Porter in Strike Back 1.3. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Console me when the first term of college is just too hard for words!

John Bateman (Lucas North) reassures Maya Lahan (Laila Rouass) in Spooks 8.8. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

If Armitage were your RA: watch out world! That alone would be worth the room and board cost. Servetus calls home: “Mom, I have to say I just LOVE my new RA. I think I’m going to be participating in a lot of dorm activities this term!”

~ by Servetus on September 5, 2011.