Gentlemen, start your -ism's

Two things have been on my mind of late (as in, you know, this morning).

First, my God...NASCAR is huge. I mean, really friggin huge. I knew before I moved here how big of a deal it is, but I didn't fully appreciate the overwhelming cultural influence it exerts on everyone around here. For example, I have students who, rather than soccer, baseball, football, etc, have always been into racing. That alone would be (and has been) a very interesting cultural shift for me, but I also happen to live just a couple miles from Lowe's Motor Speedway. Now, i drive by the speedway everyday to and from work. It's a little ways off of I-85, which I usually take, but it's right on NC-29, which I use to avoid rush hour traffic. It's an impressive structure to say the least. What I didn't appreciate fully was HOW impressive the track, the surrounding lots, and the fans actually are. The Coca-Cola 600 is this weekend, and it might as well be the World Cup or the Olympics (having attended both, I can verify the similarity). People started setting up RV's 2 WEEKS AGO. Now, there are several miniature cities set up all over the countryside around the speedway, and traffic is a nightmare (so much so that there is a sign on I-85 that warns about "Race Traffic"...which sounds amusingly awkward). For the first time, I actually paid a little attention to the parking lot signs. Of course, by parking lots I mean giant grassy fields which accommodate dozens (probably hundreds) of campers and RV's. The lots are labeled alphabetically. I drove by Z and AA yesterday evening. Yes. The entire alphabet is used...and then starts over. Meaning, as far as I can tell, there are 26+ gypsy cities set up in the surrounding countryside. Amazing.

I'm thinking of establishing both a new word and new ideology. I think I'll call it "disdain-ism": a mode of thought wherein the individual ascribes to a constant, passive feeling of disdain for his surroundings (primarily, the institution of employment). Nothing new, really, but it sounds fancy-ish.

Why do I need a new ideology? Oh, it's mostly because I have TO WORK ON MEMORIAL DAY. Yes, in academia, national holidays and other federal mandates/laws/etc. only count if they have a direct benefit for the institution. For cryin' out loud! I work for the friggin State of North Carolina and I don't get a national holiday off? Come on!

Disdain-ism is born.