This Tuesday, I was sent back into the ring to have a meeting with another Dean: Mr. McIntosh. I strutted towards the battleground in Williams Hall like a knight mounting his steed to face a ferocious dragon, and there I took a seat to wait for the deadly encounter.
The Duel
I was summoned by the tenacles of the deep, and we faced one another lances drawn. However, learning from the past, I knew that these conversations could be corrupted for foul purposes. Drawing out my lantern of truth (the phone), I began to record.
The darkness however, chuckled for the terrain of our dance had shifted: I was told conversation with the dean could not be recorded. This means, any words I say could to slandered and warped to nefarious ends without any possibly of defense. What was worse, is that the dean would be judge, jury, and executioner. There would be no impartial adjudicator for this sentence other than the school. He would decide on all cases of course, siding with the school against the student, and with no way to be heard nor defend oneself. Such an incrimination means a death sentence.
This was not an attempt to solve problems or help the students, but instead silence those who disagree by sending them to the fiery pits of Tartarus with no chance to escape. What could your gallant knight possibly do against such malevolence?
In Greek mythology Tartarus is the place of punishment for those who angered the gods or were sinners. Painting: Aeneas and a Sibyl in the Underworld - Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625). Painting Context: Aeneas, son of Aphrodite, is a prince of Troy who settled Italy. He goes to the underworld to speak to his dead father about his future. Aeneas’s descendants include Romulus, who founded Rome, and Julius Caesar.
That is when, like the lightning of Zeus, it hit me. If such a castle were unassailable, then I would instead never begin the siege. I demanded if I could not record, then I would not hold this meeting.
Link to recording (It’s the 11/4 one).
Such a bold act of defiance was unheard of, for who was this mere mortal attempting to challenge the gods? Each attempt to coax me failed as your daring champion held firm to his oath, but such a stance was not without consequences.
The Costs
The lines were drawn. If I am to continue this righteous path by defending the meek, risking life and limb for our fair maidens, and upholding the honor of our institution, then they will have only one response: expulsion.
For such a measure to not take place, I must stop all actions immediately and be muzzled like a dog: no quotes of scripture, no petitions to fix the school, no newsletter, just silence. Two choices lay before us: silence and safety or action and consequences. However, I would say that the offer was not without its appeal for it was like the apple of Eden presented to Eve by Lucifer. I could end all this struggle, all this pain and retire away in solitude finishing my classes.
Alas, I remembered the reason why I am here. I remembered those poor faces who have been cast off and abandoned and if I too were to leave them, where would their protection lie? To our poor damsels, why to leave them defenseless, such an act would rend my heart in two. I did not begin this quest for my own glory, but for you.
The Future
The die has been cast, and we have past a point of no return. I have come to a conclusion, and trust me that such a claim did not come rashly, but with the calculated thinking of a man beaten down again and again, but not yet broken. At first, I trusted, I truly believed, that this situation was a misunderstanding. If I were to talk to someone in this organization then these problems would be solved.
However, I now know that this inhuman treatment by the school is not by some random chance, but embedded into its very core. There is no doubt in my mind that this corruption goes up to the top. At some point President Helble himself has to take responsibility, for our home has become a den of thieves.
If anything is to change, one must first make a stand. If I must do so, then so be it. I must fight the good fight even if only to be felled by the sword.
“If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
Now my good people, even if you cast me aside, mock me, and toss me off the Tarpeian Rock I will never stop fighting for you. Until I draw my last breath, my actions, my words, and my heart shall be yours. You are a people worth loving. Your future is worth dying for.
Please, don’t waste it.
Your humble servant, Francisco Pereira
Gmail: [email protected] | Phone: 415-603-7750
The Tarpeian Rock was the place where traitors to Rome were cast to their deaths.
