Talking To Tam

Today was my first all-day at school. Meaning, class began at 8 am and ended at 9 pm. Ouch. If it weren't for the Starbucks at around 5 pm, I wouldn't be writing this. I'd be lying somewhere fast asleep.

My final class was a research course on nutrition topics. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? Well, Dr. Tam is teaching it. For those of you who know him, well, fascinating isn't exactly the word that comes to mind.

But I love Dr. Tam regardless of how crazy he gets when he goes off on his tangents. A native of Hong Kong under British rule, Dr. Tam got his PhD at UCLA in biochemistry in the early 1980s. Having taken a biochem class, he gets oodles of respect for that.

But as weird as he may be, Dr. Tam is the kind of person you want in your corner. Because he cares. So when I told him how stumped I am about a topic for a thesis, he looked right at me and said, "you're political, do something on the politics of food."

It wasn't exactly an "Ah Hah" moment, but it got me to thinking. Which is the first step. I probably won't research that, but that's alright. The role of any good teacher is to get you to think. I never thought I'd ever say this, but Dr. Tam, you're great!