How do YOU define "professional"?

Yesterday I got an e-mail with the meeting minutes from the College of Education's leadership team. One of the items dealt with staff being sure they didn't eat lunch at their desks and didn't surf the web or play computer games like Solitaire. Okay, makes sense.

So then this afternoon, I was in a meeting where a new colleague said something about NOBODY should be eating lunch at their desks. Not sure why, but probably something to do with looking professional and business-like. What-- me slurping juice from a dripping peach as it runs down my arm onto the article I'm writing doesn't look professional? What are people THINKING?!?

Here's the bigger question: Does anything in my office actually look professional? Not academics professional, but business professional. Sounds like a little ethnography opportunity. Let's do a brief survey:

My desk: A computer, yeah, that looks professional. Stacks of random papers and books for course preparation. Not exactly neat and tidy, but still related to my profession, and if my desk is chaotic enough that means I'm being uber-productive, right? Piece of partly melted glass in rock matrix that I found while on a morning run. Maybe not so productive, but part of West Virginia context. Lump of coal. Go West Virginia. Little yellow foam star from University of Iowa that I got for sitting in an advising booth one afternoon. Okay, so it got torn by a teething toddler.

The desk passes the professionalism test. Moving on.

Walls: Dick and Jane calendar, complete with stickers marking "Happy Day" (tomorrow, because I'm going to the Washington, DC temple) and "Out for a walk." Hey, I deal with reading issues, right? Four framed book covers from old teenage etiquette books, with titles like "Teenage Guide for Living" and "He-Manners." Um . . . teenage identity issues are part of my research. At least I haven't framed the cover for "This is a leaf" yet.

Walls? Borderline.

What else is in my office? Boring blue office furniture-variety chairs. Definitely business professional. Big blue rolly chair behind my desk. Okay, the CHAIR is professional, but I spend lots of time playing to see how far back I can roll it before I hit the wall or the filing cabinet. Maybe not so professional.

Space heater sitting on an overturned plastic garbage bucket. Yes, I tripped the breaker for not only my office but also the two main office printers and the fax machine the last time I had it turned on. Is it so wrong to want to be warm when the air conditioning is set too high?

Pile of student projects and posters that I might possibly, maybe, use as examples sometime in the future. I have them sort of pushed behind the filing cabinet. They're not a fire hazard.

Bookshelves: I would say the books themselves look pretty academic professional. Little random items (like a Hotwheels car) on the shelves? Maybe not so much.

Lack of a window: Does that mean I really have a glorified office cubicle? No, because I have a door.

Fortune cookie fortunes stuck to shelving above computer with vintage French advertising magnets: one fortune says I will "soon get new clothing." Ooh, do I get a suit?

Artwork from nephews and from Laura Fletcher: How can an office be professional without "Squirrels in the Night"? C'mon people, we're a college of education here!

I'm hungry. Time to eat a sandwich. At my desk, while reading a book. Hey, I have a busy schedule.

Note: No college of ed. office equipment was involved in the creation of this blog entry. I did it at home- so there.