It was so good to get out this weekend, off into the countryside and away from the noise. I went sailing on my boat, hung out with some good people.

Here’s something you didn’t know: I was fired without reason from the writing center at Santa Barbara City College about two weeks ago.

I was called into the office at random, told I was being “let go.”

The man in the chair explained to me that I am an at-will employee – that he couldn’t/wouldn’t tell me the reason for my termination.

He thought it was going to be easy – fire this kid and then head to lunch – but I couldn’t let it go. I was pissed off. He delivered it in a way that annoyed me – using boxed phrases that sounded like they came out of a training manual. He was ready to end the conversation after about two minutes – we had the door open and everything – but I was far from done.

Even though it sometimes bites me in the end, I pride myself on giving people something they aren’t used to: Honesty.

I’m not going to sensationalize the whole experience, but in a nutshell: I closed the door, sat back down, and I stood up for myself. I told him I found the whole situation interesting, that I was a good – no, a great – tutor, and that I was able to show students a side of writing others can’t.

I told him I was having success changing students’ perspectives on writing and that this all seemed like a personal issue, like someone didn’t like my swagger, my down-to-earth personality. He said sometimes we can’t see who we are in the moment, and that time might clarify things. I told him I thought it was interesting that a place built around feedback (a writing center) would decide not to inform me of my reason for termination. I said I thought that was a peculiar policy for an educational institute. I also mentioned that abrupt terminations show a complete lack of respect, that it would have been nice to have been informed if there was a problem, that I thought he should consider the balance between the business and humanistic sides of life.

That little interaction may have cost me my position as an in-class tutor as well – I was let go from that a few days later, although I’m allowed to finish out this semester. The two positions are not connected and do not interact at all – I work with different people in different buildings – but it was the same out-of-nowhere spiel – you’re not coming back and we can’t tell you why (FYI I have worked there for 5 semesters).

You go ahead and figure all that out – I’m done trying.  It was under my skin when I was in Los Cabos – and I talked it out with a bunch of former strangers – but then last week those feelings crept back in when I was under the weather and lying around all day – when I realized I didn’t have a job to call out of.

It’s a shame – I really enjoyed working with the youth, breaking down all the barriers, helping them believe in themselves – but I’ve come to peace with it. I’ve moved on. I’ve been offered a job to start working on the production of the second season of On Duty with Santa Barbara Firefighters. I am also now contributing to famtripper.com – a luxury travel website – and I have agreed to start (and run) their blog that will launch in approximately six weeks.

That’s some good news, although it’s not only the new opportunities that make me smile: It’s finally shaking off a bad memory – a person that had me completely backwards and completely misunderstood what I was trying to accomplish.

Deep breath, eyes forward: I head off to San Francisco on Thursday to explore the city, Alcatraz, Napa, and Pebble Beach. Before that, I’ll have my final thoughts on Los Cabos and tell you a few tales from Santa Barbara.

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