One of the values that the Ateneo nurtures is mentorship. The senior faculty in particular are strongly encouraged to be mentors to the younger faculty as well as to students. We are expected to guide their research, to help them with classroom management, to vet course contents, and to provide other forms of support as requested.
Because I am already senior faculty, I'm used to being a mentor rather than a mentee. I have mentors of my own, some within the Ateneo, many more outside--people in my life with persistent, lasting influences on my direction and conduct. Mostly, though, when you get to my age, the usual case is for people to come to you for advice and not the other way around.
Enter Skyrim.
I mentioned that I'm not much of a gamer. This is the first RPG I've played in 5 years. I make a lot of mistakes, I have a lot of questions and I don't always have the patience to find stuff out on my own. Many of my recent Facebook wall posts start off with "Skyrim question:" followed by "How the heck do I do..." Fortunately, my current and former students (and one or two colleague) have all the answers. I think it's adorable that so many people are willing to give advice. I read all the solutions and try them out the next day. Mostly I still fail--sigh--which reflects on my skills (or lack thereof) as a gamer, and not on the advice. To my mentors, I am truly grateful. Thank you for your patience. We still have a long way to go.
