I have no idea if they really exist in China, but the Chinese fortune cookie is ubiquitous in the United States. I’m assuming that China isn’t tracking them to know where Americans eat, but I do often wonder about what’s inside. Many years ago I noticed that the “fortune” aspect had dropped out. Predictions weren’t made any more and your typical cookie had an anodyne, but sometimes witty reflection in it. They might’ve been called “aphorism cookies.” Well, that all changed for me after a meal that included said cookies. I was surprised to see an actual prediction, and, not only that, but one that was strangely apt. It reads, “You will make important academic connections in March.” Considering that academics make up a minuscule part of the population, that seems oddly specific, doesn’t it? And with a date—March. This differs qualitatively from “Leadership is action, not position.”
There are other future-oriented prophecies in cookies, of course. “You will become known for your generosity.” (Gee, that’s nice.) Or “A short vacation is in order for you.” But I’ve decided to hang onto this academic fortune to see if it might come true. I do have many, many academic connections, of course. That’s part of my job. And I was an academic myself in my palmier days. But what seems strange to me is that many people reading “academic” in a fortune would automatically dismiss it, I suspect. An important academic connection, no less. Knowing a professor, from my experience, often doesn’t help in getting you anywhere. I value their friendships, of course, but it hasn’t sold more books. Or got me that teaching job I still covet.
Will the cookie prevail where other measures have fallen short? I have to wait a few months to find out. And more importantly, I have to remember this fortune. I can, I suppose, put it on my bulletin board amid the Sleepy Hollow and other mementos and hope that half a year from now that I’ll recollect this little post, and that little cookie. Of course, if someone offers me a job at a local college in March I’ll consider the deal sealed—the cookie was wise. If nothing apparently happens, however, I’ll still have to wait beyond that to see if something emerges from my many daily interactions with academics. Maybe one of them will truly be listening. That’s the thing about predictions—they’re as much interpretation as they are prognostication.
