RuralRhetorHicks

Weirdness

2011-06-12T13:42:00.001-05:00

SO.
My last blog was one year ago today. I take that as a hint to start up again. Today.

There ya go.

Pools and Pity Parties

2010-06-12T21:35:00.004-05:00

So, our pool has looked like a swamp for 3 days. Finally, today, we "shocked" it enough to make it look like a cloudy aqua marine. Pools are a lot of work and a huge hassle.

We're working on putting in a new faucet in our bathroom, too. We finally got it out, but bought the wrong size hose to attach it to the water. Why don't they just tell you the size on the box and on the old hoses? What a hassle.

Grilled salmon and asparagus for dinner with rice and marinated tomatoes and cucumbers. The neighbor brought us some cookies, so dessert was provided. woot.

No work today on academic stuff except for reading the list serve about different types of comp rhet jobs, dissertation research, and time for research depending on the school and teaching requirements. I simplify, of course, but I'm not sure why this is a topic. It's like teachers complaining about pay. It's part of the system. And, of course, we should work to shift things, but complaining to the choir isn't going to help much. It's something that needs to be taken care of at the institution level and within the governing boards like NCTE and CCCC's. And, it's not going to happen any time soon with the economy the way it is. Additionally, the work we do in FYC is important and many of us were trained to teach it well and want to...why are we talking about it again? Don't take the job if you don't want to teach what they've hired you to teach. All the institutions are different...go somewhere else.

I just get SO tired of the same old conversation. Yes, 4/4 is a lot of grading and the pay is bad, so some say they have to teach 5/5 to survive. How about change the way you LIVE and REFUSE to teach more? It just sets precedent when you work extra classes for adjunct pay to make another buck. And, it's just as easy or hard to change the way you spend your money.

As far as research goes, make your choices about what you're going to do - for yourself. If you want to do classroom research, do it. If not, don't. Being happy with your choices is the most important part. And, composition classroom research is happening, it's out there. But, it has to be GOOD and add to the conversation to get published. And, alot of what I've heard about is interesting, but not publishable or really new...not with the abundance of research out there and the competition it's up against AND all the work that happened 20 years ago.

And there's plenty of phd programs out there in comp/rhet that emphasize pedagogy. BG's been doing it for years and the grads get jobs that most are really happy at - from CC's to Tier 1 schools - depending on their interests. Make good choices for yourself, I say, again.

so, please, stop the pity party. If you dig your hole, you gotta lie in it.

We've inherited a cat

2010-06-10T21:00:00.002-05:00

So, the across the street neighbor sold his house and he had an outside cat that couldn't go with him. Now, he's ours or we're his people.

Stuffy, or "mr. stufalufagus" to me, is a big long haired black cat who likes to be brushed on his own terms. I don't normally tolerate cats. They're spooky. But, this guy kills rodents, and I appreciate it.

So, we'll feed him and scratch him and make him feel welcome outside our home until he finds someone better.

We spent most of last night and today watching the TV series "Spartacus". It was pretty blood and gore, but it had a neat storyline, too. It seemed almost video-game-ish in some of the fight scenes, so it was cool that way, too.

And, I worked for about 2 hours on the mentoring article. It's clear to me that there's alot of correlation between comp pedagogy and the mentoring process, esp in collaboration and feminist theory. The hardest part for us, I think, will be the structure/form of the article. But, we'll work it out.

Still trying to read The Life of Pi...it's a slow go.

It's all about goats today

2010-06-09T16:30:00.007-05:00

Last December, the spouse started his goat operation with 2 practice goats. Now we have 4 as 2 pygmys came to live with us on Sunday. Here are some pics of them.

They're stinky things, but they have distinct personalities along with some disgusting habits.

In the first picture is El Diablo aka El Cahone. He's a new pygmy buck. He thinks spitting on the females is sexy. Apparently, so do they. Gross.

The second pic is El Diablo, his girl Princess (pregnant), and that's Thelma, one of the original twins getting into their business. Goats like getting all up in each other's business. They are curious little things.

The goat on the ramp is Louise, Thelma's twin. It seems El Diablo wants to get within spitting distance. Sicko.

And, the last pic is the whole crew. They seem to be getting along fine and they all like it when the spouse trims a tree branch for them.

I'll post pics of the babies once their born.

btw, if you had told me I'd be blogging about goats 2 years ago, I would have scoffed at you. Now, here I am.

To Press, finally

2010-06-08T18:09:00.003-05:00

So, my first book chapter is finally available. We finished it LAST year @ this time sans edits. Either way, it's done and printed, and I received my copies of the book today. It's got a cool pic of John Wayne on the front. It's really cool to see my name in print, too.

I'm working on another chapter now - one about mentoring and the assessment of writing instruction. And, my part includes the notion that both roles, mentor and mentee, are about performance and trust...much like what Tompkins talks about in her 1990 article "Pedagogy of the Distressed." Right now, I'm working out some connections to comp theory, too. My co-author is connecting his section to Writing Center theory, so it should turn out to be a cool chapter if it shapes up as we anticipate.

In other news, we made a new goat shed are still at work scrubbing and filtering the pool today.

I was thinking about all the books I've read since school let out. It's alot. 2 James Patterson, PUSH, Martinez's Monster, Koontz's Relentless, Kaplan's A Job to Kill for, Kandel's Christietown, Harbert's Captivity, Harris's new Sookie book, Dead in the Family, and Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain. Right now, I'm working on The Life of Pi.

PUSH was as disturbing as its movie Precious. Patterson books seem all the same to me, but they always are a fun, easy read. The new Sookie Stackhouse book was a disappointment, but I feel like it's one of those in-between books to set you up for the next in the series. I AM looking forward to the next season of True Blood to come out on Netflix, though. Art of Racing was cool for me because the narrator is a dog. And, I read it right around the anniversary of Norman's death, so it was nice...and a cool idea - thanks to BG alum and Mama Laura in Ohio for telling me about it. I hope I meet Norman again someday. Captivity was a true story about one of the spouse's cousin's. She was held captive by the Chinese in the late 60's and early 70's. Bad writing, but interesting to know more about his family. The rest are unmentionable, not bad, not good, just mindless reading. It's good for the soul.

Otherwise, I'd be watching 16 and Pregnant all day.

This is true. I watched 6 episodes in a marathon of Billy the Exterminator last week.

End of May

2010-06-07T19:50:00.002-05:00

Take THAT, May. I owned you.

I hate May. School ends and things tend to die on me in May. So, I'm a little wary of May. But May, 2010 made the score 1 and 2. And, I'll take that.

So, graduation happened, Mother's Day, anniversary of my brother's death day and Norman's death day, and the anniversary of my knee surgery. I survived. I need a t-shirt.

I battled a cold for 2 weeks, but I made it to Computers and Writing 2010 @ Purdue. It rocked, like always. I love being around excited, smart people. I made some new friends and I saw a TON of BG folk, so my heart and brain were nicely filled.

RSA 2010 in Minnesota was next. Fewer BG folk, but a nice, quiet time. I like that I presented 2 different papers at the conferences and that both were pedagogical in nature since my latest pubs have been philosophy based and really get away from the composition classroom.

So, I'm academically stimulated. It's nice. And, the pool's almost frog-free...so I'll be able to enjoy the sweltering heat.

Meanwhile, Heba and I finished up the first major draft of our Whedon/Neitzsche paper and though we know we'll have to cut about 1k words and clean up the documentation from MLA to Chicago Style and footnotes, we're as good as done. I focused on Firefly and Serenity and he did Buffy. As a result, I'm watching Dollhouse now, Season 1, on direct Netflix. I like it, but I liked Echo better as Faith. Speaking of Whedon, if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, you're late for a very important date.

I'm wondering, after some talk with folks, James!, at the CW conference, if I need to start focusing on narrowing my research agenda. And, if I do, WHAT do I choose? The nice thing about BG's PhD program is that it's a great generalist program. Lots of Rhetoric, Pedagogy, etc. So, it makes it tough to decide what I want to be a specialist in. Do I have to choose to be a real part of the academy? If so, shouldn't I do that, like NOW? I'm in year 3 of a tenure track position. Should I stake my claim?

but I LIKE being a jack of all trades.

And, remember May, I kicked your butt. See ya in 11 months.

Final Review

2010-02-05T19:51:00.003-06:00

Well, the monograph is in its final review. All edits have been approved, I sent in a photo for the cover...looks like it'll be out in April, same month as the Western article in the UPKY edited collection and the same month that the Whedon/Neitzsche draft is due.

Just turned in another proposal about mentoring and assessing the teaching of writing. So, that's 2 proposals out for review. And, just sent out a co-authored article for review and a co-authored chapter for edits. busy.

For the first time, I assigned a PechaKucha 20/20 presentation over a Comp Theorist in my Comp Theory/Practice class. Thursday was the first group, and it went REALLY well. The students seemed to embrace the whole concept even though it wasn't easy, so thanks to Dr. Schirmer via Flint, Michigan for the idea. Instead of dreading presentations, I'm looking forward to the next group. Hopefully all my smart students will finally have the confidence they should have. They even handled the QA nicely. I need to teach the students how to ask questions, though. I'm not as good at that as I should be.

In other news, I got student evals back from the Fall and did fine. I actually think some of my majors are WAY too nice, but it boosted my spirits this afternoon after waking up grum. py. And, to top off my week, I'm working on a sophomore retention plan from the perspective of an advising committee.

the weekend awaits as the 50 Comp 2 papers do...and so I'm going to go read a bad vampire slayer novel. at least we have power. last week/end we went 4 days without.

Well, crap

2010-01-23T14:29:00.002-06:00

It's typical of me to take on too much. And, it's making me crazy, so I decided to let some things go...and it makes me sad.

one major thing was giving up an Assistant Editing position for the Topoi section of Kairos. The journal is important to me...and I think the work we've done on it in the last couple of years has been awesome, so I'm sad to go. But, it takes alot of time and I have to think about my own publishing.

A couple of pubs are done...2 articles and a monograph. They should all come out this semester. And, I'm under contract for one major project and another article, so those will probably come to fruition in 2011, but I have deadlines looming. 2 other articles are either in the revision stage or the proposal stage...and I have one out for review. egad.

PLUS, I have 3 conference papers to write, I'm teaching a new theory class, I proposed a new Intersession class, and I'm chairing a university sub-committee for accreditation.

can you say swamped? now, I have to decide what else to let go...

Winter Break

2010-01-06T21:45:00.002-06:00

Week 3.

Last week I sent off my manuscript and proposed another article. And, I revised another proposal. New Years Eve we spent time @ the farm and New Years Day, we chilled.

I guess my break was mostly about revisions professionally. Things are looking up for me as far as publication possibilities and this seems to be happening in an ideal time.

The new semester brings university Assessment responsibilities, a new class - Composition Theory and Practice, and a new business venture in goats for the spouse. Tmw, it all begins...and I've got my arms wide open.

Bring. it.

Winter Break

2009-12-29T16:04:00.002-06:00

Week 2

Monday I went to Tulsa all day to see friends. Tuesday, I shopped for Christmas. Wednesday, I helped put up the electric fence for the goats and wrapped 4000 presents. That night, weather-hell broke loose. We tried to drive to the in-laws on Thursday am, but the weather was BAD, blizzard bad, so we came home and watched tv all day and I baked. Friday, we finally made it out to get to my family's but couldn't come back, so we stayed the night and came home Sat to have xmas with his family at the farm. Sunday was full of family, too.

Yesterday, I finished my manuscript. Today, I had it printed and went shopping because tonight, another snow storm hits.

Week One

2009-12-19T18:22:00.002-06:00

of Winter "Break".

I spent at least 4 hours each day at the school. Turning in grades, meetings with students and other faculty, editing/revising 2 manuscripts, faculty service stuff, proposing a May Intersession class, and a webtext review for C&C Online. I still have a list to do post-Christmas, but I got all the necessary stuff done. Why do they call it a break? I guess it's a break from teaching.

Today, I got the oil changed in my car so I can travel to T-town to see friends either Mon or Tues.

Tmw my spouse's first goats arrive, just 2, tho. He's built a shelter and puts up a hot-wired fence tmw to keep in the goats and out the predators. As of tmw, I'll be married to a goat farmer.

I should get a Christmas card designed, too. Maybe I'll wait till I can take a pic of the goats.

Oh, and shopping? I bought an ornament today and some lotion in a snowman dispenser. I'm basically Santa.

Here's a link to a funny Jack Bauer mash-up with ole St. Nick himself.

It's Child's Play

2009-12-02T18:24:00.002-06:00

So, DO IT.

I am a failure

2009-11-21T21:13:00.003-06:00

at nablopomo

I wish I could spend more time blogging, but I'm a busy girl. And, my life isn't that interesting outside of school and school is pretty typical. For instance, my Friday was like this:
830-9am emails
9-910 talk with Chair about grant $ request
910-925 student evals in a colleague's class
930-11 grade/prepare for class/finish grant $ request
11-12 class
12-1 talk course design w/ colleagues/lunch @ desk
1-2 email, wrap up grading online assignments, Habitat stuff
2-430 go home/watch Mad Men
430 go back to school for Habitat for Humanity fundraiser/ Holiday info booth
6 go home for dinner and Mad Men
see? boring but full

Today, I watched tv for a few hours while I woke up and ate breakfast, did some laundry, and chilled. Then, we went to the farm to watch a ballgame, and I graded for many hours and fished for about 30 minutes...was cold and they weren't biting.

Then, dinner w/ the inlaws and now, I'm doing online banking and e-errands like that.

I've been awake for 14 hours and 6 of those were spent grading.

my life is too boring for nablopomo. prolly that should be my excuse. yes.

All I ever wanted

2009-11-18T21:45:00.002-06:00

is all I ever needed.

Today, I helped with a brown-bag panel discussion. yippee. I also taught 2 classes. I love teaching about kairos. The other is Comp 2 and they worked on Lit Reviews. arg. Normal day: office hours, advising, and duplicating stuff for class tmw. 3:30-5 we worked on a Habitat house...scrapping paint and trimming trees.

Spouse and I went to see Sterlin Harjo's film "Barking Water"at the school, but at about an hour, the dvd player messed up, so we missed the end. SUCK.

Public Announcement: when you check your texts during a movie, it's RUDE.

Home to finish up some last minute edits and html coding stuff that makes my head hurt. Plus, I'm scared of servers.

Cocoa time.

Fail

2009-11-17T07:49:00.003-06:00

This weekend set me back 3 days on nablopomo. and yet, I persist.

A fellow colleague and I took 4 students to Arkadelphia, Ark to a conference. 3 presented. It turned out to be a really good trip. The students did a nice job and handled themselves like pros during their QA's and asked good questions in the other presentations. Good overall experience.

Yesterday was exhausting. Driving 6 hours in a huge van wore me OUT.

The good news is - I slept until a normal hour this am. w00t.

Today, fundraiser for the Honors Students, run a workshop for Faculty/Staff, and grading. Home by 5pm or so.

Here's a pic of me and the students at Hugo, OK's Cemetery. It's got a whole section for circus people. And, Hugo is named for Victor Hugo, so this was an interesting way to break up the trip.

leaving in a giant

2009-11-13T15:58:00.002-06:00

15 passenger van soon.

It'll be an adventure if nothing else.

I think I need

2009-11-12T21:45:00.002-06:00

to be on one more committee. And, I'm wondering if anyone thinks of audience when they write reports. I get comments all the time about bad student writing. One day, I will tell them to look at their own report writing and ask them why they can't spell, write a coherent sentence or follow directions.

3 weeks of school left. Time has flown by...and I'll be busy through finals week. Joy.

Long drive in a van to Arkadelphia tmw...but it'll be great fun.

I can finally say

2009-11-11T19:05:00.003-06:00

that's I'm done editing. whew. I finished a query letter today and after yesterday's revise and resubmit letter, I'm finally finished. w00t.

I still have a stack of stuff to grade, though. always.

Did an hours worth of work on a Habitat for Humanity house today after teaching and giving 4 course evals out for other teachers.

dinner and WalMart. I hate the WalMart here. I wish there was a Target. I'm considering going on the job market just to live in a place with a Target. Is that wrong?

laundry time.

Day 10

2009-11-10T21:07:00.002-06:00

and I've failed twice.

but I'm soldiering on.

Tech Writing workshop went well today. I love when people come in to a situation thinking things will go one way and that gets flipped topsy-turvy. There was a little resistance, but overall, the workshop went well.

long day that started early, but I've whittled my grading pile down to next to nothing. w00t.

tmw is not only Veterans Day, it's our campus chapter Work Day for Habitat for Humanity.

nablopomo is

2009-11-10T06:17:00.002-06:00

hard.

I didn't even update my status on fb or Twitter yesterday. And, today, I'm up at 5:30 am, which is wrong on SO many levels.

teaching a workshop today on grant writing to colleagues. should be interesting.

coffee. now.

Sunday, Sunday

2009-11-08T20:56:00.002-06:00

can't trust that day.

Spent the early am watching Californication. Then, we went to Krebs with the in-laws to eat a Giacomos, which was closed, so we went to Roseanne's instead. It was tasty but not heat-hot enough for me. Been grading since I got home while the laundry goes. Finishing up late essays, quizzes, and online posts. I did take a 45 minute break to eat leftovers and watch SNL off DVR. REALLY?? REALLY??

I have 2 late essays to grade then I have to finish up prospectuses...prospecti? for tmw at 9am. I'm sure I'll be up at 6am...damn Daylight Savings Fall back bs.

2 weeks and 2 days before Thanksgiving. And, I got miles of "professional" work to do before then.

Sat.ur.day in the Park

2009-11-07T22:27:00.002-06:00

I think it was the 7th of November.

okc, check.
bank, check.
target, check. yay mushroom burgers.
Mad Men Season 1 finished, check
walk around Wintersmith park, check.

I felt like I had an altoid on my scalp today...sensitive scalp and harsh coloring don't mix well, I guess. but, the grays are away. i really like my colorist/stylist...you don't meet a "smart" one very often and I found her right away. and, today, the hairwasher was awesome. it's my favorite. if I was rich, I'd have my hair washed by someone else everyday.

if I had visited the graveyard, today would have been complete. I guess I'll go see it tmw.

In other news, the guy who did the shooting at Ft Hood was taken down by an injured female police officer. hoorah. take THAT all you Y chromosomes.

Friday the 6

2009-11-06T15:13:00.002-06:00

almost Friday the 13th but not quite.

I'm wondering how many more admin snafus I can be a part of: grant stuff, over enrolling, etc.

Last day of normal enrollment, so life should slow down next week. I also received my abstract approval from the Pop Culture Conference. Yay, Whale Wars Rhetoric and Hello ALBUQUERQUE in February!!!

Big weekend ahead: hair appt, shopping, banking, grading, and fishing if it's not too chilly on Sun. and one more editing duty.

I'm thinking of a May Intersession course. But, I've got 3 conferences at that time...hmmm.

Failed already

2009-11-06T14:41:00.002-06:00

Had such a busy day yesterday, I missed an entry.

We had a Literary Arts Festival with Taylor Mali as the guest poet. It was a huge hit with both the high school students who came - recruitment! - and the current English majors we have - retention! Good day, but long.

I'll double up today, but I've already failed, I know.

nothings on tv on a

2009-11-04T21:37:00.002-06:00

wednesday. we've tried to watch Trauma but it's no St Elsewhere. And, though Boone in on Vampire Diaries, I'm not feeling it. Modern family is funny. And there's always cartoon network. that made me think that I haven't heard back from the pop culture conference yet...hmmm.

taught and advised all day. got some grumpy honors students and football player that has a transfer problem and told one student to withdraw and try again in the Fall...

had a meeting with the grant person and some how got some committee work done.

no feelings of needing to hit trees with bats, so that's good.

spouse made me laugh till I cried tonite. tweeted it. be jealous.

oooo and there's a hint of hope for an addition...may be a big xmas around here.

long day

2009-11-03T19:49:00.002-06:00

dept. mtg. from hell today. at least summer teaching is optional - something to look forward to.

advising is going well...some complicated cases today. lots of pregnancies to work schedules around. summer loving, i guess.

got some of my editing work done tonight and have about 5 essays to grade for class tmw. the days aren't long enough and I wasted Sunday's extra hour on Californication.

Thursday is an open mic day. I'm going to read some of my old poetry from undergrad...should be a hoot for my students.

day 3 done, nablopomo

troubles

2009-11-02T20:50:00.003-06:00

I couldn't get ftp client to let me download some stuff from a server, and I got kicked off the server, so no editing work for me tonight.

dishwasher isn't washing properly.

advising week = busy week.

nightmare dept mtg tmw. ugh.

can't figure out how to spend $3500 on learner-centered sustainable supplies that aren't technological.

got a pile of papers staring at me that need grading.

one of my friends used my parallel parking instructions in a directions assignment today. excellent. maybe I should have been a driver's ed instructor.

in other news, my mums are blooming. at least there's beauty in this world.

Hello Day 1 nablopomo

2009-11-01T20:57:00.002-06:00

Updated the Oklahoma English Teachers website and did some editing for Kairos.

I'm wondering if my presentation idea about Whale Wars will be accepted for the SWTXPCA/ACA, and I'm gearing up to take 5 students to a Conference in Arkadelphia, Ark in 2 weeks.

Sometime soon, I need to finish revising my diss...it's due to the publishers in Dec. and I'll fight reformatting, I know.

In other news, I dressed up as the ghost of Bob Marley for halloween...peace symbols and rainbows on my "sheet" (with eye holes and everything) and had long black dreads on my head. Most people thought I was Cousin It - "oh you're 'It'" - or they thought I was in a burka - "oh you're an Islam". Geez. I give up.

take that, nablopomo day 1.

NaBloPoMo

2009-10-22T22:45:00.002-05:00

I'm gonna try it. November, here I come.

Can it really be almost November?

The good news is that I've got my conference abstracts into 2 more conferences I want to go to next year. RSA is already in, C&W yesterday and SWTX PCA/ACA today. rogerian argument, New Media, and Whale Wars...respectively.

still waiting to hear about two articles I've already sent in for review. one co-authored the other single.

NaBloPoMo? I'm gonna do it. I'll see you in November.

OMG

2009-08-30T11:35:00.002-05:00

I'm alive. Survived the summer of the weinerdog death which followed the summer of the brother's death and knee surgery. I'm beginning to think summer is out to get me, especially May.

in other news, i got a smart phone. (I know, I know...welcome to 2007.)

crazy me. I was excited about starting school. there's a new classroom and new students and new craziness. the admin crap is all crazy. same stuff, different department. i've decided i'll just do what i do. mom always says "People are going do what people are going to do. You can only control yourself." She also says "he'll get happy in the same pants he got mad in" and both of these maxims get me through a normal day. dad says things like "colder than a witches tit in a brass bra" and I just don't know what that means, but it's fun to say.

in all of the craziness, I have a diss to get ready to send off to publishers, I have one article in final editorial phase expected SP 2010, one in review, one accepted proposal, and two more pieces in the works, and three book chapters that need to be bulking up PRONTO so I'm busy. Most of this is due in Sept/Oct.

but, back to the OMG. i have a student who has a blog that says more about student evaluation of courses than anything academic or otherwise that I've read before. i showed a paragaph or two of it at CW09 in Davis this year, and I got mixed comments. One thought it was just a rant. I tried to explain that the honesty in it and the fact that blogging was a way to get this kid to write in a honest way about her frustrations with school, class, AND blogging for blogging's sake was way worth the rant-ish-ness nature of it...it's audience aware, clever, etc.

anyway, I just read the first week's worth of the blog...in her final semester...and it's brilliant. funny. satirical. like The Soup on crack. She hasn't started on me yet, so maybe I'll change my tune. till then. OMG.

WMPF.

wandering wonderings/to-do list

2009-05-26T10:44:00.003-05:00

1. memorial day brings up for me the role of kitsch and personal memory, esp on grave stones.
2. really should send my diss to the interested editor this week.
3. so shaken by my weinerdog's death, I haven't been reading.
4. still have some work to wind up from school...
5. ticked that Vista keeps shutting down my computer.
6. considering the G1 over the iphone
7. need to work on C&W presentation.
8. need to film student reading for a future presentation.
9. need to work on my collaborative LOST paper.
10. feel like my scholarly identity is shifting.

ps: don't forget home renovations

Surgery or Gardening? Hmmm.

2009-05-15T20:40:00.008-05:00

So last year, today, I had knee surgery. It wasn't so bad until the next day. Then, it was awful for about 5 days. So, today, I gardened in celebration of, well, being able to garden.

before:

after:

The big bush in the middle used to have a bush on either side, but they were scary. You might be able to see one of the spouse's hanging upside down tomato plants, too, if you click on the first one.
Big day in rural-ville. Summer. yeah.

Hello Michigan - in October

2009-05-03T23:09:00.001-05:00

Heard today that my proposal was accepted for Fem/Rhet '09. Here's the goods:

Is it REAL research? Teaching Rhetoric in a Contrary Environment

Teaching in a literature-heavy directed department compels me to consider scholarly projects for my undergraduate students that disrupt their concept of academic writing. For instance, in an Introduction to Linguistics course, I asked students to develop research projects with an open mind when considering the role linguistics played in their daily lives. Using Cheryl Glenn’s Unspoken: A Rhetoric of Silence as a platform, one student produced an imovie that focused on the use of silence as a linguistic tool in film. What started out as a “fun” project for the student, turned valuable, smart, and complicated. In another course, Persuasive Writing and Logic, the students were asked to embody an alternative rhetorical technique (American Indian, Feminist, Activist, Black Sermon, Asian-American) and produce an argument on a contemporary issue from that rhetorical space in tradition, form, and content. One student wrote as an American Indian to be read as an oral argument, which boldly uses intricate metaphors and other distinctive American Indian rhetorical traditions such as purposeful repetition to explain the plight of the Gwich’in Indian of Alaska and how drilling for oil affects their cultural reliance on the caribou. Overall, while primarily highlighting student products and performances via imovie, this presentation will additionally discuss pedagogical practices beneficial to instructors for creating space for complex modes of undergraduate student scholarly work in rhetoric driven courses despite a largely rhetoric-contrary environment.

50 Word Blurb:

Teaching in a literature-heavy minded department compels me to consider scholarly projects that disrupt my students’ concept of scholarly writing. This presentation will highlight student projects and will discuss ways to create space for legitimating alternative modes of research in rhetoric and composition courses in a largely rhetoric-contrary environment.

Should be fun!

Spring Break at a Glance

2009-03-22T16:08:00.006-05:00

Friday - last day of classes. Lunch with colleagues, movies (2) that afternoon. BSG and Clone Wars that pm.
Saturday - read, movie in am, fishing the rest
Sunday - fishing, reading
Monday - errands: drycleaning, vet, WalMart, etc
Tues - visit friends in Tulsa.
Wed - Research most of the day, fish in late afternoon, movie
Thurs - Research most of the day, gardening in late afternoon, dinner w/in laws, movie
Friday - Research most of day/note compilation, fishing, BSG finale, Clone Wars finale
Sat - editing stuff, yard work, shopped for bed&mattress, watched 2 movies
Sun - grade, all day. break to garden.

movies watched and rated 1-5:

There Will be Blood 2 long and daunting, interesting story
Happy-Go-Lucky 5 fun and entertaining
Frozen River 3 good story
Man on Wire 4 great doc
Appaloosa 4 good for a modern western
Step Brothers 3 too long, but classic Ferrell
Fay Grim 2 really bad acting, decent story
LA Blues 3 cool use of timing
Religulous 2 typical Maher, some funny stuff
The Fist Foot Way 1 awful, except the last 10 minutes

conference

2009-03-01T22:23:00.002-06:00

Was in Albuquerque, NM for four nights at the SWTX PCA/ACA conference. I presented on feminism, post-9/11 rhetorics and LOST on Wed afternoon and spent most of TR and F in presentations. I am full up with ideas:

1. tech writing/linguistic class ideas
2. pub ideas
3. research ideas
4. new media identity ideas
5. what NOT to do ideas

yummy, right?

Plus, I ate alot of really good food and celebrated my birthday with good friends. bonus.

It's Saturday Night and I ain't got nobody bothering me...

2009-01-24T18:53:00.003-06:00

Mate and I went to T-town to finish up prepping the rental house for the new tenant. We trimmed the trees in the front and did other piddly work, but it's ready. We need to clean up the trees in the back yard, but it was nearly Ohio cold today, so we only did what was absolutely necessary.

SO, that place is rented, and the Norman house closes Tuesday, so we're just about free from habitat overload.

I'm nearly done with my proposal for Fem/Rhet, I need to catch up on grading stuff on Bb, and I'm glad all is going well with the service learning project I have going for my Linguistics students.

Norman is freaked out by the trip to T-town. He's pacing like crazy now and shook the whole trip. He does NOT like the truck.

Fire's going and I have the last Sookie novel to read.

8 months and 8 days

2009-01-23T21:41:00.002-06:00

Let it be said that on this day:
the orthopedic surgeon told me: "you're release to do what you want, just be aware before doing new things"...
Can I sing the "At Last" song or is it passe now? Anyone wanna run a 5k with me in the Fall? I should be ready. I'd say summer, but with the HEAT...no way.

I'm also reading Pinker's "The Language Instinct" and it's interesting. Just finished Gladwell's "Outliers." Loved it. And, I've read 7 of the 8 Sookie Stackhouse series (True Blood on HBO) and 2 of the 4 Twilight series...both of these series are fun, mindless reads.

I'm pumped that LOST is back on. I'm pumped that school is back on.

I have the SW/TXPCA/ACA conference coming in Feb, Computers and Writing in June, and I'm proposing for Fem/Rhet in October...busy, busy, busy.

Ooooo and the new Kairos issue is out. Check it out.

Holiday Break

2008-12-18T10:23:00.005-06:00

You can search ihasahotdog for weiner dogs. score. giggle.

I have a list for gifts. I shop tmw. ugh.

It's finally cold here, not BG, Ohio, cold, but cold.

A colleague turned me onto this NewYorker article.
interesting in alot of ways, but I don't want to think too hard today.

Yesterday, I spent 8 hours of service getting a charity that I'm on the Board of up to date on finances bc of a memory failure. While I was doing that, a student came by for enrollment advising. Being a professor isn't just about the hours served in a classroom.

Tshirt idea:
I have manners, but I have no soul.

just found out about this tshirt site

Semester Ends

2008-12-15T09:26:00.002-06:00

this is the way the semester ends
this is the way the semester ends
this is the way the semester ends
not with a bang but with a whisper

Saturday was graduation. Our department had 11 grads and the only 4.0. My spouse made some wisecrack about it being bc it's an easy degree. ha. ha. ha. Interestingly enough, our majors have the highest ACTs in the Univ and are like 3rd in GPAs, so we just attract smart students, and I believe it's because of our relationship with our students and because we challenge and respect them. Who knows why we really retain who we retain....

I'm all done with my grading. Posted. Now, admin work to finish up. Oh, and syllabi...if I knew which classes I was teaching, that would be another story, but 2 of 4 got cancelled, so there ya go. And, NO, we profs don't do anything over xmas break.

Almost there

2008-12-13T22:23:00.002-06:00

14 more portfolios to go, and I'm all done.

I've got a high rate of D/F/W in one of my upper level classes, too...23+%.

I'm looking forward to wrapping up administrative work early next week and then curling up with a few - like 10 or more - books over the break.

I don't want to think about shopping for xmas. ugh.

Finals Week

2008-12-09T17:14:00.002-06:00

The best thing about Finals week is the odd, off hours. The worst thing about Finals week is the grading. First of all, and mainly, I don't like to give grades. I like to comment, cajole, and congratulate, but I don't like to assign grades. My students earn alot of failing grades. In one of my classes, I have a 45.8% D/F/W rate. bluh. Even so, despite my adverseness to grading, I don't balk at the high rate of failure in my courses. I set high standards, and I sleep fine at night knowing I do all I can to help my students through the semester...probably too much, really.

To my own demise, I give portfolio assignments in my Jr/Sr level classes. As a whole, generally, they don't know how to really revise, and I spend time in class and in f2f conferences the week prior to Finals (what we used to call "Dead Week" - and got to go to study sessions, etc - when I was an undergrad) and discuss revision. It's also a good time to bring the course to a personal end with my students.

But, I value the portfolio, and the students who take it seriously benefit from it and in our department, the Majors have to have a Senior Portfolio at the end of their degree plan, so it helps those students practice revision, understand the portfolio process and holistic assessment.

And, even though it takes me about alot of hours to grade a pile of portfolios, I know that pedagogically, the process is sound, and a pile of about 40 isn't all that bad.

Finals week rocks. I live my life in 16 week increments, and this is week 16. The end is nigh. Mission accomplished. Insert maxim here.

I'm Thankful I'm home, so I can THINK

2008-11-30T11:23:00.005-06:00

So, as is typical of the holidays, the spouse and I drove across Oklahoma to family. First up to Enid for his family. loudness and opinions for 3 days and 2 nights. 3 hour drive each way. One night of peace in our house and then to my family for a half day of loudness, opinions, and dogs...2 great danes, 1 terrier, and 2 weiner dogs...my Norman ranks highest, of course, due to seniority and calmness. then ou/osu, of course...damn Cowboys and their 4th quarter chronic disease. today, breakfast with the spouses fam from Cali, and we're finally home. geez. holidays are exhausting. the good news is mom and dad are doing ok through this first holiday season without Jim, so that's one thing. They were obviously strung out, though, which is to be expected.

so, for me, there's 2 more weeks of school. all this week will be f2f conferences and then next week, portfolios are due and finals are written. I'll have alot of grading ahead, so it's a busy time for me. Then, 3 weeks off. I just found out that I've been accepted to the Computers and Writing Conference, too, so that's good. I'm putting together an abstract/proposal about the scholarly community in relation to teaching persuasion, I think, for Fem/Rhet, too, so I'll be pretty busy conference-wise in 2009. it's a good thing, too, since I had such bad luck in attending them this year.

I'm also thinking about putting together an Activist Rhetorics course to offer during Intersession for Spring or Fall 09. I'm really interested in the multimediated rhetorics of activism, and I know someone who knows someone who can come and talk to my students about his activism in GreenPeace...his latest jaunt was in China in relation to the Tibet issues. So, that would be cool...theoretically, of course. And, I'm obessed/fascinated by Whale Wars and sites like this, so...there's something else I can add to the abundance of texts for the course...

this week's t-shirts:

tofu b4 turkey
orange, not crimson to Missouri
responsibility, try it
tshirt for dummies
send Jack Bauer to Mumbai

mostly lame, I know.

If I had a t-shirt company

2008-11-21T15:11:00.004-06:00

I'd have t-shirts that said:

Agenda Setter
Bean Eater
I'm just pretending you're smart enough to listen to
Blog Stalker
I wish I was Dr. House
I don't care, really
I heart wiener
dogs
My student verbally bitch slapped my ivory tower colleague and all I got was this stupid t-shirt

I think I'll post new shirts each week. sounds rhetoric-y of me.

Conference & Class

2008-11-10T16:18:00.006-06:00

I'm really excited about the prospect of presenting at the Southwest-Texas Popular Culture Association Conference in Albuquerque, NM with my friend Suzy...a new phd student at NMSU. We hope to talk about LOST. I'm talking feminism and she's talking "otherness". She has a friend who's joining our panel, too.

So, the excitement lies in seeing Suzy and drinking with Suzy and talking about LOST.

And, I finished doing my read-throughs of the alternative argument papers my Persuasive Writing and Logic class produced, and I am really proud of the work they did - really smart, creative, critical stuff. When my students do well, I feel like I did something right in the classroom. So, yay for my students and for me. I think I'll talk about this class at Fem/Rhet, if I can make it work with the theme.

knee news:
I saw the surgeon last Wednesday, and he said he liked the way my leg looked and moved. So, he wants me to work on strength, still, but not to get discouraged. I took the opportunity to ask him about some "forgetting" episodes I've had lately. I totally can't remember ever hearing "Alice's Restaurant" and the spouse says we listened to it several times goign back and forth to Ohio. And, I had a student come in for enrollment advising last week that I had just seen the week before, and I had NO RECOLLECTION of seeing her. I even got her file out, and I had written in it, and I had nothing to go on. These two things frightened me a bit, and so I asked the surgeon if it could be related to anesthesia. He said it was highly unlikely that this would be a problem nearly 6 months post-surgery and 3 months off meds. Then he asked me if I had HIT MY HEAD lately. I said "no" then "wait a minute" : see my post. Now, I've put my co-workers and my hubby on notice to look for other times I may be forgetting with NO recall. If these episodes continue, I may have to see a neurologist and talk brain bleeds. fyi: no new episodes...hopefully, it's just stress.

Things I think are funny

2008-11-06T20:10:00.003-06:00

those bicycles that look like motorcycles
men who ride those bikes that look like motorcycles
the blond student who visits a lot
the way my weinerdog hops over the thresholds like they're steps
tshirts like this
videos like this

It's not safe to leave the house

2008-11-01T16:05:00.004-05:00

the wasps are mad and have been dive-bombing us. It makes rural-life a bit more exciting, especially since they genuinely give us the willies. Spouse has been stung 2x this year - both on the head, and I had a bad sting on the arm.

had a knee evaluation on Thurs. Not good news. My strength in comparison to my L leg is between 53% and 57% in quad strength...I'm at 74% in hamstring strength. They like you at 60% or better. So, they really expected me to be in the 70's in both muscle groups bc I was doing so well when I stopped pt. So, I have to ramp up therapy, which means being sore, which sucks. They didn't take my t-shirt away, though, and I don't have to have official pt, I just need to kick my own ass.

spent most of the day at a conference in OKC yesterday. I was on a panel with some colleagues. One talked about Zen, I talked Kaizen, and the last Aikido. We all talked about applying those philosophies in writing, writing instruction, the writing classroom and life. We had about 20 people in our session, which is good for a regional conference. We originally were only going to go, not participate, bc we wanted to hear the speaker, Ira Shor. We left the speech early. The guy is obviously a genius and has a heart for teaching, but he was hard to listen to...maybe it's because he had a bad fall that am and was all bound up in a sling and maybe on meds. The room had awful sound, too, so that could have been part of it...alot of the time he sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. Who knows? Anyway, maybe my colleagues and I can write an article from our talk - it turned out really cool.

Pasta plans for tonight at a Little Italy about an hour from here - Krebs, Oklahoma.

"Whatever it is - They won't have a chance"

2008-10-27T14:59:00.003-05:00

Seems the squirrels have thrown in the towel. On to the yellow jackets...they are mean rascals. I'm not afraid of them, but they are aggressive and territorial.

And, I'm giving a conference presentation about Kaizen and Writing this Friday...based on the tenet of continuous improvement...we'll see where this goes.

Speaking of territorial and aggressive, the new Clint Eastwood movie trailer gives me goosebumps. I think it's my upbringing on the binaries of right/wrong and Dirty Harry meeting some strange semiotic agreement. I smell another Oscar. And, I like old people in movies, especially grisly old men. They remind of the my dad.

Squirrels 2 Spouse 0

2008-10-22T17:50:00.004-05:00

So, the spouse and I have squirrels in the attic...literally and probably figuratively. Anyway, I remember when my oldest brother battled them at my mom's. (this is only one of many squirrel vs my family stories). We usually win, but not without a fight.

me: "you better just cover it with metal of some sort, big brother tried everything at mom's and ended up using galvanized steel mesh or something...they'll chew through anything"

So, spouse started with resin over the 2" hole.
him: "they won't eat resin...it's toxic...it'll kill them..."
me: "ooookkkkkaaaaayyyyy"
He only covered a part of it to wait for it to dry for another layer.
Squirrels chewed through what was there.
squirrels: "hey, do you see how this guy made our hole smaller? ha! amateur!"

So, spouse gets spray foam and fills the hole.
him: "they won't eat foam...it's toxic...it'll kill them..."
me: "ooookkkkkkaaaaayyyy"
Squirrels chewed through it.
Squirrels: "look! he tried spray foam...nice play, but no way"

So, spouse gets small sheets of aluminum.
him: "they'll have to pry this up AND chew it"
me: "I told you big bro tried everything"
Squirrels: silence, but it's only been an hour. I give them 24 to outsmart us again.

too bad blind little brother died this summer. I could have called him in for squirrel shooting duty from the INSIDE of the house via a close range shot from a 22 with bird shot in it. (the title of my blog has RURAL in it, folks)

ah, the memories.

Teaching and Practicing

2008-09-30T17:38:00.003-05:00

Today, in the persuasive writing and logic class I teach, we discussed alternative approaches to persuasive writing: feminist, black preachers, asian students, native americans, working class, and activist groups. It was one of the best classes I've had. The students were really engaged in the discussion, which moved away from the structural approaches we've been studying. I thought they might balk at the theory shift, but they embraced it.

Then, I had tech and prof writing and most of the class was gone to a conference, so not much progress was made. I feel sorry for my students in that class because life gets in the way for many of them. So much that they don't take the assignments, which can really benefit their skills in the marketplace, seriously. I struggle with ways to reach them in practical, yet academic, ways. Conference time, I think.

I KNOW! ENOUGH already with the knee, but

2008-09-24T20:48:00.003-05:00

since the surgery, my words aren't right. I'll say things like "leak" when I mean "drain" or I'll have to ask for a word I can't locate in my head from my colleagues. It's like a weird Alzheimer's. It's scary and frustrating or maybe frustrating and scary.

It doesn't seem so bad when I teach...I can usually talk around it. BUT, when I'm grading and can't think of the words I need like "complicate this" instead of "this is horse-crap" OR when I'm trying to have a writing conference with a student and I'm a babbling idiot, it's a problem.

Otherwise, my pain is gone 98% of the time. I'm dealing with stiffness mostly. I can even go downstairs without being too scared. One day, I'll be able to kneel and wear heels.

Two weeks ago

2008-09-18T15:16:00.003-05:00

I learned what this meant. If you don't know what it is, see here.

The best one I've seen yet is here. With an Obama adjective instead.

I think it's great fun. Clever rhetoric to take the concept and run.

And, this always makes me laugh. An oldie but a goodie.

I'm feeling linky today, it seems.

The knee that won't go away

2008-09-15T15:12:00.003-05:00

I fell today. I sat in a chair in a lab at school, and it had a bad leg. I went down, hit my hip, my shoulder, and knocked my head on a table. A student helped me up, I went to the bathroom and then to my office to compose myself, and I returned and conducted the rest of the class. By the time class was over, I was a mess. So, I canceled my office hour and went home.

I have a huge knot on my head.

Just when I thought it's OK to not be afraid ALL THE TIME of falling while doing normal everyday things,

it isn't.

back to square one.

dammit.

So, the other issue is that there were SEVEN damaged chairs in that room, and it could have happened to a student. Top that with a frozen printing queue and the fact that 10 of the 25 computers were wonky, and I had a damn near perfect 4 hours at the office.

furniture

2008-09-14T21:00:00.007-05:00

From the hallway

From the front door

From the corner

The brown furniture is more chocolate than the reddish look it has here.

Yep, that fireplace is wood burning.

You can see the green dining room wall behind the camel colored chair.

These things make it seem more homey. Sans the wet bathroom floor bc of the leaking ac through the wall, today was a good day. The fence is up, the gutters are clean, the front lawn is mowed, and the gardens are weeded (it took 2 trash bags to pick up all the weeds).

The good news

2008-09-13T16:06:00.003-05:00

is that my husband has a Mac and it has imovie on it. The bad news is that I have NO EXCUSE not to start making my video for the Watson conference. I have it all storyboarded and scripted to a point. And, I know this multimodal composition takes longer than a normal conference paper. But, I have no gumption.

is that I have a student who is going to talk me through some imovie quirks and let me use part of her movie from a project she did for my Intro to Linguistics course.

is that my service learning Tech and Prof Writing course is finally coming together. We're helping out with the Chickasaw Head Start Newsletter and we're on deck to help with a Preserve's brochure and eduational materials.

is that BbCE (Bb's hybrid with WebCT) hasn't died yet on our campus. BUT, there's Java problems. I wonder why when the new Java is installed, it doesn't get rid of the old version? It confuses BbCE. Java people: fix this!

is that we bought some furniture for the house today, and if the Ike rains subside, it could get delivered today. A couch and two recliner chairs. I'll post photos once they're here.

is that it's only Saturday, the OSU Cowboys won, and I got a free Mocha at the local Starbucks bc the line for the Drive-Thru was so long.

is that this small town I've moved to is a place where I can get dog medicine at the people pharmacy, and it costs 1/2 the price.

is that I can leave the lid on my water bottles when I recycle them here. Not so in the other town. Yes. I'm that lazy.

I've been thinking

2008-09-10T15:38:00.002-05:00

Going to conferences costs TOO much. I need to focus on publishing. And, I know that conferences can lead to publishing...but when you couple the time with the cost, the bennies of publishing are much larger. I want real pubs, though, not virtually unknown journals. I've got some ideas on deck with several people. I just need to jump in and make them happen.

I miss going to class to learn (and I'm not saying that I don't learn from my students). My friend Suzy is in fud program, and I've been reading her blog she writes for a class. I MISS that academic interaction. I KNOW. That's what conferences are for...I'm just saying. I liked being assigned reading and responding to it.

Maybe I should put myself on a reading schedule.

I'll tell my life that, so it won't get in the way.

My Pile

2008-09-07T13:26:00.002-05:00

I have a pile of stuff to do:

grade 40+ essays by Wed.
grade responses from 4 classes on Blackboard by now.
3 loads of laundry today.
take care of the other house by tmw pm.
prepare for classes tmw today
start a co-written paper on assessment this month
finish a short video I'm doing for Watson in the next month
start a presentation I'm doing for a regional conference soon
write abstracts for the C&W 2009 and SWTXPCA/ACA within the next 6 weeks or so

and I'm blogging instead. I already played my turn on wordscraper via facebook, so I didn't have to add that to the list.

I'm mean, I'm not totally lazy.

It's time to see the cup as half full

2008-08-30T12:53:00.003-05:00

so, I'm listing the top 10 things about the new house.

1. The deck has 3 levels.
2. The floor plan is open.
3. The kitchen has a brick wall.
4. The fireplace is wood burning.
5. Nearly 2 acres.
6. Lots of windows and light.
7. It's peaceful and quiet.
8. Plenty of parking.
9. Close to town.
10. Um, I'll get back to you on #10

While the spouse is away...

2008-08-27T15:11:00.002-05:00

the wife will work.

K left Sun am for a conference in Madison, Wi, so I've been alone in the pit. Here's what I've accomplished:
1. Mowed our front yard that was over 18 inches tall in places & weedeated.
2. Put away more stuff in the front room (the library)
3. Cleaned the master bath, again.
4. Scrubbed the kitchen floor.
5. Monitored pool maintenance.
6. Put together the kitchen table.
7. Put away more kitchen stuff (three boxes left).

Today, I'll set up the curio cabinet and line the bathroom drawers and cabinets with liner. Then, I'll put up the rest of my clothes. I think I'll sweep and mop the 2nd bath, too, and put out the rugs.

School's been great. I love my classes. I don't have any problem students yet. Norman's feeling good the past few days.

Ooooo, I need to cut his nails.

New House

2008-08-21T21:30:00.002-05:00

The new house is a wreck in 100 different ways, but we're moved. More on that later, but know that the house was/is disgusting. It took my mom an hour to clean the laundry closet...then it took us about 4 hours to clean the cabinets in the kitchen. The fridge was a 2 hour job. It's been gross, but day by day, we get stuff done.

It took 4 days to get the internet on...it's like being in a 3rd world country...arg!

School has started and I'm pooped already, but classes will be REALLY good this semester, so I'm pumped about that. I'll be busy, but it'll be good.

Blast from the past today: a friend of mine from jr high who moved away for hs and then to Cali for her adult life is back in our hometown. wow. 3 kids...all teenagers. It makes sense year wise since Norman's 16, but STILL. I don't feel old enough to have friends with teen kids. heh. Great to hear from her, though. Really great.

PT, The Office, and being a prof

2008-08-11T16:36:00.002-05:00

Today was the last day of official PT. Now, I do my own regimen at home. For months. Ugh.

The Office has a great commercial for the new season. Hysterical.

tmw I start pre-semester meetings. I'm pumped about my new class and re-teaching one from last Spring, so things are good. I wish we were moved, already, though, so I could focus better.

i'm not as think as you recovered i am

2008-08-09T12:26:00.002-05:00

so I was released to jog, right? tell that to my knee. it gave a less than stellar performance on the treadmill yesterday. it's just got no push and it hurt when I pushed and landed. i limped, walked fast and struggled through 5 minutes. arg. i AM better at little bunny hops and controlling my landing. i guess when the dr initially said i wouldn't be FULLY recovered for 6 months, he was right. i hope Tiger Woods is recovering better than i am. he's about a month behind me i think.

anyway, i can walk really good and have better balance everyday and my endurance is better.

i have plans to continue my revisions of my diss chapter today. it's due for review by the end of August.

oh, and cheers to SUZY who made it into a phd program at NMSU and is safe and sound in Las Cruces. i feel big things await her there. And I'm proud as punch, too.

I'm (almost) baaaack

2008-08-08T09:19:00.004-05:00

Ok so, yesterday, I finished a website for a community org I'm a part of. I reviewed an article that a friend and I will be working on that discusses gender and sex in the education field. I also edited a 40 page research project that my linguistics students put together. WOOT.

Today, I plan on revising a chapter of my diss to send off for review. And, I'll be reviewing the new Kairos site design, too. It's a beaut!

And PT. Two more visits...

We bought a wii, and I find myself playing a video game for the first time since the 90's. It seems to be good for my knee...not "real" tennis, bowling or boxing but alot of good movement for balance. Our next purchase will be the wii fit. Apparently, they're really popular and hard to find. It looks like I'll be able to do balance stuff and yoga on it. Nice.

Anyway. I'm gearing up for my professor life. I'm still tired, but I've made up my mind to get out of the ADD/no attention span funk.

Oh, and if you ever have to have surgery and/or get laid up for several weeks, read Jim Butcher's the Dresden Files. I usually dont' like fantasy, but his stuff is clever. My brother (the super smart, geeky engineer) got me interested and they're a fun read. And, don't forget Victor Gischler, too. His hardcore noir stuff is tight and smart.

I really, really love to read. And, I like to spend $ on books. Author's need love, too. I pass most of my books on to family, and they pass on to friends or their local library, so I feel civically obligated to buy and read books. heh.

Release Me

2008-08-07T11:15:00.002-05:00

Dr released me from brace-dom at my own comfort yesterday. And, PT ends Mon. Woot. I'm to "expect swelling and pain" for several months bc of the healing process. Nice. I thought I got the surgery to avoid swelling and pain. Whatever.

highlights:

I can walk both up and down stairs correctly but slowly without a brace, but not without a banister.

I'm allowed to jog, but I haven't yet.

I had to jump off a small step in PT. She might as well have asked me to jump off a cliff. But, I did it.

I STILL can't sleep, and the lack of said sleep makes me cranky, stupid, and apathetic. I did get a prescription for a sleeping aide. I tried it last night and it worked ZERO.

I am about as excited about school as I can be in this state. I WISH I could write/revise something academic. I've got like 4 things on deck for this semester. So, I better get my game on.

STILL waiting on the house to close. arg. They say a week. Whatever.

School mtgs start on Tues for me. So, I'm on my last days of vacation...if you can call it that.

Living out of boxes sucks

2008-07-30T19:38:00.002-05:00

So, we were supposed to close on the house in the city where I work tmw. The spouse just got a completely online software engineering job with an open source software co, and it only makes sense to move close to my work (unless you count the fact that we'll live in small town USA...we have a Starbucks, tho).

Anyway, the closing was delayed because of a title/abstract issue that's all the realtor's fault. We'll probably close next week, but I wanted to get settled b4 school. Now, we'll be rushed. And, we'll be living out of boxes in our current home for another week. arg.

My knee is stronger and alot more flexible. The PT is happy with my progress, and I see the surgeon next Wed, so maybe he'll tell me I can be done with PT. I mean, my knee's not right, but most of what I do at PT I can do at home more or less. It takes alot of time, and once we get moved, I don't want to drive back here for PT for sure. AND, I don't want the hassle of changing PT locations, either.

OK, so as far as school goes, I have pre-class stuff on the 12-14. Then, class begins the 18th. I teach f2f MTW and online TH/F. I'm excited about teaching hybrid courses and teaching my first Tech/Professional Writing class. BUT, I'm NOT excited about my lack of focus. I feel ADD/distracted since the surgery. It's not the drugs...I'm off most of that. It's the lack of thru sleep. I toss and turn and wake up TOO much each night. I'm exhausted most of the time. It sucks.

The weinerdog is peeing alot. And, he's pacing alot more, just like Kara did 2 years ago. I expect we'll be burying him in the next 6 months. He's happy when he's not crazy, and he's not suffering. I bet he will be soon, though. It's sad for me, but it would be sadder to see him suffer. 16+ years is a long time to have a friend that relies on you for everything. He's been a good boy. He's really stressed about the move. When we moved from Tulsa to BG, he got hives all over. He knows something's up, so he follws me more now than ever. I keep telling him he gets to go with me, but he's not buying it. heh. crazy? yes. Stupid? no.

My dad used to say

2008-07-10T10:10:00.003-05:00

"When a gallon of gas costs more than a gallon of milk, then we should complain..."
His maxim has come true, as we all know...

here's a YouTube video to ads a little more rhetoric to dad's maxim...

Speaking of YouTube, did you know that Viacom is making them give information about all people who watch videoclips and when? That means your info is their business...gas prices -no problem.

And, I'm not one to complain about gas. I think we're spoiled as Americans with our indoor plumbing, Starbucks on every corner, 24 hour 7-11's, and fast food. I LIKE being spoiled, don't get me wrong...I'm just saying. We're lucky.

It can always be worse.
You could have to drive to work in the Netherlands...

Remembering

2008-07-09T21:23:00.002-05:00

I just saw that jalapenos are part of the salmonella scare.
It reminded me that my brother Jim used to call them "japalenos" and it used to make me laugh and laugh when I was a kid.
He also said:
"pespi" instead of "pepsi"
"sketti" instead of "spaghetti"
And, remembering makes me smile.

I know, I know

2008-06-29T21:57:00.002-05:00

I should be blogging more. I'm behind. So, here's the ten things that have happened in my life in the last 2 weeks:

1. I worked in the garden and planted about 8 new plants with the spouse's help.
2. I've read 5 of the Dresden books by Jim Butcher.
3. I stay up till 1 am more often than not.
4. The big tree in the back yard is gone...all but a huge stump.
5. Went to look at houses.
6. Made an offer on a house.
7. Started working on organizing our closets to prepare for the move.
8. Went to Target by myself once.
9. PT every week.
10. Went to the dr who cranked on my leg and said it was holding up nice. And, that hole I had in my leg I thought was from a shot was actually where a GUIDE WIRE HAD GONE THROUGH MY KNEE/LEG TO PULL MY NEW ACL THROUGH. Um, gross....and ouch....TMI.

Boring life. I have high hopes for July.

regression?

2008-06-17T22:07:00.004-05:00

i had to have an ultrasound today. my swelling is worse in my quad area. the ultrasound is supposed to send sound waves in deep to help relieve the swelling. we'll see. I only take one pain pill a day, but I use ice and the TENS machine at least 2 times/day.

here's pics from day 33 post surgery:

The scar doesn't look too bad...

2 milestones in one day!

2008-06-10T15:37:00.001-05:00

1. I drove myself for the first time today.

2. I not only rode the bike correctly, I went fast enough (at 0, mind you) to keep the clock running.

Same ol Same ol

2008-06-05T19:28:00.003-05:00

So, pt went fine yesterday, and this am, I rode our stationary bike before I went down our stairs. The pt is easier as far as flexibility, but I'm weak.
The pain is different. It's like a constant dull ache deep in my knee and that strange fullness pain in the tissue around my knee, but that's not constant. It's the occasional shooting pain that makes me want to come off the couch that I can't predict that makes me crazy.
I wish I could think long enough to start writing academically, but I can't. I can barely read a couple of chapters in a book. I can watch a tv show and not be able to tell you what it was about. AND, today, at dinner, I couldn't think of the yellow part of an egg. GEEZ.
K took me for another wheelchair ride around the neighborhood today. It's the highlight of my days so far.
I'm hoping that soon, I'll feel like I can sit through an entire movie, so we can go see Indiana Jones. I can't leave my leg hanging like that for too long...the pressure gets too painful.

arg

2008-06-03T17:27:00.002-05:00

I'm so sore from yesterday that the thought of going to pt tmw makes physically ill. At dinner last night, I nearly asked K to take me home it hurt so bad, then I got it into an angle on my crutch that relieved the piercing pain. At this point, I can live with a dull ache.

Used my crutches to trench through Target today, and I regret it now...not the crutches, but the trenching.

I'm exhausted even though I didn't get out of bed until 930.

arg...

Day 18 - Post Surgery

2008-06-02T15:51:00.003-05:00

Today, a milestone. I made it all the way around on the bike. So, that means my flexibility allows me to bend my knee enough to ride the stationary bike.

Here's a photo. The scar looks good, I think. And, the atrophy is looking better.
Those steri-strips will fall off eventually, and then, I'll start the scar treatment.

Real Progress

2008-05-28T11:08:00.002-05:00

Well, the stitches are out, my immobilizer is off, I'm back in my acl brace which looks like this. It's much more comfy as far as braces go.

Other progress:
-I don't have to wear it at night
-I can go without crutches at my own comfort level
-I can drive

Things that keep hanging on:
-the pain
-the SLOW progress in therapy
- ice is my friend

I don't have to see the dr again for 4 weeks!

The spouse officially starts the job on Monday, so we'll be making solid plans on the move to the town where I work in June.

Progress is good. It's a dang good day.

I'm always looking for rhetoric

2008-05-26T18:34:00.003-05:00

Here's some social commentary that recently hit CNN. Language and race police beware.

Conference(s) Missed, again

2008-05-25T19:12:00.003-05:00

C&W was this past week and I missed it bc of the surgery. Would have been cool to meet with fellow Kairos folk, present with my software engineer and open source software expert spouse, and feel academically excited again. I didn't even submit to RSA, but would have LOVED to go to Oregon.

I'm in Watkins, though, so, maybe I'll see people there. And, I got a workshop and a panel in to C's 09. Maybe, maybe, maybe, my conference luck will change. I make it in, but my body hasn't cooperated this year.

Academic Work

2008-05-23T11:57:00.003-05:00

Ok, so it's year later, but I'm reading through the diss to find chapters I can revise to send off as articles. I think I'll focus on popular culture right now, and then later think about assessment, and then after that, I'm going to a new persuasion journal that I think I can write some cool stuff for.

Week 1

2008-05-22T11:06:00.006-05:00

Here's a pic of my legs, for comparison. It's been 8 weeks since the injury.

And, in the next pic, Norman is helping.

So, you can really see the swelling and atrophy. The pain is at about a 8 today, but it's not constant.

Potatoes and Sunflower seeds

2008-05-21T11:15:00.004-05:00

Are supposed to boost your mood, and I need it. Today is a weepy day for me for no real reason. I basically woke up crying...not like boo hoo, but more like constant sniffling.

So, on the way home from PT today, we'll get some of those things.

I did sit in the sunshine and had a cookie...those are supposed to help, too.

Goals are good for feeling blue, so here's mine for today:
1. get mood boosting food
2. start reading "the Golden Compass" series of 3 books
3. take a shower
4. make a plan for academic writing for this summer

Not much, but goals are goals

PT went ok. I got on a stationary bike, but couldn't go all the way around, so I rocked back and forth. And, I got a machine to bring home with me...to zap my pain away and to zap my quad into working. I'm in alot of pain.

Recovery Begins

2008-05-20T19:26:00.013-05:00

So, I initially hurt my knee March 25. This is 8 weeks later.

Here's what my right leg looks like 5 days after surgery. You can see the atrophy in my thigh already. And, the swelling in my knee is bad, but the wound doesn't look too bad.

And, this next pic is the electrode machine that supposed to help regulate pain. It sends electric messages to the tissue to tell it not to hurt. I can't tell if it worked or not.

Day 5

2008-05-19T17:48:00.003-05:00

I'm doing OK. I've got my pain meds stretched to 5 hours. And, I can walk to the bathroom without being afraid of falling on the crutches. I'm exhausted, still, tho. And, my knee feels huge and swollen and tight and itchy. very uncomfortable, but manageable...

tmw, I go to PT for the first time, and I'll be glad cause then I can come home and take a real shower.

k took me for a spin in the wheelchair around the block yesterday and this am. We're going again this evening, so I don't go bat sheet crazy.

I told K he has to take pics tmw as the bandages come off...I'll post, of course.

Kudos to K...he's been a trooper through all of this.

Living my life in 4 hour Intervals

2008-05-17T18:23:00.002-05:00

So, I can manage the pain as long as I take my meds every 4 hours. And, usually, at about hour 3.5, I start to feel the burn.

All I can say is it's bad, but it's not as bad as yesterday or Thurs pm when I was vomiting from the anesthesia/pain med mix.

I took a wash cloth bath in my kitchen today...enough said.

I can sleep about 2 hours at a time, too.

The damage wasn't as bad as the mri indicated, so the meniscus were just trimmed, but the acl was completely torn and was repaired with my patella tendon. ouch.

Progress.

Death, Surgery, and Vacation

2008-05-14T18:33:00.003-05:00

We buried my brother Jim yesterday. It was sad and peaceful. Mom and dad are doing OK, but it's tough on them, of course. It was a long day, and I was exhausted.

Today, I cleaned the bottom part of the house...sweep, mop, dust, dishes, kitchen, vacuum, and laundry. I wanted to get a decent cleaning in before the surgery. Then, I picked up the upstairs and divided all our paper work into trash, file and shred piles. That took - I'm embarrassed - 2 hours. I had paper work from 06 waiting to be filed. To be fair, we JUST bought a real filing cabinet. I had been using a single hanging file since we've been married.

Tomorrow is the surgery at noon Central time. I'm supposed to be there at 11 and they say I can get out as early as 130 depending on how quickly I can get get out of recovery. I'm not scared in the least. I'm ready to progress to walking normally again. Then, pt starts Tuesday. I hope I'm not on crutches long. I'm clumsy enough without extra appendages. It sucks that I can't even have coffee tmw am. arg!

We stocked up on frozen food and stuff like that, so things should go pretty smoothly the first week and I should be ready to get out and/or cook after that. We have stuff to grill, too.

So, I should have plenty of time to blog over the first few weeks of vacation. heh. My primary goal is recovery. Secondary is to get to see the new Indiana Jones - priorities, I tell ya! Third is writing... I hope to get 2-3 articles out by August.

OH, and we're looking at moving to the town I work in after the spouse's work situation shifts. Looks like he can negotiate an 80% telecommute, which would save us about $400 in gas/month and me 2.5 hours on the road/day.

Feb 11, 1967 - May 10, 2008

2008-05-11T13:51:00.002-05:00

My brother died yesterday. He's been chronically ill a LONG time. I expected him to die after a stay at the hospital. However, he passed quite suddenly in transit to the hospital.

We're all in shock but at peace since he suffered endlessly over the last 3 years.

My dad says Jim can see again. And, I suppose in Jim's heaven, he's not only got his sight, but he's got an old Ford to work on, a big lake to fish in, and a group of people to tell stories to.

James Edward Merrick, 41. rest in peace, my brother, rest in peace

Year One ends with a Whisper

2008-05-04T19:58:00.002-05:00

So, I give finals next week. This means returning research projects to Comp 2 students, Portfolios to the Logic course and the Linguistics class will turn in essay questions and take a vocab exam.

And, as I look back on the last academic year, I have a Top Ten list:

10. The drive. It's SO beautiful. An hour of heaven mostly sans weather.
9. The quotable quote wall. Our office has some great quotes and comics on a board.
8. The office move to one with windows - would be ranked higher if we hadn't lost a colleague
7. Good coffee...everyday.
6. JY coming by our pod and making me laugh daily.
5. The Fem/Rhet Conference of 07
4. Getting used to being called Dr Murphy; it's sweet.
3. My department colleagues - wonderfully supportive.
2. The students. 'nuf said
1. My office pod. They rawk and remind me why I'm there.

Living with a Gamer

2008-04-30T17:33:00.002-05:00

I live with a gamer. This means that since Tues at 10am, on and off, he's been playing GTA4. He's so pumped. And, alot of it is interestingly interactive. NPR even had a story about it. So, from my new media mind, the game could be really interesting linguistically and rhetorically. There's alot of reliance on the cell phone.
Social commentary, yes. Alot of stealing cars, yes. Alot of killing cops, yes. But it's so much more. I'll ask more questions once he beats it, but for right now, I know the main character is like Slim on The Wire, and I understand Slim's character.
When he steals a cop car, he can be a cop. And, his vernacular is shifting. He "jacks" a car. He "caps" people. He fights the need to run REAL people off the road when they drive badly.

Last night, he said he'd made a good decision to not go to the stripclub, but to take his Michelle to a comedy theatre. Today, he confessed that he had to view a cheat to try to avoid killing a cop. It didn't work. Oh well, kudos to him for trying.

My weinerdog continues to stare at him like he's crazy. I'm not....yet.

Dynamic Shift

2008-04-14T19:41:00.002-05:00

So, not only is my knee shaking things up in my life, the school has been too. I have 10 visiting Ukrainian students and their prof in my Persuasive Writing class. Last Friday, I had 2 additional visitors from Thailand and a visiting prof from my school. We talked about gender differences in persuasion techniques and the use of men and women as persuasive tools in advertising.

Today, the Ukrainians helped with peer reviews for the last essay of the semester. The enrolled students loved it. It's interesting to see how the Ukrainian students evaluate writing. One one hand, they were very direct and globally helpful in their comments; on the other hand, their evals were pretty prescriptive. Wed, we'll look at 2 female writers and see if they have different styles of persuasion. I think it's interesting to look at these things after studying the classics and the canon: Aristotle, Toulmin, and Rogerian, etc.

The knee thing is exhausting physically AND mentally. arg.

BTW, we're working through the tv series THE WIRE, and we love it. raw and balanced.

And, one of my students wrote a Linguistics paper over Internet language, specifically the impact of gaming culture, especially World of Warcraft on Internet language. It was an interesting premise. And, he almost totally pulled it off. With revision, it would be awesome.

a sundry

2008-04-08T20:07:00.003-05:00

So, I like the dreadlock guy on Idol. I think he's got something. I don't vote, though, so I don't get an opinion. I'm working on a piece about using the Idol judges typical remarks as a writing assessment tool. This isn't the percocet talking, either.

The knee is jacked. I tore my meniscus - both of them and my acl. So, it's surgery for me. Then, months of therapy and recovery. My summer has been determined. I get to wait until school's out, though, so I can control the fact that this won't affect my students much more than it already has.

I hear from a variety of blogs that travel from 4C's was awful. I can't imagine trying to endure that and being gimpy...so I think I made a good choice in not going. And, my buddy Jen did a great job of reading my piece for me. Once the review of the session gets posted, I'll post the link here. Looks like I'll probably miss C&W because of the surgery, so that's 3 for 3 for me in missing conferences since Feb bc my body has been betraying me.

And, I just got my Intro to Linguistics papers in today. One of them pulled through on doing a silence/body language in film imovie, so I'm pumped about grading them. We chatted about them today in class, and I'm really thrilled by the topics. I'm PUMPED about how well this class has turned out in spite of me.

All my classes, in fact, seem to be going well overall. I've had 12 people drop out of about 80, which is a high percentage. I'm not sure what I could have done differently, though, to change that.

I've recently been introduced to Boondocks on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network by my students. I think this movement in satire to becoming more and more anti-PC is an interesting thing to think about in terms of humor in persuasion techniques within social commentary. It's nothing new, I know, but this subversion of PCness seems more evident now.

No C's for me

2008-04-03T12:29:00.002-05:00

It's a complete tear of my ACL and maybe even more. The physicians asst would only tell me so much. I have an appt with the ortho Mon. Meanwhile, my leg is on fire.

Stinks that I can't go to New Orleans, but the spouse promises we'll go this summer if I'm able...heh.

ugh

C's Blues

2008-03-30T15:11:00.001-05:00

I fell down my own stairs on Tues. Weds I went to the orthopaedic dr and he says I have a torn ACL and others, too. Mon, I have an MRI. Depending on the official diagnosis of all that, I'll decide if I can go to C's or not. My buddy Jen is on board to do my talk for me if I can't go.

My knee hurts, I'm tired from lack of sleep, and I'm bummed that I may not make it to C's.

ugh.

Logic

2008-03-09T10:31:00.002-05:00

So, I've got this upper level persuasive writing and logic class and we've read some Aristotle, Quintillian, Isocrates, and the Dissoi Logoi in the past weeks. My students have had really good discussions in applying these "dead, white guys" to the presidential candidate websites and some political cartoons. These texts aren't easy, and I don't expect them to have rote memory of the concepts, but in this engagement with these texts in a relevant arena, the students are embracing the concepts of character, kairos, topoi, etc. And, it's exciting to me. Thank GOD for my students bc the "other" stuff is SO distracting.

I've been thinking about my C's presentation on visual literacy and its ties to civic literacy. I hope that next week, Spring Break, I'll be able to put together an interesting piece. It seems to me that New Orleans is the best place to talk civic literacy.

My dad turned 83 Friday. The spouse and I went to see him and my mom yesterday. He's slow, but he's good.

Merit Pay Madness

2008-03-01T13:59:00.003-06:00

So, I met the minimum standards for merit pay. I had to meet so many categories out of 2 sections and then the student evals counted in another. But the people that interviewed me couldn't tell me what merit pays means. They don't know how much $ it will be, if any. They can't tell me if it's a bonus or a salary increase. They can't tell me if I get a cost of living raise. They can't tell me if I'll get a gold star. But, I met minimum standards.

I'm all for having standards. I'm all for evals. I'm not about them being useless.

We have a job opening in our dept. After looking at 15+ files so far, 12 of them didn't read the ad. It's an embarrassment to the academic community, I think. Who should get a job teaching comp/linguistics/language, etc who can't read an ad and write a cover letter that fits their audience. Well, at least I know I didn't get my phd handed to me...I wonder about some of these folks, though.

One Week Later

2008-02-17T15:29:00.002-06:00

So, I didn't have the flu. I had a fever, cough, massive headache, and other unmentionables, but it wasn't the flu. Officially, it was/is and "upper respiratory infection". Officially, it kicked me. I had a fever through Wed, so I couldn't go to the pop culture conference in NM. I finally went to school to pick up books on Friday. Thanks be to Blackboard, so my students stayed on track.

And, I'm still really out of it a week later.

I'm NOT looking forward to going back to school. I'm way behind on everything but grading.

And, I'm feeling unmotivated bc I didn't get a rush of new scholarship ideas by going to the conference.

The spouse and I did get into C&W 2008, so that's good, and I've got 4C's, too. They seem so far away...

ugh

2008-02-10T11:13:00.001-06:00

I woke up with a fever.

I might have the flu.

If I do, and I miss the conference, I'll be ticked.

back to bed, tea and crackers

Grading

2008-02-09T14:47:00.000-06:00

I often stay up late grading, stay in my office grading, and take my grading home with me. I'm not complaining. Grading sucks your time away and your will to live, yes, but it's the nature of this biz, and I've been in this biz since 1995. I'm ok/at peace with it.

I WILL complain about this: I assign things and they have due dates - it's normal. But, I also have RETURN dates on assignment sheets. So, the students KNOW when I'll be returning their essays. So, I HATE it when bust arse to get the grading done, make extensive comments, and I return work and they aren't there to pick it up. It's annoying. This time, I had 5/18 not show up. It was a Fri, yes, and the flu is in epidemic form at the univ, yes, and 1 of them did call b4 class, but it's still annoying.

So, I was venting to some colleagues. I said: "they don't give 2 sh*ts" and my colleague said: "and we only give 15". And, it made me laugh. hard.
And, I went back into my office and graded
with a smile on my face.

And, an update on the Intro to Lingusitics course: Noone has dropped, the first test was succesful, they're coming together as a class and talk more now that we have a shared language. They're proposing projects and one of them wants to research the use of silence. Cool, right? But, even cooler is that I have some non-English majors and one of them has proposed a research video that will include films clips, etc...on silent films and the use of non-verbal language. How can this get any better? I'm really, really pumped about the projects so far. I'm thinking I'll schedule a colloquim so that these really cutting edge projects can be appreciated.

It's sunny out. Nearly 70. AND, I leave for Alb, NM in 3 days.

Life is good.

As for the Logic course I teach...this is a link I'd like to send them, but that's when I rem I teach at a rural, regional univ full of easily offended people. AND that I don't have tenure yet. It's a little spicey in the langauge dept.

you can stick your assessment

2008-02-05T20:20:00.000-06:00

I see-wear to mother nature, I've had enough of being assessed, policed, and evaluated already. Didn't I get hired after a lengthy process? I've been on the job all of 6 months. Can I have some air, some peace, some respect? Last week was merit forms due, this week, I have two peer reviews, and next week, I have the follow up meeting with the chair and dean to discuss the merit form.

On the other hand, I've been invited to faculty appreciation dinner by a student. I'm not all about sororities, but I am about students. I was moved that she wants to appreciate me. It feels good to be appreciated. BTW, she's known me all of 4 weeks and thinks I need appreciating.

And, next week, I'm off to beautiful Albuquerque to the SWTX Pop Culture/American Culture Conference. The weinerdog is looking forward to 5 days in heaven aka grannie's house.

On a funny note: I got narrative comments from student evaluations yesterday. I have 2 favorites:
"Due to the instructor, I learned more about the writing process than all 4 years of high school combined. I was so moved by her, I changed my major to English."
"If she has any weaknesses she hides them well. -example: I'm pretty sure she wears a cape and fights crime when she is not at the university."

The first is SO nice, and I know the latter is a play on my name, but I appreciate it - rhetorically.

So, I'm ok with assessment. I'm just feeling over-assessed right now. boohoo

I got the tenure track blues

2008-01-31T17:35:00.000-06:00

we shouldn't use technology in the classroom just for technology's sake
I think it's OK to experiment if the end result is theoretically sound

we shouldn't assess faculty just for assessment's sake
It should be used to improve faculty in some way

we shouldn't do faculty training for training's sake
it should be valued and valueable

and
we shouldn't call something pedagogical training and not model good pedagogy

but I'm just crazy that way.

BTW/FYI, LOST returns tonight.

New Stuff is UP

2008-01-29T20:39:00.000-06:00

The Spring Issue of C&C is up. Read it.

And, so is the new Kairos...the review of my C&W 2007 presentation is here. Scroll a bit. You'll find me.

One last thing. The spouse and I have proposed a presentation for C&W 2008. It'll be fun to present together. Especially since he's a contributor/expert in Open Source software...and I'm, well, I got my fud, so that makes me educated.

Jury Pool Failure

2008-01-28T21:00:00.000-06:00

So, I didn't get called initially, but we ALL had to sit there all day. Then, there was a call for an alternate...chosen from 5 people. I was #4. I guess they weren't impressed with my answer to: "how do you feel about being an alternate on the jury?" I said: "ambivalent". What do I mean by "ambivalent" I'm asked. (Is this a trick?) "well, tomorrow, I can can come here and serve or I can go to work...either way, I'm fine with it, but I'm sure my students would rather me be here." Lawyer: "yeah, they'd have a substitute" (um, did he hear me say professor at a university?) Me: "no. class would just be cancelled". Lawyer: "Oh". Verdict? They choose the high school social studies teacher who was "excited" about seeing the process.

I'm all about serving my civic duty, but for godsake...can I TRULY get "excited" about being an ALTERNATE? I just told the truth. I WAS under oath. I would have made the best of it...but I wasn't going to LIE.

I'm thinking the lawyers should have asked me a better question...say for instance: "Do you think you could sit through this trial as an alternate juror, but pay as much attention and take it as seriously as a real juror?" My answer: "definately." Or: "do you think your role, if you're chosen, as an alternate juror is important?" Me: "of course".

But, I didn't get those questions.

Talkin bout my civic literacy...

2008-01-27T17:51:00.000-06:00

So, tomorrow, I report for jury duty for the second time in my life. I had it in Tulsa County in 2001 and I sat there all week from 8-3 and never was called for a jury. I've heard that in CLeveland County that if you're not called on Monday, you're off for the week. I like that system. I don't mind doing the duty...I just don't want to sit aimless for hours. I do have grading to do, but STILL. Stinky courtnouse basements aren't my idea of ambiance.

My other fear is getting on a jury that will last more than a week. This can happen since there's a couple of high profile murders in the county. I don't want my students to get that behind though they really wouldn't bc of course management systems like Blackboard, but when they course isn't set up from the beginning as a hybrid or an online class, it can screw up the students, especially in a high content course like Linguistics.

So, tomorrow I report for duty. And, it'll be like being part of a secret society...bc I won't be able to tell you, if I get ON a jury, what it's about, etc. until it's over. heh.

All is well here. Teaching is going well and the new office is nice. I still need to paint, put down a rug, and add a decent chair. Everything is pretty even on the homefront.

But, if you're like me, and a Rambo fan, you HAVE to go see the latest Rambo. It's about the genocide atrocities in Burma and besides the weak dialogue, it IS classic Rambo. It's bloody, but genocides usually are...but it's ultimately social commentary and Rambo finally confronts his inner demons. They lose.

It's MLK day

2008-01-21T10:01:00.000-06:00

And, I don't have to go to work, so I'm loving it. I prepare better at home than I do in my office. I think bc the office seems temporary? Who knows.

Anyway, I remember when I learned about MLK in high school. A black girl at my hs, Samantha Harper, read the "I Have a Dream" speech. Ah, the rhetorical effect. I was touched.

Merit pay forms are due soon. Nothing I did last Spring "counts" bc I wasn't officially employed, so I have to rely on what I did last semester, which sucks. Anyway, I'm putting everything I can think of on the form. It it sucks that my chance of a raise is dependant soley on 4 months. Especially since the pay isn't comparative to other schools or my experience.

I like my job, though. Seriously. Some things could be better, but I do like it. Alot.