Christmas in Utah

As mentioned in my previous post, we are here in the beautiful state of Utah to celebrate Christmas with my family. How sweet it is to be with them. My mom and dad are so accommodating and sweet--being with them makes me a little bit sad (in spite of the joy) since these visits are so few and far between. Northern Utah is so beautiful--we are glad to be here and will savor every moment of it.

The drive across the country couldn't have been better. It was as if the skies opened and clouds departed to give us safe passage across the plains. We didn't get a single flake of precipitation on the freeway. And then the day we got here and it snowed 12 inches in 6 hours. Perfect timing. We were left feeling blessed--the recipients of a real Christmas miracle. (Especially considering that Champaign literally is frozen over.)

We listened to the Christmas Carol through Nebraska on the second day. I'd never actually read the *real* story before, so it was fun to hear it from the author himself. Good ol' Darls Chickens. We also got to visit my best friends in northern Colorado and stay a night with them at their house. We had nine kids running around going crazy--it was fun to catch up with Steve and Autumn and see April and her kids (BFF Andy is still in Japan where he has been deployed for the last months--he comes home in three weeks).


We got here Sunday night, got up Monday and enjoyed the snow, built a snow mountain, sledded, made merry, etc. Then, yesterday, the kids started barfing everywhere. First Seth started in the morning, then Jonas in the afternoon, then at about 11:30 last night, Maryn started. We brought her in to our room and she kept it up every hour on the hour for the rest of the night. Everybody is feeling a little better today--but everybody is very tired.

A few memorable moments from the last few days:

Last night, when Jonas had his shirt off from one of his throw-ups he started sucking in his tummy and pushing it out again--over and over. He'd do it, look up and laugh at it, and look down and do it again all while pressing on his belly button.

Also last night, before Maryn started up, she said "I want to get my thnow thoes on and go outside and shovel the thnow." (we shoveled all day the day before--apparently she was into it.)

All it all, and despite the flu-bug, it's been a great visit so far. Tomorrow is Christmas and it is sure to be lovely. I'll leave you with a great little clip that a friend of mine posted a few weeks ago. I think it sums up nicely my feelings about the season.



Merry Christmas!

a little holiday treat for you

it's not really a holiday song--but i think it's pretty rad.

This is the Rivers Cuomo that I love:



We're in Utah with my family and loving it. It snowed a TON this morning and we are so glad to be playing in it and not driving in it. More soon, promise!

My Brightest Diamond @ Solar Culture

At the end of our jam fest, Jon T. and I went to an rad show at the eclectic Tucson venue Solar Culture. I have written here about My Brightest Diamond before--but this show really sealed the deal for me: Shara Warden is amazing.

This was more of a vocal performance than a rock & roll show--she also had an amazing cellist and even more amazing violinist/multi-instrumentalist. Check him playing the singing saw at the beginning of the video.

Anyway, Tina always complains that Shara's a screamer. This song is the closest she came to screaming, which--as you will see--isn't very. Enjoy my first attempt at video bootlegging!


My Brightest Diamond @ Solar Culture 11/29/08, Tucson, AZ from starmaster on Vimeo.

crunch time

Lots to do in the next few weeks to wrap up this, the third semester of my graduate experience. It's been a good semester--not a lot of blogging has been going down here, I realize...still haven't figured out how to be a regular blogger, I guess. For now, I've got me some papers to write and some papers to grade--and then we're skipping town again!

I'll post a more comprehensive update here soon, but for now, please keep your eye on the Only Anything blog. Lots of new content should be posted there over the next month or so which you'll not want to miss! I just posted a video of me and Jon playing his new song Rose Reflection. I think you'll agree that it is really great. Check it!

James Taylor on the Cobert Report

I thought this was pretty fun(ny).

mediating histories

I've been thinking and writing a lot about epideictic rhetoric over the last few days which is, in very few words, the rhetoric of display. I read this cool article that basically claims that the most successful occasions of epideictic kind of stick around in a community's and even society's memory. We use those pieces of discourse as proverbial dots--culturally defining moments--and connect those dots to create for ourselves workable histories. These histories are never complete and maybe even do more to obfuscate the actual realities of what occurred. Nevertheless, they help us imagine our pasts, and therefore also help us imagine ourselves.

Anyway, I saw this cool ad today and it made me start thinking about this all over again. Media is one way that we do the work of history reconstruction:



www.onlyanything.com is a project with basically these same ends. Reconstruct the past using the pieces of discourse that have persisted (in both artifact and memory).

Punch Brothers

I haven't said much here about my burgeoning love of bluegrass (or maybe I have)--so I'll say it: I'm starting to really dig bluegrass--especially from more contemporary artists.

One of the most amazing musicians in the genre is Chris Thile. Formerly of Nickel Creek, Chris (who plays mandolin) currently heads the amazing, progressive, pseudo-classical "Punch Brothers." I got to see them play last week and was completely blown away. This is not your typical pop group. These dudes are consummate musicians.

Here is just a little taste of the show:

"The Eleventh Hour"

Las Vegas days

What two posts in one day! Believe it. 

I lived in Las Vegas for 4 years between my 8th and 12th year and before moving to Tucson in 1990.  I had some close friends there, all of whom I have lost contact with... until this weekend!

Over the course of 48 hours, I reconnected (thanks to the magic of Facebook and blogging) with my two best Vegas friends (keep in mind that I haven't spoken with these guys in 20 years!). 

One friend, Mark L., went from the little league field where I saw him last... ...to just finishing up med school.  He has a lovely wife and beautiful daughter.  We used to collect baseball cards and swim in his backyard pool.  I had a crush on his older sister.  Older sisters have a special kind of mystique, don't they? Especially when you are 10 and they are 12.  Woo-woo!

Another friend, Charles M., who was my best best friend in 5th and 6th grade, and I connected because I did a seach on Google for his name (Chuck) and found his wife's blog.  We exchanged emails and then he called and we spoke for a half an hour about what we have been doing for the past 20 years.  The funny story here is that on vacation the year after we moved, we went to his old house and found it empty.  And that was it! I never saw him again.  Turns out, that he and his family had gone to California for the summer and moved back into a different house very nearby.  I just never knew it.  Chuck is now a police officer and business owner in Vegas, and has kids nearly the same age as mine. So cool.

It was fun to chat with Mark via Facebook, but really fun to actually talk to my old friend Chuck.  It just goes to show you that childhood friendships are the stuff of gold.  There is nothing more pure and enduring.  I feel like Chuck and I could get together and literally pick up where we left off 20 years ago... we might need a package of Black Cat fire crackers, but it would be easy easy.

my schedule (and that crazy confusing Communication community)

I had a pretty intense week.  I felt tricked by Labor day, because even though it meant I didn't have to teach, my other responsibilities were unchanged.  So, after playing for most of Monday, I clicked into panic mode and didn't really click out of it until after my Thursday afternoon seminar. 

My classes this semester are going to be pretty good, I think.  One, from afore mentioned favorite person on campus, on Aristotle promises to be challenging, but fundamental. It is my largest seminar to date, with something like 16 people in it from several disciplines. Should be good.

The other class I am taking is called "Communication in Context" and should also be good. We started by discussing genre theory--which was kind of fun, because I have studied it before and felt less lost than I typically do at first.

It's funny: my community college experience was in Speech Comunication, but neither rhetoric or Aristotle were ever mentioned. (Ha!)  Then, for my first degree in "Communication"--which I chose because of "communication" in speech communication--was only tangentially related to the communication I was introduced to in CC--and I ended up studying the social science instead of the discourses of communication (i.e. rhetoric) that I may have found more interesting.  But, I was clueless.  I just wanted a degree. Only now, finally, and after two more degrees in English, are the treads that originally interested me in Communication crossing back over (and by now, I mean in the last several years).

I mean, the English field has some disciplinary issues, but holy cow: Communication? I mean, Speech Comm here at the U of I just dropped the Speech and folded itself back into the conglomeration that is Communication studies... how do they keep their action straight?   (All that was to say that I think that my Comm class is going to be great--and right in line with my interests over in Writing Studies.)  

on finishing short novels whilst sitting under a tree

Today marked the official end of summer for me.

I know, I know. The semester offically began on Monday, and I have been working at least full-time hours for the last three or four weeks, but I didn't actually have a seminar until today. Granted, that seminar is with one of my favorite people here, but you know--it means that I have to officially set aside my own reading--most of which has been fun, some of which has been challenging.

I was able to take a brief moment today, before said seminar, and finish one of those books under a tree in the middle of our busy quad. Frisbees were being tossed, shirtless dudes were tightrope walking across their little tree-tied strap, sun shined, ants crawled (on my arm) and it was a moment. What a pretty place and what a pretty time to be in this place. Oh, and the book was Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat which is simply hilarious (and a bit tragic).

Without really realizing it, to conclude my first full summer in Champaign, along with reading a book about Monterey, CA (one of my favorite locals), I also happened to listen to the Beach Boys's Sounds of Summer: thirty songs of unadulterated, reverby, 3-part-harmonied, beachiness. (Which was followed, incidentally, with the Beatles White album, which is quite the lovely opposite.)

Despite the busyness, it has been a good summer. It had some amazing moments--but I hope to actually make it out of Illinois next summer.

Imaginary Band

For those who might have some interest in an exercise in my reliving the glory days (you know, Uncle Rico style: "Ohhhh, man I wish I could go back in time. I'd take state."), check out this new blog collective I have started and will be collaborating on with old band mates. 

I'm excited about it.  We will be telling stories of the illustrious Only Anything, posting old photos, providing links for you to download old songs.  The premise is: What if the band you used to be in in 1995 got famous in 2008?  Sound silly?  Then you underestimate my silliness.

Never one to pass up the chance to be academic and nerdy, I think that this project has some fun things to say about private discourse (sometimes known as bro-speak), composition (both individual and shared), and collective identity construction and maintenance.  The band Only Anything was a group way before we played any instruments... We sat around creating what we intended to become--as any teenage band might--between visits to Circle K for 64 ouncers and hot dogs and visits to the record store to pick up another Cure tape.

For this reason, I call our little team of archivists the Imaginary Band collective.  It started off imaginary, and now that it's gone, it continues to live on.  In my mind, that image is one of a near-perfect late teenage life.

starmaster's table

Here are a few tasty dishes that have made it to our table in the last few weeks:

 

honey-glazed chicken with sauteed snap peas and onions 

  

pasta with fresh pesto, chicken breasts, and fresh tomatoes (with lotsa parmesan cheese)

(thanks J and M for the garden goods!) 

Year One

We've been here a year--actually about a year two weeks. I am so pleased with the experiences that we have had since driving across the country with all of our earthy belongings from arid desert to humid heartland.

Here are the highlights, by category, as they come to me:

School (generally speaking)

I had no idea what to expect when we came to grad school. I mean, I had an inkling, but I didn't--couldn't--know what it was going to be like. From the moment I arrived on campus for orientation last year, I not only felt great about what I had gotten myself into, but I felt something I didn't expect: an immediate and overwhelming sense of friendship. My college experience before coming to Illinois was very much a singular experience for me. I didn't live in the dorms as a freshman; I got married in the sophomore year of my first degree; I had a few people I knew on campus, but never really had friends in my major. I was not your typical college student.

And, really, I'm not your typical grad student either. With three kids, I know my experience is a bit different than most of my fellow grad students. But, I've (I should say "we've" here--this is a team effort, right Tina?) been able to hang. The people here have really been what have made hanging a pleasure. Grad students and professors alike, I wonder if other people in other programs know what they are missing.

The Town

We have a good friend who just moved back to the mainland from Oahu where they lived for about three years. We feel a little bit like they did: on an island in the middle of the sea. Moving from the west was an adjustment for us--one that we are still getting used to, I think. When I say that we've been here for a year, I really mean it. We haven't gone anywhere (I did leave town for 48 hours to attend my Grandmother's funeral in April--but that barely counts as being away). We have been down to St. Louis, up to Chicago and over to Indianapolis (oh! and a cool trip to Nauvoo over spring break), but we haven't actually gone home. So that's been a bit hard for us and for our families. We have, though, been visited (in some cases more than once!) by most of our immediate family. We also got visits from nearly every one of my favorite friends some point during the year. Amazing.

That said, we really love it here. Really. I'm not joking. We came from the land of urban sprawl. It would take 30-45 minutes to get anywhere interesting. Here, everything is close. There are parks, events, music, farmer's market, friends--everything!!--all within 5-10 minutes from home. Amazing! We really love the town and feel like it is a great place to bring up kids. The coming year my oldest starts kindergarten, so we'll see how that works out. The humidity is a bit obnoxious from time to time, but really, weather like the stuff we've been having in the last few days, makes up for it. And I actually kind of liked the winter.

Music
Andrew Bird, Headlights, Jimmy Eat World, Bon Iver, Jeff Tweedy, Mates of State, Radiohead--and next month, Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers, and Yo La Tengo. Enough said.

Academics

It's been a challenging year for me intellectually. I repeat, it's been a challenging year for me intellectually. But I'm surrounded by support. "Learning the field"--especially a field as diverse as Writing Studies--is a challenge, but I have been met with several surprises. I love that my program allows me--encourages me, even--to take classes in several departments and subjects. I've already had several "interdisciplinary" experiences--I'm looking forward to many more.

People

I've alluded to this already as well, but we couldn't ask for a cooler community to belong to. Both Tina and I have made some great friends. And my kids? Well, both Seth and Maryn are doing just fine in the social department.

Year Two?

This next year is going to be a good one; I already know. I'm gonna take me some seminars. I'm gonna teach me some students. I'm gonna work my way through some tough scholarship. I'm gonna read me some graphic novels. I'm gonna learn me some lap slide.

Thus ends the long-form, once-a-month,(cough)boring, blog style that readers have come to expect from the guide. Expect, heretofore, a more abbreviated blog--not quite in the microblog "tweet" format, but with inspiration taken therefrom.

too much to say... why don't we start with Radiohead and Mates of State

I could have written a post every day for the last, say, ten days and still not gotten in all of the excitement. It has truly been an amazing past few weeks.

So let's just start here at Lollapolooza .

You got that right, I was chilling backstage with Mates of State and got to watch their set standing behind them on the stage. They were super nice and Whitney from USA today's blog "Pop Candy" was super awesome to give me the opportunity. So that was that. In this cut from the set, you can actually see my friends Jon and Mat in the crowd. John has a light blue shirt, glasses and a hat on, Mat dark glasses to his right. The dude that starts waving his arms does so right in front of Mat. You can't really see me in any of the clips, but I am stage right (left side of the stage from your perspective). See the picture below.



And then, of course was the fact that I was there in Chicago with my best friends (John was in the city if not with us at the show) and we were there to see my favorite--everybody's favorite!--band Radiohead. And they were perfect. We were pretty close, so we didn't get the same vibe as others did standing 50,000 people back from the stage with the semi-fans. We were pretty close. And it was incredible--better than my wildest expectations. The band played. The rock & roll band PLAYED.

Anyway, I just saw this. This is Ed from Radiohead being interviewed by some dude... but what kills me is that the band playing behind the interview is Mates of State. So that means that just feet from where I was standing, in one of the little tents behind me was Ed from Radiohead. Wow.

I'll be back soon with more.

Where the blog have you been?

As I’ve mentioned, I’m not the kind of blogger that you can set your watch to, but I try, oh how I try.

Since my last post, life has been hectic to say the least. I went from worrying at the beginning of the summer about not having a job, to working on three separate large projects. There is a fine line between adequate work and too much. I think I may have pushed on that line a bit.

The first was copy editing a dissertation/thesis for a grad student in Physics. I understood none of it, but hopefully polished it a bit. That job took roughly 50 hours to complete over the course of 4 weeks.

I was also hired to help a professor in a different department (Comm/Asian American Studies) to fact-check and index his co-authored book. The fact-checking was laborious, but I had a ton of time to do it in (I think I worked on it for about 6 weeks). The publisher then sent a pdf copy of the nearly finished book which meant that the indexing could begin (because page numbers would match up with the final product—unlike the MS Word version I was working from). I knew that indexing was going to be intense, but I underestimated just how much so. Luckily I was able to use my pdf-reader’s search feature to search for the terms in the document, but the process of collecting those numbers for each of my 700+ terms was a lot of work. Some of the terms had literally hundreds of pages that they appeared on.

Anyway, to top it all off, the deadline that the publisher gave us to have the changes and index completed by was today. They gave us the book in the pdf searchable version on July 7th, which meant that I only had two weeks to produce the index… that may seem like a lot but it wasn’t! Especially considering that I had just begun teaching my summer class on July 7th as well.

So, today is a big sigh of relief day, I finished the index on Friday, helped with a few last minute things over the weekend and has now been sent off to actually become a real book. This last week especially was a brutal. Most of that time was spent staring at this computer screen and frantically scribbling page numbers on a piece of scrap paper. But it’s over and I’m onto the next thing: planning for a fall class that I am teaching called Writing Across Media (WAM for short). But I have a cold now—likely from the stress overload, so I see some serious chill time in the near future.

My class—thank goodness!—has been going really well. I have an exceptionally sharp cohort of pre-freshman and they seem to enjoy the content of the class and humor me by laughing at my bad jokes. We’ve had a few bloggable moments in class that I will try to dig through and post about in the next few days.

Speaking of chill time, three of my best AZ friends are coming to visit next week (all are arriving at different times). I am very excited to see them and look forward to a little bit of each of the following pass-times: cooking, exploring/picture taking, sight-seeing (going down to Amish country), movie watching (Batman!), music listening, video game playing (Wii!), music playing/recording, and concert going (Lollapalooza on August 1—Radiohead!).

Hasten, dear friends. Hasten!

Three blogs on deck: good product design, “tales from the classroom” or “what was written on the wall at the back of my classroom,” and a look at my first attempt at watercolor painting.

Oh! and one more. We have been in Champaign now for just shy of a year. I am planning a little anniversary blog to talk about our first year in the midwest. New adventures were had, to be sure.

Oh, vintage brown Schwinn, how do I love thee?

Let me count your spokes.

Sometimes people are just the coolest, ya know? That is how I feel about good friend and fellow-cws grad student M. This guy is a rock star. He's a rock star cyclist (he used to be one of those amazing bicycle delivery men in Manhattan); he's a rock star scholar (seriously, every time the guy opens his mouth I learn something); and he's actually a real rock star too (he's played bass in several big NY acts, and has a number of album credits)! I'm lucky to know him, let alone be his neighbor (for two more months :( ).

He's been helping me browse for bikes for a few months--but a couple of weeks ago said that he had found me a sweet frame at the bikeshop he co-ops at and was building me a ride... as a gift--as in FREE for me. Holy sweetness!

I have been letting he and his family drive my little white Civic when ever they need it, and this was his thank-you for that little act of we're-never-using-it-so-why-not service.

Anyway, so yesterday he drops off the coolest looking bike in the world. It is a brown(!), ten-speed, vintage Schwinn. With the coolest handlebars and seat ever. The seat, as you can see, has a big S for Starmaster (or Schwinn).

I went out and bought a helmet today.

Thank you M.! You are the best kind of friend.

Yesterday

I had one of those monumental days yesterday. So many good, little things happened that by the end of the day, I couldn't get the smile off my face. Here they are in list form:

1. A good Illinois friend tipped me off that single-day Lollapalooza tickets had gone on sale. I'd been waiting for this moment for months.

2. A few weeks ago, I had worked out with a great old friend from the SF days (who is now an incredible artist and designer--currently working through an MFA [or whatever they call it there] in graphic design at the illustrious Cranbrook near Detroit) that should said tickets go on sale, he would get one and we would meet in Chicago to bask in the Radioheadedness of it all). He did and we had a sweet, all-day conversation via IM.

3. Another best (AZ) friend of mine got the idea that coming to visit on that weekend would be a good idea. He could come see our Illinois digs and potentially see another best AZ friend who may very likely be in Chicago the same weekend as Lolla for internship interviews with some law firms. So, by the end of the day, not only did he buy plane tickets, but also now has a Lolla ticket in hand. It is going to be a party!

4. Early in the afternoon I got a call from my other other best AZ bud and he had won tickets to Weezer's Hootenanny show in Phoenix that was to take place later that night. Yesterday was also his birthday! Hootenanny was a special--jam with the band--kind of event. He called me after the show and said that he and his wife had an amazing experience. Read about it--and him!--here. I can't believe he got to rock that solo! That's him on the melodica!

5. This is a little thing, but the day ended with me and my kids dancing around the house to Coldplay's new (and I think really good) album Viva la Vida. Nothing like dancing with your kids to celebrate great days.

Twitter?

I'm not the most active blogger, I realize. I often think: this would be a good something- something to blog about. But that thought rarely makes it to the guide.

I have been "Twitter"ing for the last week or so and I think it's pretty fun. For those of you who don't know what Twitter is (and my super-techie brother didn't know--so I guess it's not as big as I thought), it's basically what some people have termed a "micro-blogger." In other words, it's kind of like a "this is what I am doing or thinking right this second" kind of blog post. So, it sacrifices the potential of a thoughtful, longer post, for the immediacy of a potentially mundane daily activities update.

No wonder, then, that when you read someone's Twitter feed, the site calls it "following" them. (Oh, how the net continues to bring out the inner voyeur and stalker in us all.) For you Facebookers, it's really just like the status updater in Facebook and, in fact, I actually fixed it so that when I update my twitter, it automatically updates my Facebook status. Also, I can post "tweets" from my cellphone via a text message (which also, in turn, updates my Facebook status) and also receive updates from the people that I am following as texts.

For now, this is just one more fun way of self-presentation on the web, but I can't help but think of how this phenomenon might impact my research interests. While I am less interested in self-presentation per se, I am really quite interested in how communities organize and get things done either via the web or by capitalizing on the web's power in some way. Twitter is already being used in creative ways by people to aid the organization, communication, and impact of community activities. So I wonder how I can talk about Twitter with my students--without just saying: check it out, this is awesome! What kind of rhetoric, exactly, is being produced when we tweet?

Anyway, for those interested in receiving more frequent updates from me, you can go to my Twitter page (linked above), and click on the rss feed and my updates (usually 1-4 per day) will then show up in your rss reader. Or(!), you could always join Twitter and see what all the hullabaloo is about. For those still in the camp that actually visit physical blogs, I have created a twitter widget that shows my updates right over there in the left column. Enjoy.

moth landing (Antheraea polyphemus)

This was on our porch when we arrived home a few days ago from some place or another. I wish I would have thrown a penny down to give the picture some perspective because it was literally the size of my hand. See this link for more info. I thought it may be sick or hurt or something, but when I reached down and tried to get it to climb on my hand, it flew away into the late afternoon breeze.

The best 8 years of my life.

Tina and I had our first date in March of 1996. I had just turned 18 and she was only 16. We ate bad burritos, watched Mr. Holland's Opus, ate nerds, and shook hands at the end. It would take me two full months to get the guts to kiss her.

About a year and a half later we had a tearful goodbye as I headed off to San Francisco and she went about starting her life. It was a tough separation, but all great loves need a few years of deep thinking. And I thought A LOT!

My return to the desert in July '99 was marked by several months of savvy convincing that I was in fact the one--despite at least two fawners--and several more months of waiting until my sister came home from school in Hawaii. We got engaged in January and the longest 6 months of my life began.

We married in June of 2000 as young and innocent as you can imagine--and in a world where marriages are often put off until after school and work have been settled, I can honestly say that the world don't know nothing. It was the best decision we have ever made. (And if we would have waited until we were both done with school, we'd still be waiting.)

We started school. We worked hard. We had a baby in Feb. 2003. I graduated in summer 2003. We moved to the Phoenix valley. She enrolled at ASU in the perfect major. I chased after job option #1. I got denied job option #1. She gave me many hugs. She graduated in May 2005 and had a baby two months later. I bit the bullet and went back to school. She supported me.

I applied to graduate school in 2006 and was heartily denied by all schools applied to. More hugs. I bit the bullet even harder and realized that I was going to have to get a few more degrees. I did. We had another baby in Feb 2007. Much more educated about the process, I applied to another (much better) batch of schools and actually got in a few places. She moved with me and our growing family nearly all the way across the country. When we got here, she dug in and made a bunch of new friends. (she only complained once :)

She finds new ways to surprise and amaze me every day (She loves Mariokart!). She loves and nurtures our children full-time. (She loves Chipotle!) She is the sweetest mother. She loves me despite myself. (She loves LOST!) She is my friend, my counselor, my love.

I wish I could write you 1000 more love songs. Until then, listen to some Starmaster.

Happy Anniversary sweet Tina.

last 48 hours (or so)

Monday, 10:30 pm: Laying on the couch with the fever shakes watching the last few episodes of the second season of Northern Exposure

Monday, 12:00 am: just about to sleep, my temperature: 101

Tuesday, 9:30 am: Tina let me sleep and sleep, but hadn't gone downstairs yet to discover that the basement flooded. It was at least a few inches deep at some point in the night and we were left with puddles and soaking carpets (and a few minor damage issues). Feeling better, but lungs filled with crud.

Tuesday, 5:00 pm: Sunny skies, dinner at Chipotle! (Oh, Chipotle. You are our one constant).

Tuesday, 6:00 pm: Wii Mariocart at Gamestop. Tina says "This is so freaking awesome!" Do I see Wii on the horizon?

Tuesday, 10 pm: Just about to settle into a movie, call from friend Micheal "The Tornado alarms are going off, can we come down and take shelter in your basement?" Didn't even hear the alarms.

Tuesday, 11 pm: All the kids are now up, Maryn is crying and won't stop. We are all holed up in our basement watching our crummy-reception TV wondering what to do. There is nowhere to sit downstairs though because all the rugs are up on the tables drying. Chaos.

Wednesday, 12 pm: Michael and co have gone home now, we have metamorphosed our basement into a campsite and have kids down trying to sleep, but muddy water is creeping up through our drains in the bathroom. Kids finally all asleep at 1am.

Wednesday, 2 am: Feeling crappy again. Water sounds like it is leaking in everywhere, but isn't... finally go to sleep at like 2:30.

Wednesday, 7:30 am: All the kids are up, and Tina (bless her soul), gets up with them. I wake about an hour later.

Wednesday, midday: Sunny skies, bleary eyes. Deep cough in my lungs.

Good grief.

this just in...!

Chicago is famous for its "Taste of Chicago" festival that happens every summer. This summer it goes on from June 27-July 6. I don't really know how it works, but I found out today that admission is free. (apparently, you buy tickets to get access to the many foodstuffs there).

Here's the sweetness: On June 28th, Mr. Stevie Wonder is providing entertainment at the festival in the famous Grant Park under the new concert pavilion there. What is the price to see this American legend? Free as can be.

I'm excited(!) and by then the whole family will be (uptight) ready for an exciting outing (Everything is alright).

What?

After every episode of the first two seasons of LOST, my wife would turn to me and with a puzzled and near angry look say, "what?"




Now that she's an uberfan, this video still made me smile in sweet, nostalgic memory.

A little something nice to start the summer (linktastic edition)

If you know me, you know I love the Cure. I was 14 when Andy and I first started sneaking tapes from his older brother's room and dubbing copies. It started with songs like "Boys Don't Cry" and Plastic Passion but I soon became literally infatuated with the their then, most recent release Wish (1992). It is still my favorite album--and I suppose that makes me unique as a fan. Most site their 89 album Disintegration as their best, and I agree that it is an amazing album, but Wish just captures my adolescence so perfectly. The songs were easy to play on guitar; I was only just learning. The guitarist Porl Thompson had a unique sound that I fawned over and tried to imitate--found most prominently on cuts like "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" and "Cut." And the tunes were, for the most part (and despite the "gloom and doom" persona that Robert's hair and make-up may have incited from casual observers of the posters on my wall [parents]), the band was at least 50% pop. The pop tracks were fun to sing and the intense songs were the perfect foil for my mild brand of teenage angst. Both songs were fun to play. In many ways, Only Anything (the greatest teenage band ever to have not gotten big in Tucson circa 93-97) was born of The Cure.

In 96 the Cure released Wild Mood Swings which became an album full of songs that Tina and I now consider the soundtrack of our early courtship (especially "Mint Car" and "Jupiter Crash"). 2000 saw the release of Bloodflowers and later in 2003 they released an eponymous album. Both didn't connect with me as much as their previous work had--which is likely due to changing tastes. Still, a day rarely goes by that I don't hear a Cure song or two.

A new album is due in September--their 13th studio album (Next year is the band's 30th year together so there are other exciting things rumored to be on the release horizon), but they are going to release a new single every month until then on the 13th of that month--kinda cool.

This first single "The Only One" is great. It reminds me of one of the reasons that I started liking the band to begin with--the pop love. Check out Porl's head tattoos! Woah!

big, gigantic sigh of relief

The semester is all but over. I have 14 papers to read and grade, and that should take me a few hours tomorrow, but beyond that, my own coursework has been signed, sealed, and delivered.

There have been several bloggable items occur in the last month since last postage. Starting from the top:

I said goodbye to the White Macbook that I was able to use as part of my affiliation with Writing with Video. It wasn't as teary as I had expected, though, since I purchased a last-gen, mega-marked down ($499 off the regular price) black Macbook several weeks ago. It is so, super sweet. This is the very first laptop that I have ever bought and I spend evenings polishing it with a diaper. Many thanks to friend Mat for giving me access to Grandma Powerbook for so many years... she has now passed, but made me look super retro in my first year in the hood here.

I had a great experience in that Writing with Video class previously posted about and am finding all sorts of ways that New Media works into some of my more general academic interests. If you'd like to see the 4 projects that preceded the final project, please feel free to visit my blog from that class (see sidebar link). They are all there.

Related to those New Media interests, I submitted an abstract as part of a panel for next year's CCCC's (Conference on College Composition and Communication). It is my very first attempt to participate in a large-scale conference. My co-panelists are all advanced students in the program and I feel totally lucky to be included. Our panel (in a very small nutshell) is focused on how internet communities are poised to influence "real world" democratic processes. We still have to get accepted, but if we do (and here is the most exciting part), the conference is next March in San Francisco!

Hmm..let's see, what else...Oh--the most important thing

There are two sweet women who deserve more words from me than I could sit here and write. When I was a child, I called the first Mom and the other, my own children call by the same name. It's a popular name: I just happen to know and love two of the best.

the sparrow

Here is a first look at my final writing with video project.




(the sparrow)

a boy on his own with the birds

seriously?

Let's see if the boys can restore some faith. I can't help but doubt it.

remix and parody

Or is it plagiarism? Whatever it is, I think it is pretty darn funny:





What do you think? Is this in bad taste?

Bon Iver and moments of clarity

Haven't had much time to blog lately. Things are busy. I did get to go to a wonderful show this evening and felt a stirring of desire for a reawakening of musical creativity in my life (that always happens when I see an inspiring performance).

Justin Vernon is Bon Iver--the guy is just fresh and real and as down-to-earth as you could ever hope. You can still sense that passion in his voice--a voice that says "I still believe in the words that I am singing." The falsetto--and the way in which he keeps it going--boggles the hopelessly baritone mind.

Enjoy "Lump Sum" if you have a few minutes.




I'll be spending time with my family over the next week or so. I look forward to it. Being around your people has a way of re-rooting you--helping you to realize what is most important. They are good people and I look forward to traveling, tributes to a now resting Bee, long chats and strolls, and just generally clearing the ol' noggin for the home stretch.

junkie's lament

Well, I'm sitting here after one day feeling like a junkie. Seriously! One day away from the my little hoarded repository of info, and I've got the proverbial shakes. I guess you could call me undisciplined; I would agree--it's public enemy #1 around these parts. But, today--even away from the 'feeds wasn't any better as far as distractions go. I was still unable to concentrate for long periods of time--as I mentioned to my brother, distraction has worked its way into my workflow. It's part of the process.

So, I may alter the fast parameters a bit or abandon the experiment all together. Maybe I'll just stay off it for the day, and soak my tired feet in it come nighttimes. Though, today wasn't a day that being away from the internet was that useful or helpful--well, I guess that it was good to be away from the constant flow of information that has little or nothing to do with me--I should just delete those feeds, I suppose. Trying to avoid it was only a testament to how much I use it.

Listen to that justification, folks. I thought that I could live without it, I guess no, no no.

Tonight I have to grade some papers, don't want to go, go, go.

(oh, and for those keeping score--24 hours = 300 unread feeds).

Fasting and Feasting

In order to maximize productivity, and in the name of curbing some of my distractions (oh all right--my biggest distraction) , I am going to try an experiment next week. Starting this evening, I am going to seriously restrict my internet usage for one week. By restrict, I mean that I am not going to use it for anything except work (which would entail email and using the library for research). Even with my email, I am going to designate "email check" times--maybe three times a day near meal times. I am one of those people who keeps his email inbox totally free of unread items, which means that I am constantly checking it. It's pretty ridiculous, actually.

The biggest "sacrifice" will be leaving my Google Reader RSS feed aggregator alone for the whole week. I rarely surf the internet anymore, preferring to have my interests sucked nicely into a common place via rss feeds. But I have A LOT of subscriptions and get hundreds of updates every day. I probably spend at LEAST an hour throughout the day cruising through them. Next Saturday, when I break the fast, I'll post some stats on how many unread items I have. My guess? I think it will be well over 1000.

What am I going to do instead? Read. I have several books I need to read in addition to the articles assigned as part of my regular week's work. A friend of mine (in my cohort in the program) and I were talking about the difficulty of diving into scholarship in the field without much theoretical training to support the jump. We were both Lit majors and started the program without MAs, so swimming through professional scholarship can be a bit rough, especially when those scholars base their arguments or use as examples prominent, complicated critical theory. For example, in my current study of Visual Rhetoric, many of the articles that I am reading site semiotics, structuralism and post structuralism as important theoretical concepts for their analysis. But if I have never done much study of those theories (and considering that even the theory that I have done some study of is very abstract--as theory tends to be--and therefore difficult to completely grasp), it makes reading the article very difficult. I suppose this is the case for a lot of new graduate students, so rather than complain anymore, I am going to take on the problem on my own. In the future, I am going to have "theory Saturdays" where I spend at least an hour on the weekend away from the assigned texts of that week and focus on one or two of the theorists mentioned in the readings. Summer will also be a good time to get my theory on...feasting on knowledge.

But since it's crunch time, I just need to read as much as I can all the time, thus the timely fast. Fasting from food, as I know from past experience, always gives me a feeling of (hunger) cleansing clarity in my corporeal constitution, so I am hoping this will do the same for my mind, man. Groovy.

good (and bad) distractions

I know, I know. I never finished my Jr. college treatise. I'll come back around to it eventually. It remains an important topic to explore (and one that people seem to have some interesting things to say about), but I've lost my original steam, so I better move on rather than remain in the between-lands.

We've reached that point in the semester where the panic starts--that place where I have filled my shelves with potential sources for my end-of-the semester writing projects, but have, as of yet, not been able to comprehend, glean, or even crack open most of them. Basically, I have a month until the end of the semester--which seems like a long time, but it will sneak by so quickly and soon I will be holed up in my basement working it. Grumpily.

First paper, due April, 28th. I'll be writing on blogging (again) and rhetorical communities. I have one good source on the subject--and hope that it flowers a few times. Grief.

Second paper, due date is flexible, but I am shooting for May 4th (one week later). This one is tougher to define--I am still working on the precise subject of my paper. I am trying to survey the histories of visual studies--both visual culture and visual rhetoric and so I can somehow draw a line between their connection. I haven't yet put a finger on good reason--a "so what?"--for the project, other than I want to know more about it. And that's not gonna cut it for 15-20 pages. I need a reason. A lens. Something specific to ground my study and give me something to look for... instead of just the hundreds and hundreds of scary pages of peruse! panicpanicpanicpanic

To remain sane, I have my share of distractions. Which (as part of a vicious cycle) often end up taking up more of my time than they should, reducing sanity further rather than helping to maintain it.

One thing I did this week was make a list of bands the I like that are coming out with new albums this summer:

The Cure (May 6?--this one is unconfirmed)
Death Cab for Cutie (May 13)
Jason Mraz (May 20)
My Morning Jacket (June 10)
Coldplay (June 17)
My Brightest Diamond (June 17)
Weezer (June)

Some of those I am more excited about than others--but still: sweet.

I get to see two really great shows in the second week of April: Bon Iver and Ben Folds. Tina even gets to accompany me to see BF since my parents will be with us when he comes (yay for family visits!).

I love this blog that I happened upon today. But you already knew that I think Andrew Bird is the bees knees. This is some of the "composition study" that I think needs more attention in my field. There have gotta be some interesting questions to wander through connecting the creative/invention processes of all kinds of composition--the layers at play are made up of similar stuffs, even if the details are different. Blast you disciplinary boundaries. Just you try and stop my illegal immigration.

I suppose that is the end of my post, though it is just the beginning of my distractions.

Happy St. Paddy's (Oh boy, oh boy, oh Danny)

reminsce

Reminiscing is something I used to be so good at. I have posted before, I think, about my vanishing ability to be nostalgic. It's one of those things... getting older... blah blah blah (is anyone sensing the irony here in these first few lines?).

Music has a way of cutting through that accumulated layer of callus. I had a moment the other day when a random song I hadn't heard in a while brought things back. Back to my days at community college circa '97. The song was off that dog's Retreat From the Sun--an album I don't listen to that much anymore. It brought back that fearless, carefree, lust-for-life, love-for-girlfriend, who-cares-about-school feeling that only 19-year-olds can feel.

The remembrance of that attitude helps contextualize and screen the memories that I am about to shuffle through. The most important thing for me then wasn't education, it wasn't school, it was music, it was my not-yet-then-but-three-years-later-to-be wife. So my thoughts here are of the 10-years-ago-looking back variety (and, apparently the super-long-hyphenated adjective variety too).

Let's do it this way. What is good about community college:

It's affordable for a large majority of...

You know what? I don't have this in me right now. Tina and I are watching "Dan in Real Life" and it is much too silly and sweet to be slogging through the virtues/verisimilitudes of the modern Jr. college.

How about a survey of songs that make you remember...anyone?

Visual and Abstract Thinking

I came across this a few days ago but didn't have a chance to watch it until just now. It is awesome! Kermit is so...so totally far out, man. C... had some vintage Sesame Street up a few weeks ago, and this is so vintage it predates my experience. Until now!



If you liked that there are a few other videos up here with the same theme. Those "Old School" Sesame Street DVDs may just be must haves for this household of Muppet enthusiasts.

p.s. My little "history of" series will continue soon.

segway (from 29-30)...updated

I have had a great time reading and thinking about the variety of responses that my post a few days ago received. My post, admittedly, was haphazard—I wasn’t expecting to strike a chord. But, I must say, I am delighted that I did.

Let me recap and respond to a few of the points that were brought up by my respondents:

• There are several students out there like Nick: Students revved up about their particular choice, bummed out about the requireds that seem to waste time and money, and in a situation (like Audrey mentions) where the final few years—years that are meant to be spent focusing on a specialization—are tripped up by tying up loose ends. Sometimes, due to the separate stories that students often get from the variety of well-intentioned advisors, students end up spending the last semester of their senior year (or a semester post-senior year, as I did) tying up those loose ends. I kind of digressed there. Back to students revved up about their major and using Nick as a case in point, I happen to know that he didn’t know what he wanted to do right off the bat. Correct me if I am wrong, yo, but weren’t you first going to do construction management, electrical engineering, and then you decided on media arts? There seems to be something useful about having some room to try something out, try again, and try yet again. General ed courses give students room and time to breathe a bit here—without penalizing them too much for initial wrong choices. Often (but not always), those classes may just fit in and count for some of the general ed classes required.
• Anonymous makes some great points about the citizenship building that general ed courses potentially offer students. The part of her response that I keep coming back to is where she mentions that future moment where the benefits of that general education kick in—the good communication skills, the math chops, the “broad understanding of how society works.” I like the idea of this future moment—it is nebulous though. Am I more effective public speaker because of the (very practical) Speech Comm Associates degree that I got from Pima? Probably—but I can’t remember a lick of the algebra or science classes that I took.
• Both Audrey and Tina found their interests through the general ed classes that they had to take—but both argue (or would argue since Tina didn’t mention it but I know it to be the case) that it is good/effective teaching that plays a big part in that selection. I know this is true. In a future post in this series, I will talk a little bit more about what good teachers and mentors can do for undergrads (but also talk about why I think it--especially the mentoring--doesn’t happen that often).

• I failed to mention Mat's post, which I think is an important one. Mat is a smart and successful guy who chose not to go to college--and there are a lot of guys like him out there. What Mat didn't mention was his numerous technological certifications: expensive, time-consuming stamps of approval from Mircosoft and other companies basically saying to the world "This dude knows his stuff." What is interesting to me about his post is that he still feels a bit stymied in regards to his job options--that a degree prevents him from a certain type of job currently filled by former frat boys (hopefully, no longer drunk). Mat's a smart guy. He's every bit as qualified for those jobs. Every bit, that is, except for that bit of cultural capital we call a diploma. So that's tough. As he also mentions, going to college is largely about "learning to learn," but that doesn't mean that those who don't go aren't learners. They just don't have the piece of paper designating them as such. There is more here... I'll try to come back to this "outsider" perspective in a subsequent post.
  

I want to spend a little time talking about my experience at the community college. I wonder how many of us “academics” start out there. For reasons both understood and elusive, the association with community education gets downplayed a bit on resumes and CVs. To use a Ben Folds allusion (ooh—elusive allusions), they sometimes seem to be the academic equivalent of a “red-neck past.” As I alluded to (third time’s a charm), I “graduated”—or took an Associates degree from one. I received two diplomas from Pima, actually: one with a concentration in Speech Communication and the other in Liberal Arts (ha! Talk about nebulous!). I have mixed feelings about the experience, as there are definite negatives and positives to staring in that route.

But, alas, I’ll go there in my next post. It’s late.

Thanks again for the responses, folks. Please, please keep it up!

How far away is Tennessee?

I’m exited to get on with the next educational history episode. I had no idea that it would prompt an actual response or two (something that this blog has a hard time doing). I’ll get to that in the next 48 hours or so…

Until then, consider this question: what do the following (favorite) bands, June, and 6 hours have to do with each other?

Pearl Jam
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Featuring T Bone Burnett
My Morning Jacket
Death Cab for Cutie
Sigur Ros
Ben Folds
The Bluegrass Allstars Feat. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas (!!), Bela Fleck,
Iron & Wine
Broken Social Scene
Rilo Kiley
Aimee Mann
Jose Gonzalez

(less favorite, but still cool)
Metallica
Kanye West
Jack Johnson
The Allman Brothers Band
The Raconteurs
Willie Nelson
B.B. King
Ozomatli
Tegan & Sara
!!!
Jakob Dylan
Vampire Weekend

(plus dozens more...)

Bonnaroo. Which is apparently only about 6 hours south of here. I would love love love to go… I mean My Morning Jacket, Death Cab, Ben Folds, Iron and Wine, Jose Gonzalez and BSS all in one place? With Jerry Douglas to boot? And the chance to see two contemporary legends: Peal Jam and Metallica...AHHH!!! but tickets are like $250, plus camping/lodging expenses and food over the four days—a bit more than just petty cash. Especially if I am going to be buying one of these at roughly the same time…

I never went to Coachella when it was about the same distance away either.

Getting older stinks.

Blast.

What do you know?

I've been pondering this question lately. Knowledge, unlike physical stuff, accumulates without taking up any space--and is, therefore, easy to forget about. I would like to believe, that is, that it is just forgotten about and not actually lost. But I know that is a dream.

As I approach my semi-significant birthday (or that year in which I have to accept, once and for all, that I am an adult :(), I can't help but think back to how I have spent my 20s. What have I been doing? By and large, the answer is easy: I have been sitting in class. So I thought it would be fun if, over the next week or so, I reminisced a bit about my educational history. With ten years of class sitting behind me, I should know a lot of stuff, right? I wish. Really, knowledge accumulation is on my mind lately because I am feeling that tinge of conscience that says: You should be pretty good at this by now... so what's the problem?

In 1997 (I know this is a bit more than 10 years ago, but this is where it starts) I enrolled at Pima Community College in Tucson. That first semester in school, I don't recall exactly what my plan was--or if I even had one. I just knew that I needed to take some general courses and so I enrolled in some general courses. I took Writing 101, Western Civ 101, and Sociology 101. My writing instructor was a very quiet woman--and though I did well in the class, I wasn't particularly inspired--certainly I didn't think: "I think this is what I would like to do as a part of my own career." Western Civ was taken as a part of a history or liberal arts requirement. The class was simple. All I remember of the instructor was that he was he looked like Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and said the word "modernity" a lot. I enrolled in sociology because my dad's BA and MS (MA?) were in Sociology and I kind of considered myself a chip off that block, so maybe I would be into it. My instructor was a part-time teacher, full-time biker, often wore leather to class (oh--and don't forget the Harley doo-rag) and had a long bushy beard. I remember that when he spoke, I thought that the stuff he said was smart. His biker-ness gave him a certain down to earth approach to teaching that I liked.

But I remember nothing knowledge-wise from that first semester. I would wager that I forgot it all the moment that the final test was done. Granted, my mind was on other things. Second semester wasn't much different. Writing 102 also failed to make much of an imprint on me, I took Western Civ 102 from the same instructor for the easy A and also took an intro to guitar class so that I could get some practical knowledge to go along with the self-taught stuff. Again, nothing really stuck. I read Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" for the first of what would be dozens of times and wrote a final paper comparing my favorite Bradbury novels, Something Wicked this Way Comes and Dandelion Wine.

This first year is significant for a number of reasons, though. First--it represents one of the sad truths about post-secondary education: most of it doesn't sink in, is taken just to pass, and is quickly discarded. At least it was for me, but I have a hunch that I am not alone. Granted, I was at a community college. My instructors were likely underpaid adjunct faculty. None of them were really trained to inspire or guide students in one particular direction or another. Student apathy mixed with good ol' 18-year-old ignorance and garnished, perhaps, with consumer culture ideologies makes education another thing to be purchased, used, and then discarded. Knowledge gathering is barely on the radar and therefore is rarely, at first (if ever), a priority. It is ironic that I am now on the other side of the desk, so to speak. I teach students with similar ideologies. Most are in my 103 an 104 classes just to pass-- to check it off--and why shouldn't they? Why should I expect them to be any different than I was? Because this is a major university and that was just a community college? I don't like that argument. But still, in a culture where education is consumed instead of accumulated and guarded, introduction classes are the most disposable of all, are they not? And while I now realize the importance of the knowledge to be gained in the introductory course--indeed, I am a practitioner of it, my students likely don't/won't/can't.

So part of me wants to blame this consumerism ideology on my difficulty with accumulating or "laying up in store" the knowledge that I desire and now need to be successful in my field. I know it is more complicated than that... but its got me wondering about how I might subvert the tendency as I approach my own students and teaching. Can they be taught to care more about what they know? I don't know.

Stay tuned for the next chapter: "Two Associates Degrees, or How to Waste your Time Expensively with Little to Nothing to Show for It"

Out of town guests...

...are fun.

.docx why dost thou torment me

bane? Yes. Apparently it is a better, more stable, smaller file... but good grief.

Get this: A .docx file saved with Microsoft Office '07 will NOT open in Mac Office '08.

I can't think of anything more frustrating when it comes to collecting papers from my students.

(I know--.doc will work pretty much universally, but why have .docx on both versions of the software if it doesn't work universally? Apparently, there will be some sort of conversion available later, but in the meantime-- all I can say is blec.)

Blec.

the future of compostion

If you have 6 minutes, take it to watch this cool presentation from Rutgers. It really lays plain some of the reasons that it is exciting to be a part of the English field at this very unique time in history.

How had I not heard anything about this...?

I'm losing touch. (click the title)

apply this...

There are very few things I like less than filling out job applications. I find the process mind-numbing--an exercise in the kind of rhetorical cookery detested by Plato: "Hire me! Look how awesome I am at saying good things about myself and searching for many precious minutes for archaic contact information for my references which you will likely only glance at and not really actually use."

I am filling out applications for summer work. Someone save me.

a hunerd

July 30, 2005.  That was the day of my very first blog post.  I had a weblog that I kept prior to moving in at "blogger," circa 2002-2003 (a wretched thing if any of you remember it--back when blogging was neeeeeew)--which makes me a blogger for over 5 years. 

This is a blog celebrating this blog's 100th blog post.  blog blog blog.

It's taken almost three years to get 100 posts up.  That's way under one post a week.  I just read a much more prolific blogger's post who was on his 100oth in about the same time (I don't even know the guy other than that he is in my field. I read his blog so I can figure out what it is people in my field do. I will spare you a link).

This entry represents blogging at its finest. When the blog has become the topic of the blog itself.  ick. 

just to be clear...

I had a great discussion with my students today about the video I posted yesterday. We were talking about what persuades us (or hasn't yet persuaded us) to vote. This question of "effect" is one that kind of puzzles rhetoricians. Do people really act as a result of persuasive rhetoric, or is rhetoric just one of many influences that eventually causes action. We (my class and I) looked at a bunch of posters on this site, talked a little about Mtv ads, watched that video and--in the end--came to some interesting realizations.

One of those realizations--or maybe admittances--was that young people (my students are 18 and 19) don't vote. One student said that he didn't vote because he didn't really know a lot about the candidates and didn't want to just vote to vote. It felt irresponsible. So the posters weren't really that persuasive. Another student said that he liked the posters but that it really took something spoken before he was moved in any particular direction. That made me think of the video I posted yesterday.

I didn't know if I would have time to show it because I had other stuff to cover--so I held off on it until the end of class. We did have about 5 minutes after my planned lesson on library research, so we watched the video.

I didn't know who a lot of the celebrities were in the video, but I knew they would, so I asked them to write down the names of people they knew. When the video was over, I asked them whether or not they felt the video was persuasive. They did. I asked them why-- The student who said he liked oral persuasion said "I don't know why I am persuaded, but I am! I've got goose bumps!" "And we believe what our goose bumps tell us, don't we!" I shot back. "Yes!" he said. Ha, ha--I had lured them into my trap.

Then we started talking about all the celebrities in the video and why their influence helped the message be persuasive. We didn't have a lot of time, but it was here that I revealed my purpose in showing them this video that really doesn't have any clear mention of Obama's politics or views on the issue other than that he wants change and "Yes we can" get it. We talked about ethos (credibility), pathos (emotional appeal), and logos (logical appeal) and how the video was almost completely based on pathos--the least stable of all of the appeals. It was a great teaching moment where I was able to talk about being weary of rhetoric that appeals only to the emotions (which most visual rhetoric is aimed at--at least initially). We mentioned how sad it would be if they voted for a candidate based on the feeling their TV ad gave them without doing any research (ah ha! Research!) about what that candidate really believes--where they might find some drastic personal incongruities.

If I would have had more time, I could have spoken a little about using that kind of rhetoric as a springboard to investigation. If they like a certain candidate based on his or her ads on TV, start doing that research. Start doing some soul searching.

So, my own recent decision to align myself with the Democratic party (instead of flailing as an independent) and support Obama does not come lightly and without much thought (or without some help from an understanding, very conservative, friend). And I am still doing work to figure out my exact stance on the complex issues our Nation faces. But that I am thus working is a marked change from my past apathetic political life. And at least I know now which way I lean. I hope that doesn't alienate me from my friends and family who are persuaded differently. Being a religious democrat (like being a religious academic), is often incorrectly spun--as outlined in this great speech--as a paradox or conflict of interest. I just don't think that is the case.

I'm persuaded...

I've been there. It's...

Heaven.

10 legends and a comedian...

yes, that is Steve Martin jamming that banjo. How many other legends can you name?

clever...

Jedi Ginsu Knife Commercial - Watch a funny movie here

Improv Everywhere...

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. Check out the YouTube page for other work from this extremely creative group.

Writing With Video

Lots of action over at my Writing With Video blog. This class--I must say--is super fun.

blog explosion

I wonder if we will look back in 20 years and think, remember blogs? What a ridiculous fad. Maybe. Though I bet that blogging will, instead, evolve. Stay tuned for that, I guess.

Instead, we have our hands a venerable blog explosion. Which is my way of saying that in the course of one week, I have gone from writing on one blogspace (I discontinued the breakoff of this blog a month or so ago, in case a few of you have links or feeds from it), to--count them--four blogs. I know: holy cow.

This is the first. The original. Woot.

The second you can find here, and is the blog I am required to keep for my writing with video class.

The third is a collaboration. I am one of 16 bloggers. It is the blog for my class. My students will be looking for "text in its natural habitat" taking pictures, posting links... it should be fun. I hope.

The fourth is unlinkable, but is in connection with my New Media theory class. It's on a secure site, and is, I'm afraid, the most boring of the three. Feel free to keep an eye on the others if you'd like.

MLK break-down

Several Things:

First: Schools back on, these are my classes:
New Media Theory: this one should be really good, but already the reading load is freaking me out a bit. I had 200 pages in this class alone this week. That is about twice as much as my seminars last semester.
Classical Rhetoric: Aristotle, Socrates, Plato. You know. All those old, white, dead guys with togas.
Writing Studies II: the continuation of my "introduction to the field," this class is more focused on methodology whereas last semester was more of a historical survey.
Writing With Video: This is a last minute addition. Due to low enrollment, this class is only meeting one day a week instead of two making it doable for me. Four classes sounds like a lot, right? Well, since classical rhet is really more of a lecture class than a seminar (check that--IS a lecture class), I am going to switch it to an audit--go to class, listen to lecture, do little else. WWV should be really fun (if very time consuming) and will qualify me to teach the class in the future, which may or may not be totally awesomes. What is totally awesomes is that as part of the enrollment for the class, they check out a MacBook to each student for the whole semester. Oh, heck yes. I will hopefully be buying one at the end of the year, but this will tide me over until that glorious moment arrives.

Second: Finally saw Helvetica. I was really engaged by it. The rhetoric of typography is something that I hadn't given much thought to, but should! I look forward to future studies here.

Didn't manage to see The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters yet, but I'm on the waiting list at the library.

Third: I was able to do quite a lot of recording over the break. The "Hummingbird" demo is finally done and up on my myspace, and "Transparent" only needs a few more vocal overdubs (I'd also like Jon T. to play some piano on it for me, so some long distance collaboration is going to need to happen). Recording music is really fun for me, but I am a hopeless amateur at it. My vocal mic is super low quality, I have no sonic mixing abilities, and the songs suffer because of it. But, at least I am getting them recorded, right?

Hummingbird is really a favorite of mine, but it never comes off right when I try to record it. As I have mentioned elsewhere, imagine Gladys Knight singing it with a gospel choir in the background. I'll post more about Transparent when it is ready for listening.

I guess that's it for now. Give this a watch if you are so inclined:

of course...

I've had a great break. I read, relaxed, watched some good movies, played Lego Star Wars with my boy, started up an exercise/diet regimen... all while fending off the assaults on my immune system fired continuously at me by my nearly-always-sick kids.
So, of course, on this the last week before school starts back up, the week I had planned to do the majority of my teaching prep, the only time during this break that I can't be resting, the last of those defenses fail and I get a horrible cough.

Of course.

Election Addition (open season)

I approach this post with a bit of trepidation, mostly because I feel like a bit of a novice trying to get some chops in a room full of well-seasoned players. But chopping I am.

Tina and I finished watching the New Hampshire debate this evening. Something about this election has really got our attention, and I think that can be said about many younger voters in our country (though we are very quickly approaching a time where we can no longer be considered a part of that group). It is an exiting race for many reasons--and we're into it (and not, I might add, necessarily in agreement).

I point to this post to establish my own current political status and/or standing. I am not willing anymore to be attached easily with a certain party or politically blanketed organization. I am frustrated by what I see as the political band-wagoning that occurs around the hot-button moral issues that divide the parties. I think that its nearly impossible to be aligned with all of the issues within a given party, and am generally turned off when I encounter voters who think that it is that simple. Granted, there was a reason that parties were organized—and I imagine, as I get my chops, the reasons for those party convergences will become more clear to me, but generally speaking, I have a tough time seeing the connection between (for example) a desire to keep taxes low and the right to life—they’re both “conservative” though. I’m just trying to figure out how.

Not only have I not decided who I am going to vote for in the primaries (though I know I have to vote in the primary of the party I am currently registered under), I have not decided yet whether “party” will have anything whatsoever to do with who I vote for in November where it’s open season, as it were. I feel a bit uneasy being aligned with any party, actually. Maybe this is the result of the apathy that is so common among us under-30s. But, even as my apathy begins to slide away (and my 30th birthday quickly approaches), I am not yet convinced that either team represents enough of my budding sense of personal "views." I'm glad, really, that I have remained unsure--it feels more honest to me than to have jumped on any bandwagon, despite what is on my current voter-card.

Truth is, I just loved watching the same-party members debate. I thought it was profoundly interesting to see members of the same team hash out the huge differences of principle and policy that exist within that team. I think that in watching those debates, we can get a glimpse of the complexities that underpin the issues that we might normally consider simple. The issues are not simple. So I am having some fun being the audience of these candidates’ rhetoric. My request is simple: Persuade me. I’m open.