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.