End of the Semester

So, it's the end of the semester--- it's always amazing how fast it goes and how much there is to do at the end. I don't have any interent at home, it's both good and bad-- it was kind of fun to just focus on unpacking yesterday, but now today as I'm realizing how much of my life is connected to online makes me very anxious for the cable guy to come tomorrow and hook up my internet-- not to mention that my daughter really misses watching Mickey Mouse.

bad grades for blogging

I would be getting bad grades for blogging in my class-- I am not living up to my standards.

We closed on our new house, though, so that's exciting. We've been working tons and tons of hours trying to make it livable-- we're moving in on Saturday-- It will be nice to be settled again and not have to think about moving. I realize it will take me some time to feel "settled" but, it will be nice to develop some sort of a routine.

Guilt

Guilt is a funny thing. I want to keep up this blog-- and I make my students write on their blogs twice a week, but I'm not as good about doing it myself. And really, it is that guilt that is making me write tonight.

This weekend we moved out of our house. That was an ordeal-- I had no idea how much stuff we had-- my husband says that it's my books that put the truck over the weight limit-- I know he was teasing me, but it's probably true. I do own a lot of books. I was looking forward to a couple of weeks of down time before we could get into the new house, but it looks like we're going to be able to close end of this week or early next week, so back to cleaning and scrubbing and disinfecting I will go.

I did finish my book review. I asked my advisor to read it before I send it to the journal. I hope I did a good job.

Book Review

I'm trying to write a book review, and I'm not doing all that well. I liked the book, mostly, but there are all these things I feel like the author should have addressed, and didn't, and I'm not sure how to really address that in a review. I know that I really need to reserve judgment and just say what the book does-- I need to remember that this isn't an analysis paper, it's a review. It doesn't help that I'm distracted by the joys of moving. I think we've found a new place to live, so that's good, but until I see signatures on a piece of paper, I'm not counting on anything.

Crazy Two Weeks

This has been the craziest 2 weeks ever. We sold the house, we surprise, surprise, actually found a different house that we want to live in, made an offer and got accepted-- so life has been a whirlwind of paperwork and phone calls between the agents and the mortgage lenders and the inspectors. Not to mention the chaos of regular life-- trying to spend a good amount of time at the Writing Center, teaching, grading papers, trying to work on my dissertation, and get my book review turned in on time. Oh, and I have 2 weeks to pack up all our stuff and get out of this house and try to keep my daughter from freaking out about all the boxes.

I love my life-- and I feel blessed beyond belief that these are the "problems" I have and not things that are oh so much more serious-- but I'm still looking forward to the non-traditional chaos settling down, some.

Olive Oil

Today I want to express my appreciation of olive oil. It is truly amazing all of the things you can do with this food product. Most people use it for cooking. I've also used it to ward off ear infections, but today I discovered the most useful at the moment use for olive oil-- removing oil based paint. One might ask why I needed to make this great discovery?

When we decided to put our house up for sale, our agent recommended that we paint the garage door-- so my husband sanded it down, primed it, and went to clean up to paint the door-- what we both learned that night was that he bought oil based primer-- and that oil based paint can quickly stain a nice white washtub-- so that night we got out the gasoline and cleaned up our big mess. 5 months go by-- we've now sold our house and we have to get rid of paint so that we can move-- You can't throw away liquid paint-- you have to dry it out-- well, we don't have that much oil paint left, so we poor it on some old cardboard in the garage with hopes that it will dry. So, this afternoon was a beautiful day and I ask my daughter if she wants to play outside-- I open the garage door and she immediately runs in, slips on the not dry paint and proceeds to get paint everywhere-- Well, unlike my husband's hands and my laundry room tub-- I am not willing to bathe my baby in gas-- so out come the holistic treatments. For the record-- olive oil and salt work amazingly well at getting oil based paint off of skin-- It gets it off of denim ok too, but cotton, not so much.

So much for getting any work done today.

Maybe a sold house

I write more mental blog posts than physical ones-- that's not a good way to keep a blog-- much harder to keep track of.

I think we might have sold our house-- which will be cool if it happens, but i'm not overly confident at the moment. We went to Ohio this weekend to visit my sister and her family-- a much needed trip-- and our realtor called us with an offer, that we accepted over the phone-- but then the buyer was having financing issues. So, now it seems like he's coughed up the cash, but we have another couple potentially interested in the house, and since we haven't signed any paperwork yet, we could in theory accept a different offer. It's weird-- I was so excited it was all going to happen, and now I realize how much work it all will be that I'm a little hesitant to believe that it might actually be sold.

Michigan Government Shut Down

The State of Michigan has its priorities out of whack. We are currently under a budget crisis, and so Governor Granholm's brilliant idea is to have a partial shut down of the government. But, she doesn't want to shut down the departments that won't affect people, she wants to make the state unsafe by laying off 85% of the Police. She wants to save $10,000 is salaries and shut down the casinos which bring in hundreds of thousands in revenue. According to the news this morning she wants to double the sales tax and raise the income tax. Is she crazy? Does she think she'll win best Governor award if she successfully chases everyone out of Michigan? Doesn't she realize the government is in this bind because people are moving out of state as fast as they can because companies are fleeing Michigan? Loyal democrats are blaming this on Engler, but Granholm is in the middle of her second term in office-- this isn't someone else's mistake. If this was her first term, maybe I'd listen, but it's not. Every time there's a budget, she cuts funding for education, especially higher education-- which not only hurts universities, it also hurts the children of factory workers who want their kids to have a better education, to have a better job, but now they can't afford it.

I'm not a politician, nor do I pretend to be. I don't' know how the state got into this mess, and I don't pretend to know how to get them out of it. What I do know is this-- you stay out of debt by not spending more money than you make. If you make less money than you think you are going to, then you have to cut some of your luxuries. Maybe Granholm and other legislatures should take a pay cut-- take a week without pay. Maybe Granholm should rent out the Governor's mansion on Mackinac Island to bring the state some revenue. Maybe like all of the universities are being required to do, the state should do some fundraising. I don't know. But I do know that no police and doubled taxes will make Michigan a scary place to live.

GM on strike

I'm personally annoyed that the UAW is striking at GM. I understand the importance of unions and all of the good things that they did when they were started, but right now, I think they are asking for a bit much. In this crappy Michigan economy, I don't know that they can expect what no one else is getting-- there are a lot of things I would like, but I'm not getting them. I just don't want to see GM go bankrupt, because I think that would cause a lot more problems that people just aren't thinking about. Plus, I know most union members just want this resolved-- they don't want to make their lousy $200 a week-- they want to work. I feel like a lot of people are feeling like everything is just on hold-- I'm concerned that if GM stays on strike for too long that people will get tense and act out.

Read for the Record

Every year Pearson publishing sponsers Read for the Record-- It promotes literacy in urban communities through Jumpstart. I'm not sure why there isn't more promotion for it in Michigan, but that's a subject for another day.

The idea is that they try to set a record each year for the most kids reading the same book with an adult on one day. This year's book was -The Story of Ferdinand-by Munro Leaf. It's a fine story-- not one of my favorites, but it's ok-- I think the book is more known for it's drawings by Robert Lawson-- especially the one of the bee as Ferdinand is about to sit on him. That really is a great illustration-- the bee's expression as there is just this huge thing coming down.

I'm glad I can attempt to participate-- my daughter wouldn't sit through the whole book this year-- maybe next year we'll have more luck-- I did buy the Read for the Record edition though-- so all of the proceeds will help jumpstart, and I think that's cool.

Gas Main Breaks

This morning while driving downtown to go to class, I got a phone call that Wayne was on the news-- there was a gas main break and buildings were closed. As it turns out, the Writing Center was closed, so I had to call all of the tutors and tell them that they wouldn't have to be to work on time, but that I wasn't sure what was going on. So, then I had to spend time chasing down information about what the plan was on getting this gas line fixed. At 2 p.m. the word on the street was that the building would be closed until 5, so I closed the Writing Center for the day and went home. Then at 3 p.m. they sent an email saying that it was all fixed, so now I feel badly for students who might have wanted to get tutored. I understand that people like to have a good sized buffer for themselves when they are trying to complete a project. However, I would like it if they would keep people informed through normal means of communication. For instance, an email this morning when it happened would have been great-- rather than a friend calling because they heard it on the news. Or, it would be great if they could post info to the main page of the website. Oh well, as it is, the tutors got a day off, and I got to go home early. Sorry to the students who needed tutoring.

TWISTED

Last night I finished reading Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. This will have SPOILERS.

I'm working on my diss chapter that uses Speak, so I had to check it out of the library-- you'd think I'd buy it-- I own all the other books I'm working with, and I think it's a great book-- but I saw Twisted, and I thought I'd check it out and read it when I finished my chapter-- well, I cheated because it's due back at the library and I'm finding myself reading more secondary sources than I thought I would be. Anyway-- enough rambling.

Twisted-- Tyler Miller-- a tortured soul if there ever was one. I think there are a lot of guys who could really identify with him. I have to admit-- I was hooked by the catch line-- Everyone told me to be a man-- no one told me how. I like that Tyler seemed so normal-- For me, the text had immediacy-- he's a kid who isn't popular, who wants to be popular, and when he does what he thinks it will take to become popular, it backfires on him. Then, that almost does make him popular, but being a "good" guy with his love interest doubly backfires, and he's in much worse shape than he was before the book started. This sort of comedy of errors, without cheesy humor, forces him into manhood. I like Anderson because she usually has good metaphors and analogies running throughout her text-- She uses English teachers to introduce fitting texts, Dr. Faustus, Paradise Lost-- the idea of motif and analogy-- things she is using. Tyler is also playing his video game that has him descending farther and farther into hell. He doesn't even realize how connected these texts are-- that would be an interesting paper for his English teacher-- How his video game is a modern day version of Dr. Faustus. or How he too must decide if he will sell his soul to the devil. Happily, I must admit I was happy when he beat the demon, when he didn't kill himself. For a while I thought he was a goner, and I wondered how Anderson would end the first person narrator text. There are too many young men who have taken that out-- not known what to do, reached the end of their rope, and signed the paper. Although it makes the text slightly didactic, Tyler's recovery is powerful. Custodian Joe's challenge to run away somewhere warm becomes a catalyst for change. Does he have to run away to take charge of his life or can he do that while remaining at home. I didn't think his dad's response was overly realistic, but I was glad to see Tyler become a man--to fight his demon--to win.

Hectic Week

This week has been an extremely hectic week. I think the 2nd week of the semester is always the busy-- especially the fall. I always feel extra busy because this is the week we open the writing center.

I've been pleased to see how many students we've seen this week. I really expected it to be pretty dead this week, but right now we've got 3 tutees meeting with all 3 tutors. It's exciting to see people caring about their work so early in the semester.

Everything Costs

I know that everyone needs to make a living, support their families, blah, blah, blah BUT, why do all of the good, used-to-be free resources on the web require subscriptions.

I think everyone needs access to a good grammar handbook. I also think that grammar handbooks are ridiculously expensive for what they are-- rules and examples. I will agree with publishers that some are much better than others. Some are "pretty." Some truly are handbooks for dummies they are so easily laid out. But still, they are over-priced. There used to be a couple of pretty good e-handbooks that were online, and so I would refer my students who couldn't afford a paper copy to those resources, but alas, now one must subscribe. Honestly though, what's the point of giving someone an ebook when they buy the paper book? Either the student will only use the e-book, and the paper book will sit somewhere on a shelf lamenting the trees that died so it could collect dust, or the student will never bother with the e-book because he/she will get familiar with the paper book and experience doubt or hesitation toward the e-book. When I asked a publisher about just buying the e-book-- he said that it's the same price as the paper book-- that doesn't seem right-- no trees, no ink, no shipping-- A student can buy just the paper book, but not just the e-book, but it doesn't matter because it's all practically the same price.

So, now I'm looking for company that lets students view a grammar book, and uses advertisements like every other commercial site.

ps-- yes, I know about Purdue's OWL-- I just like having multiple options, and I would like to find an online book.

Smores

I didn't realize how badly I'd been slipping in the blogging department. In my defense, I've been making some decent progress in my writing though :)

But, I'm not being academic this morning. I've been looking online at houses, because I am begging God to sell ours, but I know I can't look in person until I've got an offer on this house, so I look online. It's a terrible waste of time.

Over the weekend, we went camping with friends. 16 adults, 12 children-- a little chaotic, but fun. We've been doing this for a couple of years, so it's fun watching the kids get older and more get added to the mix each year. We've made making Smores a fine art form. I'm wondering if there's a way to publish a smore cookbook.

The newest creation of the weekend was a 2-18 MC coconut samoa pie-- 2 coconut marshmellows, 18 squares of milk chocolate, a samoa girl scout cookie, cooked between 2 graham crackers in a hobo pie maker. (No one took the time to add up the calorie intake of that bad boy.)

The biggest hit is our traditional 2-3 MC PB -- 2 marshmellows, 3 squares of milk chocolate, a Peanut Butter cup-- all smashed between 2 graham crackers.

Ah, but since calories and sugar count when not sitting in front of a fire, I should probably quit thinking about smores and go back to writing my disseration.

Fall is coming

Today I ordered my textbooks for fall. I've decided to mix up my syllabus. I'm using all new books-- except for the one on tutoring, but that doesn't count. I've also decided to use a Children's Lit book for my novel this semester. I don't usually do that, but I really want to teach this book, so I've decided to give it a try. I'm teaching Ellen Levine's _Catch a Tiger by the Toe_. It's such a great book. I think it will fit with the theme of my course as I'm looking at media and people's responses to it for my dissertation-- that can't help but creep into my course theme too. I've taught books I needed to read for my research before, but this is the first time I'm really putting some of it in my syllabus. I just got tired of teaching the same stuff, and I don't have time to be researching other stuff, so this is what's going in. Now to structure the syllabus.

Collective Intelligence

Ever since I read Jenkins' book Convergence Culture, I have wanted to read Levy's Collective Intelligence, and I havent' made the time. I've been trying to write-- I had to read Harry Potter-- putting the house up for sale. Well, now, I'm finally reading it, and it's really interesting.

Jenkins uses his ideas of knowledge-- that the knowledge space is a valuable one and that it in and of itself is a position of power, but the thing that is striking me so far in Levy-- and I'm not that far into it, is Levy's position on the other. For him, there is no "other" there are only people who possess knowledge that we don't have that we should try to get. I think his ideas are much more idealistic, where Jenkins is probably more realistic. I think Jenkins is more based on subject research and Levy is more based on theory. But, as someone who doesn't want to fill out 7 million pieces of IRB paperwork, I appreciate the idealistic theory-- In a realistic sense, I see how Levy's theory is reflected in children's literature. When authors are trying to accomplish the blending of others, they often use a polyphonic text to attempt to disguise didactic moments. They are trying to live out Levy's vision.

Oh, if only there was more time in a day.

PJ Hoffmaster

We have decided that camping trips need to at least be for long weekends. This weekend we went out to PJ Hoffmaster, in Muskegon, MI to go camping. It is a great park. All of these tall trees, an awesome beach, we were there with great friends. It was a fantastic weekend, but when you consider all of the set up work and the tear down work, it's longer than the time you're actually away-- so we've decided camping trips need to be a little longer-- or we have to do it more often so that we better know what we're doing :)

Hoffmaster is a great place though, if you're looking to camp. The lots were really big, so it was great-- plus the back of our campsite was this hill that went down to a creek that ran into Lake Michigan, so the kids had plenty of space to play away from the road-- not that they weren't tempted of course.

But, now, it's time to get back to the daily grind.

Harry Potter burn out

I haven't been writing on my blog as much because I've been too busy reading everyone else's blog. But now, I am tired of reading about people's opinion of Harry Potter. As a fan, it's easy to jump into the obsession, and to get excited about things that she has done. As a scholar, I'm amazed at some of the "obvious" things I noticed that other scholars are asking about-- but maybe that's the people who speed read through the text. I can't believe how many people I've seen ask who the baby is in King's Cross Station and why it's beyond help. It's the exact same imagery she used in GF to describe Voldermort-- she could have copied and pasted for how similar it seemed.

The one thing I feel like people are really missing is that she is a brilliant business woman. She has not gone from living on welfare to being the richest woman in England by happenstance-- nor by the simple fact that she's written a few good books. She listens to critics, she markets ideas, and she incorporates enough popular culture to make sure her books are selling. Sure, she hopes that they become classics-- she would love to ride the royalty train until she dies, but she has made sure to invest in them while they are hot-- she is making sure they contain components that will sell millions of copies now. Fans are excited she's going to write an encyclopedia about the characters, non-fans think she is beating a dead horse, others think she's just looking to make a buck-- She's created immediacy-- people have to know what is happening to these characters. People have to know more than Harry married Ginny and they had 3 kids. Maybe it will be overkill, but it will add to her fortune, and enough people will love it. Is it the best literary move, who knows-- does it encroach on the idea of a writerly work instead of a readerly work-- yes. The point is, she's attached to Harry, and she's having difficulty, like many of her fans, letting go-- and so she's going to make a few more millions off of the letting go process. Like I said, she's a brilliant business woman.

Not Ready

I am not ready for fall. I do not like all of the back to school commercials. The chick who does the Art Van commercials who says Back to School are parent's 3 favorite words does not know me.

Don't misunderstand me. I like my job. I love teaching. I'm just not ready. I still have so many things on my summer project to-do list, and now I'm being reminded that I have to create my fall to-do list, and I'm not ready to do that. It is still July-- can't I cling to summer at least for one more week?

Yesterday I had meetings on campus-- That made me realize how much I have to do. I'm thinking about mixing up my syllabus this fall, which means I need to review textbooks, and if I'm going to do that, I should have ordered them weeks ago, which of course I didn't do. But, my students seem to like the books I use, so that makes me want to keep things sort of the same-- why mess up something that works-- although I would like to make sure I'm keeping things fresh. But, I don't want to reinvent the wheel-- I need to be finishing my disseration. I think I need to come up with a couple of new, good assignments-- then it would seem fresh... hmmm...

Deathly Hallows

Spoilers Ahead.

I liked book 7-- It has its cheesy moments, but one cannot forget that her largest following is children, and there are certain "must haves" for them. I do most of my analysis thinking for young adults-- and I think that many young adult readers are going to find some of her must haves a little cheesy as well, but she is trying to appeal to an audience age range that is incredibly broad. I could also argue that theorists, like CS Lewis, say that authors should write without thinking about audience-- they should write what they want to say-- and I agree with that. Also, when you consider the idea of the death of the audience, that implies the story needs to go where the story needs to go, without consideration of the author's feelings-- and to that I also agree-- which is why I think the moments when Rowling forces the story to meet the must haves, it gets a little cheesy, but I don't fault the woman for doing it-- I don't know that I would want letters from parents telling me that I'd scared their child for life by killing off their hero.

So-- I'm glad she took the story where it needed to go-- I'm glad she followed all of the gothic tendencies that she's put in the book and she made Harry a horcrux-- I thought it was an important must have, that for Voldermort to die, the piece that lived inside Harry had to die. As a fan, I'm glad that she used the Elder wand to kill the piece of Voldermort without killing Harry. It made the story more complex and interesting to know that these complicated levels of magic that most people didn't know did exist.

I liked the talking/message bearing Patronus-- I think she borrowed that from Pullman's witches-- their deamons could go away from them and carry messages-- this is a way a piece of Rowling's witches and wizards can send themselves places.

For me, the book had a apocalyptic type of feel-- it almost felt like the Left Behind books-- there's a small remnant of chosen people who will fight and be victorious, even though the odds are against them.

Anyway, I enjoyed it-- I'm both sad and glad that it's over. I'm interested to see what happens to the fan culture now-- if they will continue to write fan fiction that fills in the 19 years between the end of the story and the epilogue, or if that will have finished it off-- I'm curious to know if Rowling will be badgered into writing another book--which I don't think will meet up the the regular series standards-- who's Harry's opponent going to be-- Draco? And a story about a kid who has been a hero trying to make a normal life for himself isn't going to ring true-- it will be cheesy. So, I'm interested to see.

FYI-- my favorite line from the book "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH" (736).

Censorship

When is censorship ok? Should people be responsible to self-censor? If we're always concerned with self-censoring does that limit our freedom of speech?

I think my response to both the second 2 questions is yes. People self-censor all of the time. They do it at work, with people they don't know, at job interviews-- so why shouldn't they do it when they are writing-- at least for publication.

More later.

Order of the Phoenix

I finally got to see Order of the Phoenix last night. It was interesting-- this is the first time I've reread the book right before going to see the film, and I finished 5 again Sat night and then saw the movie last night. usually i see the film and then go back and check out the book-- I liked doing it in reverse, although I wonder if it took out some of the enjoyment of the movie-- even as I was telling my husband some of the things they left out, i realized why most of them were gone-- special effects, budget, non-essential elements of the story-- and then there were some things that seem like it would have taken no effort to have left them in... Plus, I can't help but wonder how the film, especially some of the changed ending statements, will fit in with book 7-- Does Rowling make them change things that wouldn't be true to the books? Overall though, I think the new director did a good job.

Fan vs Academic

I'm a fan of Harry Potter. I like reading the books. I like watching the movies. I like to make assumptions on my own. I do not like to engage in debates about what is going to happen-- I enjoy hearing theory, but I like to see how the stories unfold and see if my ideas were at all correctly induced.

As an academic who looks at media-- I feel like I should at least lurk on all of these debates. I should see how people are behaving. I should distance myself from what I think and listen to what everyone else thinks. It's much harder to do this summer than I thought it would be.

I am curious to see where Rowling is going to take us next week. I think she has a lot of possibilities, and I think it will be interesting to see which things she takes into consideration. If she's being loyal to her child audience, Harry will not die-- she will want good to triumph without punishment. If she is loyal to her gothic tendencies, then Harry will be the final horcrux, which would be the ultimate in doubling of the abject, and he's toast. There's a reason that people are making predictions and wondering what will happen. There's also a reason there's proof for all of this-- Rowling is more clever than people often give her credit for-- she has left herself multiple pathways for getting out of this maze-- which one will she take?

the writing process

I think the writing process is an interesting concept. We teach students to remember that writing is a process-- that it's not supposed to happen in one afternoon-- that you want to brainstorm and then write and then think about it and revise and rewrite. And when you're doing professional writing, you can revise something forever. The thing no one says about the process is how inprecise it is. I seem to have days where I can really write-- I can produce text on a page. Then I have other days where I can't focus the swirling thoughts in my head for anything. I really appreciate the days I can write. And I am thankful for deadlines, because they keep me motivated to keep writing even if I might have met my personal goal for the day.

Motherhood

I love being a mom. I don't say that with the everyone should be a mom attitude-- because I know that it's not for everyone. There was a time when I wasn't sure that it was for me. And there are times now, when I'm writing and my daughter wakes up and it doesn't matter that I'm in the middle of a good thought and then it takes me forever to find that thought again, that I wish she would do things a little bit more my way. But, I really appreciate the perspective she brings to life. She laughs so easily. She finds adventure in such simple things. Today she has been walking around the house with a green plastic bowl on her head. And she is so proud of herself that she can put it on her head and take it off her head all by herself. Being a mom is great. It reminds me to reward small accomplishments-- like maybe picking back up where I left off when she woke up for lunch.

Holistic Doctor

I've started taking my daughter to a holistic doctor. I think I'm liking the results, but the suppliments he's prescribed seem to be interfering with her sleep. This isn't working so well for me. I need my sleep at night, and I need her to nap during the day so that I can work on my dissertation. She had started wheezing, and I didn't want to take her to the regular doctor, because I didn't want her to get put on steroids. The holistic doctor says she has an oat sensitivity, so no more cheerios. We're surviving through that-- although I miss making us pancakes in the morning-- and I can't make them for myself and not for her. That would just be cruel. Right now I'm listening to her move around in her bed, not sleeping, and I wonder, is it the lack of oat, or is it the idiots who keep shooting off noisy firecrackers that don't do anything but boom.

"The" Media

Media is plural-- which means, there cannot be "the" media. So, when people talk about media they need to start being more specific. Are they talking about broadcast media? Even then-- what types of broadcasting-- educational, entertainment, the list goes on.

So much gets blamed on "the" media. It's really not that simple.

Should people spend so much time caring about Paris Hilton and what she's wearing and what she's doing? I don't think so, but someone does, so information about her is spread all over the world. Would celebrities be so thin if they weren't constantly being gawked at in the tabloid newspapers and on entertainment television--probably not. So, does that make media bad-- no.

Media is a tricky thing-- like so many others-- it does good and it does bad-- people need to realize that.

Best Children's Books

I see lists and ideas for best children's books-- but I think that's too broad of a category. Even best boy books or best books for the decade. These are books that are people's favorites. They are books that somehow have stayed in print. What books we love as children is always subjective. What do those books remind us of-- what world to they help us to imagine?

I have my favorite books-- that I can remember the plot of and that I want to return to-- for me, those are best books. But, I realize that someone else's best and my best will never be the same.

Nothing Academic

This morning I spent some time reading Toddler Wise, because my daughter is fast becoming a toddler. She amazes me with how fast she can get places, and how autonomous her thinking has become. She's a pretty amazing little person. Today she was making me smile because she spent quite a long time trying to put her shoe on backwards-- she watches how I hold it to put it on her foot, and she doesn't fully realize it works like that because I'm coming from a different angle. The crazy thing is, I know she'll be putting on her own shoes before I know it.

good vs. bad

I'm pretty sure I blogged about Stephen Johnson when I first read his text-- I think because it's such a great reminder of what has to be considered when evaluating literature.

I think it is striking me so profoundly again because of my dislike of Pullman.

Johnson challenges his readers to not think of good and bad literature as a moral evaluation-- he wants people to consider if it is cognitively stimulating. While the degree of cognitive stimulation might be subjective, it is much less subjective than morals.

I think I've been careful to deem my dislike of Pullman to be based on my morals-- not his ability to cognitively challenge his readers. But, I need to remember not to say his books are bad-- they are not poorly written--

Readers always want to say if a book is good or bad, so Johnson is a good reminder to define terminology before evaluating a text.

synergy

Putting things together. I think that's the hardest and most important aspect of writing this dissertation-- how do all of these things fit together-- then, how does their fitting together make them stronger than they are individually.

I read different things and I know they fit together. I recognize that something great could be done with them, but then I lose what that great thing is-- sometimes I feel like I see the shadow of what lurks, but when I whip around the corner to catch it, it's gone.

Sometimes, it's the hunt that is fun. It's fun to try to figure out what I'm saying-- where this project is taking me. Sometimes the hunt is frustrating-- I just want it all to fall into place and be easy. Overall, though, I think I'm glad it's not easy-- I wouldn't be proud of myself when I'm finished if it was too easy-- now I know that I am truly earning my degree.

writer's block

I am having the hardest time getting back into the writing groove. I know that I need to write. I know that I need to finish my dissertation. I even know a lot of what I want to say, but I am having a difficult time getting moving. I've spent my writing time for the last 2 days reading what I've written and tweaking little things. Hopefully now I'll be ready to create new text.

Inanimate Alice

I am pretty geeked about Inanimate Alice. It is an online story. It is way cooler than an e-book, because you interact with the story. Plus it has pictures and music. I am too tired this morning-- i shouldn't be allowed to put my advertisement for Alice out until it is more articulate. Right now I want everyone to read Alice so it will gain popularity.

Why is Alice cool?
In McLuhan's terms-- she is a cool medium because the viewer has to do something to participate with her. The viewer has to click the arrows to move the plot along. Plus, certain images have to be clicked to get the full experience of the story.

In non-theoretical language--she is a cool medium because she engages the senses. The viewer is hearing a soundtrack to her life in addition to reading her story and viewing images that represent her. Also, the images are a mixture of moving images and still images, so the viewer cannot just assume a means of interpretation. An additional element is the game. As the episodes become more advanced, there are puzzles that Alice creates that the viewer must solve. These keep the viewer engaged as well.

So, I would encourage you to go visit Inanimate Alice. You'll enjoy your time.
http://www.inanimatealice.com

Done with Pullman

So, I spent the end of last week and the weekend at the Children's Literature Association Conference. It was great, highly motivating to get myself on track. I'll write more about what I learned later.

At this time, I want to write about Phillip Pullman. I brought the 2nd and 3rd books to read while on the plane. After reading the second I thought I might not finish the series. Then after reading some of Pullman's belief system, I realized that I'm done with Pullman.

I want to say this-- I do think that Pullman is a quality writer. I think that he comes up with good, complex plots that successfully entertain readers. I think that he uses fantasy the way it was meant to be used--to take us to the place beyond disbelief-- his worlds are similar and yet fantastic-- His work is the uncanny.

But--he is all that he says he hates about C.S. Lewis. He fills his work with propaganda against God more fully than Lewis fills the Narnia series with messages that are pro-God. His vengeful attitude towards God goes beyond trying to get a reader to think that there is a possibility that there is no God-- rather, he believes that God should be attacked-- that he can be attacked, and that is the mindset he takes up in his text. I think that is quite a dangerous position to assume.

On a different note-- I am also annoyed that Lyra's thoughts are in this well thought out language, but when she opens her mouth she cannot state a grammatically correct sentence. If she has truly been around scholars for her entire life, she would have more eloquent speech-- or at least her vocal speech would match the language of her thoughts.

So, all of that to say-- I am done with Phillip Pullman.

Golden Compass wrap up

Yesterday I got interrupted, so I thought I'd finish talking about the Golden Compass today.

I'd always been hesitent to read the text because of Pullman's name for people's soul- it seems too close to the Biblical demon-- and he even quotes from Paradise Lost at the beginning and alter's the Bible to mention daemons. So, it's not like he chose the name unaware. However, daemon's do not do what demon's do-- I still can't help but wonder about the name.

If I choose to get passed that, I think it is a "good" book. (value judgments are so dangerous). I think it's an interesting concept, to always have a part of yourself that you can communicate with-- it makes me feel better about talking to myself. I also enjoy seeing how the daemon's act when the kids are drinking or the adults are kissing-- Do the daemon's get to enjoy the fun of those acts more than the people? Pullman gives the reader plenty to think about, that's for sure. Now I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

Golden Compass Part 2

So, I finished Pullman's book-- and I have to say that it picks up tremendously after page 100. But, that's a long time to take to get into a children's book.

I realize this ties into the idea that kids are more expectant readers now than they used to be. This book is no simple plot. It also does not follow a straight line trajectory. There is mystery, intrigue-- and not a clear line between good and evil.

hosed laptop

I've had my faithful laptop for over 3 years. I have written the majority of my academic work on my faithful laptop for the past 3 years. All of the work that I've done on my dissertation is on my faithful laptop. Now all of a sudden, the laptop is no longer faithful. It doesn't want to start. I'm not a big fan of that. I was having motivational issues anyway. Now with my laptop not working I'm tempted to read more research rather than write, but I've got to write to truly process what I'm reading.

Here's to hoping that it can get fixed. Quickly.

Golden Compass Part 1

I am finally reading _The Golden Compass_ by Phillip Pullman. I was supposed to read it 2 years ago, and I didn't have time, so I didn't read it. But, now that there's a movie coming out and it's getting some internet buzz I figured I had better read it.

I think it is interesting because it is one of those books that both adults and children read--it often gets found in both sections of bookstores and libraries-- but now I am curious about the child readers--it starts really slowly and there's a lot of description. These are not bad things--and they add to the depth of the book. But, do kids have to be avid readers before they will pick up and enjoy this series or can this be a starting point for them. I think this book fits into my conclusion that kids expect more from a book--this story could not be overly simplified--but I am curious to see what they leave in and cut for the film.

More comments forthcoming as I finish the book.

House Quizzes

I took the quiz at
http://www.quizilla.com/users/incendio-avis/quizzes/Your%20Hogwarts%20House%20(Harry%20Potter)/

to see what Hogwarts house I belonged in and it was the Raven-puff house-- that I'm a mix between the two.

Then I took the quiz at
http://www.personalitylab.org/tests/ccq_hogwarts.htm

and there I was Hufflepuff with a close placement to Gryfindor.

I think it's interesting how many quizzes a person can take to find out where they belong. When I did my google search there were actually quite a few options available to me.

I know that it doesn't actually matter-- and that it is all fiction-- but it's important to me that I didn't get placed into Syltherin.

for sale

Yesterday we put our house up for sale. I can't believe how much work that is. I feel like it has taken the majority of my effort for the last week--especially the last 5 days. I'm really enjoying the clean house, but I'm looking forward to getting back to academic work.

video game theory

Kids play video games. There are then 2 schools of thought about these kids-- they are doing a good thing for themselves or they are doing a bad thing for themselves. The kids don't care--they just keep playing video games.

The initial good--it improves hand eye coordination.
The initial bad--it makes kids lazy--ie stop playing outside.

A later good--it helps kids learn to gather collective intelligence.
A later bad--it desensitizes kids to violence.

Geoff Sirc asked me what's the big deal about video game theory? What does it have to do with literature?

This is a good question--one that I realize I have to answer. I know it has nothing to do with the first-- I don't care about kids hand eye coordination, and although no one will come out and say it--if all kids do is read, they can become "lazy" just as effectively as they can with video games.

I think the real question is why is collective intelligence something we want? Why is it good? Why is it important? Why is it better than individual intelligence?

lunch with Sirc

Time flies way too fast-- it's already Thursday and I'm just now really trying to think about the questions Geoff Sirc asked me at lunch last Friday.

I was spouting that I think collective intelligence is so great--and that when kids participate in it that they learn so much. And his question was along the lines of-- but what are they really learning?

Cheat codes for video games-- well this keeps them from having to problem solve to get there themselves-- is that actually good? I remember being a kid, before the Internet, following the higher level codes my sister would achieve in video games and then not knowing how to survive in those levels because I hadn't earned the right to be there. Is this what we want kids to learn.

They learn how to work together--they learn that together they can gain more knowledge than they can apart. But does it really work like that-- or do the hard workers do all of the work and the lazy kids just mooch off of them?

The thing that I think is most beneficial in collective intelligence with children is that they learn how to articulate their ideas to multiple audiences. They learn how to share what they are discovering, and they learn how to synthesize their knowledge with other bits of knowledge that are out there. They aren't just stringing facts together so they can tell someone they know all of this stuff--instead they are seeing that their knowledge is a piece of a much bigger puzzle. Collective intelligence makes its participants global learners--participants have to understand that there is always more knowledge to be gleaned.

moving

we've decided it's time to move. i knew this day was coming, my husband has wanted to move since he bought this house, but it's a good little house in a good little neighborhood.

there's a part of me that wants to move, and of course, a part of me that just wants to stay put. the part of me that wants to stay put is the academic. the realtor came by yesterday and gave us tips on making the place more sellable-- one thing that's got to go-- my basement workstation. i am sitting here, working on my laptop for potentially one of the last mornings-- my ugly table has to go.

the good side to moving is that it is forcing me to go through the stacks and stacks of papers that i've accumulated over the last couple of years through my aversion to filing. This is motivating me to throw a lot of dead trees away. Don't worry-- I'm recycling what I can.

IRB

So, I decided that I wanted to add some real student perspectives to my dissertation-- I thought it would be good to say what real children think instead of just assuming what they think-- that sounds reasonable to me. So, I mention this to someone and they tell me to be sure I get my human subject research paperwork submitted. I don't want to do human subject research-- I want to send out an anonymous survey to find out if kids read books and talk about them with their friends-- but apparently that's what human subject research is. To me, human subject research somehow violates the human- that is why you need permission to do it-- but I guess I'm wrong--

Don't misunderstand me-- I know that the kids I want to survey are human. I just thought that since I would never meet them and since they're not telling me their names that it would be anonymous in and of itself. But, I guess it's not. Since I know what school they attend, the IRB people think I could figure out which survey matches up with which kid.

So, today I get to fill out pages and pages of paperwork. When I found out about all of the paperwork, my initial response was to leave out the survey, but I think that would do my project a disservice-- so, I'll let you know how the paper pushing goes.

Fridge Farm

I made one of my C & W outcomes that I was going to try to post to my blog everyday-- which for me means every weekday-- so now, here I am today-- with all sorts of stuff to work on and do-- and I should have academic thoughts to process on my blog, but I'm going to talk about my daughter's fridge farm.

My daughter got 3, count them 1, 2, 3 Leapfrog Fridge Farms for her first birthday last week. Now, this is a gift that I was hoping that she would get-- she's played with it at other people's house, and she really seems to like it, so I thought she would enjoy it. And she does. She loves to pull the pieces off of the fridge. And she likes to put the pieces in her mouth and crawl around the kitchen. She likes to push the pieces as high as she can reach on her tippy toes so that she can't get them back down. And she LOVES to push the Farmer Tag banjo playing button so that I get to listen to more banjo music than I've ever heard in my life. Even as I type this my brain is serenading me with "You made a match" and Old Suzanna on an alternating player despite the fact that my daughter is sleeping and the fridge is silent.

I don't say this to discourage someone from acquiring the Fridge Farm-- it's a fun toy-- and my daughter loves it. I guess I write this to explain to myself why I feel like I'm two different people sometimes. I can sit at a conference and glean knowledge and resolve to be a better teacher, student, director-- and then I come home, and I have this wonderful little girl who doesn't care about how many books I read, or articles I publish, or blog posts I complete. She cares if her picture pops up on the laptop screen. She cares if I tickle her when I read the sounds in Mr. Brown can Moo, can you?

This past year has been a lesson in convergence for me-- how do I converge mommy with scholar? I wish there were a how to here.

Computers and Writing 2007

This week I've been attending the Computers and Writing Conference at Wayne State University. I learned some important things there this weekend.
1. I've got to be better at writing my blog-- if I want to really do this-- use this space, I've got to write more often.
2. I've got to be better about reading other people's blogs-- if I think part of what is good about blogging is the blogging community, then I need to join that community.
3. It's important to talk about your projects with people because they ask questions that you realize you have to be careful to answer. On Thursday I sat with Geoffrey Sirc at lunch and he made me think-- more on that later.
4. I've got to get writing-- If I'm ever going to accomplish any of my goals that involves putting ideas onto paper.

I knew I would get stuff out of the conference, but I got more out of it than I thought I would, so that's cool-- now the challenge will be to live up to what I think I learned.

Safety

Today my thoughts and prayers are with the English Department staff at Virginia Tech. They are also with the families of the many victims.

Safety is such an ironic thing. Silly things like ritual and familiarity make us feel safe, and a massacure thousands of miles away can make us feel unsafe. I work at an urban college--people always ask me if it's safe here, and I say yes. There are usually plenty of people around. There is a good police presence on campus. I feel safe when walking on campus, when working in my office, when teaching in the classroom. My guess is that the people at VaTech felt safe. My prayer is for the students who are scared and wondering what to do next. I pray that God would comfort and direct them and allow them to feel secure again.

Diversity

Yesterday I went to yet another conference on diversity. This one was geared mainly at people who work in support services on our college campus. I am so sick of talking about diversity. Don't get me wrong-- I think that diversity is important, and I think it adds a dimension to our campus that enhances experiences and broadens perspectives. But, I am sick of talking about it. I was sitting in a room where the population was at least 75% black females. That's not very diverse. And I'm listening to everyone say how they want to make sure that the minority students on campus know about and feel welcome in their offices. Good, but shouldn't the goal as a support service to make sure all students know about and feel welcome in an office? It seems like if a campus has a diverse student body-- which our campus does-- this semester I have students who consider three different countries home-- then if the support service seeks to support all aspects of the student body, by default, that support service will have a diverse customer base.

I think diversity is an asset. But, I am tired of people making it political. At the conference, the afternoon speaker implied that good, liberal people care about diversity. So, does that mean that conservative people don't care. Or that conservative people are bad? Or is it just the bad liberals who don't care? Or is it that like me, people are tired of having everything labeled and defined to the point of nausea.

A diverse student body helps students realize that stereotypes don't work. It makes students realize that certain situations always create a common ground regardless of the student's personal background. And, hopefully it makes students realize that diversity is more than an issue of color-- we can be diverse from one another in so many aspects of life-- and that is why diversity is important. To teach and to remember that no matter the similarities, we all have differences, and more importantly that despite our differences, we usually have similarities.

Too Busy

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd written on my blog. I'm going to try to write more and use this again as a processing space. Somehow, it seems like I have to write a message like this first.

New Semester, New Plans

I can't believe it's already 2007. It's crazy how fast time flies. This semester I'm looking forward to working with my students on tutoring at the writing center. I'm also looking forward to making some progress on my dissertation. We'll see how it all goes.