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.