Life With a Toddler, Vol. 14

Next, he'll be sleeping till Noon, raiding the fridge, and asking for the car keys.

Life With a Toddler, Vol. 13

Well, we pulled down the crib and gave The Little Boy a twin mattress to sleep on. . . for the time being, it's sitting on the floor. W first tried it on an experimental basis for his afternoon nap:

























As you can see, he needs some help with the whole "pillow" concept.

In which Piers suffers a poignant moment

A student just came in to drop my Shakespeare class. Not a remarkable event, really--but this is an interesting case. Here's a young man from Newbern, a small town just to the south of here, who is spending his first two years at this institution and planning to transfer to Berkeley, UCLA, or USC--in his words, "as far away as I can get."

I like him a lot--he's thoughtful, softspoken, a good writer--and terribly unsure of himself. After an introductory talk on Tragedy in which I mentioned Aristotle, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Citizen Kane, Gatsby, etc., he came in wanting to drop because he hasn't "read enough." I told him all that stuff wasn't necessary, that it was just an attempt to show context and definitions, but he wanted to focus his energy on other classes. From a disinterested perspective, I couldn't help but agree, seeing as he is planning to transfer anyway.

As he left, he asked for a 'reading list.' I said to start with Plato. If I'd had my wits about me, I'd have also echoed the best thing the late Prof. Kirkpatrick said in his 172 class at UNC: "read your Bible." He is a good student; I'm sad to see him go.

OK, there's Bowdlerizing, then there's. . .

this.

Unintentionally hilarious, perhaps, or a sign of the apocalypse. Your call.

Perhaps NOW we can move on??

The Washington Post on the whole Karr business. We happened to have the TV on when the story broke a couple of weeks ago. Good Morning America was breathlessly flogging the story even while battles raged from the Congo to the Sudan to Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel. I remember thinking, "is there nothing else going on, that we need to talk about this for hours of airtime?"

BTW, I have to give credit to W, who said from the beginning that the guy was a fraud.

Technology! We gots technology!

In my 11:00 classroom, we have the following (in addition to desks, whiteboard, etc.):

• One television
• Two LCD projectors
• Two desktop computers
• Three VCRs
• Two DVD players
• Two overhead projectors
• approx. 3.5 miles of cords & cables
• Three remotes
• Three computer mice

But I'm not sure any of it works.

Godspeed!

I know it's the first day of class here--I'm fifteen minutes away from my first batch of first-year students. To all my academic friends: may your lectures be inspiring, uplifting, and short!

"Suddenly / He's not half the meow he used to be"

Simon got The Operation yesterday. We brought him home and he staggered around with droopy eyes for a while, but he seems to be recovering fine. Sidney hopes it calms him down just a hair or two.

Fetch

I laughed out loud. Make sure you have time and bandwidth; this one's a bit long.

(click the link in the post title)

Life with a Toddler, Vol. 12

Yesterday evening, after choir practice, W takes The Little Boy into the church auditorium because he wanted to "see the big room." They look up at the front, where the organ and baptistry are, and see two paintings: one of Christ's baptism at the River Jordan, one of the Last Supper. W points out the figure of Jesus and the disciples, whereupon The Little Boy announces,

"They're hungry!"

Soybean Festival Update 1

Okay, looking at the schedule for the Tennessee Soybean Festival, I see the concert lineup:

1. The Peacemakers (a gospel group)
2. The Radio Daze Big Band
3. 38 Special
4. Diamond Rio (don't laugh. . . remember where we are!)
5. The Spin Doctors

Spin Doctors???

CR-V

We are now outright owners of our automobile.

That is all.

Llama Llama

Warning: sound down!

Llama!

Fall Faculty Meeting

Just got out of our morning meeting, in which the chancellor of our institution made some remarks including this : "higher education faces a battle for relevance."

Serious question: in what way is this happening? Is it really true that higher education is increasingly seen as irrelevant to regular folks?

Life with a Toddler, Vol. 11

Recent phrases learned and used:

"Daddy missed you"
"Grocery store"
"teetee potty"
"sweet dreams"
"see you soon when I wake up"
"momee, where are you?"
"what's wrong?"
"it's okaaaaay, you're fine"
"she come back in a minute"
"mommy runnin, daddy workin"

One of the best parts of each day is hearing him come out with a brand new phrase that we had no idea he knew. Needless to say, the chatter doesn't really stop.

Life with a Toddler, Vol. 10

Do you think they're in heaven, or what?

Walkin' on eggshells?

Two interesting moments during our department meeting (that's pre-migraine, last week):

First, when one of my colleagues had a slip of the ol' tongue. See, we recently installed a dual-track major with a 'writing concentration' and a 'literature concentration.' Now, our department is heavy in faculty whose primary job is writing instruction at introductory and advanced levels. And this is an ag school, so a tech writing focus would be a helpful thing. However, there's the matter of what the slip might signify. After one discussion period, someone referred in passing to "determining an identity for the writing program." Our department chair, always careful about language, said, "um, let's be careful. It's not a separate program or even a separate major." "Well," I thought, "perhaps not formally, but perhaps in the minds of some interested parties?"

Second, approaching a delicate subject. Toward the end of the meeting, our chair mentions that some female instructors have been having trouble with some foreign students who hail from a culture that doesn't quite appreciate women in positions of authority. She uses this as a chance to review procedures for unruly, intractable, or threatening students. I watched as several people twitched uncomfortably, especially when our chair stated bluntly that the students in question were from "the middle east." She went on to say that "if they're going to learn to live here, they need to learn to accept that sometimes women are in charge in this country," or words to that effect. So, if any student causes trouble, we should do such-and-such. Someone across the room felt obligated to murmur something about protecting these said students from other students (i.e., white, latino, african-american). It was interesting to see the discomfort percolate around the room, as if to touch on the fact that some of these young muslim men are -gasp!- misogynist and evidently belligerent at times were either wrong or distasteful to bring up.

Which makes me wonder: assuming that we're all trying to be fair, tolerant, and professional, is there a right way to bring things like this up? Why were some folks uncomfortable with the straightforward association of these students with "The Middle East" and "Islam"?

And, how is it that young men from Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Lebanon find their way out here? (And from China, for that matter--we've got a larger international student population than you'd think.)

Ninoy

Today is "Ninoy Aquino Day" in the Philippines, a holiday dedicated to one of the most important political figures in modern Philippine history. We were in the Philippines when he was assassinated (it's still not quite clear by whose trigger finger), though we were in Atlanta when the resulting People Power Revolution occurred in 1986. He was an enormously popular figure--I remember the street protests that took place in 84 and 85, as Ninoy's martyrdom sparked popular resistance to the Marcos regime (yeah, it was his wife with all the shoes).

Twenty years ago. . . doesn't seem possible that much time has gone by. I know that for most of us, the whole Ninoy/Marcos/People Power thing was a minor sidenote--but it's important for me to remember. I still feel a strong tie to that country.

To atone for the Previous Picture

Here's a shot from my brother's back porch at their new house. Things aren't all bad where they are.

Only in Texas

One of the pictures W brought back. I have no comment.

Laid Low

I've just had 36 hours of the worst headache I've ever had in my entire life. I've read about migraine headaches and the fact that they're debilitating, but I didn't really 'appreciate' it until this morning, when I couldn't even get out of bed.

Went to the doctor, got a shot, feel better--by which I mean that I'm not completely incapacitated.

Big News

The new Super Wal-Mart opened today, just down the street from the old Wal-Mart. I don't know how y'all feel about Wal-Mart, but if we're going to have one (and we are, no question), at least it's a nice one.

Hey! Maybe the Rural King can move from the old old Wal-Mart to the new old Wal-Mart! That way, it'll be a whooole lot closer to where I live, and I can stock up on this!

Life with a Toddler, Vol 9

Today is the day that I consider myself "back in school" for the new year--classes don't start until the end of the month, but you know the deal with faculty and grad students: we don't really get time off.

Anyway, W and The Little Boy were kind enough to drive me to school today, since I had two armloads of stuff to bring to my office. Once we pulled into the parking lot, he excitedly asked to go see my office. When we told him that I had to go to work and they were going home, his face completely fell and he murmured, "okay."

After not seeing him for five days? The way his face fell nearly slayed me then & there. I now realize that he'll know when I'm not around this year (and that's likely to be quite a bit). Dangit.

Special preview: "Life with a Toddler, Vol 10" coming soon. Featuring: tractors!

Blakbuzzrd will be happy to hear this.

Coffee as health drink. No, really.

Fun fact:

In another analysis, published in July in the same journal, researchers found that a typical serving of coffee contains more antioxidants than typical servings of grape juice, blueberries, raspberries and oranges.

Solitude done!

Happy to report that W and The Little Boy made it home just fine. Once more, the house is full of noise (not from me blaring music, that is).

Movie Report

During my period of solitude, I watched a few movies that the other members of my family aren't that interested in seeing. Here are thoughts on what I saw:

• Magnificent Seven: Sure enough, they got as much of the Kurosawa movie in there as they could. The hardest obstacle to overcome (and they didn't manage to overcome it) is that in the Japanese film, the Samurai are actually a separate class--when characters in the movie talk about "farmers" and "samurai," they are talking about hereditary castes. Gunslingers don't quite carry the same weight of status. Loved watching Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen, though--current 'tough guys' like Tom Cruise don't even come close to matching up.
  
• Kill Bill, Vols 1 & 2: The thing about Uma Thurman is that her appearance and her voice don't match up like you think they would. You expect to hear something that corresponds to her exotic-looking face. Anyway, I don't know what the critics said about the movie(s), but I enjoyed the self-consciousness of the storytelling--especially the sequence involving Beatrix' visit to that chinese master. And of course there's the violence and gore.
• Dr. Strangelove: I knew that Peter Sellers plays several roles in the movie, and I spotted him in his two obvious roles, but that he plays the president as well--that's a piece of acting. That said, I'm not used to "Kubrick" and "comedy" being used in the same sentence.
  

Nobody Gets a Smooth Ride

Nobody gets a smooth ride…
Every child will learn
How the asphalt burns
When he takes a sharp turn too wide
Nobody gets a smooth ride

I’m really sorry the way things are going these days
Try to be careful that’s all I can say
I’m really sorry the waythings are going

(T. Chandler, S. Hindalong)

Problems in McKenzie

Well, I visited my brother and sister-in-law in McKenzie on Friday--there was a variety show being put on by the students in the program my brother is helping lead. Some acts were out of sight: there was a jazz band piece that brought the house down; a bluegrass quartet did beautifully; a smoove R&B number; and a cover of the Eagles' "Already Gone." Then there were the other acts: a cover-your-eyes rendition of "These Boots Were Made for Walkin'," a deafening and screechy version of "His Eye is on the Sparrow," and a number from Grease that would curl your hair. Still, everyone was supportive, and the good numbers really overshadowed the bad ones.

Behind all this, however: R (my sister in law) has a job in the "business office," i.e., the department responsible for all finances, etc., and has come to find out that the college has multiple creditors that haven't been paid for upwards of six months. She isn't able to process payments, but she's now getting the phone calls--because the lady responsible for accounts payable just won't answer the phone or even check her voice mail. Meanwhile, B is finding that the program he's involved in is pretty much hated by everyone else on faculty and staff--particularly the one (that's "1") theater professor. Meanwhile, there's a lady in the administration building that likes to feed stray cats--in the building. Decisions made at the highest administrative levels, for instance that B should be able to have access to the university's theater facilities, scene shop, costume shop, etc., are not communicated to the persons actually responsible for carrying them out.

I could go on. Point being, I'm more than a little concerned that what we were seeing as a great opportunity is actually a trap.

Archaeology, Diplomacy, Pedagogy

Blakbuzzrd asks an interesting question about education in reference to "covering the known" (diplomacy) and "uncovering the unknown" (archaeology)--where does the teacher's job fit?

I immediately thought of Plato, and his contention that education is primarily a calling forth of knowledge that is already inherently there. Certainly, I think that the largest part of my job is not necessarily to impart new information, but instead to help the students connect and reconceive of the things they already know. And from my perspective as the instructor, I find that much of the intellectual work that I do as instructor involves 'covering the known,' i.e., reviewing and refining the things I already know.

Perhaps some of this is discipline-specific, at least as far as things like English and History and Philosophy can be called disciplines? Certainly, I don't think that a biology or physics professor would see the teaching process the same way. So much for answer #1. . . I'm still chewing on this one.

In which Piers reverts to his natural hermit state

W and The Little Boy are off to visit relatives in Texas . . . so for the next few days I am on my own here, with only my little bike for transportation. I plan to do some yard work, watch a few movies, read a bunch. I don't mind being by myself for a few days, but it is strange to be in this house without them.

So you've heard about all that fauxtography?

If the surrounding situation wasn't so unremittingly awful and tragic for workaday Israelis and Lebanese, and yet another example of absolute journalistic incompetence, these recent "gotchas" would be pure comedy. As it is, this one is still pretty dang funny:



















I know Time said it was a downed jet, but look closely--dude's guarding a tire fire!! Springfield ain't got nothing on USNews!

Plus, doesn't Sir "Terrorist Chic" Hezbolla (Hizb'ulaa? Hizbullah? Hiz'ballah?) remind you of someone? Check this out:









Absurdity like this makes Democritus' response the only sane one.

What a Haul!

The big-time perk of this job: I just got a box of books from Penguin, my free exam copies for this term:

The Portable Dante

The Italian Renaissance Reader

The Viking Portable Renaissance Reader

The Reformation: A History

Hopefully, I'll get to use these books to propose a course on the Italian and Continental Renaissance. In the meantime, I'll like having them as reading material and resources as I continue to fill gaps in my education.

Stop what you're doing.

And go directly here.

(No, it's not manamana).

On my Summer Vacation, I . . .

. . . didn't do 'enough.' But then, when would it ever be 'enough?' I worked like a dog this summer, and that's not counting the yardwork (speaking of which, we have a *$^&@#%@@# mole tearing up the garden around the rose bushes! Blast!). Now, I'm wishing I had taken more time off to enjoy W and The Little Boy, to take long naps, etc.

That all comes to mind after reading this, featuring a lesson I've still to learn.

The War of the End of the World

You'll recall that this is one of my two "fun books" right now. . . I'm about to finish it, and I'll just say that it's not a book to read if you're feeling grim about the human condition. I knew it was a novelization of some real events, but I didn't really know how horrible those events were. It's basically the story of a run-up to an absolute massacre.

From a strictly literary standpoint, I was happy to see that MVL uses his very effective "telling the story" technique in the latter third of the book--i.e., we have a figure telling the story in the present, and large parts of the story are told as if being recited from memory. Of course, since memory is faulty and subjective, the coloring of the story changes, and that's where the horrible truth meets artful storytelling.

Being Good Neighbors

A few months ago, the couple next door moved into their new house--it's just on the other side of our driveway, which has kinda messed up the view from the garage, but what can you do? They are Indian--he manages the Days Inn here in town, and they own a couple of convenience stores nearby. They have two children; the eight-year old girl has taken a liking to W & J, but the three-year-old boy terrifies J, so that makes playtime (when they come over) a little bit of a challenge. Still, we're trying to be good neighbors, as are they--recently we were the recipients of some okra and eggplant from their garden.

On Friday, they come over and invite us to a "prayer" for their house--evidently some kind of Hindu ceremony meant to impart blessing on the abode. Well, we figured it would be a good idea to make an appearance, seeing as we live right next door and we sure weren't going anywhere else on Saturday. W was concerned that we might offend or do something wrong, but we decided to make the best of it. So we get dressed at about 3:00 and head over there. I lead Jonathan to the back yard, where there are lots of kids playing, and W goes to the front door and rings the doorbell. In the middle of their prayer. She gets directed to the side entrance, and creeps in only to find about 50 women sitting on the floor in the midst of the ceremony.

So, all of her concern about doing something wrong? Good to get it out of the way first thing!

After about an hour or so, they pass around some food, and the hostess thanks W for coming. W says, "oh, we're planning on sticking around," and the response is, "oh? okaaay." Which gave W the impression that there wasn't anything else for us to be doing so we needed to go on home (all this time I've been playing with J in the back yard, talking with some of the other kids). We had changed clothes, I was putting water on to boil for dinner, and who should we see but our neighbor, at the front door. "You didn't want to stay for some indian food?" Well, of course we did, but we were just a little confused about what exactly was going on. So, back on with the party clothes and back over for some awfully good food. A lot of the guests were bemused at the way we dug in, asking if we really liked it. I would have answered, but my mouth was full.

Our Long National Nightmare is over. . .

. . . because tonight, the NFL preseason starts.

From the garden

It's not a lot, but this is our first shot at growing our own
vegetables. It's fulfilling to eat stuff that you've worked on
and grown with your own hands. Actually, my favorite part about
being out there is the smell of the basil, the tomato plants, the dirt
they're planted in. Just let me say, too, that bell peppers out
of the garden are 100% tastier than the strip-mined kind you get at
your local Harris Teeter. That said, I wish we had a Harris Teeter. . .

I like Legos too, but wow.

Van Gogh's "Starry Night."  That's what I call dedication.  And this is why the Interwebs is soooo cool.  This and YouTube, where I recently found two of my favorite Sesame Street sketches of all time:  The Martians and the phone, and the "Some and None" skit with Bip Bippadotta.

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Harvey, Nashe, Lyly, Greene, Martin, Marston, Guilpin

Been reading a lot of scurrilous prose and poetry this week. How scurrilous, you ask? Here's a brief sample:

Needs he must cast up certain crude humours of English hexameter verses that lay upon his stomach; a nobleman stood in his way as he was vomiting, and from top to toe he all-to-bewrayed him with Tuscanism.

That's Nashe on Gabriel Harvey. And they bemoan lack of civility these days! Ha! Anyway, loads more in that vein. Harvey and Nashe lay it on by the cartload.

Clear Direction, part 2

The UT system president swung by campus yesterday chock-full of news about his "Strategic Plan." The press release is here (warning: pr and bureaucrat-heavy language).

Here's one of the key items:

Among plan goals being considered, Petersen discussed raising the number of high school graduates entering college in Tennessee from the current 35 to 60 percent. Once in college, the graduation rate for students who enter and graduate from a single UT campus could rise from 51 to 65 percent.

Wow. Lots to ponder about there. Like, where the heck are we going to put all those students, who will be teaching them, and who'll be paying the tuition? Better start buying those lottery tickets!

I jest because I care. The proof will be in the specific mandates coming from what is necessarily an overly-general strategy.

Is it too late to crawl back into bed?

You know how sometimes you can just feel a black mood getting ready to jump out and take a lead pipe to your knee? Well, that's what's happening around here. A situation not helped at all, I might add, by the items on my Google homepage this morning:


check, please.