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.

Aha! Nothing Like Clear Direction

From our in-house newsletter:

"More students who finish their degrees, research that sparks economic development and programs that reach across the state and around the world are the targets of a strategic plan being introduced this week by University of Tennessee President [name removed by Piers for lack-of-tenure reasons].

(snip)

"A year in the making, the plan is organized into three mission-oriented focus areas: student access and success; research and economic development; and outreach and globalization. Benchmarks have been set for several defining elements of each focus area, and yearly goals, both external and internal, are being set through 2012. Internal benchmarks and goals are intended to enable the mission targeted by external goals."

Wow. You could come up with wording like this in fifteen minutes at a sports bar. Is there a class of university bureaucrat whose job it is to generate boilerplate like this? I know, I know, I'm being unfair. This is just a newsletter blurb; more details are forthcoming, and all that.

But hey, while I'm on a roll, more unfairness: note the lack of faculty development. And I wonder, is the boneheaded "merit pay" scheme part of this strategic plan?

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Hey!

Manamana!

Life with a Toddler, Vol. 8

Heard recently around our house:

• "We don't climb on top of the table."
• "Please take your finger out of your diaper."
• "Don't put your finger in kitty's nose."
• "No, we don't eat kitty's food."
• "I'm not sure kitty likes it when you pick him up by the tail."
  

The Little Boy's Ultra-Luxo swimming pool

Ready, set. . .



wheee

Simon

He's not quite dignified yet--



But he is a sweet boy.

Pig Pickin Phase 1 Complete

We picked up a load of concrete blocks today, since Papa is in town with his pickup truck ("pick up" with a "pickup," get it?). This means that the first phase of our NC Barbecue invasion has been set in motion! Phases left: rebar, chicken wire, charcoal, pig. We'll keep you updated as events warrant

Test to see if you think like a West Tennessean

If you needed to transport a four-drawer filing cabinet and a car engine down the street and around the corner, what means might you use?

a) Ford F-150
b) wheelbarrow
c) transporter (a-la Star Trek)
d) Ford Tempo
e) John Deere backhoe

We saw proof tonight: the answer to the above question is "e."

This Month's Reading

More ambitious material (at least for me it is. . . some of my readers might be able to toss one of these off in a weekend, but not me):

First, The Tale of Genji, another fix for my obsession with Japanese culture, art, etc. I'm not all that far along, and I'm having some trouble with names, etc., but I can say that I am amazed by the aestheticism of Heian culture--apparently all things are done in this world for artistic effect, and responses are usually hyperbolic (weeping, fainting, etc).




Next, Mario Vargas Llosa's The War of the End of the World, a novel that shows up more clearly than any other his interest in apocalyptic/utopian strains of thought (an idea quite clear in his latest, The Way to Paradise). I wish my paperback copy had as cool a cover as this one; mine looks like some 1970's adventure film. Reading about Brazil right after being immersed in Borges' Argentina is a little disorienting, but I enjoy the epic scope of this novel.


Also, and the Buzzard will be glad to know I've finally gotten to it, I'm watching the second half of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai tonight after choir practice. So far, I'm pretty sure I'd go into battle following Kambei Shimada (played by Takashi Shimura). I know that Toshiro Mifune is usually seen as the big dog in Kurosawa's films, but I'm not thrilled with his character. . . yet. I preferred him in Red Beard and in Yojimbo. But like I said, I still have half the film to go.

'That 70's Show' + Memphis News =

The print edition of today's Memphis Commercial Appeal has a headline straight from That 70's Show (a sitcom I love, BTW):

"Heavy on the Oregano, please"

Must not have been a popular joke--the online version of the story goes with the much more straightforward headline. Too bad.

Come on out; the weather is fine

We got an all-too-rare treat this past weekend; our beautiful and brilliant friends from Chicago, RS and SWS, came down for their first visit to our corner of West Tennessee.

We had a lovely time--lots of conversation, lots of grilled food and quaffables. We here at Luigi's Mansion really enjoyed being able to share some of our space and some rural quiet. And the weather on Saturday could not have been better--cool, breezy, and no humidity. It was also fun to take them around, show them the campus, the other neighborhoods in town, the Rural King. Didn't make it to the DQ, though. Got to save something for next time, I guess!

One of several great moments: watching The Little Boy and S spin around in the back yard, then seeing them both collapse in laughter in the grass (well, technically Lespedeza, but in our backyard, if it's green, it counts as grass!).

Thanks for coming, R & S. Sidney says he'll give up his room anytime you want to come again. Simon says only if there's no cuddling involved.

From the Inbox

Now this is what I call a broad scope. On the other hand, it has the advantage of being in Wales:

CONFERENCE TITLE: "fragment, cultural histories and vocabularies of the
fragment in text and image c. 1300-2000"

3 day Interdisciplinary Conference, hosted by Department of English, and
Institute for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Wales,
Aberystwyth, UK

500 word abstracts for discussion papers, creative workshops,
performances/installations by 16th December 2006

Themes might include: making/unmaking, text/intertext, pastiche bricolage,
narratology and poetics, embodiment, artefacts, figments,
interdisciplinarity, memory and remembrance, archaeologies of meaning,
remnants/remainders

Selected papers to be published by Manchester University Press

university of wales, aberystwyth

What, no Ancient Greeks?

An essay for my fellow eggheads

On the difference between what attracted us to capital "E" English and what the reality is on the other side of postgraduate education. link.

Key phrase: "English is, among my undergraduates at least, one of the last refuges of the classical notion of a liberal-arts education."

That's what it is for me, too, which may be why I find it so fulfilling. Granted, I'm also at an institution where there aren't quite so many other pressures. In fact, the state of the profession that "Prof. Benton" decries is actually far from my experience, and I often wonder at the repeated complaints along this line--i.e., to get a Ph.D. in English, you have to destroy your love for the literature. Has my experience been so different from other people's? Have I been that naive? Is it that I studied where I did, under whom I did? Is it just that I'm out of the "big time" and satisfied to be on the sidelines?

anyone else have thoughts?

On Campus, Summer 2006

Here's the quad, from the front of our building on campus.




Now, here's the view from my office window.

Weekend Yard Report

With the mower fixed, and a weekend free from other responsibilities, we hit it. Mowing: check. Weed whacking: check, and still in progress. Edging: ditto. Weed & Feed for back yard: check. Watering: check. Transplanting seven bushes, including a Crepe Myrle: check. Pruning rosebush: check. Removing diseased and unsalvageable shrub: check. Obsessing over and manually pulling massive patches of Virginia Buttonweed in front and back yards: check (did this last item actually make a difference? Of course not!)

Sweat, dirt, and ticks: check, check, check!

Life with a Toddler, Vol 7 (UPDATED)

This weekend, The Little Boy decided that he would experiment with the potty. We've had one sitting in the bathroom for a couple of months now, and he has been willing to sit on it--while the lid is closed and while he's got pants on. But for some reason, on Saturday he decided that it was time to sit on it to use it. We had several false alarms, including once where he leaked all over the bathroom and then in his bedroom.

But this morning--huzzah! three cheers! He sat and produced! (number one only; number two is a whole 'nother ballgame, I'm sure) Looks like our approach of letting him take his time is bearing fruit. He doesn't like to be pushed into doing things.

Wonder where he gets that from?

UPDATE: Four times today.

Well, that settles it, don't it?

I'd write about my agreements and disagreements with this article, because I found it both interesting and perplexing, but evidently to do so would be to fall into the trap of questioning Professor Balmer's "evangelical credentials." In fact, note from the very first that he inoculates himself against disagreement by using the Galactic Emperor defense: I have forseen it!!

Wehell then.

I was glad to note, though, that he has full assurance that there's still time for James Dobson--even The James Dobson!--to be redeemed. How charitable of him.

For the record, I'm sure Jesus is not a Republican. Or a Democrat or a member of the Green Party or the Netroots or the Libertarian Party or the John Birch Society. Or even--*gasp*--a citizen of the 21st century! In fact, I'm fairly certain he wouldn't have voted for any of our current officials, since his last recorded physical act on this planet was during the Pax Romana.

In which Piers gets More Information than he wants

Sitting in my office on a late afternoon this week, door open. Student walks into the office suite, moans that a colleague's door is closed. "Hey," he says, "do you know when Dr. _____ will be in?"

He said he would be back on Friday.

"Really? Because I need to talk to him about a grade."

. . .

"I got two A's and three B's in his class, and he gave me a B, so I need to see if I can work something out."

. . .

"I'd like to have an A in the class, y'know."

. . .

"So I just want to talk to him. If I can't, that's okay, but I'd just like to talk to him."

. . .

"Did you say he would be back on Friday?"

He said he would be back on Friday.

"I'll just come back then."

Sounds like a good idea.

Our new foe

Dioda virginiana L., or Virginia buttonweed. Hate it, hate it, hate it. There are spots in the backyard where it has killed all the grass.

The 2C rule strikes again!

My brother says that with the purchase of a house, one becomes subject to what I'm calling the 2C rule: All repairs, etc. start at $200 and work upwards in increments of 2C (i.e., 200, 400, 600, 800). Well, our mower is being returned to us this evening to the tune of . . . you guessed it . . . 2C.

Hey, cheaper than buying a new one (which would be in the 5 x 2C or 10C range)--and with all the rain we've been getting this week, it's not a moment too soon.

On the upside, the rosebush we planted earlier this year is putting out several nice yellow blooms, and we'll have some tomatoes before long.

New Pictures Up

follow the link to the latest slideshow, if you're interested:

.mac pictures

Looking to kill some time?

Those of you with video game systems or computers--ps2, xbox, gamecube, pc, mac, game boy, nintendo ds--you need to do yourself a favor and get ahold of Lego Star Wars. It is a major hit at Luigi's Mansion, our abode. W, who's not much of a video game fan (besides this game and Wario Ware), absolutely loves it: it's perfect for two players, controls are simple, the worst that happens is that your little lego person falls apart (i.e., it's basically nonviolent), and replayability is out of sight. Plus, it's legos! Who doesn't like legos?

And here's the best part: the sequel is coming out in September! You've got time to finish the first one before the second one is on the shelf at Target! Buzzard, I'm talking to you!

Two Updates

1. PowerBook now safe from malicious theft; History department chair now safe from wheedling English professor begging use of master key. They got me an office key that works. Now I can put up my priceless works of art!
2. Piers set straight on a bit of sloppy writing. In the post below, ES responds with a lengthy and pointed critique. I recognize that I got rhetorically sloppy in my initial post. I don't attribute the dishonest thinking to "most of my colleagues," as I said originally. I should have said that folks who get caught up in messes like this often use such-and-such a fraudulent defense. I don't know that many people, for one thing, and for the other, I haven't gone to school or work with more than one or two who evidence that kind of mendacity. My main point is that we professors need to be careful about the power we intentionally and unintentionally wield. Suitably chastened, I am at least glad to note that somebody is reading this stuff.
   

what profs believe

I don't know if you all are familiar with the whole Kevin Barrett business at U of Wisconsin-Madison. Essentially, this Mr. Barrett has been hired by the university as an adjuct instructor to teach a course on Islam. Part of the course will be a "week" on the "so-called 'war on terror'" (his words). He is a leading proponent of the notion that the attacks of 9/11/01 were part of an extensive government conspiracy, that the WTC towers were set off on purpose, etc.Well, it's caused an uproar in many circles. Prof. Althouse, a law professor at UW, has all the relevant background if you can stomach it.

I've got nothing to add to the discussion of whether or not 9/11 was a government 'program,' but this does remind me of a notion that's been rattling around in my brain for a bit: professors/instructors/teachers need to take seriously their position of power in the classroom. I note that many of these kinds of conflicts (see also the Crystall incident at UNC a couple of years ago) are often argued on the merits of the various arguments at play. What many of my colleagues in this profession seem to want to ignore is that their positions as graders, as evaluators of student performance, provides them with a powerful platform. It is not enough to simply aver that one "teaches all sides of the issue," or that "students needn't regurgitate what I tell them," or that "I'm just trying to start a conversation." First of all, most professors are pretty rotten at starting conversations. Second, anyone who says these things and believes them has forgotten what it's like to be 19 or 20 years old, away from home, and taking 4 or 5 classes at one time. Political content is one thing--it's to be expected. But to attempt to "defuse" purposefully incendiary course material by suggesting that students can just ignore it is plainly dishonest.

And it doesn't help matters that I've had more than one conversation where a colleague (at UNC) has told me in all seriousness that she doesn't believe the classroom is a "free speech zone." Yow.

Which makes my warning to my students particularly apt: "don't trust what your professors tell you!" They know I'm joking, but only partly.

The fly in the ointment

You know what will take the shine off of having a new office of your very own?  

When your assigned key won't open the door.

Novum Sanctum

Well, it's finally happened . . . I moved all my belongings into my new (my own!) office today. It's small, and quite institutional, but huzzah! It's my own space! First major task: find a spot for pictures of the Little Boy, then find a spot for the "joy" scroll from Blackbuzzard and Hambone.

Moving-in (mostly) done

We are happy to welcome B&R to West Tennessee. . . they finally moved into their new house this past week. We had grandparents in from out-of-town, and needless to say the Little Boy was happy to occupy as much of their time as possible. Many hands made relatively light work. I even got to help paint a room!

It's a 30-mile drive from our house to theirs; exciting to have them so close. It'll be good for the Little Boy to have Uncle B and Aunt R nearby. And I get to play Half-Life 2 on B's XBox! Yow!

It's swimmin' time!

Some men find this time of year a good excuse to look at women in swimsuits (or less, as we've recently seen in the always-strange SI Swimsuit Issue).

Me, I'm a thoroughly reconstructed Twenty-first Century male.

Me, I prefer looking at women in swimsuits J. Lileks style. If you're familiar with his stuff, you'll know that though these are young women in swimsuits, it's not exactly SI Swimsuit Issue material.

On another note, the Little Boy actually got into the community swimming pool this week. Had a big time.

Reading the Bible

I intermittently read Slate. Not as much as I used to; about a year ago I decided I was tired of websnark (locus classicus: see any of Nick Denton's blogs), and since many of Slate's offerings are middle- to highbrow snark, I've decided I have enough of a tendency to pessimism and depression without the html-rendered help.

But it's in my Bloglines queue, so every once in a while I stumble on an interesting article. I enjoy the items on Slate that teach me something, or remain in "whimsical" territory. This seems like an interesting and instructive project: the writer plans to read through the Bible as more or less an "ignoramus," as he calls himself, and he'll write about what he sees there.

That got me thinking about my acquaintance with the Bible. After all, as a lifelong (if discontent) Baptist, I fall squarely into that oft-maligned "Evangelical Christian" group that according to many folks wants to take over the government of the United States and enact laws predicted by Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. Thank goodness she set out a roadmap for the takeover!

Anyway, it struck me that Mr. Plotz's project is truly sola scriptura in the sense that I often describe Reformation Theology to my students. Scripture only. A cornerstone of Protestant thought and practice. I'm pretty sure, based on my reading and on conversations with friends, that the Catholic Church views Scripture as authoritative, along with various elements of Church practice and teaching. Yet don't Protestants, even those of us on the "radical right," do the same thing? I can't think of anyone who doesn't now read the Bible in the light of what he/she has been taught by (take your pick): John Stott, C. S. Lewis, Rick Warren, Oswald Chambers, Lifeway Christian Resources (motto: Biblical Solutions for Life! See IBM for business 'solutions,' Cisco Systems for networking 'solutions,' Lifeway for Bible 'solutions.'), Bart Ehrman, Joyce Meyers, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, or their pastor.

Just thoughts, really--but does anyone come to the Bible with a blank slate? I don't see how. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how Mr. Plotz fares once he gets to Leviticus.

UPDATE: Upon rereading the above, look who's being snarky now! See? I don't need the help.

One Year at Hawks Road

We moved in a year ago yesterday. Here's what we've learned about homeownership and about Northwest Tennessee so far:

• House- and yardwork never really ceases; you just learn to ignore some things. Or you hire folks (but not on an assistant professor's salary, you don't!)
• In honor of Mike and Nancy Skrivan: you could always use about 10% more than you're making. And the house would eat it all even then.
  
• Little boys love big back yards--enough space for them to run around, pick up sticks and pine cones, that sort of thing.
• Kin is the primary social grouping around here; one associates with one's family (extended, of course) first and foremost, and then with those folks who've been going to school and church with you for your whole life.
• It is possible to have monster crayfish living in your front yard.
• Good neighbors are nice to have, as long as you don't mind them dropping by unannounced and/or knowing most of what you're up to.
• There's no anonymity in a town this size.
• As if one needed a reminder to mind one's manners: I always see my students working at the Sonic, the Dairy Queen, the library, Michael's Steak House, the grocery store, etc.
• My wife is noted around town for being the one "running with that stroller."

Yes, we're glad to have had this year to get settled in, to learn the way the seasons go, to get our house and yard in order. Thankful every day for our blessings.

Gee thanks, part 2

I've been thinking more about the salary regime here, and I've got a couple of things to add.

First, I find it interesting that whereas faculty have been singled out for this 1%-1% scheme, administrators and staff are getting a flat 2% increase. Neither is stellar, of course, but I notice that it singles out faculty for "special treatment" (in the East German sense). If the "additional" 1% is truly intended to signify "merit" performance, shouldn't it actually be above and beyond a flat 'raise' that amounts to a cost of living increase? Perhaps faculty do less work than the other groups at the university, is that it? If you want to use this as a measure for retaining good faculty members, then shouldn't it be an actual, you know, reward?

And this brings up another point--I'm not sure how this helps the university system retain faculty. It would seem that the way to retain faculty, particularly the younger folks at the lower ends of the pay scale, would be to make the job attractive and rewarding. I'd class this primarily under the idea of faculty development--i.e., providing opportunities for meaningful teaching and research work, providing facilities and support services, providing library space and substantial research collections. Adding one percent to bring "merit" faculty up to the level of administrators and staff seems, well, insulting, as if Those In Charge wish to get credit for providing a cost of living increase without actually doing it.

Budget crunches, I can understand. Even though our "education" lottery has always been pitched as a panacea, they happen. But this policy is a matter of choice, was opposed by the faculty senate (in a self-interested vein, no doubt), and as far as I can see makes "merit" a punitive category in the sense that one needs to attain this category in one's evaluations just to match what the bosses and the groundskeepers and the clerical staff are deservedly receiving.

Okay, rant over.

Gee, thanks.

The official announcement came today that all faculty members are in line for a 1% raise, with an additional 1% for those in the "merit" pool.  Well, how about that.  Kind friends, do the math based on your own pay:  what kind of raise is 1%?  Going to be enjoying filet mignon on that extra money, eh?

The  president of this state university system says that this new merit-based pay scheme will help us retain faculty members by rewarding those who do well (apparently by shortchanging those who somehow fail to make the "merit" category).  I don't know who he's been talking to.  What this essentially does is put young faculty in the position of looking for ways out.  The suits in Nashville and Knoxville may be patting themselves on the back for providing raises, but around here it reads like a kick in the shins and a middle finger salute to boot.

Understand:  I'm thankful to have the job here, and I am perfectly happy in my work, and I'm not looking to get rich quick or otherwise.  But in a year where our state budget is in surplus, and in a state with a so-called "education lottery" (a crock for another day), this is the best we can do?  

I bite my thumb at you, sir!

It is Really Official now

My sweetie did well, I'd say.

So! Sidney! How do you feel now that you've got a brother?

Not to be left out. . .

Question: What happened to the baby? There's not a trace of him left. We're not sure we're ready for a little boy who poses for pictures.

Male-Female ratio hits 4:1

We added another member to the household today. His mommy was taken in by a colleague back in January, and turns out she was 'expecting' . . . he was born on Good Friday, and they had to take her in for an emergency C-section. We're still working on a name.

Behold!

Note that he is trying very hard to strike an appropriately cat-like pose.

Grey, with black stripes, white socks, a white tip on his tail, and a white mask & belly. Not sure whether or not the belly is undeservedly white. We've noticed that he tends to 'prance' when he runs. But he's fast!

Sidney actually welcomed him in with interest, albeit a little bit nervously. The nose-touching went well. . .

But Sidney still has to show the newcomer who's boss. . . a few bats to the head seem to be in order. The little one is absolutely unafraid.

The Little Boy is thrilled.

We're thinking of names. . . please let us know if you have any ideas.

I'll bet that more pictures are forthcoming.

Mercury Mistake

Got a phone call from my brother just a few minutes ago. Turns out they were sitting on the side of I-65 in Franklin, TN--their car had just quit on them. It's a Mercury Mystique, which they jokingly call the "Mercury Mistake," and it's an apt nickname. Not a good time for the car--an absolute lemon, like its Ford counterpart--to break down, though at least we managed to get them to McKenzie, unpacked, and true owners of the house.

Hard to be helpless in this situation, though. Thankfully, we know Certain Persons in Nashville who were able to offer a little assistance. They have saved our bacon too many times to count.

How I sweated out 10 pounds

Spent the weekend in Birmingham helping my brother move out of one house, then drove with him to our neck of the woods, then unloaded the truck this morning . . . so my brother is 80% moved into his new house in McKenzie TN. We'll be finishing the move-in the first week of July.

And let me say, it's hot out there.

Oh, I'm sorry...you were thinking of getting work done!?

This has been an interesting week up at the U. I went in on Monday, and was soon met at my office/dorm door by several men wanting to move all my furniture, books, etc. back to the humanities building, our true department offices. I managed to get stuff ready for them to go, then went over myself to see what the situation was. Well, these things never go smoothly (those of you familiar with UNC--imagine what would happen if they needed to totally renovate Greenlaw--okay, stop laughing!).

When I went in this morning, I checked the old dorm room. . . good, no books in there, no desk in there. I went over and checked my temporary office in the humanities building. Hmm. No books in here, either. There is a desk, and I can steal a chair from down the hall. . . thank goodness for wi-fi. . .

See, the complication is that I'm taking the office of a colleague who is leaving at the end of June to take a position at Gonzaga (advantage: his current office doesn't look out onto our smoker's porch). But he's teaching this summer. So I get to move twice: once to this temporary office, once into my long-term office. But! he needs it right now, so I need to let him have the space. But! on paper, that's my office now. But! it's not really my office, because I don't have keys to it, nor do I have any belongings in it. But! despite my marking the book boxes with the number of my temporary office, they are . . . in his office.

I'm not going to even try to go in there tomorrow.

Coming to a newsstand near you!

I returned proofs to "Prose Studies" today, so it looks like my very first article will appear in the August issue (28: 2), pp. 210-220.  I know everyone's been wanting to run out and learn about preaching rhetoric in sixteenth century England, so here's your chance!  

Pinoy na pinoy

Things to note in this article from the Philippines:

• the names (and nicknames--"Kuya Chito")
• what is "high end air soft gaming equipment"?
• if the guy was such a loser, how come he had such prominent friends?
  

What we found in the flower garden

Our predecessor in this house, Ms. M, was evidently quite the flower gardener. At least, compared to us, since we have basically zero knowledge. Here are some pictures. I know, flower pictures are the amateur photographer's greatest cliche, but oh well. Note the "friend" in one of the pictures.

Life with a Toddler, Vol. 6

New items in the ever-growing vocabulary:

• "corn plants" (sounds more like 'corn pants')
  
• "whiskers"
• "I see you"
• "I got you"
• "where did he go?"
• "hi kitty" (this one usually to a fleeing cat)
• "I did it"
• "Johna's house" ("Johna" is his name for himself)
• "I tooted" (see vol. 5, below)
  

Life with a Toddler, Volume 5

1. Any surface in the house, including its fuzzy and grownup inhabitants, is a good place to drive your toy car.

2. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but the folks who do Elmo know what they're about. We don't go a day without the request "watch Elmo?"

3. We're getting adventurous. . . just yesterday, he was diving headfirst off the couch onto the floor. We had to encourage the "foot-first" approach.

4. We're also into kissing. The other day, he had Mommy kiss all of the stuffed animals after he'd kissed them. This morning, he was taking the zebra from Noah's Ark and having it kiss all its four-footed cousins: lion, alligator, giraffe, panda, hippo.

5. We're beginning to need the phrase "excuse me," if you know what I mean.

@#%*$#

McNair to the Ravens! Why, oh why does it have to be the Ravens?

What I'm reading

Summer's the time when we all pledge to catch up on that stack of books that we've been meaning to read--things we picked up when we had a bit of extra cash. Well, this month I'm indulging in an interesting juxtaposition:

First of all, I'm plugging a major gap in my education by finally reading all the way though The Iliad. I know, I should have read this years ago, but let's face it--Homer is a daunting task. I am really enjoying Fagles's translation.

My second undertaking is to read though the collected fictions of Borges. I'll admit, this is a total indulgence for me. I certainly think his fiction is important from a literary standpoint, but honestly the main reason to read him is pleasure.

The most interesting juxtaposition between these two is in scale; Homer deals in masses of men, violence, anguish and bloodshed on a daunting scale. Borges, on the other hand, is elegant and almost algebraic in his approach. At any rate, these two will keep me occupied for a while; between the two, there must be at least 1500 pages.

UPDATE: Hector dies. Hope I didn't ruin it for anybody!

Congratulations

. . . to my good friend MB, AKA "The Other Woman," who has had her book manuscript accepted by Palgrave . . . wonderful news, even if it does mean she'll have tons of work on top of the teaching she's doing at NCSU. Just got off the phone with her, and she sounds as cheerful as ever. Miss her pretty terribly, to be honest.

Here's something we can all agree on

I'm not much of an NPR-nik anymore; I never really forgave WUNC for going to the all-talk format, and I get enough of the faux-intellectual preening at the places I work, so why would I choose to listen to it on the radio as well?

A question for another day, so never mind that for right now. I did, however, just find a meditation on something near and dear to my heart: link.

We're hosting a good NC-style pig-pickin' this October, in case you want to mark your calendar.

Ah, yes . . . if you've been wondering where I've been, let's just say I was on JD duty and out of town. I'm back at work now, so I'll post here regularly in an attempt to avoid work. I think we can expect more pictures up here during the next few weeks. We'll see!

Student evals 2: Absurdist Evals!

Some of the best responses to those inane evaluation questions. I wish I'd been able to think of something like this when I was an undergraduate!

"What one aspect of the teacher's teaching is particularly good?"
the teaching part of the teacher's teaching

"Comment on the course itself (e.g., subject matter, organization, text selection)."
It is a course.

"Comment on the readings and assignments."
There were readings and assignments.

"Add additional comments about the course or teacher."
additional Comments. add Comment ("Teacher");

I think I know who this is. . . why didn't I see this sense of humor in his writing in class?

class evals

It's that time of year again. . . I look through the sheaf of student comments to see what I did well, and what I didn't do well.  I actually really hate going through student comments, because I want to be liked, and my trusty "gain self-worth through praise of others" instinct kicks in pretty well.

As I anticipated, my 16th Century lit course was rough in spots.  Some students were really unimpressed; one reminded me several times that this isn't grad school.  the other one thought I was mad at the class all the time and advised me to find a job I actually like.

The best comment however:  "he rambles in connection to comedies [movies] that many of us have never seen."

perhaps I should make the Mel Brooks catalogue a prerequisite??

Strawberries!

It's not Jean's Berry Patch, but they're still pretty good.

Ilium

Meanwhile, I'm reading Dan Simmons' Ilium as a reward for finishing the term. I admire his serious science fiction because, among other things, he is so ambitious with the conceptual backstory. In his Hyperion Cantos, he heavily used Chaucer and Keats, and Shelley, even while telling a story about a far future. In Ilium he uses Homer's Iliad, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Proust. While weaving a plot including neutrino streams, nanotechnology, quantum singularities, and post-Singularity humanity. It's a fun and challenging read. I've got the sequel, Olympos, but I will have to get to the Iliad and the Aeneid before I start on more SF.

Voice Lessons 4

or, "write to learn."

One of the major focus points in our reading this past week has been on ways to include more "low stakes" writing in our classes. I'm a writer, obviously, and have never been all that intimidated by a graded assignment. My students, however, have often suffered at the hands of their teachers, and come to my class in their first year of college with the idea that "writing" is something one does as a product to be evaluated. The most difficult thing for a writing teacher is to get students to loosen up, to be willing to take risks, to treat writing as a process and an act of discovery. Those of us who write a lot probably find that we do some of our best "thinking" while we are writing, for instance in our Moleskines.

So, how do I get my students to treat writing as a way to think, not just to produce something that will be evaluated? Well, give them lots of writing to do that will not be graded. Sure, except for the fact that they need some motivation to start doing that. Which is why one of the things I'm doing next term is having the students write when they first come in the door (in my Shakespeare class) or right before the end of class (in my survey class). In the first case, I'll give them ten minutes to respond to the reading they've done, and we'll have some folks read their material as we start talking about the day's play. In the second case, I'll use a classroom assessment idea that I've read about this week and that I discovered in a book recommended to me by Blakbuzzrd: have the students summarize the day's lesson, and any questions, in a a five minute slot at the end of the class. They'll hand it in as they walk out the door.

I'm really excited about trying this out. The key will be to stick with it.

Voice Lessons 3

One of our projects this week has been to record observations to relate to social psychology.  I was reminded my taste for the ironic:

1.  When someone is carrying a baby, every adult that comes up will speak directly to the baby.

2.  Folks will sit in "their" seat at church no matter how many people are actually present for the worship service.  Woe betide those who dare to usurp someone's rightful seat!

3.  Sunday School:  everyone has their Bibles open to the passage, but when the teacher asks the question or asks folks to read. . . silence.

4.  A student who walks into a darkened classroom will sit in the dark until a teacher/professor comes and turns the light on.

5.  It's fun to watch students when they come into a classroom before an exam.  

Voice Lessons 2

An exciting moment from yesterday:  in the course of a small group discussion on some reading we are doing, colleagues from nursing, music, and psychology were wondering out loud why there are no formal teacher-development programs here at what professes to be a 'teaching' university.  Well, that got us thinking and talking about the real benefits of a "Center for Teaching and Learning," or a "Center for Teaching Excellence," or something like that.  We should not just assume that professor = "teacher" (all of us have had experience that bears that out), but we should be willing to be intentional about at least discussing the art and practice of pedagogy.  I'm going to make it one of my projects over the next few semesters to do what I can to make that happen.

Perhaps I'll suggest that we hire a certain expert that I know of, whose initials are LRS.

Mommy

She doesn't get enough thanks for it, especially because of the natural narcissism of our Little Boy, but I have to say that I'm always amazed at what she does, the way she relates to him, the way she's always thinking ahead, the way she stays calm even in strange circumstances, the laughter and creativity she brings to every day. She'll say that it has been a hard adjustment, but I'll say that she has taken to motherhood like a fish to water, like a cat to . . . well . . . catnip (?), like a toddler to chicken nuggets, like a politician to Pork.

I'm being silly, but it's because this seems like an overly cliche sentiment. There's no way to say what's in my heart when I look at the two of them.

Voice Lessons

I'm spending the week at Voice Lessons, the UTM Faculty Writing Project. Lots of interesting reading, writing, and conversation going on. One of my goals for the project is to learn to make this blog more productive from a professional standpoint, so I'll be posting reactions and ideas, things I've been learning as we go through the week.

Tomorrow, I do a presentation on visual imagery in film, and will focus on a couple of films I used in my Utopias course this past semester: Blade Runner and Metropolis. I wish we had the Tezuka version of the latter as a third option, but I'll just do with Fritz Lang.

My Brother's Big Move

My brother and his wife visited NW Tennessee this past weekend in preparation for their move up here. Their goal: find a house to live in. I'm proud to report their rousing success . . . they found a beautiful, reasonably priced (and sized) house in a beautiful neighborhood not 10 minutes from Bethel College, where they will be working. And here's the kicker: it's on a golf course.

Oh, and he's got a massive yard . . . I see a lawn tractor in his future. Those of us at Luigi's Mansion are pretty excited about this!

Lawncare lesson

I've been having trouble with the lawn tractor. When I put gas in it on Monday, anxious to get the back yard mowed, I noted that when I turned the key, nothing at all happened. Well, I thought, the battery needs charging. Twenty-four hours later, I reinstall the battery. Nothing. Well, I thought, the battery needs changing. These things happen. I go to Rural King and get a new battery. Yesterday, I install the battery, then as I'm sitting in the seat ready to turn the key, I note a salient fact:

the mower deck is engaged.

the mower is designed so that it will not start while the blades are engaged.

recharging the battery? unnecessary. New battery? unnecessary.

all that mower trouble? it was all in my head, as in, in my inability to remember how to operate a lawn mower. sigh.

Oh, and then: I managed to kill a baby bird while mowing.

Now to the real work

Grades have been turned in, so now what? Well, as it turns out, I have three big projects for the summer:

1. the Herbert article
2. proposals and research on Martin Marprelate
3. a mock-up of a handbook for our department

Not to mention the mowing, gardening, playing with The Boy, and so on. I'm also planning a couple of other things for this blog, to give it some focus. First step: take stock of where I've been this year.

The move to West TN has been pleasant, but I'll also admit that it has been challenging. I'm an urban sort, so these wide open spaces, while pleasant, are a new thing for me. I very much enjoy the quiet, and the family loves the space in the yard . . . but there are things about city life that I miss: bookstores, specialty grocery stores, coffee shops, Target, variety.

The job has been most enjoyable. I've found a lot of fulfillment in working with my students, and I respect my colleagues. The challenges of time-management are considerable, and the work is unstinting. I'm also a little handcuffed by curriculum and faculty limitations here. . . some of the things I'd like to do will be major projects to get off the ground. I am prepared to brand my efforts this year a success, but I guess the student perspective will reveal how close my perceptions match those around me.

The biggest challenge for us right now is learning how far one can go on a meager assistant professor's salary. Answer: not far. There are some house-related projects, both outside and in, that we want to get to, but it's looking like the income is going to make that a trick. Thank goodness we only need one car. Speaking of which, the bike is put on hold, as is travel for the summer. We were hoping to make it to the SVHE conference in Chicago in July, but the money's just not there. In that way, it's good that we live where we do. . . there's nowhere to spend any money!

I'm glad for my friends that got academic jobs this year, and I'm distressed for those who didn't. . . we all love this work, but love and ability aren't always enough.

Portfolios done in 3 . . . 2. . . 1. . .

In the meantime, this clever page.

This is what I do to give my mind a break between pages of 1st year prose.

g-r-a-d-i-n-g

50 papers in about 24 hours.  How is everyone else feeling?  I need to go lay down.  Exams and portfolios still to come.

Book Bleg

Looking for a good translation of Virgil's Aeneid. Anybody know of one I should definitely get--or avoid?