Brave Year Meme

There's still a little time left before classes start for me; things still feel ever so slightly like winter break here, and so I don't feel quite so bad about taking a moment to reflect on the previous year. And since much of the break thus far has been spent dealing with family and the contradictory strings they pull with me, taking some time to just think about the last year I think is a pretty good idea.

As I mentioned previously, Bittersweet Girl launched her own meme thinking about the bravest things she'd done in the previous year. I wanted to try it because it seems much more useful to me than the typical New Year's Resolution. I like it because it recognizes that change can happen every day - any day, really. And it often happens in really simple ways, without a lot of fanfare.

So here are the bravest things I can think of that I did in the previous year:

1. Took a Stand: One of the toughest things about the past year for me was watching the student response here to the election. I think I mentioned someplace that I was to speak at one of the events following that. With a number of other faculty, I helped draft a letter to the University (rather than just to the students who it was assumed were the sole perpetrators). The letter spawned a lot of reaction - not enough, I think, but some - from a variety of places on campus. And it became apparent that to do so while untenured was seen as a pretty outrageous, even as part of a group.
   
   
2. Let the Personal inform the Public: One of the moments that came from that letter was a series of dialogues between students and other parts of the university. I was asked to speak at one about why I felt the letter was important. One of the things that I've struggled with during this process was the desire to highlight the personal consequences of unthinking speech (however free we want it to be).
   
   I didn't know what to say at the even though. Why did I want the letter written? Because something needed to be said. Great - seven minutes, fifty-eight seconds left to fill. What I wound up talking about was a personal moment from my past where I felt put on the outside of things. In spite of having a blog where I spew gripes on a regular basis, I'm a fairly private person. There are things I'll talk about, and a whole host of things that I never mention. I'm good about doing the dance - I can stand in front of a room or a group of people and talk as long as I need and not feel much of the crowd. I can talk around things with the best of 'em. I lived in the South, after all. So to stand in front of a group of unknown students mixed with colleagues and to tell a truly personal story about one of those Never Talked About Subjects was a little terrifying.
   
   
3. Re-learned "No": Really, I don't have a problem with this in a lot of circumstances. But I maybe I'm more driven than I think I am, because in the realm of work, I struggle with it. Maybe it's the control-freak nature I've got, maybe not. In any case, where work comes into it, I have a tendency to take a lot on. That pressure for tenure certainly doesn't help. And that's completely illogical, because I can't imagine a situation at this school where I wouldn't be given tenure. But I still tend to take a lot on. The last term, I spent a lot more time trying to be realistic about what I could and what I couldn't. In part, it was necessity because I was on an overload. And it didn't always leave me happy: I had to refuse some opportunities to try and mentor (both students and, in a couple of cases, younger colleagues). But it was a good lesson.

Those are the big three, really. It was still a year largely focused on work rather than anything personal, but it did feel like a start.

I like this meme, and so even though I won't tag anyone with it, I think it's a worth doing, even just for yourself. Props to Bittersweet Girl. And Happy (Brave) New Year to you all.

Happy New Year!

Around this time a year or so ago, I did a meme about looking forward to the next year. And since I'm home visiting family, and New Year's was last night, I thought I might revisit it. I'm going to tweak it a little, as a lot of these questions feel like they're targeted at my students instead of me, so where I'm able there will be a new question.

Incidentally, I saw Bittersweet Girl's Brave Year Meme, and I'm thinking long and hard about it, so it'll probably be up soon. But if you haven't seen it, check it out. It's a nice way of thinking about the year behind you.

1. Will you be looking for a new job?

I am. I've got a ton of applicaitons still out and two scheduled interviews. But I'm not putting all my faith in that, as I think that's how many interviews I had last year (I could look back, but I'm too lazy for that at the moment). S0 I'm starting to try to work on a resume for positions outside of academia. If anyone's got advice or good resources to point to for making that transition, I'd love to see 'em.

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?

Last year's answer was cynical, wasn't it? But then, so is this question. Or at least it's short sighted. I know that it is trying to imply a dating relationship (for which the answer is no), but to relationships in general - friends, colleagues, collaborators - hell, yes.

3. New house?

Interestingly, I didn't move this last year, a first in about 12 years. But if I get a new job, yes.

4. What will you do different in 09?

It still sounds like a resolution question (again, see the next question). But generally, I'm going to try to manage my work habits a bit better. And I'm going to keep on working towards paying down debt.

5. New Years resolution?

Quoted from last year's answer: "I don't really do resolutions since it seems to me that if you want to do something, there's no need to tie it to the change of the year. Seems like making an event out of them - putting them up for display - just adds pressure to them."

6. What will you not be doing in 09?

Taking on an overload schedule unless the pay's substantially better, for one thing.

7. Any trips planned?

A conference in February, two campus interviews, and I've got a travel voucher that has to be used. And I'm hoping to hit a conference in Mexico this summer.

8. Wedding plans?

Maybe my answer last year about planning to object if I was invited to a wedding resulted in no invitations (really it's that almost everyone I know is now married). But no, no plans, though I still sometimes fantasize about a quicky wedding in Vegas where I'm dressed as Elvis. It'd be fun for a weekend.

9. Major thing on your calendar?

The next part of the book, and hopefully it's summer publication. The publication of my book chapter that was submitted. I wish I had some major event planned that wasn't about work.

10. What can’t you wait for?

Quoted from last year: "Summertime. Also the return of 'Battlestar Galactica'."

11. What would you like to see happen differently?

At least from last year, politics in this country seems to be changing. Maybe this year will bring the other things.

12. What about yourself will you be changing?

I've got a sliver more of a life than last year, so I'm going to work to see more of that happening. I'm also hoping to get back to the gym regularly.

13. What happened in 08 that you didn’t think would ever happen?

Continuing to live with a roomate to pay the bills.

14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about? What a bogus question. Who is going to say no to it? So, new question: What can you do to be nicer to those around you?

Try to listen a bit longer before launching into the Grand Solution I've Envisioned 20 Seconds In.
15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07? I've given up trying to jump cliques. So, new question: What did you do well in '08?

I did a good job trying to get things published. And I've learned to say no a bit more to projects at work.

16. Will you start or quit drinking?

I probably should have thrown this question out, too, but whatever. I don't drink much, and I don't plan on changing.

17. Will you better your relationship with your family?

Quoted from last year: "I will if they will."

18. Will you do charity work?

I hate this question, too, since the tendency is to want to say "Yes" no matter what. I did a little last year, and I'll probably do a little this year. I'm trying to bring some of it in to one of my classes. We'll see how it goes.

19. Will you go to bars? What, am I 22? New question: Where would you like to go this year that isn't related to work?

London. Or Italy. Or a beach somewhere (maybe Thailand?)

20. Will you be nice to people you don’t know? Again, who is going to say no to this? I did vote against wars, and we won! But new question: What's something new you'd like to try this year?

I'd like to try to write a novel. Or skydive, finally

21. Do you expect 09 to be a good year for you?

I do indeed.

22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?

Much closer to having a lot of stupid bills paid off. I've learned to limit some of what I do for the job. Other than that, I'm probably largely the same.

23. Do you plan on having a child?

Nope.

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?

Quoted from last year: "I'd like to keep the old ones and add some new ones, please."

25. Major lifestyle changes?

None that I can think of. More lifestyle, I suppose.

26. Will you be moving?

Quoted from last year: "Oh, I do so hope to move!"

27. What will you make sure doesn’t happen in 09 that happened in 08?

I still don't have quite that much control over the universe.

28. What are your New Years Eve plans?

After the fact, I spent New Year's Eve with my family, and talking to a few friends.

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?

I didn't.

30. One wish for 09?

A good year for all my friends and family, many of whom have had a rougher 08 than I would have liked.

A Photo Meme

I thought I'd take a little break and do something different. I came across a photo meme awhile back, and I'd been sitting on it for awhile. I won't actually reveal my answers to the questions that spawned the photo, as a bit of contemplation seems like a nice thing. Some of them are obvious (though not always the ones you think).


Want to give it a try? Here's how:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image. (You can arrange by "Most relevant," "Most recent," or "Most interesting.")
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you?
12. Your flickr name.

Eventually, maybe I'll reveal some of the search terms (and I'm almost certain to reveal what order the photos go in relation to the questions for anyone who isn't sure).

As always, I won't tag anyone, but if you do the meme, let me know 'cause I'd love to see what you come up with. Enjoy (and don't forget to vote).

"Some random, some weird" - 7 Facts meme

I'm definitely coming down with something, as it feels like my a few extra pounds of rocks have been added to my head's already substantial load. It's nice to have this to blame my lack of productivity on. And so, I'll take the chance for a little procrastination spurred on by Dr. Crazy. FYI, I did this (or a similar meme before) so if you're dying to see those seven facts, here's the link.

The rules:

• Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
• Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.
• Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
• Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I won't tag anyone - pile on if you want, and let me know so I can come give your facts a look. And with that said, here are seven facts about me:

1. Even knowing this is a meme and a complete and silly time waster, I have a compulsion to point out that I can't give a random fact about myself because the act of selecting facts about myself removes the randomness from the equation. I'm justifying not resisting this by noting that I just spent a long time talking to a student about sampling errors. But really, I just get irritatingly literal sometimes.
2. I am convinced having this job has made me less interesting. I'm near-useless in most conversations because all I have to talk about is work, and really, one day of teaching is largely the same as the last. I miss being interesting.
   
3. I heart female punk bands. Possibly too much, as I also heart some female "punk" bands. But not so much that I can justify Avril Lavigne. There are limits.
   
4. The best Halloween costume I ever wore had me dressed as a released sanitarium patient who would only talk through his angry, sex-mad sock puppet. One friend felt I did the character a little too well, and suggested I see someone to be diagnosed.
   
5. In spite of owning way too many CDs (I'm a bit past the four digit mark), I don't own anything by the Beatles. This is a political stance, as I think people give the Beatles too much credit, and I resent the place they are given in discussions of rock music.
   
6. In spite of the fact that I only wear a tie maybe three times a year, I always stop to look at them when I'm shopping for clothes.
   
7. When I'm at conferences, I like to take dares to see if I can work unrelated phrases into my presentations. I once was able to force the phrase "Amish simulacra" into a presentation seamlessly.
   

Looking forward to seeing some folks take up this meme. But don't steal my complaint about the randomness demand. It'll only make you seem like a nerdy joiner.

A Class Meme

I've seen this around a time or two, most recently at Squadratomagico's, and I've meant to complete it for awhile. Part of what I think is interesting about it is the almost protectionist response (though thankfully not at Squadratomagico's) that it seems to elicit: "Those things may be true about me, but they don't mean I'm a member of a privileged class." Yes, that's true. But they're pretty good indicators of whether you might belong or not.

The idea behind this is not to incite some sort of class warfare, by marking which are true for you (put in bold), but to simply help you think about some things that might be markers of privilege. And in a time where questions of middle class versus wealth are coming to the forefront, not to mention questions of race and ethnicity (and those things are often tied to class, even in "enlightened society, whatever that might be). And part of why I wanted to put it up here is that class is such a sensitive word in American society, and my inclination is always to poke at things that are tender so we can figure out why.

So, here goes.

1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college - he got an Associate's degree just after I graduated with my B.S.
3. Mother went to college. - this has been a point of shame for her, to the point that she's been known to tell tales about it
4. Mother finished college.
5. Had any relative growing up who was an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children's books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment.
25. You had your own room as a child.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course..
26. You had routine and consistent medical and dental care.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

Part of what is so fascinating here is that class is such a moving target. If you think about moments where someone has provided a fairly nuanced demographic definition of a class - think Bourdieu's Distinction - the idea of class becomes not only culturally bound (in his example, French) but historically bound as well. What was a mark of distinction at the time of his study doesn't seem likely to be today.

That brings me to what I think is most fascinating about this meme: the things that I'd add to it if I were writing it. It's significant, I think, that for some periods of my childhood we were able to get by on a single income. Those periods weren't long - they mostly happened in my high school years - but they were there. I can't imagine almost any American family today surviving on a single income, let alone what my father made as an NCO in the military (which is also the only reason I had consistent health care as a child). Similarly, I'd ask questions specifically about what one's school did, though I would add that in because I took a very strict interpretation of the questions.

Ultimately, I guess I wonder what other markers of class we should be thinking about. Bourdieu, for example, offered familiarity with particular pieces of classical music as an example of one marker. Maybe that's the still the case if you were to ask someone like Bourdieu. But I can't help but think there's a third limit on the notion of class: where you're looking from. I do wonder what his study would have found the markers of "distinction" were who weren't from whatever privileged class he was imagining. I don't think, however, that I'd get the same answerif I were to ask my students or - even more tellingly, perhaps - their parents.

On some level, this parallax error of class perception I think might account for some of the distress about "Joe Sixpacks" and "hockey moms" in this election. It isn't just that classes live diferent lives. It is that they see them differently as well.

Meme for Saturday Night

Because all this yammering about politics, finances, and jobs is soul-crushing in the extreme _and_ because I can't convince my roommate to turn off SNL even though to continue paying attention to it is going to make me do something horrible to my own eyes. It probably doesn't help that Sarah Palin has moved beyond someone I find amusing in any capacity to someone who seems to inspire the sorts of feelings in me that other people often express when asked about high school.

And so, I offer you a meme. You may recall I stopped tagging people for these things, but I do so love to see other people do things I do so if you tackle this, lemme know.

Onward!

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 8, find line 6. Write down what it says.
"...and theoretical articles are often similar in structure, but theoretical ar-..."

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?

The floor, if I fall over. The kitchen counter if my arm stretches nine feet.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

SNL is on right now. Because I hate laughter, and I'm too lazy to change the channel.

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what time it is

12:17

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

12:36

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

crickets, my dog's sleeping noises, my will to live being slowly ground to paste by SNL skits

7. When did you last step outside? what were you doing?

about 10:30, to take the dog out to play frisbee

8. Before you came to this website, what did you look at?

Tabbed browsing makes this question obsolete.

9. What are you wearing?

Is this going to turn into one of those x-rated memes? Seriously, buy a boy a drink first and get to know me. Perv.

10. Did you dream last night?

Only of you, baby.

11. When did you last laugh?

I laugh a lot. Often at inappropriate things. You'd think this would give SNL a chance since the most inappropriate thing to laugh at would be something profoundly unfunny.

But no.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

A map, an abstract painting, my Miles Davis print

13. Seen anything weird lately?

Besides Sarah Palin interviews? Or an image of her face plowed into a cornfield? Nothing I can think of.

14. What do you think of this quiz?

At least it hasn't asked me about what I want my wedding to be like or what I'll name my kids or anything lame like that.

15. What is the last film you saw?

"Forbidden Kingdom" - it's what you get if you mix a Disney sports movie with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

A plane ticket or two and my way out of student loan debt.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know

I secretly fear that every criticism or accusation against me is true and I'm just too dumb to realize it.

Or that if I had it all to do over again, I'd chuck it all and join a band.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

Backup singers would be an easy option for anyone who wanted them.

19. Do you like to dance?
I like the thought of me dancing much more than actuality of it.

20. George Bush: is he a power-crazy nutcase or some one who is finally doing something that has needed to be done for years?

He's a power-crazy-nutcase who is doing something that's needed to be done for years: he's getting ready to leave the White House.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

Punkin'

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?

When this discussion happens, for whatever reason, my firstborn is always a girl. She's precocious and sarcastic and that's before she learns to talk.

23.Would you ever consider living abroad?

If it didn't mean putting my dog in quarrantine for months, I'd probably already have done it. And my inability to master more than three words of any foreign language certainly doesn't help.

A Sentence Meme

Feels like it's been ages since I've done a meme, and since there isn't much happening (because I'm vacationing!), this seemed like a decent way to kill a little time. So, as seen over at Girl Writes Words, the sentence meme:

1. My uncle once: pulled over on the side of the road, leaned over a fence, and made moo'ing noises until he irritated a bull.
2. Never in my life: have I gone sky diving.
3. When I was five: my image often appeared out of nowhere on blocks of wood, items of food, and in the dust. I was often compared to the Holy Mother and her also-noteworthy son. I was so god-damned adorable, however, that no one called it a miracle. [See picture, which may vanish]
4. High school was: neither bad nor good enough to dwell upon.
5. I will never forget: that questions like this scare the crap out of me. Not enough wood to knock on.
6. Once I met: Lyle Lovett. He was so quiet and polite that I instantly forgave him for seeing something in Julia Roberts.
7. There’s this boy I know: and he isn't ready for summer to be over.
8. Once, at a bar: a friend and I tried to make it as far as we could through the drinks menu. We made it to the letter I.
9. By noon: I’m usually: one class done and ready to get the hell out.
10. Last night: is a song by the Strokes. The real question is what's going on tonight?
11. If only I had: enough money to pay for my student loans and a cabin in the mountains...
12. Next time I go to church: someone's going to owe me big time.
13. What worries me most: is what happens if I miss it so how can I make it happen faster.
14. When I turn my head left I see: my dog lying on the floor, staring into the kitchen, and hoping for something to fall on the floor.
15. When I turn my head right I see: a lamp, a couch, a map on the wall.
16. You know I’m lying when: you catch me. Come on, I'm not going to give you my tell.
17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: old school Mtv and music stars you could have crushes on without fear the thought alone would give you the clap and drop your IQ by 40.
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: speaking in couplets and vexing the queen.
19. By this time next year: I plan to be somewhere else.
20. A better name for me would be: Zach Power
21. I have a hard time understanding: the state of the men's room. Any men's room. Gross. Honestly, it's line of sight aiming so what the hell?
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: love it.
23. You know I like you if: I let you into my apartment.
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: well thanked.
25. Take my advice, never: take the first offer.
26. My ideal breakfast is: chorizo and egg breakfast tacos. Or something from a greasy spoon diner that comes with hash browns.
27. A song I love but do not have is: "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson.
28. If you visit my hometown: enjoy some Mexican food for me. Lucky bastard.
29. Why won’t people: use their turn signals?
30. If you spend a night at my house: be prepared to sleep late.
32. The world could do without: reality tv.
33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: lick its armpit.
34. My favourite blonde(s) is/are: defined by something other than just their hair color.
35. Paper clips are more useful than: listing general education goals on my syllabi.
36. If I do anything well it’s: either sarcasm or sleep. I rock at those.
37. I can’t help but: try to make a joke out of anything.
38. I usually cry: havoc and let slip the dogs of war.
39. My advice to my child/nephew/niece: always ask questions and distrust (and laugh at) anyone who tries to discourage you from doing so.
40. And by the way: don't just stand there. Get me a drink.

Another Music Meme -

You know it must be summer time when working out is what I'm turning up to complain about (either that, or you'll recognize that my book simply isn't coming along as quickly as expected). And since dissertation rules are in effect over the book ("don't ask about it unless I talk about it first"), it'll have to be other things.

Thankfully Belle has stepped in to save the blog from itself. She's tagged us with a new and simple music meme that just might serve to move the plot along a little bit better than it has been (were you all really hoping to chat about exercise highs after all? I think not). And, as it applies to blogging, music memes are my kryptonite (probably red kryptonite, since they tend to bring out strange things in me - as in transformations in the old school Superman way, not the emo strange that happens on Smallville).

Anyway, for anyone still with me after that last paragraph, here are the rules of the meme:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with the your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

And so, without further adieu or explanation, here are my seven songs, in no particular order (you should check them out):

• "Money (You Don't Have Enough)" - The Faceless Werewolves
• "Modern Day Emma Goldman" - Pretty Girls Make Graves
• "Jackie Chan" - The Dollyrots
• "Departure" - R.E.M.
• "On The Darkside" - John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
  
• "The Road Goes On Forever" - Robert Earl Keen
• "23" - Blonde Redhead

Remember, I stopped tagging people for memes, preferring to let you sign up for them yourselves. If you caught it here and you want to give it a try, drop me a comment, and I'll at least link to you. Enjoy.

Music Meme - the Conclusion

This morning I found myself wishing, among other things, that all of my blog posts had titles like "Super Happy Gigantic Complaining About Students Post of Joyousness" because then it would feel like a Japanese game show. It's probably for the best that I haven't followed that instinct or this post might be titled "Colossal Fantastic Answers to Memes You've Forgotten About Love Time."

Kill your darlings, right?

Anyway, here are the answers to the Music Meme post from awhile back for anyone who is still curious.

1) "Mess" - Ben Folds Five
2) "Walking After You" - Foo Fighters
3) "A Sermon" - The Police
4) "Feel Alright" - Steve Earle
5) "Passing the Hat" - Cold War Kids
6) "Heaven" - the Golden Palominos
7) "Sunndal Song" - the Apples in Stereo
8) "Lonely Avenue" - Ray Charles
9) "La Costa Brava" - Ted Leo + the Pharmacists
10) "Waterfront" - John Lee Hooker
11) "Do You Wanna Touch Me" - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
12) "I Don't Sleep, I Dream" - R.E.M.
13) "Hop a Plane" - Tegan & Sara
14) "Bright Young Thing" - Albert Hammond Jr.
15) "A Little Bit Lonesome" - Kasey Chambers
16) "Kiss, Kiss" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
17) "Brass Monkey" - Beastie Boys
18) "Family Snapshot" - Peter Gabriel
19) "The Card Cheat" - The Clash
20) "Amarillo Highway" - Robert Earl Keen Jr.
21) "(Marie's the Name) Of His Latest Flame" - Doyle Bramhall
22) "The World You Love" - Jimmy Eat World
23) "Wild Pack of Family Dogs" - Modest Mouse
24) "Straight to Hell" - The Clash
25) "Foodfight" - Be Your Own Pet

Perhaps I'll do the meme again sometime soon. Hope everyone enjoyed it, and apologies if the hints were too obscure. And if you like the image, you can check out the t-shirt which I just discovered (and will someday own) here.

Meme: Passion Quilt

Lumpenproffesoriat tagged me for a meme a few days back, and I've been thinking about it for a few days now as I've been finishing finals and doing my best to get grades in and random departmental stuff done. It seemed like a nice way to end off the semester, thinking about why I do what I do, and trying to express it somewhat creatively.

The rules of the meme are fairly simple:

• Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures what YOU are most passionate for students to learn about.
• Give your picture a short title.
• Title your blog post "Meme: Passion Quilt."
• Link back to this blog entry.
• Include links to 5 (or more) educators.

Now I'm not going to tag people, but I thought the meme works nicely with the semi-recent thread about why people teach (you can see my answer to that meme here). I've got the same concerns I had then - do I want to out myself in terms of what I teach with this or should I find a way around it? As before, I'm trying to find a way around it, not just because I want to maintain some small vestige of privacy, but because beyond my subject area there are some lessons that I want students to get.

This topic has been much on my mind this year (see this post for some early thoughts on it). And I don't know that I can phrase it better than I felt I did that day. I teach my subject because I'm interested in it. But there are broader lessons to be learned from the course. I remember a professor telling me early on in my own undergraduate career that college was as much about classes and a field of knowledge as it was about learning to make smart decisions and take responsibility for yourself. Those aren't the lessons my picture is about, per say, but you get the idea.

When I started to think about what the underlying themes to what I teach, it boils down to this (and we can call this my title to help satisfy the meme requirements):

You have a choice, and that choice not only matters but it affects others.

So with that in mind, here's my image. I decided, since I've been playing with Photoshop lately, I should play a bit and make my own. Here goes:


The image is far from entirely my own. When I first read about the meme, I immediately thought of the old cover for the "Know Your Rights" single by the Clash, and so part of that is seen here in the center. But I also thought a bit about a series of images by Scott McCloud who, in giving his explanation of how we read comics, also does an amazing job of explaining signs, signifiers, and signified in his book Understanding Comics. So I've plucked some things from both of those images, and combined them a bit to make my own.

Now rather than tag five people, I'll let whomever is interested nominate themselves (but please let me know if you do it, as I'd love to see what everyone comes up with). It would be fun, too, to have someone collect the images and answers someplace (honestly, shouldn't someone pitch this as a book?).

A Music Meme

As seen at Dr. Crazy's, a music meme almost guaranteed to upset the nun next door and to drive away the stuck in office hour blues.

First, the rules:
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING. [EDIT: Technically, as was pointed out to me, this isn't a step, it's a rule. So no cheating.]

Here goes:
1) There was a time when I had nothing to explain
2) Tonight I'm tangled in my blanket of clouds
3) When you reach number ten and think the struggle ends [Hint: This is, I think, a B-Side, and unlike most of the band's songs it was written by Stewart Copeland]
4) I was born my papa's son - a wandeirn' eye and a smokin' gun [Hint: from an alt-country singer's second album out of rehab that had this as the almost-title track]
5) Look up from the hymnal, look 'round at the faces of families closing their eyes [Hint: I don't have any good trivia here, so the band is Cold War Kids, now you can guess the song]
6) ah, heaven - here it is again [Hint: Long before Canadians were doing supergroups and collaborative projects, this group was playing in NYC and has included at different times Bootsy Collins and Michael Stipe. The title is in the quote.]
7) In tired paths of light
8) Now my room has got two windows but the sunshine never comes through [Hint: Heartbreak hotel was on Lonely Street, while this song by an R&B genius featured a similar sounding name]
9) I've been seeing the same old things [Hint: This was a new acquisition, so I've got no trivia. The band is Ted Leo + the Pharmacists]
10) I cover the waterfront, watching the ships go by [Hint: The title's in the lyric. The singer's known for his Detroit style blues.]
11) We've been here too long trying to get along [Hint: Former Runaway wants to know what you want to do]
12) I'm looking for an interruption [Hint: Athens' favorite suns aren't content to rest]
13) I took the train back, back to where I came from [Hint: I guess it's better than walking with ghosts...]
14) I wonder, wondering all around this big place I live [Hint: a member of the Strokes offers this song that shares its title with a Marilyn Manson song]
15) Well, I'm a little bit lonesome, I'm a little bit blue [Hint: lyric has the title; by an Australian country singer]
16) Green hours, blue ropes, hot wax for hearts that are cold [Hint: avant punks? art stars? Karen sends smooches.]
17) Brassy monkey - that funky monkey
18) The street's alive with camera crews [Hint: post-Genesis, this song's about a hell of a way into the photo album]
19) There's a solitary man crying "Hold me!" [Hint: Stan from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind loved the band; the song's got an ace up its sleeve]
20) I'm a high straight in Plainview, a side bet in Idalou [Hint: a Texas alt-country road song, sung by Lyle Lovett's roommate]
21) A very old friend came by today [Hint: this is a cover of an Elvis song, sung by a Texas drummer who wrote a couple of big Stevie Ray Vaughan songs. It's about finding out his best friend's dating his soon-to-be-ex]
22) I got a story, it's almost finished [Hint: early EMO'ish band out of Phoenix (to whom I must say: Go, Spurs, go!!) It isn't about the one you live in...]
23) A wild pack of family dogs came running through the yard one day
24) If you can play the fiddle, how about a British jig and reel? [Hint: Stan's favs back again go just where these hints can go]
25) Lunchtime is just not fair - hot dogs, mustard in your hair [Hint: Young Nashvilel punks should not be taken out to eat]

Interestingly, my .mp3 player seems to somehow weight things even on random, as these aren't particularly surprising songs to come up. To be fair, in some cases I've got a ton of their stuff on my .mp3 player, but a lot of them are things I've listened to recently. And to keep this from being a meme that is completely useless to me except as time filler, if you've got any good music blogs I should be reading, feel free to stick a link to 'em in the comment as well.

And I'll post answers eventually for anyone who really cares.

p.s. The 26th song? "On the Dark Side" by Eddie and Cruisers (or John Cafferty and Beaver Brown Band, depending on how you want to credit it).

The Six Word Memoir

After the trip and the plague (which has settled down to a nagging cough, particularly when I laugh), I'm catching up on e-mails, grading, and - of course - blogs. And I found I'd been tagged for exactly the sort of meme I love by Dr. Crazy and by Adjunct Whore. Apologies if I've missed other references - I'm still catching up.

I think I may have mentioned that one of my favorite conversational fallbacks is to listen for odd phrases that somehow - usually in an off-handed or back-handed way - say something about the person who said them and suggest that whatever the phrase was should be their autobiography title (one of my favorites of all time was "Dirty, Sticky, and Loving on Me" for my dear friend Trixie). And I know I've at least referenced the haiku summer with T. and N. where we sent each other haiku post cards about our days over the course of the summer.

I also made a group of students who complained about the length of an assignment write it as a haiku instead. And maybe it explains why I like this and this so much.

So a meme that asks me to do something similar - in this case, write a six word memoir - sounds like loads of fun (and a nice way to take a break from the mountain of student e-mails I've been avoiding in favor of March Madness).

Here are the guidelines (I won't call them rules since I'm going to break one of them):

1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4 Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

So, without further adieu, here's my attempt(s) at a six word memoir (because, honestly, this is too much fun to do just one).:

Looking backwards, he stumbled into it.

or (if I want to be literary), I'll borrow (and butcher) a quote I love by Naguib Mahfouz:

Under watchful stars, he set sail.

or

Watching closely, the joke was revealing.

Now for the part where I violate the meme guidelines. I'm not going to tag anyone, but I do hope a lot of you will do it. And if you don't have a blog, feel free to take a stab at it in the comments here.

Fill in the Blanks

So it's Sunday night, and the snow has not vanished as I might've wished. It is a little too deep for the pup, who bounds off as best he can and then looks forlorn the minute he reaches his frisbee. I take back my comment about snow making things dull - someone turn off the sunshine off the bright white stuff first thing in the morning, okay?

But I've just completed my income taxes, and I cleaned the oven tonight, so I don't feel like doing anything even remotely brainy (check that: my roommate is watching "The Bourne Supremacy" and I'd like something a little branier than that. So I'm stealing a meme from Kermit's.

Enjoy.

1. I can’t believe I’ve never…

driven on the Autobahn. Also gone sky diving.

2. Every time I think about … I still cringe.

American Idol, the last two Presidential elections, high school prom, Ugg boots, Southern accents, the joke I played on that girl in sixth grade

3. I wish I’d …when I had the chance.

learned an instrument. or studied abroad.

4. I’ve never felt so out of place as when I…

was the only person who hadn't traveled overseas.

5. … is/are my guiltiest pleasure.

Um...sleeping late? Hot bathes with whiskey? Speeding?

There's only so much honesty that's going to happen here.

6. I hope … knows how grateful I am for …

my friends and family...for everything. or specifically T. and N...for the haiku summer. Or L... for comic books. Or my undergrad adviser...for Marx and Kerouac. Or my parents...for never once trying to talk the genie back into the bottle after they taught me to read and ask questions.

7. In my darkest hours, I secretly blame … for my dysfunction.

my inability to answer a multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions in any sort of direct manner. Also myself.

8. … changed my life forever.

Grad school (and in a good way). Or going to a Southern Baptist middle school (in a bad way). Or technically every choice of every day.

I won't actually tag anyone, particularly since my answers wound up with the sort of typical oddness that I often approach these sorts of things with. But by all means, take a stab at it (here or elsewhere).

My Album Cover

As much as I talk about music here, this seemed a natural sort of meme to play with. Plus it is Sunday, and we're in the midst of a remodel here at The Doctor Isn't, so why not a laid back sort of post.

Make Your Own Album Cover
1. Click on this link. The title of the page is the name of your band.
2. Click on this link. The last four words of the final quotation on the page are the title of your album.
3. Click on this link. The third picture is your album cover.
4. Add your band name and title to the picture.

Enjoy!

I'm personally fond of this as a game anyway - either taking random quotes out of things friends are saying or from things we're reading - to make either the title of their autobiography or the name of their band.

My favorite band name so far came from a class a few years back: The No Nothing F-Bombs.

Why I Teach...

Dance tagged me for one of the more interesting memes going at the moment. Not surprisingly, it seems to have started over at the ever trend setting Dr. Crazy's, but there are also some interesting discussions with it happening at some of my other favorite places, including Free Exchange on Campus, Tenured Radical, and at New Kid's. I don't think my spewage is going to be quite as eloquent as those. I fear that tackling this is going to wind up sounding like I'm giving one of those Parents' Day Job talks to an elementary school class, except focused on academic inquiry to an already well-educated audience. Apologies in advance.

I spent a decent portion of yesterday wrestling with how to tackle it myself. I rather enjoy the illusion of anonymity that has come with not identifying my field so far (in part because it has resulted in some interesting guesses about who I am and what I do). If I must be honest, I love my privacy and a bit of mystery, so this isn't all about my protection. But this line of topic seems to beg for some specificity. I could, of course, list specific general courses - Research Methods - but who really wants to hear that the real reason I teach it is because I was the low man on the totem pole and no one else would do it? Or I could talk about why I've found I enjoy teaching intro sections, but even that doesn't seem terribly compelling.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that I'm in a field that has pretty porous boundaries. On one hand, we pride ourselves on the interdisciplinary nature of what we do. On the other hand, we have regular debates - we're about due for another one - about whether we're really a field at all. That's meant that what I teach plays well in a variety of areas at the same time that it can be regarded with a fairly questioning eye. This year, for example, I've been able to apply and be fairly competitive in four different types of academic departments. I probably could have done more than that, but a couple of fields I could make a run in are already glutted so who needs one more applicant challenging for those jobs?

So what I think I should talk about is something that falls into what I teach but isn't the field I teach in; something that has those interdisciplinary implications (both positive and negative). So today's topic:

Why I teach Popular Culture*

Popular culture itself is a sometimes maligned area of inquiry (often rightly so). First, because culture itself is a word with not one but many histories. We're not likely to agree on a definition here, but it shouldn't be hard to imagine that tacking an adjective onto an already contested concept is only going to multiply the distress.

The very notion of popular culture, after all, carries with it the notion that it is somehow less worthy by virtue of being popular, that what happens in popular culture is somehow demeaning, secondary, or less valued than what happens in the other kind(s) of culture. In one sense (sorry, anthropologists, this might grate), culture is meant as counterpoint to and a mechanism of change and comment on the things that are less than ideal in society. Culture is art, art is political, political is not popular seems to be the logic.

But in spite of that contested space - maybe because of it - there are some pretty compelling reasons to teach popular culture.

• "You're Soaking In It" - sadly, for much of our society, share culture isn't about the great works of literature (whatever they are) or living through similar events and lives anymore (growing up in the South, for example, has taught me just how radically someone ostensibly in the same American culture differs based on whether they live in a place where it snows). Popular culture, though, often serves as that glue. I've tried talking to tons of people about my favorite books and found glassy eyes, but I can engage virtually anyone on the street by talking about the relative merits of reality TV. That's the power that teaching popular culture gives: the ability to engage virtually anyone who walks into your room.
• "The Pause That Refreshes" - At the same time, it doesn't mean I can't relate things to the great works or to shared experience. It provides an easier entrance to whatever needs talking about and can be taken in any direction you need to go. Want to make a student care about authorship of something? Tell them about how much Milton's estate got for "Paradise Lost" and how they viewed it in comparison to today's views. Good teaching of popular culture isn't just about why this is cool (I'm talking to you people who teach technology in particular), it asks the questions that more formal disciplines tackle.
  
• "Have It Your Way" - One of the real joys, though, is that teaching popular culture means I'm not limited to one approach. I get to play with the toys that more traditional disciplines (or at least departments) often put off limits. I've worked places where certain approaches were clearly not welcome. Teaching popular culture well requires an openness to approaches. I get to talk history, economics, psychology, sociology, business, cultural studies. I can use Karl Marx or B.F. Skinner or Benedict Anderson or any other notable under the sun. Sometimes I have to, and I'm always glad to.
  
• "It Keeps Going and Going and Going..." - One of the beauties of it is that popular culture changes constantly, and so there are always new questions to be asked and, hence, new ways to engage. Maybe the most useful thing about teaching popular culture topics is that it provides a way to keep yourself feeling fresh (sorry, having stolen ad slogans to help with this, that phrase makes me pause) in a job that often lends itself to sameness.
  
• "Make Yourself Heard" - Even before the 500 channel universe, the Internet, social networking, blogs, media literacy, network identity and such, popular culture has tended to be participatory. Recent years have only made it more so. The power to see themselves in popular culture - to shape it - is one of the things that makes it such a useful tool pedagogically. One of the things that often seems frustrating to students is that they get no say in the Canon or the great moments of history; they can want to write the Great American Novel, but the classroom doesn't always provide a path - or at least a clear path - to that sort of goal. It takes a special student to be able to see themselves in Hawthorne or the works of Cicero. But the realm of popular culture, particularly now, is one that almost any student can not only envision themselves but more easily make themselves felt.
  
• "Now You're Playing With Power" - One thing that often gets missed about pop culture as a topic is that it is more often than not where the first battles over those ideas that high culture and art are meant to challenge really take place. It would be foolish, for example, to suggest that "Will and Grace" made homosexuality acceptable on its own in America, but it is an interesting signpost in that struggle.
  

Of course, popular culture is a two way street, and it's very easy to teach it badly. We've all been in classes - and probably even been the one to teach a class (I'll certainly admit to it) - where the professor couldn't quite "kill his darlings" about some popular notion. But when it's done right, popular culture as a subject area offers a lot of benefit to students - particularly students who have a hard time grasping the less immediate - and to the teacher.

I'm not going to tag anyone for the meme specifically, but I would love to hear from anyone reading about it. Let me know, and I'll add links to your posts.

*[Edit: a close second to this would have been why I teach Marx, but since that seems to happen in smaller, more sporadic doses and is generally seen as either obvious or blasphemous by most with no in-between, this seemed the more interesting way to go]

The Book Meme

So Dr. Crazy mentioned this to me awhile back (and finally posted on it) and it was also seen over at Kermit's and Belle's. And since I'm not doing much this break (so far), I thought I'd chime in since being tagged is now pleasantly opt-in.

For those of you who haven't seen it, the deal seems to be to list five books you've read (or re-read) in the last year that have made a difference to you. I'm going to exclude things I've read for work, though there are some that are probably worth mentioning (maybe some other time). And I'll try and give some sense of why plus - stealing from the other Dr. C. - I'll try to give a good quote from the book itself. But I won't order them because, well, I don't feel like it.

Slam - Nick Hornby

I'm glad there are things you don't know and can't guess, weird things, things that have only happened to me in the whole history of the world, as far as I know...

I just finished reading this last night. And the thing that I think is important and worth considering is that Hornby writes male characters that are reasonably like the males you might know in real life. I've heard from a few female friends that they hate his characters because they're flawed and often stupid in crucial ways. That's how I feel about Bridget Jones. But you know what? Neither one needs to be a hero or an antihero. They manage to be fairly real. In this case, Hornby tackles a late teenaged boy, and while he struggles like most adult writers with the contradictions of writing a young protagonist, he never seems to falter.

And who wouldn't agree with that quote? Who doesn't still have a bit of that teenage need to be unique and mysterious?

The People of Paper - Salvador Plascena

He learned how to graft roses into carnation stalks, cultivating a flower of tight petals but no thorns. On graph paper he uncovered the saddest of all polygons - not the scalene triangle, as previously thought, but the love triangle.

So, I'm a sucker for magical realism and for tales that sound a bit like places I'm from. So let me first suggest that best magical realism isn't just sci-fi written in Spanish but that it carries a romance with it that only a few moments of sci-fi have ever truly achieved. This one has it all, really, and though I read it much earlier in the year, the feel of it more than the words have stuck with me.

The History of Love - Nicole Krauss

Part of you thought: Please don't look at me. If you don't, I can still turn away. And part of you thought: Look at me.

I don't remember why I picked this up, but the story is involving. It is also one of a few rare examples where a young protagonist truly worked for me because it seems to draw on the sorts of logics and impulses so many of us remember and carry over from childhood. It is alternatively heartbreaking and mending in good measure without ever feeling maudlin or saccharine.

Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell

Then the question arises, Why are beggars despised?--for they are despised, universally. I believe it is for the simpel reason that they fail to earn a decent living. In practice nobody cares whether work is useful or useless, productive or parasitic; the sole thing demanded is that it shall be profitable....Money has become the grand test of virtue.

I read this long after I was back from Paris - in fact, I finished it two nights prior to this post. But the reason was that it was a book recommended by a friend or a guidebook or some such while I was in Paris this summer. The attraction, initially, was reading about an author who had a trip to Paris that was seen from the other side (and for the record, one which my last days in Paris could have resembled). But what become truly interesting by the end of it was the number of things his story spoke to in our modern sensibility. As a joke to myself, I began in one chapter about his work as a plongeur (a sort of dishwasher and kitchen whipping boy), by substituting "assistant professor" for "plongeur," and sadly it didn't seem so far off as one might hope. Facetious as it was, it spoke about the specter of poverty in Western society while also suggesting a sort of creep of poverty that means it has to be more real than fear.

A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway

I've seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought. You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.

Isn't Hemingway's tragedy really that he romanced all the wrong things? I mean, sometimes it's like he wanted to mail a letter but went right past the post office. I read this in my first days in Paris, along with sundry guidebooks, an academic book, and a short volume of Tony Hoagland poems. And of all of it, with the exception of the academic epiphanies that came while I was there, it's this sentence that sticks out. Something about the power of memory, really, and about the loss of the self to things beautiful and beyond us. And I can't help thinking that maybe sometimes we all miss those moments and those realities even when they're right there in front of us.

Meme fodder for a Friday afternoon

Not much to tell here today - the new contract arrived and needs review and the students are punch and distracted as am I - so lucky that I was tagged for this meme by MommyProf. The Darwin theme feels a little creepy and also maybe a little seventh grade, but since I've fallen into the Facebook pool, I won't resist the urge. Plus I'm a sucker for genre.

First, the rules:
There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...".Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:

You can leave them exactly as is.
You can delete any one question.
You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question.
For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is..." to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is...", or "The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is...", or "The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is...".
You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...".
You must have at least one question in your set, or you've gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you're not viable.
Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions. Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.


So, without further ado:
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Pharyngula.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Flying Trilobite.
My great=great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is A Blog Around the Clock.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Primate Diaries.
My great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Thus Spake Zuska.
My great-great-great-great-grandparent is a k8, a cat, a mission.
My great-great-great-grandparent is Monkeygirl.
My great-great-grandparent is DancingFish.
My great-grandparent is Dr. Brazen Hussy.
My grandparent is Addy
My parent is MommyProf

The best television series in SciFi is: Battlestar Galactica
The best cult movie in comedy is: This is Spinal Tap
The best road novel in classic fiction is: On the Road
The best high-fat food in Tex-Mex cooking is: chicken fried steak
The best recent movie in comedy is: Little Miss Sunshine

Now then, PopTart, Dr. Crazy, Dance, and Samantha: tag, you're it. And, of course, anyone else who stumbles by and needs a little distraction from the day.