tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334884252024-03-13T17:43:16.439-04:00Mark's Blog 2.0This blog serves two purposes: (1) a back-up for my original blog on myspace and (2) a site I can use for supporting my colleagues who are using blogs to guide 21st century college students to a better understanding of their emerging roles as "citizen journalists."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-61193240231827994882013-09-09T08:56:00.002-04:002013-09-10T10:38:26.377-04:00Draft for Item #6: Photograph Important to Me. . .<br />
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When most of you are 60 years of age, you will have far more pictures to review than I have simply because your all are constantly taking pics: if your doubt this assertion, simply look at this ad for an iPhone:<br />
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Think of the thousands and thousands of digital pictures you will have to survey for a task such as this one.<br />
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However, I am from the non-digital generation. For many, many years, I depended on 35 mm film which took time to develop and house in cardboard boxes or photo albums or scrapbooks. So it took me some time to find a photo that was important to me. Here is the one I selected from the far fewer I have to go through than you ever will:<br />
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This is the picture I selected. It is important to me in ways that may be difficult to articulate, but I will try. </div>
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Let me explain the context first: this photo was taken of my wife and myself at Disney World in Orlando in December 2005. My wife had been saying for years we needed to take the girls to Disney and circumstances came together in early fall for this pre-Christmas trip for five of us. </div>
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This particular picture was taken on our second night at Disney. The picture was taken in the area where there were old store-fronts and Christmas lights--millions and millions of them--were strung everywhere. As we came into this area, mock snow was falling and the loudspeakers were playing a mock radio show of Christmas tunes. At the very point we were asking one of our daughters to snap this picture of us, Johnny Mathis' song, "The Christmas Song," started playing over the loudspeakers. I hugged my wife, kissed her deeply, told her I loved her, and this picture was made.</div>
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Keep in mind that this picture is really important to me: I have used this picture in this blog, and I have used it as my desktop picture every winter from 2005. So I hope this convinces you of its importance to me. But now I need to explain why this importance is a fact for me.</div>
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I believe one reason this picture is important is that song I posted for you above. Johnny Mathis--both in general--and specifically with this song--reminds me of Christmas, home, love, and all those others values we associate with that "special time of year." I believe I make this association with Mathis because my mom was a huge Mathis fan. She would play his<i> Merry Christmas</i> (1958) album continuously from Thanksgiving until New Year's. I vividly recall those time when the four of us: mom, dad, my younger brother and I would gather in the living room, play canasta, and listen to Johnny Mathis. </div>
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My mom died of cancer in 1980 when she was only 53 years old. This song and the memories of her live on in me and this picture of my wife and myself bring these memories of my mom rushing back.</div>
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Another reason this picture of my wife and I speaks to me is that I believe it was the end of my youngest two daughters' childhood. Marissa and Natalie are 14 months apart ("Irish Twins" the fortune teller at the Renaissance Fair told my wife). And this trip to Disney was really the last time they were "with us." We have had family vacations since 2005, but nothing was as memorable for them or for their mother and me as this trip. I attempted to replicate this time in 2006: I got a great deal online for us to go back to Disney the very next year and about the same time. However, my youngest two daughters were now a year older and they were distraught about missing a band concert in middle school. This picture brings to bear that bittersweet time of their youth giving way to their maturity. That fact explains the significance of this picture.</div>
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A last reason that comes to mind about this picture's importance is the flip-side of the previous one about my daughters: tho' I love my daughters and wish them joy and happiness in their lives, I am married to the woman beside me in this photo. We had a life before our daughters and I am eager for us to return to that life together. This picture--with all of its bitter sweetness of memory--offers something else: a promise of the future for just my wife and me. I long for time when we don't have to worry about band, when we have Friday nights just for us, when we can go on vacation and just sit on the beach together and watch the tide rushing in and pulling out. For the last 18 years, my wife and I have had the girls as a significant priority in our lives, but this picture promises a day for just the two of us and I cannot wait!</div>
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So: here is my picture and the reasons it is so important to me. There may be more reasons and I may edit this piece somewhere down the road as this reasons come into my consciousness. But at this point, I believe I have made my case and challenge those of you with children: don't you yearn for a day when you are truly free, too?</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-72539233588799285292013-02-01T14:33:00.002-05:002013-02-01T14:46:08.558-05:00My Class Responds: Today's College StudentsI am teaching a course called "Transfer Readiness" this spring. A standard task I have asked students to consider is to look at things such as<br />
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<li>A Youtube.com video, "A Vision of Students Today" (here is this link: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=player_embedded">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=player_embedded</a>)</li>
<li>Beloit College's freshman "Mindset" (here is the link: <a href="http://www.beloit.edu/">http://www.beloit.edu</a> )</li>
<li>The Beloit "Mindset" video (here is the link for you:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nOSJZLFZWbs" target="_blank"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nOSJZLFZWbs</a>).</li>
</ul>
After looking at this three things, I put my class in teams, and tell them: create you own video that has the faculty at the university to which you plan to transfer as your audience. I give them a week and they bring the videos to class and share them. Here are the videos from this Spring 2013 class:<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-81906101229499602902012-12-06T15:56:00.001-05:002012-12-07T07:57:23.762-05:00"Why Am I Here?"On 6 December 2012, Traci Crisco from the <a href="http://www.davidsonccc.edu/academics/noncurriculum-basicskills.htm" target="_blank">Adult High School/GED area of the Davie Campus </a>asked me to visit her students and talk. I have visited with Traci and her students many times and am always eager to visit with her, so I arrived and planned a few activities for the students. One of the first things I did was create a wiki <a href="http://davieahdged.pbworks.com/w/page/61766434/FrontPage" target="_blank">(click here to see the wiki) </a>and asked the students to ask me any question and that I would answer their questions at the wiki. However, one of the first questions I saw was this one: "What are you here for?" This blog entry is my initial reflection on the nature of this question--"Why am I here?"<br />
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My first response to this question had to do with the multiple ways I could read this seemingly simply "What are you here for?" I could read it directly, e.g. "Why are your visiting us today?" Or, I could read it as a little more pointed: : "What the hell are you here for?" I also could read it philosophically: "Why are you here on this planet?" or I could have read it ironically: "Yeah--why are you here?" I believe that part of the reason of my "being here" is answered with this brief reflection on ways to read the question: I love language and the potential nuances language carries. So this first reflection is part of my answer.<br />
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I have to concede that another reason "I am here" was to do with my parents. My dad was a veteran of WW II <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arnold Lester Branson circa 1941</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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He had been a POW of the Germans for about nine months (early September 1944 until May 1945), returned from combat, married my mom, and went to work with Western Electric making telephones. He had what was called a "piece rate." This term means that he could potentially earn extra money if he exceeded his base rate. By 1953, because he had meet and exceeded his piece rate, I was born. Thus, another answer to the "why am I here" traces to my parents and their lives and the choicest they made.<br />
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Another aspect of this question--certainly appertaining to my visit to Davie--is what I wanted to accomplish with the students that day. I listed three things on my<a href="http://prezi.com/hzoirgnkhsig/who-the-hell-cares-about-charles-dickens-introduction-to-critical-thinking/" target="_blank"> Prezi that were my goals for that class time</a>: <br />
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<li>You may choose to read more</li>
<li>You can demonstrate that you better understand the reasons for reading</li>
<li>You may be able to demonstrate some fundamental critical thinking skills</li>
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I believe I accomplished these goals and here is the evidence: I have invited several students to join my wiki, which will guide them to read (and I hope write) more. I asked them several questions--from naming movie allusions from a comic strip to reasons why Scrooge gave the Cratchit family a turkey for Christmas (think about it: turkeys are indigenous to the New World and it had to be expensive to offer a turkey as a gift in the 1840s). Students eagerly engaged in the responses and I believe both have deeper understanding of reading and were able to demonstrate some critical thinking. As one faculty member noted as I was getting ready to leave: "[The presentation] made them think."<br />
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Since I do have my PhD, I also have to reflect a bit on the "deep" reading of the question: "Why am I here?" I believe I am a teacher because I simply have the genes. Where they came from, I do not a clue. But I do recall helping my neighbor with US history--the neighbor was in high school and I was in junior high. I was able to guide his thinking way back in the mid-1960s and I vividly recall his mother commenting on how I was going to be a teacher.<br />
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I believe I am at a community college because of my passion for teaching, my commitment to students, and my general optimism about the future. Our young people are our future. And I compelled to have a hand in that future thru guiding students today.<br />
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I need to take a break now and get back to the wiki--but this piece is my first run at the question: "Why am I here."<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-80058305950257592552012-10-29T15:25:00.000-04:002012-10-29T15:25:55.362-04:00Reflection: Curt Cobain and Sir Ken Robinson Speaking TruthIf you have seen my Moodle website--or about any educational web I have posted since the mid-1990s--you have seen this epigram from Kurt Cobain's "Smells like Teen Spirit": "Here we are entertain us." When I heard this lyric in the early 1990s this line resonated with me in terms of my career as a college teacher and my growing awareness that today's students are different from me when I was in school.<br />
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Students from the mid-1990s up thru today are clearly not me:<br />
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<li>These students are digital natives--I am, at best, an early "digital immigrant."</li>
<li>These students are bombarded with information coming from numerous personal devices all at the same time.</li>
<li>These students have access to multimedia beyond my keening: at least 100 TV channels; their own mix of music--not what is released in the album or CD; their own movies thru multiple access points--Hulu, Netflix, YouTube. When I was their age, I had access to three TV channels, vinyl albums that I could not take with me, and movies only at two or three theaters where I had to pay to enter!</li>
<li>These students are collaborators and inter-dependent. My experience was simple: I was in it alone and had to be independent.</li>
<li>These students are capable to unimaginable creativity; my generation learned quickly how to play the game and to develop the survival skills within the game to be "successful."</li>
<li>Education--for my students--is not only a right--it is an entitlement; for me, education was something I had to have for my path out of the blue collar life of my father's and grandfather's.</li>
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In mind, Kurt Cobain's pithy, "Here were are, entertain us," seemed to coalesce all of these differences and I worked hard to, indeed, "entertain." However, I misread Cobain's lyrics and it took Sir Ken Robinson to show me how he and Cobain are really speaking about the same thing--not just entertainment, but the theatrical relationship actors and audiences have.<br />
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Below is Sir. Ken Robinson's video that enlightened me:<br />
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Robinson begins this excerpt with his reflections on Peter Brooks and theater. He reduces all of theater to two key elements: an actor and the audience and the relationship between these two. He goes on to add that education is similar to Brooks' construct in that all education is reducible to a learner and a teacher. He expands this comment to the notion of "back to basics": if we as a culture were serious about "back to basics," we would really focus on "teaching and learning"; however, in the politicized world of education today, "basics" means a return to focus on subjects--either academic or utilitarian and NOT to the irreducible aspect of "learner and teacher."<br />
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And at this point, I believe Robinson and Cobain are echoing one another: learning is about relationships between two people and, as a minimum, we need to assure that there is engagement on both sides: entertainment.<br />
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I know that many will think it strange that I have juxtaposed Kurt Cobain a depressive, early 1990s alternative rock star with Sir Ken Robinson, who has talked extensively about students and the changes required in education today. Yet, I am convinced that these two individuals do resonate with one another. If nothing else--consider the video setting of Cobain's, "Smells like Teen Spirit": he chooses a high school setting with cheer leaders and students!<br />
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Tho' some commentators tend to cast "Smells like Teen Spirit" as anarchical (certainly the logo is on the teen cheer leaders' tops), I think Cobain is challenging us just like Ken Robinson: we must change education before it is too late and chaos does ensue. And certainly, I disagree with one commentator who asserts that one way to read the refrain is teenagers are"absorbed in the most passive form of entertainment ever invented, TV" (see the link by clicking <a href="http://c-cyte.blogspot.com/2007/09/analysis-of-smithcohen-music-video-of.html" target="_blank">here</a>). I believe that our reactions to TV, movies,--video in general--is NOT passive and DOES entertain and engage just like Cobain and Robinson are "arguing."<br />
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Sir Ken Robinson is speaking from an enlightened "Baby Boomer" perspective (born 1950). Kurt Cobain was looking at education from his 1967 Gen Xer point of view. Both are telling us education has lost its way. Both are telling us the political "double speak" of "back to basics" is missing the point. Both are telling us that the success in education is a simple equation: learner + teacher + entertain/engage = success (for everyone). <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-75826853084667050472012-09-12T13:30:00.002-04:002012-10-29T15:26:16.107-04:00A Balancing Act: Where Do We Stand on Our Freedoms?Wednesday morning's<i> High Point Enterprise</i> noted that a book was being debated by the Guilford County School Board. There is a list which promotes reading literature for students (an issue I will explore in another blog post) and a title on the list, <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i>, has stirred the ire of at least one parent and some members of the board. The article points out that Catherine Barnette and other parents have "complained" about the novels "graphic sex scenes and violence." I have five daughters and confess there are something that I have shielded them from. For example, I did not watch the classic 1982 film by David Lynch, Blue Velvet, with my oldest daughter until she was in college. But let's step back and consider: what are the reasons we may have as parents or teachers to have books available and what are the reasons for, essentially, banning books.<br />
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The most obvious reason supporting access to books comes the the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment guarantees NO action from the government can abridge the freedom of speech or of the press. As we have seen with the advent of the Internet and the Arab Spring: information liberates people. The framers of our Constitution wanted to make it abundantly clear that the role of government in the United States is to assure access to information, not prohibit access.<br />
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Teachers (and I would hope, parents) certainly have the role of encouraging critical thinking from our students. One way to assure critical thinking is going on is to challenge the assumptions students bring with them to the classroom. Sometimes, this challenge emerges from reading controversial material. <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> certainly requires students to critically think about many issues:<br />
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<li>What is the role of women in a post-women's movement world?</li>
<li>What is the relationship between men and women?</li>
<li>What is the role of religion?</li>
<li>How does religion shape our values about one another and about ourselves?</li>
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These are just a few questions I believe Atwood is exploring in this "fable." And these are important questions that certainly teenagers are wrestling with in high school. What better environment for a discussion of these issues than in the safe environment of school and home?<br />
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Another reason for allowing access to information is simple: try to hide it and teenagers, specifically, and others, in general, will want this "prohibited" information even more. I bought a privately published edition of D. H. Lawrence's controversial novel, <i>Lady Chatterley's Lover</i>, many years ago. The reason it was "privately" published was that the novel was considered "obscene" by some American perspectives in the 1920s. Yet the book still made its way to our shores and subsequent court decisions upheld the legitimacy of this work. The bottom line: tighter the attempt to control ideas, the more ideas get out into the world!<br />
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On the other hand, there are reason for curtailing access or "free speech."<br />
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Consider, for example, the Supreme Court's actions many, many years ago that a person cannot stand up in a theater and shout "FIRE!" The curtailment of "speech" seemed reasonable to the Court simply because of the potential injury of those who panic. Ordinances have supported this decision across the land and we, by and large, live with this source of constraint on our speech.<br />
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Another issue, as a parent, has to do with my assessment of where my child is in her maturity to be able to process information. As I referenced above, I "censored" access to <i>Blue Velvet</i> to my daughter: the language is raw, extremely raw; there are scenes of extreme violence; there are passing images of sexual behavior. I just did not believe my daughters were capable of processing this film that I believe is one of the BEST ever made in the 1980s until they had more experience with the world.<br />
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Lastly, one possible reason for limiting access to information can be the standard established by the Supreme Court many years ago: that standard is defined by what is acceptable within the community. Certainly, in large urban areas around the country, there are more things young people are exposed to simply walking the streets in contract to your people in more rural areas. As parents and as a community, we have values that I believe we wish to uphold. Thus the way to assure the values are perpetuated from one generation to the next is linked to what I allow my children to see or to read or to listen to.<br />
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Here is a case in point: an art faculty member took off points from a student's description of a religious painting because as the student described the work (a work which features Jesus as a significant element in the painting), the student would capitalize "His" (e.g. "to His left is the disciple. . . ."). The faculty member's goal is to show how the "real world" picks on issues--such as capitalization--and rejects those pieces of writing. The student, on the other, working from her religious conviction, believed she had an obligation to capitalize "His" since it refers to Jesus, the Son of God--and religious names are always capitalized.<br />
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Ultimately, the Guildford County School Board's action was to do nothing. The article reports that the board "did not challenge or change how the book got on the list." The interesting aspect for me--both as an educator and as a parent--is where we are, here in the 21st century, still wrestling with competing values: embracing and celebrating the freedoms we hold and assuring the our personal values are carried forth through our children and grandchildren.<br />
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Nivens, David. "Board Debates Book List." <i>The High Point Enterprise</i>. 12 Sept. 2012, 1f. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-58864455473336046582012-09-11T14:45:00.001-04:002012-10-29T15:26:30.661-04:00ENG videos: The Mindset for Davidson County Community College's Freshman ClassFor some time now, I have asked my students to do a simple activity:<br />
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I show them the "Mindset of Beloit College" (both a couple of different videos and the lists from as far back as 2002). I then organized them into groups of four or five, given each group a "Flip camera," and told them to come back in week with a video directed to the faculty here at DCCC about their "mindset." They are free to show us individual, group, or generational perspectives. Here are some from this year:<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-54357465326222877212012-09-11T11:35:00.003-04:002012-10-29T15:26:46.278-04:00It Isn't Easy: Baby Boomers and a Snapshot of their World<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sheandheplanweddings.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Trivia-card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://www.sheandheplanweddings.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Trivia-card.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trivial Pursuit: Game for Boomers!</td></tr>
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Professionally and personally I have been interested (some may say "obsessed") by generational differences for over 10 years. My first experience was a professional development on Davidson County Community College's campus and I recall using generational metaphors to underscore differences in values and perspectives. In March 2012, I co-presented with Jody Lawrence on generational differences and leadership succession planning in Philadelphia.<br />
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I share this background to illustrate my opening: I have a long history of looking at the four generations living and working together in the US today. However, as a Baby Boomer (I was born in 1953), my focus in my speaking about generation differences has been to illustrate TO Baby Boomers the differences they are likely to encounter in Gen Xer's and ME's. Since my audiences have primarily been "Boomers," I was able to gloss over our perspectives. Now I believe is the time to explore for my ME audience who we "Baby Boomers" really are.<br />
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One way to understand "Baby Boomers" is the simple demography: this generation was born from returning veterans of WWII. My dad was a POW in Germany and he returned in summer 1945. He and my mom married in 1947 and I was born in 1953--which is the mid-range of this "boom." My brother was born about 18 months late in December 1954. My mother could not carry any more children and our "nuclear family" was in place.<br />
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There are others ways to understand "boomers." For example, we can understand them through their interests in popular culture (did you notice the card above?). Television was becoming increasingly accessible into homes across the US throughout the 1950s. Both the standard of living and the technology itself were drawing the parents and their children. Early TV included the "nuclear family" shows: <i>Ozzie and Harriett</i> (1952-1966), <i>Leave it to Beaver</i> (1957-1963), and <i>Father Knows Best </i>(1954-1960). Each of these shows perpetuated a myth of the "standard" family of being a heterosexual couple with 2.5 children (the Andersons, for example, had three). This myth about the American family still haunts us today even though the "nuclear family" never really existed in American culture.<br />
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Another aspect of TV and popular culture has to do with values. Look, for example, at this opening clip from the <i>Adventures of Superman</i> (circa 1952):<br />
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The values of this Superman are clearly and proudly stated: "Truth, justice, and the American way" are the values proclaimed at the end of this opening. Not only are these values openly stated, note that there is no doubt that these values exist "out in the world" and that anyone can readily see and embrace these values.<br />
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Contrast this clear values statement and the location of these values "out in the world" with the values from this video by Five for Fighting, "It's Not Easy (Being Me)" which is a song from the TV series <i>Smallville</i> (2001-2011):<br />
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Notice the differences between these two depictions of the SAME character! Listen carefully: the speaker in the Five for Fighting song is clearly the iconic Superman, but his values are extremely different from the 1950s character. He is "in silly red sheet" and he is "More than a bird. . . more than a plane/ More than a pretty face beside a train." The imagery here--tho' it resonates with the 1950s Superman--is twisted to show both different values AND the location of those values. <br />
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<i><b>[NOTE: I am leaving this right now so you can see how I am approaching this topic.]</b></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-39935038768823567252012-09-06T11:05:00.001-04:002012-09-06T11:06:21.925-04:00Writing: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly or How to Be Successful in CollegeWriting.<br />
<br />
I have to confess that I have always had a penchant for words, so it seems reasonable that writing would also be simple for me. I was the weird kid in junior high who would come home from school and READ the dictionary. So when I look back at my public school experiences in Forsyth County and when I assess where I am now, what are the things that I see the helped me and what would I either add or ask for a "do-over."<br />
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The first "success" I have concerning my success in college and in writing I need to attribute to my parents: they made sure there were lots of books in the house as I was growing up. My mom took me to the public library and read voraciously in elementary school. By the time I was in 7th grade, I was reading <i>Gone with the Wind</i>--all 600+ pages! I saved my money from birthdays and from my first part time job (when I was 12 years old, I sold cantaloupes door to door and earned $12 for my efforts) and then bought books at the school's "book fair" ( I still have a few of these books on my shelf: <i>Dracula</i> by Bram Stoker and <i>The Mysterious Island</i>, Verne's sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). I continued reading throughout junior high and high school and have to point to this experience as critical to my effectiveness in writing.<br />
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The second "success" was that I studied. I know this seems strange but you need to remember a couple of things: I did not have a TV in my bedroom until I was in high school and they TV only picked up three channels: ABC, CBS, and NBC. So TV did not distract me like it certainly does my daughters today. Also, my parents were working class: my mom worked until I was born and my dad was a POW in Germany in WW II and he was insistent that develop the skills to be successful in college because, "by god," I was going and I'd better do well! I remember sitting in my room for hours, listening to the radio and pouring over my books. This habit, I believe, had a profound impact on my college-life and beyond.<br />
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A third "success" in high school was being encouraged by my teachers to write. I still have the journal my senior English teacher required us to keep. I was drafted in my senior year to write a parody of Chaucer's "Prologue," using the students in the English class as the "pilgrims" and revealing something about them as individuals and their direction after high school. I was asked to write research papers from eighth grade on, and in the nineth grade--even with my arm in a cast from my hand pass my elbow--I had to produce a library research paper. The support and encouragement of the faculty certainly contributed to my college success.<br />
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On the other hand, there are some things that I wished I'd had access to which, I believe, would have sky-rocketed my academic performance at college.<br />
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First, if I'd had access to the resources of today: OMG what could I have done! We still had to go to the library, take our notecards, match them with bibliography cards, and read and take notes. Very labor intensive! If I could have been in my room, with internet access and a computer, my writing would have improved exponentially!<br />
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If I'd had the option, I would certainly NOT spend lots of time reviewing grammar which is how ever year started in public school as far back as I can remember. We were drilled on subject verb agreement, pronoun agreement, spelling and vocabulary development, punctuation drills (I still believe a writer can live a fully successful life and NEVER use a semicolon), and on, and on, and on! I was a native speaker of English! Why did I need all this drill (I have sense learned why this practice is still in play today, but that would be another blog for me to post)? I believe that this grammar experience is certainly something I could have lived without.<br />
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Speaking of grammar: the third thing that I believe was a waste of my time was diagramming sentences! I remember agonizing over the process in junior high and in high school. Having all the lines going in the correct direction. Having the modifies subsumed under the correct part of speech on the baseline. Having the dotted lines connecting coordinate conjunctions, while having sloped line with subordinate conjunctions. I never could fathom why we had to do this activity, particularly when it did not preserve the inherent quality of the sentence!<br />
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William Faulkner said,<span style="font-size: x-small;"> "<span class="fnt0"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Read, Read, Read. Read everything--</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span class="fnt0"><span style="font-size: x-small;">trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it." I certainly read everything I could: the dictionary, <i>GWTW</i>, <i>Frankenstein</i>, every Perry Mason novel I could find, Ian Fleming, Leon Uris. . . . the list goes on and on. So this message would be to any one planning on college: read, read, read and you will find college writing and college in general more likely a success for you.</span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-43182801437630708792012-09-05T17:01:00.002-04:002012-10-29T15:26:58.567-04:00This I believeSince I was having password trouble, I could not write with you this AM as I normally prefer to do. So I apologize for my delay in sharing with you my notions of what I believe:<br />
<ul>
<li>I do believe fully and completely in each and every one of you and in your potential to make a future for yourself, your children, and your grandchildren. I would not have stayed at this community college nor in education if I did not hold this belief. The brightest part of my year is in March when I have a chance to engage the current group of 8th graders. At this point, we have been hosting the 8th graders here for about 10 years now--so I have talked with over 20,000 8th graders. I believe this illustrates my commitment to you and the future of us all.</li>
<li>I believe we live in an imperfect world and that we work to try to make it perfect, it cannot be. Some call this imperfect world the "fallen state" from the particular perspective. I do not. I simply believe that the world--by definition--is imperfect because we--by definition--are imperfect. I am not saying that we should not try to do our best. I am not saying that we should not strive for perfection. But I am saying that we do not need to "beat ourselves up" because we fall short of some notion of perfection. We need to acknowledge that we did, in truth, try our best and that we have learned from our endeavor. That is what life is about: striving for perfection, falling short, and learning.</li>
<li>I believe in the future and what marvels it holds for us. My
grandmother was born in 1893. She was a teenager when the Wrights "flew"
at Kitty Hawk. She saw Neil Armstrong step onto the moon. Can you
imagine moving from a horse and buggy world to the moon within a life
time? Can you imagine what is out there for us to still discover? </li>
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<li>I believe in love. I love my family and my wife, passionately. I love the people I work with--and have worked with for 29 years now. I love my students and the passion they bring about their future. But I also remember well the line from William Blake: <i><b> “He who binds himself to a joy/Does the winged life destroy/But he who kisses the joy as it flies/Lives in eternity’s sunrise.” </b></i>This means to me that if we hold onto those that we love, we destroy that very thing we love. So with regret, I have to encourage and support my students when they move on to the university. I have to encourage and write letters of recommendations for my faculty who "fly." I have to encourage my daughters to spread their wings and fly, when I'd rather they be at home--safe and sound, where I could simply look in while they sleep. </li>
<li>I believe in learning stuff. I don't care whether it is about astronomy
or zoology. I don't care whether it Achilles or Zola. I don't care if
it is . . . .well, I hope you get the picture. I have not told you
yet, so I am sharing this now: by the end of this term, I can promise
you that I will have learned more from you that you have from me. And I
appreciate this learning opportunity!</li>
<li>I believe in awe. Sam Keen wrote a profound book, <i>An Apology for Wonder</i>, that I go back to from time to time to remind myself of the awe we seem to have forgotten. I can see how we have lost our sense of awe: we have seen men walking on the moon, we have seen information and change happen in "real time," we have let our language rob us of the capability of sensing "awe." But I have seen a golden sunset bathe the countryside around the college. I have seen light streaming through the stained glass of Coventry Cathedral. I have seen snow in Glendalough, Wicklow, Ireland. I have seen a rainbow touch the waters of Lake Innisfree. . . .these are all "awe-inspiring," and I would encourage you to think about what the term "awe" really means!</li>
<li>Lastly, I believe in this equation: difference DOES NOT EQUAL deficient. I believe we have embraced the opposite; however, different is simply that: different. We tend to want to find what is wrong with differences instead of simply accepting them. I owe a boatload of thanks to my graduate faculty in grammar who drove this point home with me and which resonates with everything I do: different is simply that--different. </li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-1624625613241186112012-08-30T15:47:00.002-04:002012-10-29T15:27:11.045-04:00Writing Quote I Agree with<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span></span><span class="fnt0"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"The first thing I want to say
to you, who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to <i>receive</i>
an education: you will do much better to think of being here to <i>claim</i>
one. One of the dictionary definitions of the verb "<i>to claim</i>"
is: <i>to take as the rightful owner; to assert in the face of possible
contradiction. </i>"To receive" is <i>to come into possession of: to
act as receptacle or container for; to accept as authoritative or true.</i> The
difference is that between acting and being acted-upon…</span>"</span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
–Adrienne Rich</span></div>
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I have to concur with Rich on this quote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regrettably, our public education system has
created a sense of “being acted upon.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If there is a doubt, simply ask the students who are "products" of public education: they complain of the
reading they <b>HAVE</b> to do; they complain of the writing they <b>HAVE</b> to do; they
complain of <b>HAVING</b> to be in school and “march to the beat of ‘someone else’s”
drum instead of their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
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<br /></div>
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Partly, I
believe this is true simply due to teenage rebelliousness and angst: there are
always thousands of things more engaging for me than reading, writing, and
being in school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I was talking
with my high school senior just this week who had seen “Shift Happens” for the
first time in her high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
been showing this same YouTube video to the 8<sup>th</sup> graders who come to
campus since around 2008. . . .Yet she acted as this was “new stuff” to
her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is because she was engaged by
the instructor who was “talking” her language: digital delivery. Her video experience in fall 2012--along with the experiences of her three, older sisters--confirm for me that public school is really geared for students to "receive" not to "claim."</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zDZFcDGpL4U?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Secondly, I have to confess the Sir Ken Robinson has also had an impact on my thinking. His little video, <span style="font-size: small;">"</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms">Changing Education Paradigms" certainly validated for me my own thinking about public schools: the schools in North Carolina are still in the early to mid 20th century factory mindset. Schools look like factories (unless they have been built in the last 15 years or so). Schools move students around by the ringing of bells. Schools batch students like "products" in terms of their ages, even tho' any self-respecting educator realizes students learn at their own pace and in their own way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms">Lastly, I have to agree with Rich's assertion that students must "claim," e.g. "take as the rightful owner," their education. The idea that adult students are "tabula rasa" has been refuted over and over again. Students come to post-secondary, and even secondary education, with a plethora of experiences and knowledge upon which they can stake the claim to <b>THEIR</b> education. Certainly, with our digital natives, we have to acknowledge that students believe they no longer need us for information.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms">However, as I keep reminding my faculty, our students DO need us to place this information into a useful context and we offer a safe place for them to explore wide ranging information they may not pursue in their homes or their "home community." Faculty still have a critical role in students</span><span class="" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms">' lives and their success! And I believe that is the heart of Rich's quote: students take claim and faculty facilitate that process for them. </span></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-74455498552776361602012-08-30T15:29:00.003-04:002012-08-30T15:29:16.819-04:00My Eyes on the Prize<h3>
Friday, August 17, 2012</h3>
<i>[Since you are writing on this prompt, I believe I should, too. I
am sorry that I was late in getting started; however, I was looking for
my blog and I have started several. This one is the first I found. So
here is my response:]</i><br />
<br />
Whenever I hear the phrase "Eyes on the Prize," my mind rushes back
about 20+ years ago to the summer term here at Davidson County Community
College. I was teaching ENG 113, a research/library course and I had
chosen for the focus of this course the 1960s. A significant part of my
course was to show the PBS series, "Eyes on the Prize" which was
exploring the American civil rights struggle from post WWII forward.<br />
<br />
However, this prompt is asking me about my "prize": what is it that is
my motivation. For me, the answer is simple: I am motivated to get up
every day so I can learn something new.<br />
<br />
I know what you are thinking: "You are saying this for us students; you
want us to think about this issue." And you are dead wrong. I do not
expect you to have the same motivations I have. I have reflected on my
motivation to learn. When did it start? How did it evolve?<br />
<br />
The first event that I can recall is a time when my brother and I were
in Cub Scouts. I was in fifth grade and my brother is about 16 months
younger than I am. We were at the "hut" where the scouts meet once a
month for the "big" meeting. And my brother came out of the bathroom
laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he reported something that I
thought would explode my brain: he was laughing because of a phrase he
had seen on the bathroom wall: "F*** a Duck."<br />
<br />
Why do I return to this event for the genesis of my motivation being
learning? I believe it is because this is the first time I believe I
was conscious of my own thinking. I vividly recall how incensed I was
that my brother was using THAT word and was laughing about it! I was
fearful about the implications if my parents heard him saying it: I
would be blamed for teaching him this word. And this was "THE" word; it
was imbued with an unbelievable amount of power. It was one of the
words that could not be said on radio or TV. And my brother was making a
joke of it!<br />
<br />
For the rest of my life--after that event--I have been consumed with
learning stuff. Whether it is what I learned formally in school--I have
been in school since 1971 except for two years when I sold shoes for
Thom McCan--or learned informally--through conversations with others or
through reading or through accessing the world wide web. Learning is my
heart and soul. I did not make me rich in my pocket book, but it
certainly has enriched my life.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-81729747681712492252008-10-30T13:39:00.003-04:002008-10-30T14:19:50.973-04:00Our first post-colonial president?Rarely do I engage in my blogs on political issues since these are primarily for my classes, but I heard something on NPR coming to work today that forced me to pause and post. I heard an interview with <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96249248">Jon Meacham</a>, an editor for <em>Newsweek</em> magazine, who was commenting on Obama's most critical experience. Meacham asserted that Obama's growing up in Indonesia has been extremely important since he could be the first president to have been on the "receiving" end of American influences.<br /><br />WOW--this idea suggests to me that Obama's potential presidency--besides issues of race (which I believe are and should be irrelevant) is really about post-colonialism and--as many critics have asserted--an opportunity to "speak back to the empire."<br /><br />As I think about this concept--that Obama could be the first "post-colonial" president--I begin to think that one of the conflicts we are seeing played out between Obama and McCain is the exact same conflicts post-colonial theorists are writing about. Consider the dynamics: McCain has all the trappings of the empire: his age, his wealth, his power, his military history. Obama, on the other hand, is the "colonized" nation: young, vibrant, rich in resources (I would point to his powerful rhetoric and his intelligence)--but "other." For the empire (aka McCain) this "talking back" (Obama's challenges on all of McCain's significant platform issues) is threatening and disconcerting.<br /><br />And let's not overlook the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket. She, too, is emblematic of the "empire": first--she is clearly on the ticket to validate the "man's" place. Secondly--her intellectual deference to McCain further reinforces the role of the "man"--and by extension, the empire. Thirdly--she brings to the ticked the accoutrement that asserts the "man's place": her obvious display of role of wife and mother; her assertions about cooking moose and elk; her favoring of guns (I don't want to go down the Freudian bunny trail here--I will leave that for later). . . .I think readers get this point.<br /><br />And Obama is--for all intents and purposes--the "poster-child" for post-colonial: he is exotic and mysterious--from his ethic mix to his name. He is threatening with his hard questions back to the authority. Obama is, as <a href="http://www.postcolonialweb.org/poldiscourse/ashcroft3g.html">Bill Ashcroft </a>describes post-colonial characteristics, "uncentred, pluralistic, and multifarious." And I am convinced that these aspects of Obama's character and his campaign are what so many find disturbing about him, instead of his policies. Why else would there be outright lies running rampantly across the web about his being a Muslim? Why else would there be a tempest in a teapot over the fist bump between Obama and his wife? Why else would there be misapplication of labels of Obama as a "socialist" or a partner with a "terrorist."<br /><br />What would be the result of a post-colonial president? I hope that there will be a re-energizing of American democracy. I look for broader inclusion of different voices in our American experiment. Ironically--I believe a post-colonial president Obama would more emphatically validate the notion we've heard from Puritan times through this election cycle: the United States is a shining beacon to the world. What better way to make the light shine brightly than to show how American values respect--even embrace--other into the fabric of our nation.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-29205671367375162102008-05-16T14:42:00.005-04:002008-05-16T15:25:34.937-04:00This, I BelieveSam Keen wrote the book about 30 years ago now, <i>The Apology for Wonder</i>. Sam's purpose was to encourage us--in the last quarter of the 20th century--to take a moment, suspend our rational minds, and simply allow awe to happen. He seemed to believe this defense was necessary since we--as American specifically and humans, in general--seem to have become jaded and disconnected from the ability to experience awe.<br /><br />I think it is time to be reminded of Sam's intent and I want to assert my belief in awe. Wordsworth told us two centuries ago about the splender in a blade of grass. I remember the awe-inspiring moments of my life--ranging from seeing the pictures of the mushroom clouds of nuclear explosions to Neil Armstrong's steps to the births of my daughters. All were awe-inspiring.<br /><br />I've seen a rainbow disappear into Lake Innisfree <img src="http://dorenefisher.com/pics/albums/userpics/10002/LAKEISLEINNISFREE_120%7E0.jpg" /> and a golden hue be cast along the trees and the road as I drove home from work and the sun was lowering in the west right here in central North Caroline. I've been moved to tears in the anticipation of vacationing with my family and hearing Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" as I hurried to be with them. I stood with my wife at Disney's Hollywood Studios in December and watched fake snow float around us, while listening to Johnny Mathis', "A Christman Song." I thought my heart would burst with the awe and joy of that moment.<br /><br />I really believe in awe and in our earnest attempt to save it. My teenage and pre-teen daughters use "awesome" so promiscuously <img src="http://www.garmentdistrict.com/store/popculture/nintendo/awesome1_sm.jpg">. They need to learn what "awe" really is. Their entire generation needs the lesson. They are connected 24/7 and are so bombarded with images and experiences that they are--as Pink Floyd told us two generations ago, "comfortably numb."<br /><br />What can we do to save "awe"? I think the answer may be in the cliche that "less is more." Perhaps we need to indulge are children less. Perhaps we need to turn off their connections. We can exercise the power of our index finger and turn TV and PCs "off" and let our children simply stop for a moment and reflect. I believe that through encouraging reflection, we can rehabilitate "awe."<br /><br />Think about it: when was the last time we really enjoyed silence? When was the last time we simply stood quitely in the trees and marveled at the nuances of green in srping? When was the last time we delighted at something as simple as bluebird darting by? These are simple things, but they are also awe-inspiring when we take the time to pause and reflect. And that, I believe, is the core of "awe": taking the time to delight in simple things--like sky and water and trees and time together, instead of always rushing to the next experience. Pause, reflect, and experience awe. It is really so simple. . .Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-74918569584796907012008-02-25T14:03:00.000-05:002008-02-25T14:19:42.828-05:00Why My Life Would the Sci-Fi/ Fantasy GenreI was visiting "The Pen. . . " blog site and was prompted by a random question: What "genre" of film or literature would I be? I thought and dug around a little online and I found this quote, attribute to Rod Serling: "science fiction makes the implausible possible, while science fantasy makes the impossible plausible." The last ling, "makes the impossible plausible, " resonated with me. When I look at my life and look where I am now, I can't help but think that the arch of my life has been the making of something "impossible, plausible"!<br /><br />Most obviously is my lovely wife, Thelma. Who would ever have thought that at 40, I would meet someone as lovely, brilliant, and funny--who was 15 years my younger--and who would love me with a depth that I've longed for my entire life. The impossible became plausible when she agreed to marry me and on October 19, 1993, we became husband and wife. I love her more and more each day.<br /><br />My five daughters are something that would have seemed impossible for me--yet here they all are! Tessa is the oldest and is extemely smart and talented. She was the only non-music major to have a senior recital before her graduation from Warren Wilson College. Erin, my second, is just as smart as her older sister. The middle daughter, Amanda, came with Thelma from Thelma's first marriage. Amanda, my middle daughter, is funny and charismatic, very much like her mother. Marissa came about seven years after Amanda, so she have taken on the birth order of "the oldest" in her personality. Indeed, I see a great deal of the younger Tessa in Marissa. Natalie is the baby and was quite a surprise. . . as she still is to this very day! We never know what quip she may come up with, but it will always surprise. All of these girls validate for me the idea of "making the impossible plausible"!<br /><br />My career is certainly the making of sci-fi/fantasy! Who would have ever thought that the shy, bookworn in the back of the room would be known by some of the students where I work as "the wise old owl"? Who would have ever thought when I was in high school that I would earn a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition? Who would ever have thought the impossible thought when I was in college that I would "grow up" to be a college associate dean? Every step of my career seems to be the "impossible being made plausible."<br /><br />I could add to the list a variety of life experiences that seem "the impossible becoming plausible": the places I've travelled, the people I've meet, the work I've done--all of these speak to the openning assertion about the "impossible becoming plausible." So--what would you be if you were a "genre"?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-1165267000281955182006-12-04T15:57:00.001-05:002008-10-30T14:40:23.118-04:00Reaction to Prompt: Page 345 #2Visitors to my web presence at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/marks_expository_writing">http://www.myspace.com/marks_expository_writing</a> are used to seeing pictures of the family. And the text prompt is asking us to consider how often the pictures we have are "consistent with. . .actual, lived reality." This question poses two very different reactions from me: on one hand, of course the pictures I have--and that most of us have--are note representations of the "acutal, lived reality." Yet, the more I think about the nature of the question, I have to say that, indeed, there is "actual, lived reality" in most of the pictures that I have.<br /><br />Now, consider the first position: You can see the pictures I am exampling below:<br /><br /><p><br /><hr /><br /><br /><br /><p><img src="http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/marks_kitchen_radio/th_halloween_03.jpg" /><br /><img src="http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/marks_kitchen_radio/th_halloween_02.jpg" /><br /><img src="http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/marks_kitchen_radio/th_halloween_05.jpg" /><br /><hr /><br /><div align="left"><br />Of course, the pictures you see are not part of a "lived reality" that my wife and I share. We are not "goth" by any stretch of the imagination; however, visitors who look at these pictures may think as much. We do enjoy Halloween, like a growing number of adults. We've discovered the fun of dress up and the social opportunities with friends and acquaintances. However, other than the week of Halloween, what these pictures depict are not "lived reality."<br /><br />However, I have to add, in truth, these pictures DO present "representations consistent with [my] actual, lived reality." In fact, I believe that the pictures depict a more compelling reality about the nature of my relationship with my wife. In these pictures, if viewers look past the effects of costuming and staging, they will see the reality of our relationship. Careful viewers will be peering into the reality of our relationship: a reality that is far more important than the surface. Let me tease this reality out for you.<br /><br />First, these pictures depict the joy we have with each other. Too often, adult relationships reduce to habit. There is little of habit between my wife and myself. And these pictures capture, I believe, the sheer joy we have within each other's company. Whether we are hamming it up in Halloween regalia in our front yard graveyard or whether we are sharing ice cream out of a carton at K-Mart shopping center and admiring the full moon or whether we are simply cuddled on the couch watching Christmas movies like <em>Jack Frost</em>, we have fun with each other and in each other's company.<br /><br />Second, I believe these pictures show the trust we have in one another. Both of use came from previous marriages where there was not the level of trust that we feel with each other now. In my case, there were expectations that I had to be something I could not: a middle class husband in the "Adams Farm" lifestyle of yuppie suburbia. I could not play that role and face myself each morning. For my wife, there was a gap in the trust that she was loved and wanted in her previous marriage. So within these images, I believe you are seeing trust which is an "actual, lived reality."<br /><br />Lastly, these pictures capture the passion we feel for each other. For fun, several years ago, I wrote an essay about the "myth" of romantic love. However, since I've been married to Thelma, I am convinced that romantic love is a reality--an "actual, lived reality" that these pictures capture. Viewers may see silliness. Some viewers who are a little uptight may see something sinful. I can tell you that what these pictures show is a deep and abiding love. A love, for example, that John Donne describes in his poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." Consider this image from his poem :<br /><br /><span style="color:#000066;"><strong><em>But we by a love so much refined,<br />That ourselves know not what it is,<br />Inter-assurèd of the mind,<br />Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss</em>.</strong><br /></span><br />Tho' we relish our time with one another, Donne has captured an important part about the depth of the love my wife and I feel for one another: a love that transcends the need to always be in the physical presence of the other. I've learned and observed that true love can, as Donne described--endure an expansion--such as "<em><strong><span style="color:#000066;"><span style="color:#ffcc33;">gold</span> to airy thinness beat</span></strong></em>." And I am also sure that those who only know love in the phsyical presence of one another simply do not know love.</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">So, to answer the prompt, do these pictures I've posted here reveal a "discrepency between the lived reality and the image"? I would say the answer is "no"; these images do reflect the truth, the reality of our relationship. I will add, however, that any viewing these pictures needs to look carefully. Let the scales of cynicism fall from your eyes and see what we see: joy, trust, and love. </div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-1157720949489885632006-09-08T09:00:00.000-04:002006-09-12T12:30:06.256-04:00Reflections on Nighthawks: How My Narrative Came AboutThis posting describes my process of producing the narrative you can see on "myspace" about the painting by Hopper. You are invited to read the narrative (<a href="http://www.myspace.com/marks_expository_writing">click here</a>) then return to this blog and see how it came about. A quick disclaimer: There are writers who happen to be teachers; I am not one of those. Quite the contrary: I happen to be a teacher who writes. So as I share my writing with you, I make no pretense that my writing is professional. I intend my writing as a model for you to consider, nothing more.<br /><br />I began the process in my office in the Gee building. I was working back and forth between my laptop which has more efficient internet access and the desktop computer where I work within the campus network. I started drafting in the "myspace.com" site, but I was finding that some of the information I was keying in was getting lost. After composing about a 10-15 lines, I decided this process of having to type and retype was too frustrating. So I copied what I had started and logged into the Blackboard where I could work in s similar online environment, but where I believed I had more security about maintaining my information.<br /><br />The first line of the narrative game very quickly to me. And one of the reasons for this opening line was to create the oppotunity to play visually with the text. As the first line was being drafted, I was already planning on options for using <strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#660000;">c</span><span style="color:#000099;">o</span><span style="color:#006600;">l</span><span style="color:#666666;">o</span><span style="color:#330033;">r</span></span> </strong>within the text. I didn't know where the opportunities would arise, but I was certainly planning on trying to incorporate more color as I was drafting.<br /><br />Another reason, besides the opportunity to play with color that the first line came out the way it did was the reaction I've had to the painting. The colors of Hopper's painting had tended to create a sober, somber reaction within me. The colors, in my mind, suggested "<strong><span style="color:#330099;">the blues</span></strong>." When I first started drafting, I had in mind--along with this color option--a vague notion that I would narrate the story within the style of <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html"><span style="font-size:130%;">film noir</span></a>. That was the reason I had the woman talk first and also the reason she indicated her saddness--perhaps baiting the man to engage in a conversation and, perhaps, baiting him into something more dangerous: a standard exposition trick in <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html"><span style="font-size:130%;">film noir</span></a>.<br /><br />A third reason this line came very quickly had to do with the characterizations that were forming in my mind. Since the painting was set in the 1940s, I wanted to find language that would have been appropriate--as best as I can guess from films I've seen--for that period.<br /><br />The next few lines began to evolve rather quickly. I was listening to music through my "Launchcast" radio and I had also decided that besides color, I would play with the idea of the characters' being in a painting. That's how the dialog in the first several lines began to evolve. I wanted to create an impression that the woman was from Smallville, USA, and had come to the city for work. This idea was consistent with the painting, both because of the war and because of the shift in the economy from agriculture to manufacturing. During the first four decades of the 20th century , thousands of people streamed to urban areas looking for work and this historical event is part of the "broader" context I could exploit in my narrative.<br /><br />And that economic and social context played well to my ideas about the painting. Many people in the 1930s and 1940s came to larger cities with the dream of being "discovered" for the movies. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000068/bio">Randolph Scott</a>, for example, grew up in Charlotte, NC, and made his way to California and into pictures. So the woman's dream of coming to the city and getting into pictures worked twofold for me:<br /><br /><ul><li>This mobility was consistent with the time and the character as I saw her.</li><li>This desire for being in film allowed me the opporunity to play with the idea of her wanting to be in "pictures"--which was the pun I wanted to exploit.</li></ul><p>As this set up happened, I was also working on my desktop computer answering email and I also stopped to attend a couple of meetings and to meet with students who came by the office. When I as able to turn more focused attention to my narrative, I saw that the drive for being in pictures had become more than a either a character driven event or my wanting to pun the idea. An emerging idea for her motivation was her desire for immortality. As I reread my draft and noticed the potential for this theme, I had an idea about the male character sitting beside the woman. What if he was immortal and was saddened by the idea of living forever? Could this tension be my conflict for this narrative?</p><p>This theme of the problem of immortality is deeply seated in Western literature. If nothing else, part of what drives the vampire legend is that these creatures live forever and are nearly tragic in their saddness about living forever. See, for example, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079641/">Klaus Kinski as Nosferatu </a>or the film version of <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110148/">Interview with a Vampire </a></em>where this theme is clearly explored.</p><p>The immortality theme had come to mind before a meeting and I was trying to recall a Greek myth where a mortal man married a goddess just prior to having to leave. I could remember that a goddess asked Zeus for the gift of immortality for her lover/husband. The wish was granted; however, there is a difference between living forever and eternal youth! Her lover grew older and older, but he could not die. I thought that this tension might play well from the man's point of view, but I wanted to review the myth. I couldn't find specifics before I had to go to a meeting.</p><p>As I left for my meeting, I stopped by the office of my colleague, Rebecca Beittel, and I asked her if she knew of the myth and the characters. By finding the characters from the myth, I thought I might be able to give the characters in the painting names. Rebecca didn't know off the top of her head, but she thought she could find it. Sure enough, when I got back from the meeting, I had an email that the myth was about <a href="http://www.online-mythology.com/aurora_tithonus/">Tithonus</a> (the human lover) and Eos (the goddess of the dawn--and named as "Aurora" by some writers).</p><p>I quickly did some revision on my draft. For example, I reworked the earlier part where the woman is able to refer to herself by a specific name ("Dawn"). At the same time I was making some of the revisions, I "googled" the myth of <a href="http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/picart_bernard_tithonusaauroragrasshopper.htm"><span style="font-size:130%;">Tithonus (this link is to an engraving</span></a>) to see if there were any alternative names or spelling of "Tithonus" so I could better create a name for the male companion in the painting. And I found a curious hit on Google: there was an <a href="http://www.insidethex.co.uk/transcrp/scrp609.htm"><em>X-files</em> episode called "Tithonus"! </a>This find was great fun! Now I had to make sure that the female character--"Dawn"--was red-haired, like Dana (really close to "Dawn" in terms of the spelling of the name) Scully. And luck would have it: Hopper's woman is red-haired. Therefore, I was able to add a little more to the dialog from the googling on "Tithonus" as well as listening to "Launchcast (the card reader at the fair, Mrs. Rita, came into my narrative since I heard the song from the Gin Blossoms, "Mrs. Rita," while I was composing).</p><p>Not only did I find a summary of the <em>X-files</em> episode, I also found the script! This find was too good to pass up, so I quickly scanned through the script to see if there were any ideas I could rob for my narrative. Like most of us today in postmodernist America, we find it very easy to build allusion from classical Greece and from popular art at the same time. And indeed, there in the script was some dialog between the "Tithonus" character and Dana Scully that I could exploit in my narrative.</p><p>At this point, I was nearing a time to end my allotted time for composing my narrative. At the same time I saw my time was running short, the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young song,"Deja Vu," played on my radio station. The openning verse says:</p><p><span style="color:#000099;">If I had ever been here before I would probably know just what to do<br />Don't you?<br />If I had ever been here before on another time around the wheel<br />I would probably know just how to deal<br />With all of you.<br />And I feel<br />Like I've been here before<br />Feel<br />Like I've been here before<br />And you know<br />It makes me wonder<br />What's going on . . . .</span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;">These lyrics helped me decide where I would go with the narrative--in a circle! The "deja vu" theme, the idea of immortality--and no death, and the idea of some art critics that the characters in the painting are "trapped" (e.g. these critics note that no door is visible for entrance or exit) all converged at this point in my narrative. I went back to the beginning of the narrative and recast the first sentence a little bit and then allowed the dialog toward the end of my draft to develop so I could have the narrative end with the exact same line that openned the narrative. I intentionally "closed the circle" of the narrative to represent the endlessness of the male character's "immortality" and <strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#990000;">captured</span></strong> (yes, I intended this pun, too, in good "postmodernist" mode)--I hope--the art critics' ideas about the enclosed or trapped nature of the characters in this painting.</span></p><p>I did one more read through of the draft and tried to play with the male character's name. I couldn't just call him "Tithonus" since that would not work at all. I tried earlier to find varient spellings--which is typical of some ancient Greek names. But I had not been lucky there. I also tried anagrams--rearranging the letters of the name to make another name, such as how <a href="http://www.ccel.org/h/herbert/temple/Anagram.html">George Herbert, the metaphysical poet, played with the letters in "Mary" (the mother of Jesus) and "Army" for one his poems</a>. "Tithonus" resisted any manipulation of letters. I thought about using initials and eventually experimented with T.I Thonus--but the last name just didn't work for an American sounding name. Then, as I looked at the name, I was taken how much "Thonus" looked like "Thomas." And my problem was solved.</p><p>I ran a spell check through the Blackboard word processor function. I fixed any typos that the word processor found and I checked my own writing one more time. This process was happening in the late afternoon and I finally copied and pasted it into the "myspace" site. I am including below two last bits of information for you:</p><ul><li>Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the poet laureate of Victorian England published a poem called "Tithonus"</li><li>In my research, I found a recent discovery of a version of the poem by Sappho, the great Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. Her version of this myth is also reproduced for you below.</li></ul><p></p><br /><strong>Tithonus </strong>by Alfred Lord Tennyson<br /><br />The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,<br />The vapors weep their burthen to the ground,<br />Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,<br />And after many a summer dies the swan.<br />Me only cruel immortality<br />Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms, <span style="font-size:85%;"><em>[here, note "thine" refers to the goddess, Eos]<br /></em></span>Here at the quiet limit of the world,<br />A white-hair'd shadow roaming like a dream<br />The ever-silent spaces of the East,<br />Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn.<br />Alas! for this gray shadow, once a man--<br />So glorious in his beauty and thy choice,<br />Who madest him thy chosen, that he seem'd<br />To his great heart none other than a God!<br />I ask'd thee, `Give me immortality.' <span style="font-size:85%;"><em>[Tennyson sees the mistake of the request on Tithonus' asking, not on the part of the goddess]<br /></em></span>Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile,<br />Like wealthy men who care not how they give.<br />But thy strong<br />Hours indignant work'd their wills,<br />And beat me down and marr'd and wasted me,<br />And tho' they could not end me, left me maim'd<br />To dwell in presence of immortal youth,<br />Immortal age beside immortal youth,<br />And all I was, in ashes.<br />Can thy love,<br />Thy beauty, make amends, tho' even now,<br />Close over us, the silver star, thy guide,<br />Shines in those tremulous eyes that fill with tears<br />To hear me? <span style="font-size:85%;"><em>[the legend has Tithonus growing so old, his only sound is like the rasp of the grasshopper]<br /></em></span>Let me go: take back thy gift:<br />Why should a man desire in any way<br />To vary from the kindly race of men,<br />Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance<br />Where all should pause, as is most meet for all?<br />A soft air fans the cloud apart; there comes<br />A glimpse of that dark world where I was born.<br />Once more the old mysterious glimmer steals<br />From thy pure brows, and from thy shoulders pure,<br />And bosom beating with a heart renew'd.<br />Thy cheek begins to redden thro' the gloom, <span style="font-size:85%;"><em>[note this reference to the physical arrival of dawn]<br /></em></span>Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly close to mine,<br />Ere yet they blind the stars, and the wild team<br />Which love thee, yearning for thy yoke, arise,<br />And shake the darkness from their loosen'd manes,<br />And beat the twilight into flakes of fire.<br />Lo! ever thus thou growest beautiful<br />In silence, then before thine answer given<br />Departest, and thy tears are on my cheek.<br />Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears,<br />And make me tremble lest a saying learnt,<br />In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true?<br />`The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.'<br />Ay me! ay me! with what another heart<br />In days far-off, and with what other eyes<br />I used to watch--if I be he that watch'd--<br />The lucid outline forming round thee; saw<br />The dim curls kindle into sunny rings;<br />Changed with thy mystic change, and felt my blood<br />Glow with the glow that slowly crimson'd all<br />Thy presence and thy portals, while I lay,<br />Mouth, forehead, eyelids, growing dewy-warm<br />With kisses balmier than half-opening buds<br />Of April, and could hear the lips that kiss'd<br />Whispering I knew not what of wild and sweet,<br />Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing,<br />While Ilion like a mist rose into towers.<br />Yet hold me not for ever in thine East:<br />How can my nature longer mix with thine?<br />Coldly thy rosy shadows bathe me, cold<br />Are all thy lights, and cold my wrinkled feet<br />Upon thy glimmering thresholds, when the steam<br />Floats up from those dim fields about the homes<br />Of happy men that have the power to die,<br />And grassy barrows of the happier dead.<br />Release me, and restore me to the ground;<br />Thou seest all things, thou wilt see my grave:<br />Thou wilt renew thy beauty morn by morn;<br />I earth in earth forget these empty courts,<br />And thee returning on thy silver wheels. <hr /><br /><p><strong>Sappho's Fourth Poem</strong></p><p>"[You for] the fragrant-blossomed Muses' lovely gifts [be zealous,] girls, [and the] clear melodious lyre:<br />[but my once tender] body old age now [has seized;] my hair's turned [white] instead of dark;<br />my heart's grown heavy, my knees will not support me,<br />that once on a time were fleet for the dance as fawns.<br />This state I oft bemoan; but what's to do?<br />Not to grow old, being human, there's no way.<br />Tithonus once, the tale was, rose-armed Dawn,<br />love-smitten, carried off to the world's end,<br />handsome and young then, yet in time<br />grey age o'ertook him, husband of immortal wife."</p><p>Lastly, consider these links for fun:</p><ul><li>Iron Maiden's song "<a href="http://www.maidenfans.com/imc/?url=album12_bnw/commentary12_bnw&link=albums&lang=eng#track3">Brave New World</a>" from the album similarly titled has lyrical allusions to the legend of Tithonus. Also, <a href="http://www.maidenfans.com/imc/?url=album12_bnw/tithonus&link=albums&lang=eng">follow this link to see some art pieces </a>linked from Iron Maiden's commentary on Tithonus.</li><li>This link takes you to the <a href="http://www.insidethex.co.uk/transcrp/scrp609.htm"><em>X-files</em> script entitled "Tithonus."</a></li><li>Francis Bacon wrote an <a href="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa&cc=moa&idno=aje6090.0001.001&q1=Tithonus&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=420">essay on "Tithonus or Satiety."</a></li></ul><p align="center"></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-1156819161513882462006-08-28T22:01:00.001-04:002012-10-29T15:27:37.617-04:00Reflection on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy"You may have seen the video I embedded from Pearl Jam and as I was reviewing, I was struck by the flashing image or text: "Genesis 3:6." I wasn't surprised by a biblical reference because I've noted many allusions to bibilical material in Eddie Vedder's work, but I was interested to see what the reference was in connnection with the video. The verse is quoted here from the University of Virginia's etext library: <br />
<br /><i><b>"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."</b></i> <br />
The verse refers to the "original sin" of Eve in her disobedience to God for eating of the tree of knowledge. The chapter begins with this line:<br /><br /><b><i>"Now the serpent was more subtil. . ."</i></b><br /><br />If you watch closely the images in the "Jeremy" video, you will see this exact line, including the King James spelling of "subtil"! What is all of this about?<br /><br />As my previous blog explains, the youth in America are subjegated to many experiences that disengage them from society. Some of the experiences are through their interactions with their peers (clearly one of the themes/ideas in the song). Disengaement also happens personally in that young people moving into young adulthood have no clear sense of their own identity and thrash about, desparately, for some sort of connection. The onus of this disengagement, I believe, lies in the education system that has no clear mission defined for itself. We often mouth the importance of our youth, but we--as a culture--really do not put the resources where our mouths are. And what was visited upon the American Indian--dislocation and an attempt to erase traditional spirituality in the name of assimilation and American consumerism--is being visited upon our youth.<br /><br />"Jeremy" is not the sinner in this song; he is the one sinned against. . .Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488425.post-1156784110752085892006-08-28T12:52:00.001-04:002012-08-30T16:03:48.266-04:00New Posting for English 111<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/566/3678/1600/bb_staff_01.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/566/3678/320/bb_staff_01.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></a><br />
After visiting Charles' blog spot, I believed that I needed to join in the fun. So I've added this site to my blogging experience. Watch here and the "myspace" site for my blogging/journaling with you throughout the term.<br />
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The journaling we did today in class was focused on reading/viewing--that is the difference between reading a text and viewing a website. The class visited a site, <a href="http://www.nmai.si.edu/">the National Museum of the American Indian.</a> Students were to browse the site and reflect on the "viewing" of the site, then address the "textual" information located there.<br />
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I started the journal/blog on "<a href="http://www.myspace.com/marks_expository_writing">myspace</a>," then I found this site. I am doubling up to assure that I always have models for my students to review. The most obvious issue when visiting the site is to note the Macromedia Flash action--and watch the totem images appear then slide to the right. We don't have this sort of experience when we read. Text does not move like the images. Text is stationary. And for a postmodern, post MTV generation, I am convinced that movement is critical for capturing an audience's attention.<br />
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I am experimenting--not only in using the space as my students are using it for journaling, but also to see what media I may be able to embed. For example. . .one article I found at the NMAI site was titled, "Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories." This title echoed with me since I fundamentally believe that many, many students--just like the Native American--have lost their "voices" in the process of public education. There was a struggle for holding on to the identity as Native Americans--just like students have to struggle to maintain their identity.<br />
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As I reflected along these lines, I was reminded of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy"--a song about a young man who is also struggling to hold on or to discover something about himself. I have thought about embedding the video here:<br />
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The video I embedded is not available for embedding any more; however, I would still like to direct you to this unedited version of "Jeremy." One reason I believe you need to have this access is that we are already forgetting our past: I talked with a group of students recently and they had NOT heard about Columbine. Songs like "Jeremy" remind us of so many things and we cannot afford to forget.
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RSE7rtIpdQs" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0