End of civilization....

Really. Have you seen this? Fox's Hole in the Wall. Then again, I have just watched 20 minutes of it.

Daily Illustrations

Once a few months ago I tried to explain my dissertation topic to my Mother-in-Law. I tried to explain to her that I wanted to explore the way the language the media used influenced the way we think about immigrants. She heard language and thought I was talking about the increase in Spanish language media. Eh...I tried.

Today, unwittingly she provided me with the perfect illustration of the influence/power of language. Unfortunately, it's an example I could never tell her about. She'd been talking about Sarah Palin's speech yesterday. My MiL is in love with Sarah Palin. Then she went on to say something about the Democrats. I can't remember the exact sentence because she didn't say, "The Democrats blah, blah, blah." She said, "The Enemy blah, blah, blah." Well, actually the construction was, 'Blah, blah, blah The Enemy." And, yes, there were capitals in her voice.

My MiL listens to local conservative talk radio and watches Fox News. It's a running joke in the family about how liberal I am, but it must not really occur to her what that means. I don't really think she believes I am the enemy, but it's how she's learned to think about political opposition. That bugs me for everyone involved. I don't hate Republicans or Conservatives or Libertarians. I know, and really admire, lots of people with political views that are different than mine. I'm not saying it's only Fox News that promotes this kind of language. The Media (big "M" and all inclusive) is responsible and so are we, as a nation, because we like a good fight. But, what we need to realize is that it matters.

The true lesson here, the one that I can never really tell her about, is that although I know this woman loves me, I know she "Didn't mean it that way," it still stung.

Getting to know each other...

This semester's schedule is set up so that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I am ostensibly working on my dissertation. So far, well, you saw the ceiling. Today there is no dissertation work because I'm holding student conferences.

You might find it confusing that I'm holding student conferences right now and posting at the same time. It would appear to be impossible, but that is only true if student's actually show up for their conferences. Now, I guess I cannot be too hard on them. I did cancel class yesterday. However, even in the cancellation announcement, I made it clear that conferences today would go on as scheduled.

About that class cancellation. This is the first time I have cancelled class unexpectedly. It sucked to have to do it the second week of classes, but I didn't feel like showing up full of fever sweat and shaking with the chills. Actually, for a group of first-year students, they did a pretty good job of figuring out the discussion board assignment for the day.

Each semester it's tough to decide whether or not to do these beginning of the semester conferences, but when I'm teaching 101, I think they are helpful. It makes the students find my office and helps them realize that nothing terrible will happen to them when they come here. (Well today it might get them sick, but I'm making them sit far away and using a lot of purell.)

***I just got my first "Why I couldn't make it to the conference" email. The student said he rode his bike around campus and couldn't find our building. It could be legitimate, but our building is pretty big and brand new and shiny.

A new line...

This morning I got a little post birthday present in my inbox. The book review I wrote over the summer is being published in the October edition of the journal. Yeah!

It's my first 600 words in print and a new line on my CV.

New Year's has never been that important to me. Maybe it's because I've always been on a more academic schedule. In addition to the joys of new pens and notebooks for class, my birthday is at the beginning of the school year. So, it really is more of a new year for me than the arbitrary calendar date of January 1st.

So, all I can do is hope, pray, beg the gods of the multiverse that this week is not an indication of what it will be like to be 35. The fact that my birthday isn't really until next week gives me just the smallest glimmer of hope that this is just a bad send off of 34.

The pessimism may surprise you, but that' just because I spent Wednesday evening writing my academic genealogy to avoid looking at the following.

Yup, that is the ceiling of my kitchen. Wednesday morning, after an entire night of heavy rain, I woke up to a soggy kitchen table and a pretty new ceiling.

The best part came later when the DH went upstairs to check the Cat Bathroom, which is directly above the kitchen. He said he noticed the wall and then just touched the ceiling and his finger went right through.

Thursday, instead of going to sweaty yoga, I got to hang around the house to hear a contractor tell us that the actual problem was minor. In his words, "A 10 cent fix." The resulting damage is worth a little more. Fortunately, the in-laws can file a home-owners claim because it was weather related.

Today...today was going well. Until I decided to go to the bathroom before teaching the afternoon class. That was when the zipper on my pants broke. Now, these weren't just regular pants that have multiple fasteners. These were some really cute pants with a side zipper. In fact, they are the pants that I wore to our "reception" dinner at the Peppermill in Vegas after we got married the second time. The side zipper business means that the zipper was holding these pants up.

Fortunately, I happen to bring a change of clothes to school today. This is really a random occurrence. It was the only thing that saved me from having to staple my clothes together.

Yeah, that's my week. The ceiling brakes and my pants fall down.

Don't worry, I am well aware that in the whole scheme of the world my week wasn't that terrible. In fact, I'm still pretty fortunate -- my cats have their own bathroom for cryin' out loud! It was just one of those weeks.

Oh and about the cat bathroom. It's just that it's there and no one uses it, so it's the perfect place for the litterbox. Besides we have to do something to make up for the fact that we love the dog more.

Oh...and two more things....
First of all - while I appreciate that New Orleans is in the path of Gustav, but seriously people. Look at that map a little more closely and you can see that the good folks in Cameron Parrish, who are still recovering from Rita...yeah, you know the other hurricane that hit three years ago, are more in the line of that storm. Those are the Cajun Princess's people down there and they do not need to go through that crap again.

Secondly, the saving grace of this day has been my discovery of Black Hockey Jesus. I never thought I'd thank Redneck Mommy for taking a break, but I've discovered a lot of great blogs this week. I've spent this afternoon reading through the archives and I'm in love. Really. If the DH would trust himself enough to sit down with a pen I think he'd have a similar voice.

academic genealogy

Looking back over the archives, it amazed me to realize there isn’t a lot here about where I’m from…at least not where I’m from educationally. It’s amazing because the Cajun Princess and I talk about these things all the time. In fact, it’s pretty much how we bonded. So, grab yourself a cup of coffee, a beer, or even champagne and I’ll tell you a bit of the Tale of Little Miss Someday. (By the way, I’m still waiting on some good pseudonym suggestions.) This tale is inspired by Dr. Crazy’s “College for the Underclass” post. There are several ideas in there I’d like to address, but first I need to provide the background.

As with everyone, my educational genealogy begins with my parents. My Mother never finished high school, but got her GED when I was around 7 or 8. My Father graduated from high school and was eventually sent to some further vocational training by one of his employers.

(Aside #1 – Isn’t it fascinating how we do this? Construct educational genealogies for ourselves. It’s as if our parents’ educational level should both provide some indication of what our own educational potential should be; but, it should also be the level we seek to surpass.)

I think the most important thing about my mother’s education is that when I was 10 she went to the local Community College (CC) and got a business certificate. Basically, it meant she was able to work in an office doing a number of things like basic payroll and accounting. In fact, she worked in the business office of that same college after she graduated. At an early age the idea that education could get you a decent job you didn’t hate too much was ingrained in me. Even to a 10 year old it’s pretty obvious that a low level office job is better than cleaning houseboats. My Father was talented at what he did and always had a good paying blue collar job. So, during my high school years we were pretty solidly lower-middle class. It was assumed that I would go to college, but that instead of going away to school I would start out at the local CC. I didn’t even apply to any four year schools. While we didn’t have enough money to send me to a four year school, according to my Dad’s taxes we had enough that I didn’t really need financial aid.

My staying in the home town turned out to be a good thing. During the spring of my Senior year my parents divorced. I did go to the CC that fall, but I didn’t even last a full quarter. Life was just a little messed up for me. So, I took the first of what was to be a couple of ‘breaks’ from school. I’d work for a while, go back and take a few classes, and then work for a while again. There was a rather long break where I followed John Boy to the northern end of the state, but eventually I returned home and to the CC.

To me, this is where it gets interesting.

Dr. Crazy is candid about her goals as an undergraduate, “I was no fool: I knew that I needed to graduate from college and to make some money. Period.“ It is the sensible perception of education when coming from a working/lower-middle class background. It probably should have been my goal. Education, job, steady income. When I came back from North Hippy-ville, I knew I was going to finish at the CC and transfer to a four-year school. Sounds right on track, except that I was going to be a theatre major. Oh yeah, you want to know what degree is at least as useless, if not more useless, than an English degree, that would be a Theatre degree. The craziest thing is that I did it. So, not only did I not get serious about school until I was 24, when I did get ‘serious’ about school, it was in an entirely not serious way. I was pursuing a dream.

Maybe my desire to pursue my acting dream influenced the rest of my education, because even at the CC, I took courses that sounded interesting to me. My schedule was always eclectic. Yes, I took a lot of English and Drama classes, but I also took beginning Russian and a biology course on Modern Day Plagues – and, I LOVED it! When I finally really left home to go to a state school on the Prairie, I conceded a little to sensibility and supplemented my Theatre major with an English minor. It was a little about the fall back, but mostly because an entire semester of nothing but theatre and dance classes made me feel like my brain was atrophying. So, I supplemented with things I liked and wanted to learn English and French classes and even some Sign Language. It wasn’t until after I’d decided that I’d finish the Theatre degree, but that I didn’t want a career in the theatre.

(Aside #2 - I don’t mean that to sound like I thought I’d have some grand career. It was just that going into my final year at Prairie School I knew that I loved doing community theatre, and that I didn’t want to do the business of theatre.)

So, I set a new goal. I wanted to teach English at a Community College. My experience at my CC was great and I thought that teaching at that level was an attainable goal. I’d get my MA, find a job at a CC like mine, and do theatre on campus or in the community. Two things happened – I met Dr. Snarky and I worked for a year at a CC here in Middletown. The rest is sort of history. When it was time for me to graduate with the MA, I knew I wasn’t done. I felt like graduate school was just beginning. Suddenly, although it had never occurred to me that I would ever, ever get a PhD, I wanted one.

So, why the life story?

Well, I just wanted to illustrate yet another way that “college” means something different to everyone. I’m guilty of trying to convince my students that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is good – or, at least not a complete waste of their time. I’m guilty of this not because I buy into any sort of “de facto elitism” (which does exist), but because I want them to enjoy learning of all types. It’s a silly goal, but I think that if they can enjoy learning, then they will be able to see life beyond their paycheck. They’ll still be nurses, and whatever it is business majors become, but maybe they’ll also figure out how to do something they love as well.

Another reason for the life story:

Now you know how apt a title “Wandering the Academy” really is.

Opening Night...

Well, I tried to switch classrooms for the 1pm class, but it doesn't look like it will happen. The only other classrooms available are actually bigger and don't have chairs that move. So, I guess I'll have to add blocking to my course prep. You might think that I'd just stand on the floor infront of the class, but then it's impossible to see everyone. Oh well.

Dissertation Tuesday didn't go too well today. I went back to yoga class, ran some errands, and did some course planning for tomorrow. There are still a few hours in the day, but I'm pretty wiped out. Once I get used to the sweaty yoga, I love it, but it takes a couple of times for my body to get used to it.

So, until then a meme as seen at Dr. Crazy's

1. My uncle once took me for a ride in his semi. For years I was convinced he was really Jerry Reed in Smoky and the Bandit.

2. Never in my life would I have thought I'd end up where I am...but, I think that is a good thing.

3. When I was five Fonzie was my imaginary friend.

4. High school was mostly fun. I had a great group of friends.

5. I will never forget the summer moon over Sadie Peak. (It's a sun in the picture, but I think you get the idea.)

6. Once I met Fran Tarkenton. I only knew who he was from That's Incredible.

7. There’s this boy I know who can almost always make me smile.

8. Once, at a bar, watched my 60-something year old aunt drink a blow job.

9. By noon, I'm ready for a nap.

10. Last night I watched Ted Kennedy's speech.

11. If only I had the power to make sure everyone I care about has whatever they need.

12. Next time I go to church will probably be Christmas, because the in-laws like to do that.

13. What worries me most is whether I'll ever find a good job in this profession.

14. When I turn my head left I see the dog sleeping on my couch.

15. When I turn my head right I see a messy, messy desk that needs organizing.

16. You know I’m lying when I say I love Dickens.

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is Andrew McCarthy.

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing.

19. By this time next year I will be one draft away from completing my dissertation. (knock on some wood for me!)

20. A better name for me would be ... I don't know. Any votes?

21. I have a hard time understanding the DH's inability to shut things off when he leaves a room.

22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll give you permission to have me committed.

23. You know I like you if I let you hang out on the porch.

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be the DH, my Mom, my Dad, and the Cajun Princess.

25. Take my advice, never drive through North Dakota.

26. My ideal breakfast is ... Eggs over-easy, crispy hashbrowns, and bacon.

27. A song I love but do not have is the "New Boots" song that I don't really know the name of, but my friend always sings with her band.

28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you drive on through to the beach.

29. Why won’t people obey the crosswalk on campus.

30. If you spend a night at my house the cats will sleep on your head.

31. I’d stop my wedding for a death in the family or natural disaster.

32. The world could do without many, many things. Cell phones would be one. (Yes, that is completely hypocritical because I have one, but it's true.)

33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than have a house infested with cockroaches.

34. My favorite blondie my friend from high school, who now runs marathons.

35. Paper clips are more useful than almost anything else.

36. If I do anything well it’s making cookies and rubbing the DH's feet.

37. I can’t help but fret over the dum-dums.

38. I usually cry at almost anything sappy. There are at least 3 scenes that make me cry in Love Actually. Oh...and when I really want a good cry, I just throw in The Hours. There is just something about Julianne Moore's character.

39. My advice to my nephew/niece is ... I don't have any, but I'd say...read.

40. And by the way, I'm very impatient for new BSG episodes.