tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81461132024-03-13T22:58:15.112-04:00Blog With A DogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger880125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-26188119838200706712015-08-12T16:11:00.002-04:002015-08-12T16:11:31.605-04:00a list of five: how did I get here?I'm calling this list...HOW DID I GET HERE?<br />
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Here are five unusual, surprising, regrettable, or just unexpected musical artists I've seen perform, with some type of explanation which may be vague, defensive, or half-remembered.<br />
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1. <u>Richard Marx.</u> I'll start with the most embarrassing show. I think he did an Elvis medley at one point. In my defense, he wrote that Vixen song, "Edge of a Broken Heart," which totally holds up.<br />
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2. <u>Cypress Hill.</u> Wedged between Pavement and Sonic Youth at Lollapalooza one year during undergrad. I felt like every song was about pot, the stage design focused on pot. Okay, we got it, you like weed. I guess in their defense, it was hard to fit with the "too cool for school" style of just about every other band on the bill and then they couldn't really outdo the outrageousness of the recently widowed Courtney Love, also performing that day at the place formerly known as Pine Knob, who was picking fights with roadies and talking shit about Kathleen Hanna and pretty clearly strung out.<br />
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3. <u>Rusted Root.</u> Twice. File this under "unexpected" because, well, jam bands. My cousin Cathy took me to see them at some point and, later Nicole and I saw them on the strength of the two songs that had gotten some airplay: "Ecstasy" and "Send Me on My Way," super catchy and fun before they were used to advertise rental car agencies and what not. Anyway, they opened with those two songs, prompting Nicole to say, "Jeez, we can pretty much leave now."<br />
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4. <u>Sarah McLachlan.</u> The first Lilith Fair. Seemed like a good idea at the time.<br />
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5. <u>Phantom Planet.</u> In Oxford, OH., right after The O.C. blew up. They seemed unsure how to incorporate a super-recognizable and trendy TV theme song into a fairly deep catalogue of solid indie rock. Clearly a weird moment for a good band.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-9874336772405961662014-12-29T21:17:00.002-05:002014-12-29T21:17:30.922-05:00BibimbapMy fourth adventure from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Light-Global-Kitchen-Delicious/dp/0848739981/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419905374&sr=1-1&keywords=global+kitchen">The Global Kitchen</a> took Nicole and I to Korea earlier tonight for a traditional rice bowl dish called bibimbap. We both appreciated the mild flavors--fresh ginger, garlic in moderation, sweetness from apple cider vinegar and a little bit of sugar--and the healthy combination of veggies and other good things that converged in the bibimbap (it's fun to say!). The Korean chili paste gave the meal serious heat and was brilliant with the egg and sprouts. Another keeper.<br />
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Bill's Grade: A-<br />
Nicole's Grade: B+<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-26865685961404907962014-12-20T21:19:00.001-05:002014-12-20T21:19:41.594-05:00Uruguayan Fava Bean Salad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The year we lived there, a lot of cafes and lunch counters in Beirut served salads that combined various kinds of beans (chickpeas, fava beans, whatever) with herbs, veggies, and other fresh things. So interesting to see this very Mediterranean-sounding salad in the "South America" chapter of <i>Global Kitchen.</i> Uruguyan Bean Salad combines fava beans with parsley, onions, tomatoes, and oregano but dresses the combination with olive oil and <i>vinegar</i>. In Lebanon, lemon juice instead of--or in addition to--the vinegar--would likely be used, and I confess I kind of missed the lemony bite in this otherwise tasty concoction. Still, this was easy to whip up in about ten minutes to take with us to a birthday party--a more interesting contribution than a green salad. A keeper--but next time I'm going to include some fresh lemon juice!<br />
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Bill's Grade: B-<br />
Nicole's Grade: B+Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-33092005506685448212014-12-19T08:27:00.000-05:002014-12-20T21:19:58.740-05:00Pastitsio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dish #2 from <i>Global Kitchen: </i>Pastitsio (from the "Eurasia" chapter), a Greek casserole with pasta, feta cheese, tomatoes, onions, ground lamb (I used very lean beef because Nicole's not big on lamb), and milk. This was fun to make: a simple cream sauce from skim milk with a little flour and butter and an equally simple tomato sauce from the meat and tomatoes. Divide pasta among the two sauces, layer, and bake. Like a lot of Greek dishes, unusual flavors mingle--this time cinnamon, garlic, and loads of fresh oregano. We hosted the Berkley Democrats' annual holiday potluck last night and this was a warm thing to serve at a December gathering, though I could imagine making this year-round.<br />
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Bill's Grade: A<br />
Nicole's Grade: A+Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-83844641796506333452014-12-17T21:20:00.002-05:002014-12-17T21:20:59.249-05:00Blueberry Cobbler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've fallen for a new cookbook called <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0848739981/?tag=apartmentth0a-20">Global Kitchen</a>, </i>probably because the pictures are so beautiful and the chapters--more or less based on the continents--so varied. My photos aren't going to be anywhere near as gorgeous, but I'm going to try to cook some of the dishes and post some thoughts. No idea how often I'll post. I have no intentions of working my way through the book in order (what fun would that be?).<br />
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The "Cooking Light" folks put together <i>Global Kitchen </i>and one thing I love about "CL" is the simplicity. Which leads me to tonight's blueberry cobbler ("North America"), made from not much more than berries, flour, sugar, butter, skim milk, and lemon zest. You could really taste the lemon in every sweet bite. Keeper.<br />
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Bill's Grade: B<br />
Nicole's Grade: B+Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-37850316046749073612014-07-10T11:52:00.001-04:002014-07-10T11:52:19.373-04:00h2o part twoYesterday after work, a second consecutive swim. My <a href="http://bdegenaro.blogspot.com/2014/07/h2o.html">first night</a> I did twenty minutes. Last night, 30. I could really get used to the sensation which perhaps stems from swimming being something different (i.e., I haven't really done it for ten years), but for whatever reason swimming feels rewarding, like an accomplishment--especially increasing my time by ten minutes. I still can't imagine getting to a point of caring much about speed or form but I love the feeling of speeding up my heart rate and then keeping it elevated, going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I like that swimming is hard. That's why it feels satisfying to complete thirty minutes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-34497504019317345982014-07-09T10:39:00.002-04:002014-07-09T10:39:50.249-04:00free musicSo I have hundreds of CDs, vinyl records, and cassettes in my office at home. I bought a lot of music in high school (late 80s, early 90s) when I "followed" particular bands--The Pixies, Smiths, et al--and was likely to use money I earned at Taco Bell to pick up anything they released. I also bought a lot of new music circa 2002-2005 or so, likely for a variety of reasons: I finally had a real job/source of income for the first time in my life after six years of grad school, I heard a lot of great new music on woxy (Oxford, Ohio's now-defunct indie rock station), and my students at Miami U tended to recommend stuff to me. So my CD collection is oddly weighted toward those years: The Gossip, Greenhornes, Libertines, Shins, Soledad Brothers, The Kills, Bloc Party...<br />
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Like, well, pretty much everybody, I buy very little new music. I bought i-Tunes versions of the soul singer Kelis' new album "Food," which I love big time; Detroit rapper Danny Brown's irreverent album "Old," which I like; and the new Mashrou'Leila, a Lebanese rock band, and that's pretty much it this year.<br />
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Other than that, it's free music. I have spotify on my computer in the Writing Program on campus and I have Nirvana, Morrissey, "dance" (Midnight Star, Morris Day, etc.), and "80s" (Split Enz, The Specials, Kool Moe Dee, Bananarama) playlists that get heavy rotation. I also have a couple entire records downloaded spotify playlists because I only have them on cassette and hence never listen to them (10,000 Maniacs, Porno for Pyros). Also, on the free music front: this great <a href="http://www.musicvault.com/">archive</a> where you can find tens of thousands of music videos and concert clips. Amazing.<br />
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Fewer kids experience album art, I guess, but for those who get into the whole vinyl subculture. And I guess, personally, music is less communal, which has something to do with 1) not being 15 anymore, and 2) not teaching at Miami of Ohio anymore. And while free is nice for me, it's not so nice for artists. 2014, folks.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-15511757524181165132014-07-09T09:53:00.004-04:002014-07-09T09:53:57.176-04:00h2oI usually work out 3-4 times per week on cardio machines. Thus far--knock on wood, inshallah, spit on the ground, stay away evil eye--I've avoided high blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar problems, the things that allegedly go hand-in-hand with being fat.<br />
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Yesterday, though, I swam laps. Ten years ago, when we lived in Ohio, I used to swim almost every morning at the Hamilton YMCA in our neighborhood. I had forgotten how swimming makes your whole body tired and refreshed all at once. Circa 2004 I used to swim for about 45-50 minutes (never kept track of number of laps because I know my speed, form, etc. weren't very good--my goal was always more about elevating my heart rate and maintaining that elevation anyway).<br />
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Yesterday I did 20 solid minutes. Going back this afternoon to hopefully do the same. I need a break from the treadmill. Err, literally and figuratively.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-36596318469635542842014-07-08T10:45:00.001-04:002014-07-08T10:45:40.266-04:00Tammy, Concern, ComfortNicole and I both enjoyed <i>Tammy, </i>a funny, sometimes uneven Melissa McCarthy vehicle that has largely received negative reviews. And not just the kind of negative reviews that comedies with swear words and physical comedy usually receive. <i>Tammy </i>has gotten sometimes angry reviews about the end of civilization and the lowest common denominator and how dare she? Of course those reviews are silly.<br />
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Often they're sexist too, as <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/tammy-movie-review-melissa-mccarthy">this sharp analysis</a> points out. Andi Zeisler admits that the film is flawed and even that it has its share of easy fat jokes, but suggests the film has a radical streak too. Zeisler critiques the negative reviews that feign concern for McCarthy's lack of range (because she's been in multiple Hollywood movies playing over-the-top, outrageous, ne'er-do-wells) or, worse yet, suggest her type "functions better as a supporting player." It's one thing to criticize the movie's fat jokes, it's another thing in the age of eating disorders to wish publicly that McCarthy herself wouldn't draw attention to her own body.<br />
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Zeisler concludes: "She can <em>be</em> fat, they [these decorous critics] seem to be saying, but just maybe not, you know... <em>act </em>fat." Boom! These critics--the same ones who were appalled when Rex Reed called McCarthy a "hippo" last year--are pissed off because in <i>Tammy </i>McCarthy is the film's protagonist, not the sidekick. She never apologizes for being fat. There's no b-plot where she joins weight watchers (but there is a b-plot where a good-looking dude has a crush on her). She eats desserts on screen and makes jokes about sometimes eating too many of them.<br />
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Zeisler rightly calls the tone of these reviews "concern." Once in the campus rec center, I was approached while on a treadmill by a "nice" and "concerned" individual who shook his head and with much decorum said he thought it was great that I was "trying." Gee, thanks. I think I had walked 3.5 miles at that point, mostly at a pretty sharp incline. In a world where I've exercised my way out of a family history of high blood pressure (I've had perfect blood pressure my whole adult life), in what way was I <i>trying </i>and not succeeding? Look at the fat guy <i>giving it a try even though he's, you know, fat. If only he wasn't fat, wow I wish we all looked alike. I'd be a lot more comfortable if we all looked alike.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-14481637974346365482014-07-07T17:07:00.001-04:002014-07-07T17:07:16.047-04:00Paint Valley Jamboree<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For all the far-flung corners of the world I've visited--Armenia to Syria, Assisi to Paris--Bainbridge, Ohio, stands out as one of the most unique nooks I know. Bainbridge is home to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paint-Valley-Jamboree/100705613337528">Paint Valley Jamboree</a>, a Saturday night hootenanny of sorts. Each weekend, a string of local and regional songbirds, backed by a worldclass houseband, sing bluegrass, gospel, folk, Americana, and country favorites--some originals, mostly covers. The crowd couldn't be friendlier, the popcorn couldn't be cheaper, and the music is consistently outstanding. What stands out is that genre and style are largely beside the point. You might hear a gospel standard followed by a George Jones ballad, a song about drinking too much followed by a song about memories of Ma & Pa.<br />
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I paid my third visit to the jamboree this past weekend and had a great time. Tim Koehl, the new owner of the historic Paxton Theatre, has become a friend. Tim has plans to continue preserving the theatre (sadly, the jamboree closed for a short time before Tim acquired the site) and expanding the roster of entertainers too. I have every intention of making the trek down to Paint Valley more often. Haven't been disappointed yet.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-49135794415959368332014-06-22T18:29:00.000-04:002014-06-22T18:29:54.059-04:00sick sick sickOk, the allergies about which I've complained here and elsewhere: apparently not allergies.<br />
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Against my better judgment I went to the doctor who has decided I have bronchitis and prescribed zithro, plus some type of souped-up cough syrup with codeine. Thus I find myself bringing my lost weekend to a close. Lost weekend sounds vaguely fun but consisted of me sleeping on the couch, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17415199-birth-marks?ref=ru_lihp_up_rs_2_mclk&uid=1728352349">reading poetry</a>, watching the <a href="http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=det">Tigers</a> (yay, a sweep) and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2177771/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Monuments Men</a> (meh), and being jealous of Nicole who got to go make Armenian food without me last night. Inshallah I'm on the mend and back to the office tomorrow.<br />
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I rarely go to the doctor willingly (though I love both my family doctor and my neurologist!) for all kinds of reasons: don't like to be weighed, don't feel like I answer questions well, often feel like I get the "why are you here just deal with your mild cold like the rest of the world does!!" stink eye. And Friday's my doctor's day off, so I had to see Dr. Other Guy In Office ("Dr. Ogio" for short).<br />
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Things didn't start well. The nurse bellowed into the waiting room a word that sounded like "William" so I got up and followed her. She took my weight, height, and blood pressure, listened to my chest, and wrote down my symptoms, telling me to wait for Dr. Ogio. After a few minutes she came back into the exam room and stared me down. "Everything ok?" I ask. "When I said 'Williams,' you got up and followed me," she says with a sneer. I realize what's happened. "I thought you said 'William,' which is my first name. She turns around and slams the examination door.<br />
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I contemplate whether or not to leave. After a few minutes, she opens door and gives me clipboard with HIPA forms and no pen. She's got a very slender, elderly, African-American woman with her (Ms. Williams), whose chart now has her weighing at least 150 pounds more than she probably did upon her last visit.<br />
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This is why I hate going to the doctor. My awkward meter--already operating at capacity--seems to get ratcheted even higher.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-53366324926378700562014-06-19T10:20:00.000-04:002014-06-19T10:20:36.554-04:00comfortToday's complaints: allergies, work stress, lots of stress-eating this summer.<br />
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Today's source of comfort:<br />
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I'm doing assessment work in my campus office today, thankful to be wearing shorts and converse all-stars (wearing whatever I want is always on heavy rotation when I count my many blessings), and this is playing for free on spotify (again, let's be thankful for the little things): one of my all-time favorites. Natalie Merchant's voice is the sound of optimism and goodness and the late '80s and this is the band's best. "Hey Jack Kerouac" made me want to read every book Kerouac wrote. Every topical song made giving a shit about the world seem cooler than acid-washed jeans. Plus, a duet with Michael Stipe.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-9197371587057290182014-06-18T13:32:00.002-04:002014-06-18T13:32:33.178-04:00doubtSummer months can be tough for WPAs, I think, or maybe WPAs who tend to question their own abilities. Despite the report writing, placement exam reading, scheduling, etc, etc., the quiet moments breed doubt. <i>Am I doing the right thing? </i>I took on this position at the <strike>wrong</strike> right time: as the campus geared up for its first revision of its gen ed program ever AND as new public policy in Michigan was dictating how we assess and coordinate requirements for our transfer students (about 60% of our undergraduates here!). This has presented lots of challenges for us--opportunities to articulate what we do, to consider new possibilities, to think of the implications of change and the implications of the status quo. How will decisions impact students (and which ones)? Lecturers? My tenured and tenure-track colleagues? I have the sense this coming academic year will be the most challenging of my career, maybe one that along with my Fulbright year will be seminal in defining what my mid-career life looked like.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-21171706794923256142014-06-15T22:44:00.002-04:002014-06-15T22:44:24.621-04:00Pray For UsI've returned to real life (Michigan) after a long weekend in Youngstown, Ohio, for St. Anthony's feast day. "Ethnic Catholics" love feast days and the rituals and foods they preserve. At St. Anthony's, Italians pin two-dollar bills to sashes hanging from the statue before Mass and then process around the Brier Hill neighborhood afterward carrying the statue, followed by an altar boy with incense, acolytes with candles, loads of Oblate nuns in white habits, and a marching band like the one from Vito Corleone's dad's funeral at the beginning of Godfather II. My grandpa never went to Mass but he used to walk down from his house off Belmont Avenue, down Brier Hill, to watch the procession. He knew it was time to leave when he heard the firecrackers that would go off during the exact moment of consecration.<br />
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Anyway, the procession to this day is still kind of a spectacle. It ends at a statue in front of the school where the priest leads the litany to St. Anthony. The priest says "St. Anthony" and everybody responds "pray for us" in a sing-song chant. Priest says "Finder of lost things" and everybody responds "pray for us" and he keeps going through a litany of, essentially nicknames for the Saint. I hadn't been to a Novena to St. Anthony or to his feast day Mass in decades and so I forgot about part of the litany that used to scare me when I was really little. The priest calls out "Terror of the Devil" (PRAY FOR US) and then "Horror of Hell" (PRAY FOR US). Used to creep me out. I think it was that chanted response. And I watched some inappropriate stuff when I was little that didn't phase me! That litany used to get to me though.<br />
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So, back to the church hall after the procession for cavatelli, brier hill pizza, sausage sandwiches, and pizza frit (essentially donuts). The church hall was also my elementary school cafeteria and a poster hangs on the wall that says "Jesus Loves Me When I Am Eating." That poster's new but the sentiment isn't. Come to think of it, that poster is one of the few things different. Ritual and food tie us to how things were when we were nerdy altar boys in the 1980s. And there were a whole lot of people at that feast being tied to the 1950s, or the 1940s, or an earlier decade. Some being tied to a village in a different country where they were born but haven't lived for a long long time. Some being tied to the taste of their grandma's fried dough (or the recollection of their grandpa skipping Mass every year but walking down for the procession and sausage). St. Anthony. Pray for us.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-24601556905888584312014-06-10T11:50:00.003-04:002014-06-10T11:50:54.154-04:00i'll have my usualI like the quiet of the summer. The picture window in my office has an even greener view than usual and the hallways and nearby honors student lounge, the latter like a dorm room from September until April, have little traffic. The Writing Center down the hall is only open for a half day. Our program's two computer classrooms only offer a few sections of composition. It might get loud on days when faculty come in to read placement essays (every other Monday give or take) but other than that, it's the sound of my keyboard, maybe a spotify playlist.<br />
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(Inexplicably, I began to suffer migraines during a quiet May-June, in 2009. I had my worst relapse about a week ago. Maybe I like the peace but the peace doesn't like me.)<br />
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I mostly like the summer's imbalance too, how I never quite find a routine. I mostly work on campus on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and stay home to write on Tuesdays and Fridays, though that fluctuates as needed. I prioritize, do program/administrative things that must be done (placement, placement appeals, scheduling, decisions about classrooms and curriculum, communicate with the dean's office, monitor enrollments), set the agenda for the coming academic year (professional development sessions, speakers we plan to invite, curriculum revision in light of our new gen ed program), and then work on the studio program we hope to launch in 2015 to replace our soon-to-be-abolished "basic writing" program: compiling data, writing a fuller rationale, developing sample syllabi, figuring out what resources we'd need to pull it off as we hope.<br />
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And then the writing. Working on two book chapters, both collaboratively written, both with friends/colleagues in the Middle East. The privilege of tenure: not worrying about how promotion&tenure will judge collaboration. Working on some additional basic writing research that's connected directly to the administrative stuff we're doing in our program and that's the basis of both a presentation next month (WPA conference) and hopefully next year (4Cs conference). And a "basic writing" syllabus for the Fall that's also connected to that research and will perhaps be the last time the course is offered. Somehow it's all somewhat coherent--the syllabus connects to the research connects to the program administration. But it's all out of balance. I work randomly--I need a break from the writing and work on something else for a few days. Screw routines.<br />
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Much happening. Did I mention I like the quiet? And I like the paradox too: the peaceful surface. Underneath, lots and lots of stuff happening. The usual summer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-11398883985567520742014-06-08T20:06:00.001-04:002014-06-08T20:06:50.905-04:00The English BeatA couple weeks ago in Ann Arbor I picked up "What Is The English Beat" at a used vinyl place and have been giving it many spins. This is the coolest tune the English Beat (or as they were known in the U.K., The Beat) put out in their short lifespan:<br /><br />
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I have a couple Pearl Jam bootlegs where <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpSkIbl78FI">they cover "Save It For Later,"</a> usually as a medley with "Betterman" and other good and catchy rock and roll songs. It's a cliche, but "Save It For Later" takes its beauty from its simple three chords (D-A-G) that even I can play.<br /><br />
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Look at the English Beat in the video above. Goofy kids having fun. They're part of the first-generation of British, multiracial ska punk bands (like The Specials and Madness who are also great) but poppier. According to setlist.fm, they came to the U.S. in the early '80s when I was too young to go see them play and opened up for...get a load of this list...The Clash, The Pretenders, The Talking Heads, R.E.M., The Police, and David Bowie. They broke up and members morphed into General Public ("Tenderness") and Fine Young Cannibals ("She Drives Me Crazy") in the later part of the decade.<br /><br />
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Fun? Yep. But The English Beat have some great political songs too. "Get a Job" and "Stand Down Margaret" and other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Against_Racism">much-needed</a> rock and punk rock anthems about racist public policy in the U.K. and elsewhere. Bands like the Beat proudly integrated their own stages as white and black bandmates traded verses and traded genres too (punk, pop, reggae, soul). Check them out, peoples.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-44103777030363612922014-06-01T11:35:00.003-04:002014-06-01T11:35:59.330-04:00for the complaint boxWhat a chaotic week. A cold (or possibly a bout of allergies) slowed me down mid-week or so. All the usual, disgusting symptoms, made all the worse, perhaps, by the fact that I rarely get sick and hence don't have much tolerance for the sneezes et al. So after getting off to a productive start to the summer, I had two down days during which I mainlined trader joe tea and episodes of the tv version of "Fargo," which is a odd and bleak and really, really good. I had avoided the show because <i>Fargo</i> the film is one of my all-time favorites and, hey, why mess with it, right? Allison Tolman as the show's moral center Molly Solverson, the only smart cop in town (she's sort of a younger version of Marge Gunderson, from the Coen Bros. film), is so compelling and funny. Almost worth getting sick.<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZauY2VQeCS7UzXYixaCqjbTgVFK5G3xYmNlmS1XuQuJh_noqb2cgXzfTBR7SSLD6_dGgXiDAeRcRZdPlRkWuM66NAvTg-dKqQ9yNpZecXiwK2LqNASa_yxzwoZttf-pykiF6/s1600/960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZauY2VQeCS7UzXYixaCqjbTgVFK5G3xYmNlmS1XuQuJh_noqb2cgXzfTBR7SSLD6_dGgXiDAeRcRZdPlRkWuM66NAvTg-dKqQ9yNpZecXiwK2LqNASa_yxzwoZttf-pykiF6/s1600/960.jpg" height="112" width="200" /></a></div>
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Here she is investigating a blood-splattered poster that says "Maybe you're right and they're wrong" because symbolism!</div>
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So I was back in good health yesterday and went to two greenhouses, Sacka's and Block's and got tomatoes, basil, and some flowers too, stopped for a visit at my sister's house, and came home and did some planting. Lovely day in and out of the sun, contradicting my claims about loving air conditioning so much more than nature. And then at night I got the worst migraine I've had in years. A pound your head into the concrete, pray for death migraine, that lasted half the night. Meds didn't help. Sitting up in the recliner didn't help. Darkness didn't help. I think I finally fell asleep around four or five this morning and woke up late, groggy, but with no headache (thank God), but really fearful that another will come on tonight. I can go get some more free Cambia at the neurologist's office tomorrow morning but he called in a prescription too, in case I need any today. Pretty sure insurance won't cover it (thus he just gives me free samples)--let's see how much this costs.</div>
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The closest thing to relief comes in the form of a cold wet cloth on my forehead. The worst migraines, in my experience, don't relent or respond to much of anything, but if the cloth is wet enough and cold enough it pulls something out of your head into the cloth. You can almost hear it moving from point a to point b.</div>
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I want tomorrow to be productive so I think today I'll veg out and try not to stress about what tonight holds. Going to grind up some homemade black bean burgers and watch <i>Cleopatra. </i>Here's to the healing power of a high-protein lunch and Liz Taylor.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-23737526283043721832014-05-27T21:46:00.001-04:002014-05-27T21:46:06.951-04:00Far From The Tree (you should read it!)<span class="readable reviewText">Andrew Solomon, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Far-Tree-Parents-Children-Identity/dp/0743236726/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401241520&sr=1-1&keywords=far+from+the+tree">Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity</a></span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText">With
meandering chapters--part storytelling, part literature review--on
dwarfism, deafness, down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, musical
prodigies, transgender, and more, Solomon's book is a long and AMBITIOUS
(understatement) look at children who possess some profound difference.
Solomon includes hundreds and hundreds of short, journalistic
narratives about families and how they cope and love and thrive, or not.
Solomon concludes that "difficult love is no less a thing than easy
love" but also tells the truth about tragedies. What unites all these
sometimes wildly different chapters is the experience of "horizontal
identity"--markers that are often not shared between parents and
children and thus create a family dynamic of difference. But this isn't
just a book about families, it's about how the entire culture wrestles
with difference, materially and psychologically and all points between.</span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText">x-listed from my goodreads page</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-19018466116336055082014-05-23T11:40:00.000-04:002014-05-23T11:40:09.293-04:00Word!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qudjONwlngvQv_Qq8DkMryWbJpb3vlZIHx7VFrN6Rn_E-em3bTY-IifsKU7ffEMxAXPmx3hKJ4_o0ahfaE3zUXe_EtnViGkyvn5uplsK7fBXHnRdy6TJHMW9dyuEr78Qwas4/s1600/1620689_908922465803874_2011325049_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qudjONwlngvQv_Qq8DkMryWbJpb3vlZIHx7VFrN6Rn_E-em3bTY-IifsKU7ffEMxAXPmx3hKJ4_o0ahfaE3zUXe_EtnViGkyvn5uplsK7fBXHnRdy6TJHMW9dyuEr78Qwas4/s1600/1620689_908922465803874_2011325049_n.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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This one goes out to Detroit's Archbishop Vigneron who doesn't think I should "present myself" for communion, the folks at the Thomas More Law Center, and other religious supporters (<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/14/michigan-same-sex-marriage-black-ministers/9094721/">many named here</a>) of Michigan's hateful and homophobic attorney general Bill Schuette.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-13377608295687285082014-05-23T11:26:00.001-04:002014-05-23T11:26:09.474-04:00SolomonAndrew Solomon has written two great books that taught me a great deal about the wounded world in which we live and the wounded bodies we inhabit too. <i>The Noonday Demon</i> is "an atlas of depression" and <i>Far From the Tree </i>an epic collection of narrative and lit review about children and parents with "horizontal identities" from one another (including chapters about transgender children, autistic children, etc, etc--each chapter focuses on some type of significant difference and the familial experiences that result). He's an amazing writer, to be sure.<br />
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Nicole shared <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_solomon_how_the_worst_moments_in_our_lives_make_us_who_we_are?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image__2014-05-21">this TED talk</a> to me in which Solomon sums up some key ideas from <i>Far From the Tree </i>but with a more personal bent, drawing on his own stories of being a bullied, gay kid growing up. Trauma is part of our narratives, he says. His point, I think, is that we all need to get busy "assigning meaning to those experiences." He calls this process "forging meaning" and it's a process wherein we don't assimilate to the bullshit world but rather establish go out and transform--by sharing joy, by changing what needs to be changed, and by being visibly different when that is who we are and that's what the world needs to see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-76176638157855900312014-05-21T11:26:00.002-04:002014-05-21T11:26:43.697-04:00West Wing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I steal lines from <i>The West Wing </i>all the time: "It's like a meeting of the 'there but for the grace of God go I' club." And: "Education's the silver bullet." The DVDs of all seven seasons are definite comfort food for me. It's always been, for me anyway, a fantasy about the most earnest, literate, liberal workaholics you'll never meet.</div>
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Since becoming a writing program director I find myself quoting the show more and more (usually to myself). On the need to have professional development sessions that are purely intellectual and free of discussion of campus politics: "No palace intrigue" (echoing President Martin Sheen's desire to silence a political debate with the fist lady until they first exchange pleasantries). A few months ago on facebook I observed, "<span style="text-align: center;">Directing
a writing program is like that episode of West Wing where Martin Sheen
tells the chief of staff 'I wake up energized in the morning but I never
go to bed that way' and then they argue about who is holding whom back
from being radical and then they totally have a bromance moment with
each other and then sweeping music plays."</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Of course the show could also be pretty sanctimonious at times. By literally stranding school children in the White House during a lockdown and having the characters take turns lecturing them, the post-9/11 episode pretty much made explicit what the show thought of its own mission, audience, and righteousness. And Nicole and I always make fun of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTuXSdFjQSg">"Look at these women" conversation</a> from Season 1, where three white guys marvel at the women (mostly their secretaries) working in the white house despite growing up in "a world that tells women to sit down and shut up."</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Despite leaning a bit to heavy on Season 2, this <a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/10-episodes-show-west-wing-was-drama-first-politic-204597">list from today's AVCLUB</a> is great. Ten representative episodes that show what a great drama was <i>The West Wing. </i>These ten episodes will have you quoting Martin Sheen, no doubt. Of course the show often mocked the notion of fandom, especially internet fandom, which puts an ironic spin on a list like this. Once the characters mocked a White House temp worker wearing a "Star Trek" lapel pin; Josh Lyman (who on various occasions during the show's run is harassed by online fans who are invariably portrayed as fools) patiently schools her: "Tell me if any of this sounds familiar to you: Let's list our favorite episodes...That's not being a fan. That's having a fetish." The West Wing-ers would disdain the AVCLUB.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-66192906576712700942014-05-20T14:50:00.003-04:002014-05-20T14:50:37.830-04:00Mad Men<i>Mad Men</i> can devastate viewers. For all its accolades, the show really is a wonderfully written soap opera: all sex and secrets and pathos and marriages falling apart, more or less focused on good-looking people at a cool workplace. Characters give babies up for adoption, keep their sexual orientations secret, cheat on their spouses, connive, commit suicide, reveal shadow identities, and drink too much. It's <i>General Hospital </i>written by MFAs. Next Sunday Roger Sterling may hatch a plan to freeze all of New York City. In the last episode Dick Whitman may wake in an army barracks in Korea, circa 1952, having dreamt the whole thing.<div>
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But back to the devastation. Throughout the show's run, some of the greatest, soapiest scenes have been those that left viewers with personal and existential sadness. Sally Draper's mom says something shitty and cruel to her. Sally sees something her young eyes shouldn't see. Sal Romano loses his job to a homophobic world even though he's about the only legitimately nice guy in the whole agency. Devastation. Sal and Sally are fan favorites, but what about <i>protagonists</i> like Peggy? This past week Peggy--who regularly embodies the receiving end of '60s sexism--experienced the usual workplace disempowerment. She's asked to let the guys in the office present the ideas she took the lead on creating (they'll have the authority, Peggy's told, and she can interject with the emotion). Visibly bothered, Peggy is comforted by the co-worker who fathered a baby with her years prior on his office couch: "She's as good as any woman in this business."</div>
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But this week, something more. Agency at the agency. While Sinatra's "My Way" plays on the office radio, Peggy's mentor Don encourages her to rewrite the Burger Chef pitch <b>as she sees fit</b>, even though the client already likes the safe pitch the agency's already floated. Peggy decided to take a risk and write the better ad campaign, the one that's inside her. Then they go eat burgers. And it's beautiful. And it doesn't look like something you ever saw on <i>General Hospital.</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-1939293640642509522014-05-18T21:29:00.000-04:002014-05-18T21:29:30.427-04:00This WeekQuiet Sunday night in my basement office: Tigers on the radio beating the Red Sox 3-1 in the fourth inning, catching up on a few emails, going over the work that needs to get done this week. Tomorrow's a placement essay day on campus--that will be the bulk of the day but will probably rough up a Winter '15 schedule too. Tuesday and Friday will be writing days at home, likely divided between the paper I'm writing for the WPA Conference about the "transcultural" basic writing curriculum <a href="http://bdegenaro.blogspot.com/2014/05/lu-horner.html">we're piloting</a>, and the intro I'm working on for the chapter our "Beirut-Dearborn research team" is writing. Wednesday and Thursday are office days on campus--focused on working on the writing program's annual report and the proposal for our revised curriculum. But tonight, go Tigers!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-88697390225285837992014-05-17T12:27:00.004-04:002014-05-17T12:27:54.921-04:00Inspiration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinIeCTUi2Z-ugwA3fFbFjbF_p01xu8EPrUIw4-bpB27WdiVD1bnsb6S0bVDuM43EZ0H6C2pY7lHIDE6XIaGxFUC0Ap_NhFCO36eRWgbdz-LF6UVbEvpfrm1X7s12amYFF5Klv_/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinIeCTUi2Z-ugwA3fFbFjbF_p01xu8EPrUIw4-bpB27WdiVD1bnsb6S0bVDuM43EZ0H6C2pY7lHIDE6XIaGxFUC0Ap_NhFCO36eRWgbdz-LF6UVbEvpfrm1X7s12amYFF5Klv_/s1600/photo.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Smokey getting ideas for the blog.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8146113.post-74188264007894737472014-05-16T10:05:00.000-04:002014-05-16T10:05:03.179-04:00Lu & Horner<a class="rg_l" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F5173V6ME63L._AA160_.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26field-author%3DMin-Zhan%2520Lu%26page%3D1%26rh%3Dn%253A283155%252Cp_27%253AMin-Zhan%2520Lu&h=160&w=160&tbnid=E92yOjLyfi3sOM%3A&zoom=1&docid=Iave-nfJ-FVxzM&ei=HA52U9GvIMGYqAbCoIA4&tbm=isch&ved=0CFUQMygBMAE&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=817&page=1&start=0&ndsp=42" jsaction="isr.hc;mousedown:isr.hmd;mouseover:isr.hmov;mouseout:isr.hmou" style="height: 128px; left: 0px; width: 128px;"><img class="rg_i" data-sz="f" height="400" name="E92yOjLyfi3sOM:" 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style="height: 128px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 128px;" width="400" /></a>During grad school at Arizona, Lu & Horner's <i>Representing the 'Other': Basic Writers & The Teaching of Basic Writing </i>made an impression. I can recall the book being taught in multiple seminars. It was a text we talked about in the hallways (ditto Crowley's <i>Composition in the University...</i>the "abolition" debate!<i>). </i>I have an enormous binder of study notes I used while prepping for comprehensive exams around 2000 or so and, going back, reading the pages devoted to Lu & Horner, I notice that I say little about mulitlingualism, though it's a central concern of <i>Representing the 'Other.' </i>My notes mostly focus on what Lu & Horner say about the history of the field (the always "newness" of the CUNY story), Min-Zhan Lu's sharp critique of 90s multiculturalism which she folds into a 'teaching essay' about style, and how basic writing could become a "border country" for the most productive, radical work in the field.<br />
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But I only have the sparest notes about what the two have to say about language use. At the time I was gearing up to write a dissertation about the history of first-year comp at two-year colleges, so their insights about marginalized narratives were of most interest to me, so that's part of it. But even the blurb on the back of the book (1999) emphasizes the book's implications for discussions of "mainstreaming" basic writers and developing "contact zone" pedagogies in writing programs. Not multilingualism.<br />
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I went back and re-read <i>Representing the 'Other' </i>last week and the book is still tremendously useful and tremendously forceful. And also a reminder of the scholarship that's been produced in the years since--especially everything that Lu and Horner themselves have written SINCE 1999, most of which builds in so many ways on <i>Representing the 'Other.' </i>Their more recent work is invariably more multidisciplinary--Horner's "Relocating Basic Writing," their collaborative "Logic of Listening to Global Englishes," Lu's "Metaphors Matter," and lots more too. All these draw on second-language writing, applied linguistics, etc, etc. And of course they deal with multilingualism even more explicitly than the work in <i>Representing the 'Other,' </i>stressing code-meshing and like concepts as both theoretical and teaching constructs. It's likely a lot more difficult to neglect this aspect of their analysis, now that language difference is (happily) in the foreground of their work. And the field. And our institutions.<br />
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Our writing program is in the midst of revising our curriculum, including a hard (and I hope creative) reboot of how we "do" basic writing in light of growing multilingual populations on campus. We piloted a code-meshing curriculum this past term and we're piloting more sections next Fall (details will be presented at the WPA conference in two months--stay tuned!). We're tentatively proposing a Studio Model for 2015. Exciting stuff. And it feels like what I've wanted to do for twenty years (teaching "basic writing" during the second semester of my master's program made me fall in love with the field). And so in addition to all the new things I've been reading--especially about Studio, but also Canagarajah, Matsuda, and others for insights on language and code--I'm going back and re-reading basic writing's greatest hits from graduate school and revisiting those yellowing notes from my comprehensive exams. I regret not taking a second language acquisition theory class and second-language writing pedagogy class while at Arizona. They had a great program but I guess I made the mistake of seeing a sharp dividing line between fields. Things are changing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1