All my old posts
Oct 31st, 2005 by S. Anderson
In a hope to stay a little more annonymous with my students, I have moved the location of my blog to here, so I thought that I would bring all my old posts with me!
“Completely Satisfied”
The other day I picked up our truck from the dealership where it was getting some work done, and I looked at the ticket they give you when you check out. There it told me that if I wasn’t “completely satisfied” that I should call the number they gave me. I couldn’t help thinking of Joey. “Thank you” I still haven’t decided whether or not I am going to call them and tell them that I think that they did a “great” job. Oh the joys of recognizing way too much!Until next time, I hope you have a “great” day.
Catching Up
It seems weird to think that my first inclination as to what to write here was that I hadn’t had time to get back here to post something recently. To use as an excuse that I was too busy living my life to consider writing about it. When all actuality, the reason that I hadn’t remembered to stop and write about my life was that I haven’t “scheduled” this activity for myself. I haven’t worked it smoothly into the fabric of my day. When you consider this phenom of creating a public space to write about private endeavors, it is a little weird. When I first considered this trend, it didn’t make sense to me that people were trading in their regular old diaries with the lock and key for the more public version that you see so many people preferring these days. Sitting in a movie theater yesterday, Coke even has a blog. Companies have picked up on this habit as a way to give their “fans” a place to read about changes that are being made. I have to wonder about the reason for this change in our perception of public and private space. Do we think that we are so anonymous online that we can write all our thoughts about our lives in a place like this, or is the reason that we are writing all our thoughts on a website to be posted for the potential world to see because we are less anonymous than ever. Are we too busy to let the people around us know what we are doing, so we have to create areas like this? But, as I started this whole post, are we actually creating time to post our thoughts to a place like this instead of picking up the phone to call someone. Granted, at times like these at 4am when the dog wakes you up, having a space/audience like this one that will accept my thoughts is quite reassuring. No one else to talk to at times like these, so it would make sense that I would remember this place. But, I wonder if the true reasons for forcing our lives into this little space is that we all wonder if this could be the one place where we are “read” in our lives. Oh well. Lots of questions with no answers! Time to go back to bed.
One of the Single Coolest Academic Experiences…..
I have ever had happened today at the conference. I am “supposed” to be at a session right now, but I needed time to process. My brain needs to work a little. At this conference, more than ever, I feel that I am doing the right thing at the right place at the right time. I know that once I start explaining my experiences at CW2005 that I will in no way get everything out or completely explain myself, but there isn’t really any way to do that.But, before I tell you guys all this other stuff. I think that this experience this weekend has told me something. And, I am writing this as much for myself as I am for anyone else. I was off track. My brain had started to leave behind the feeling that I get from places like this doing this type of learning. And, I need a place to remind myself of this feeling. I have to get back in order. And, in order to do that, I have to simplify. I am doing too much, and I am torn in too many directions. And, while I don’t think all the things that I am involved with are mutually exclusive, I need to weed out the areas of my life that aren’t serving the purpose that I need them to. I need to keep my goals in mind. I need to figure out how to juggle better, or reduce the number of balls that I have in the air. That means that I can’t be all things to all people all the time.It seems odd to me that all this change is coming from one presentation at Computers and Writing, but it has. And now, although I knew the technical definition, I understand, which is altogether different, the feeling of catharsis that Aristotle was talking about. I just watched a presentation that will never be shown in the same way again, probably, and definitely never with the same group. And, the shared awe of the project that everyone felt was absolutely amazing. Todd Taylor is the creator, and he makes me want to be a better teacher. It came around at such an awesome time because I had just had an “argument” with a bunch of teachers at lunch that were so jaded and dimunitive of their students’ potential, it was depressing. It was awesome to have such a perfect and wonderful follow-up to that mentality with one that so clearly challenges every student that he interacts with. He created a video that explained the end of composition studies because he suggested that film was becoming the new mode of argument. But, the multi-media format that he used to suggest these changes are amazing! It was an amazing experience that no amount of words could explain.This conference has also shown me the way to break out of my normal teaching, which may not actually feel as normal as some might expect. But, there are more ways that I can break out! I can’t wait. I need to start by capturing this feeling here, but it needs to become a movie too. My argument as to why my class teaches argument.There is so much more to say, but I need to go work now. I am going to write more later!
Army Pride
Yesterday, in my quest to always find more Army stuff to fill my husband’s Army scrapbook, I was searching through the Ft. Bragg website looking for more pictures that might be cool to add to background pages. And, as I was searching through the site and happened on all the pictures of the guys jumping, I was reminded yet again how different our Army life is here compared to how it was when we lived in Fayetteville. And, although I acknowledge that I was not the happiest person back then, I knew, even though I was brand new to the military world, that we were in the middle of something special. Officers were riding my brand new butterbar husband’s ass at every turn, but there was a pride that went along with that position that is missing where we are now. What scares me is that I think that what happened there is no longer the trend, but it is the exception to the mentality that soldiers across the country are facing. And, more then, even though I chose not to participate, I felt that J and I were actually a team, despite the fact that technically now that we are supposed to be a command team. There was a sense of camaraderie with the other wives as our husbands did lots of scary stuff together. And, now, my husband’s unit is in Iraq. And, I should feel that pull of togetherness even stronger than I did before, but I definitely don’t. I don’t feel it amongst the women that I am working with, and I don’t feel it amongst the guys either. I am sure that it is partially because the unit was only home for 9 months before they deployed again. And, last time they were in the thick of the fight rather than standing guard at the place that all those in the middle of it come home to. And, while I am happy about this role of guardian, as other wives and mothers and brothers I am sure are, I can’t help but think that this is the problem that we are running into. No longer do troops have the idealized version of the Army that they experienced between the two gulf wars. Most all of them know what the war is like, and they expected more glory and less waiting. I find myself wondering whose blame it is that our troops feel that they need to test every limit. That they need to push every boundary to remain entertained. All in all, it makes me sad that the sentiments have changed so much just in the few years that I have watched what has happened, and even with those that I never thought would change as much as they have. Maybe I am just observing a down point for the people in our unit because they have been through so much in so little time. Or, maybe it is just this place that is different from everything else.
Same thing…Different school
Well, I start my newest class today. The new school is CTC (central texas college). They have a satellite campus on our post. My class has a whopping five students in it, and I am really trying to go into the whole experience with a good attitude. But, it reminds me so much of FTCC’s night classes that it is a little scary. At this point, I think that I could put together a syllabus for this class in my sleep, but the one thing that really surprised me about the whole thing was that I am using far more from my experiences at KSU than I thought that I would. Last semester, I found their versions of papers slipping their way into my online classes, which I can’t tell you how happy I am that they are over. So, maybe they are really onto something here. What also surprised me is that this is one of the first semesters that my school stuff has so heavily into my teaching. Dr. D. Would be so proud that her genre theory seminar has so significantly influenced all areas of my life. I am actually excited about trying some stuff out with genre awareness. I don’t know how well it will work, but we will see how it goes. I am going to try to incorporate it in with my definition assignment, so that they students will have to define a genre that they interact with on a daily basis, and explain what the problems and perks are of those genre constraints. However, thinking it through, that may not be the best approach, since we are told that once we participate within a genre we are no longer really able to critique it. But, since that is really all I have been doing in school for the past million years, I don’t really agree that’s true. But, I guess that it could be true for students that haven’t had the same types of training that I have. I will definitely let you all know how it goes!Wish me luck for tonight!
A place to start
Ready go….the few of you that know that reference will know that this the beginning of something great. he he he….well, I have finally gotten off by butt and decided that instead of simply talking about blogging and researching and studying how people use blogs that I would join in on the fun in a very real way and start my own. The deciding moment for me was yesterday when after taking a friend’s kids and mother up to see her at KU med (where she has just be diagnosed with cancer) her mother mentioned the fact that there was a blog created that she visits often for her newest grandson . My first thought was that another friend of mine, J, who just had a baby, totally needs to do this after her husband goes back to Iraq so that he and the rest of the family can see all of Baby L that they want to, which will never be enough. So, here it is…my first attempt at a blog that is clearly for me and not for my students. However, since it is now attached to my username that I use for my students, I guess I will find a new username for them, if I even decide to use this technology again this semester. Another bonus to this particular venture is that it keeps me from having to do all the very real things that I need to get done very soon. Including, get my dog to the vet to try to find out what the stupid kennel we took him to for one night did to him. But, for those few people that I decide to send this link to, you can check back from time to time to see what ramblings I have if you so choose. If not, then I will still argue that giving me a place to ramble instead of requiring my few wonderful friends who always indulge me to continue to do so is a good thing!Until next time….ttfn.
