Category Archives: Teaching

Productivity and Me.

Posted on 25 January 2010 | 1 comment

We go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong, remembered for ever like shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yipitty boom de boom. If you know me, you know this isn’t true. Productivity and I don’t dance in the amusement park “Trailer of Terror,” ride the Ferris wheel together, or float off into the clouds in the front seat of “Greased Lightening” with our arms around each other. In fact, we are much more like the scene in the diner where Rizzo throws a milkshake in Kenicke’s face. “Finish this! To you from me, PinkyLee!” is the expression I find myself saying over and over to productivity.

Today, however, I tried my best to be productive, and you know what? I actually got stuff done. Of my goal list, which is always ridiculously long, I only have left to read three chapters in my lovely children’s literature textbook before teaching tomorrow night. And, I have to reread “A Wagner Matinee” by Willa Cather. It’s a quick read, though. A beautiful, quick read.

I got a lot accomplished today and now on to tomorrow to work on my dissertation proposal. I should have a revision finished for Debbie by next Monday, so we can meet on Thursday. I sort of had a nervous breakdown yesterday over the whole revision thing. I felt like I was completely rewriting the thing, and I wasn’t sure how that was supposed to go or if it was even what I was supposed to be doing. I tried just moving things around in the document I have already completed, but it wasn’t working. I ended up sitting there staring at the screen for about five hours, occasionally breaking to play Snood or check Facebook. Most unproductive.

I typically don’t revise academic papers, so I am not used to moving logical arguments around. Moving pieces of my life around to tell a story? Yes, I can do that. Moving around academic arguments to make them more sound? Nope, not so comfortable. I think I can do it now, or at least I know how to attempt it. I was thinking I was making it too much work, but alas, I was not. I must be one of those lucky people who simply has to retype things in order for them to make sense in a different order. Oh, to be gifted at revision and editing!

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I just made some vegan strawberry, oatmeal, brown sugar crusted muffins. I haven’t tried one yet, but I plan to eat one tomorrow after I run. They look and smell delicious. Aren’t you jealous?

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I am thankful for people of all types.

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, pizza, pasta

Exercise: walked dogs about 3 miles

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Literature, Reading, Running, School, Teaching, Vegetarian or Vegan, Writing

Sleep Schedules Can Mess You Up

Posted on 23 January 2010 | Leave a comment

Today was supposed to be a day of getting lots of work finished. In fact, I was supposed to finish my dissertation proposal revision today. Instead, I worked on my stuff for teaching because I was incredibly groggy all day and didn’t think I needed to concentrate as intently on reading a bad textbook about children’s literature as I would need to concentrate on my dissertation proposal.

I think I should write a review of this book and submit to some education journal. Because it is so poorly organized and schizophrenic, it is difficult for me to follow what the authors are saying sometimes. I wish they would have simply put all the information about each genre together in separate sections, maybe include a section about fantasy, one about contemporary realistic fiction, and so on, and then break it down into grade levels. But, no, the authors decide it is way better to break it down by age level and then by genre, so the reader of the textbook never gets a complete definition of, or feel for, what the author means by science fiction, or informational text. Their focus is on developmental stages and literature, which I dig, but it’s like wading through the poo-canal at McCullough Park in flip-flops searching for your disc golf disc in the middle of winter.

Sometimes my sleep schedules get all messed up, and for the past week I haven’t slept well. I even had a few nightmares, which always sucks. When I wasn’t wasn’t having horrible dreams, I would wake up at 2 or so and be awake until 4ish when I would finally fall back to sleep. I haven’t gone to bed before 11 any night this week and have been up by 730 in the morning at the latest. If you know me, you know I need at least 8 hours of decent sleep to function.

Since I have only been getting about 6 hours, which haven’t been of the best quality, I have fallen asleep twice in the middle of the day. I already wrote about playing Rip Van Winkle in the library, but I had the amazing opportunity (note the sarcasm) to play him again today. I really didn’t have time for a nap, but as I already said was a bit groggy, so foolishly I thought I would take a Jack-nap—a short rejuvenating nap—to get myself going for the afternoon study session. Well, when 6:09 rolled around and I woke up in time to make dinner, I realized that I need to figure out how to get this sleeping thing under control. Any suggestions?

Both of my grandmothers now have Alzheimer’s. My Grams will soon have to be placed in a nursing home that has a special Alzheimer’s unit, and my mom and Aunt Zoe are looking for a decent one that still takes Medicaid/Medicare. My grandma has been in Warren Home in a locked-down Alzheimer’s unit for so long, I don’t really even remember what she looks like. I don’t want to discuss this matter for two reasons: (1) It makes me incredibly sad that two such amazing god-fearing women have to suffer in this manner, and (2) I am already starting to forget things. I am 35, too young to forget as much as I do, and Alzheimer’s is hereditary. It scares me.. This is the extent to which I wish to discuss this matter.

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I am thankful for being able to make conscientious decisions.

Exercise: walked the dogs, ran 3 miles

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, salad, left over pizza, Lorna Doones, Ginger Ale, Spicy Basil pasta with tofu, mushrooms, and pinenuts, bread

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Insomnia, Reading, School, Teaching, Vegetarian or Vegan

Sherlock. Writing. Coffee Shops. Emerson.

Posted on 20 January 2010 | 6 comments

I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and so far, I am intrigued. I posted the quote, “Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts,” as my Facebook status, and I had more than one response that said it reminded them of some evangelicals. This, in turn, made me think about how I present my ideas about theological concepts, or my ideas about anything for that matter. Do I present them as if I have twisted the facts to suit my preconceived ideas, or do I try to let the facts guide me into a new and different understanding? I would hope that I practice the latter, but I am not sure that I always do. I think too many times, as humans, we do not recognize the fact that we actually twist facts and ideas to fit what we already believe. And, I think it is good to know this about ourselves, so we are better able to handle the way we process ideas and engage with other people whose ideas differ from ours.

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Yesterday when I was at the bookstore picking up my books for teaching, I saw a book called Now Write! Nonfiction, which is a collection of writing tips and exercises designed by some well known creative nonfiction writers and essayists. The first exercise is to write down moments that stop you in your tracks, then to elaborate on those ideas picking out the common threads. The idea is that you will then be able to chose one or all of those moments to elaborate and make some kind of coherent meaning. I am waiting for my first “stopped me in my tracks” moment. Then I will wait for another, then another. Then I will slowly weave them together into an essay.

Okay. One day. I will do that right after I actually finish reading through the Bible in a year, which I have been working on since my seventh grade lock-in, the first event that I attended at the Wesleyan Church. I think Susan Wolfgang challenged us to do that after one of the speakers talked about memorizing Scripture. She also challenged us to memorize a whole chapter of the Bible. I did end up doing that in seminary. Well, actually I memorized three chapters, but I don’t remember them verbatim, although I did retain their themes and subjects. The three chapters I memorized are Matthew 5,6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount. The most Buddhist passage of Christian Scripture ever written. Or the most socialist, as a friend of mine would argue. I think it is both somehow.Can you be Buddhist and socialist? Wikipedia says yes.

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I just read an article in the Ball State Daily news about Vecino’s Coffee Shop. Guy says it a “third-wave coffee shop.” If that is anything like third-wave feminism, then I am not sure it is going to do much. In fact, I am not sure it will do anything at all.  At the very least the article was filled with Guy’s usual coffee-related pompousness. Almost straight up obnoxiousness, but with a little decorative foam in the shape of concentric and contiguous hearts. Fancy. Guy claims that he is only one of two third-wave coffee houses in Indiana. From the what he says in the article, the Blue Bottle does most of the same things: roasts their own beans, grinds their own beans, free pours lattes, and serves well-made coffee. I guess their sin is adding flavors. Shame. they should learn how to make some fig-leaves with their foam and cover their nakedness. Dirty.

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Finally, today my students read Emerson. They were supposed to read Thoreau, too, but we only got through talking about Emerson. They did a great job with both exerpts from Nature and Self-Reliance. I think I want to get part of my sleeve tattoo of this paragraph from Self-Reliance:

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

Or at least this part of it: “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” But, I want it around the outside or underneath this labyrinth:Or maybe this one because Jane and I walked it together in San Francisco:I think that would be a sweet tattoo. Maybe get it done in bright greens and purples. We’ll see. The first one I am doing, provided I have the money, is my new one on my foot. I plan to do it right after we run the Indy-Mini. I figure I can take a week off after the race. I may do it right before I go to Merideth’s wedding. I may wait. Who knows.

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I am thankful for new experiences and learning to love things I previously didn’t (Emerson).

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, Tootsie rolls, almonds, cheese, apple, two tangerines, vegan lasagna, grapefruit, tea

Exercise: dog walking, ran 30 minutes, swam a mile, walked from Burris to RB

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Posted in Coffee, Food, Reading, Religion, Running, School, Swimming, Teaching, Writing

Charlotte’s Web. Again.

Posted on 19 January 2010 | 1 comment

My English 204 students can now say they have read Charlotte’s Web. Again. I didn’t realize how strange that book is when I read it as a child. Two things are insanely weird about it:

  1. Fern’s mother is worried that, at the age of 8, Fern spends more time with her animal friends than she does with boys. She is so worried, in fact, that she talks with their family doctor about it. Eventually, still at the age of 8, her mother rejoices when Fern goes for a Ferris wheel ride with a boy, and for some reason Fern lingers over that moment for the rest of the story. Heteronormativity anyone?
  2. In the opening scene of the book Avery, Fern’s brother, takes a toy gun and a toy knife with him to school. When I was younger, I suppose several of my friends did the same thing, but having taught in a school where a first grader brought a real gun to school, I have to say that I am not for Avery carrying weapons with him on the bus.

It is definitely interesting to see how drastically children’s literature has changed in just the past 50 years, and the one thing I like about our textbook is that it shows how writing for children has evolved from non-existence to high-quality books written especially with children of different developmental levels in mind.

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I am thankful for my students and the ways they challenge me and each other.

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, vegan lasagna, apple, cheese, almonds, decaf americano, Tootsie rolls, frozen pablano pepper thingies, ice cream with strawberries

Exercise: ran three miles and walked the dogs

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Posted in Food, Running, School, Teaching

Commenting on Papers and Americanos.

Posted on 15 January 2010 | 1 comment

You can read the history of the Americano here, though the explanation is not very good. Coffee lore tells that the Americano, shots of espresso watered down with hot water thus resulting in something similar to drip coffee, was so named after European baristas, or coffeehouse employees, who thought American soldiers were strange for desiring brewed coffee over their preferred espresso began calling watered down espresso Americanos. Essentially, I think my favorite coffee drink is named after men like my grandfather who were perceived as wusses by Europeans. I can drink shots of espresso, but why would you want to when you can prolong the enjoyment with a little hot water, a splash of soy milk, and a dab of honey or raw sugar.

I enjoy the decaf variety, so I don’t get heart palpitations, which have only begun since I started running, not drinking beer, and cutting out caffeine and soda. I shudder when I think about what I did to my body before I began caring about what I was doing to my body. Apparently, I have to experience a clean body before I can really begin to appreciate how good it is to be healthy. I don’t like it when my heart races, I can’t imagine what it was like with 40 more pounds, and I much appreciate the lack of animal products in my veins. I feel good. At 35, I feel better than I have for most of my life.

I am sitting here at Starbucks, commenting on papers from last semester, so I can give them back to my students on Monday. I feel bad because they have been waiting for them for two weeks now, and I should have had them finished when break was over. I procrastinated, though, and I am just now finishing them up. It is challenging to force myself to comment on papers that I have already graded. I made a note to myself not to do that again. I think I really won’t, too.

On a totally unrelated note, I have been eating several things in the past few days that are advertised as raw food. I love it. I can say that if I didn’t love a nice hot piece of pizza or a nice hot plate of pasta, I could easily be a raw foodist. Since that diet is inherently vegan, it would be excellent for me. I just feel better when I don’t eat things that come from animals, and I can see the benefit of not cooking all the goodness out of food. I saw a good quote the other day that said, “If you aren’t vegan, you aren’t vegetarian.” I hadn’t thought of it that way. Interesting, but not entirely convincing.

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I am thankful for Abbie, Ed, and Iz. On an unrelated note, I am also thankful for reconciliation.

Exercise: walked the dogs twice, ran 3 miles

Food: banana, juice, Pure bar, soy milk, decaf chai tea, sloppy jane with cheese on a wheat bun, salad with strawberries and honey mustard, decaf americano, green tea, Two Moms in the Raw granola, pasta with veggies and edamame, ice cream

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Posted in Coffee, Fat, Food, Running, School, Teaching