I desperately need to write a grant proposal, but I've been procrastinating at home. So, after not sleeping much last night, I came to the office this morning to work on it. It's hard. I'm trying to explain ecocriticism to a general audience, and to explain what I'm trying to do with it, and I'm bogging down. I start and restart sentences. What I need to do, I think, is just write, and then go back and revise a lot.
Meanwhile, people keep stopping by my office to chat and ask how my course prep is coming along, or am I going to this or that meeting, or how was my summer. And it's nice to chat, but I'm trying to write, and each interruption means that it takes me a while to refocus (as in, right now).
Things at the BardiacShack (tm) are weird, still. My guest's dogs howl and bark if the guest leaves; the guest has blocked off the stairs to keep the dogs and cats downstairs (which is good, because the dogs keep getting on my furniture, and that's one thing if it's MY dog, but another if it's guest dogs, you know?), but that makes it feel like I'm imposing on the little fortress if I go down to do laundry or whatever.
I'll be happy for moveout day, which is tomorrow.
Okay, back to trying to explain stuff for a general audience!
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Monday, August 29, 2016
Worth Reading
The Good Enough Professor has a post up on "Monsters and Mythical Creatures of Higher Education" that's worth reading if you haven't already.
The piece responds to the recent anti-safe space attack from the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago with nuance and thoughtfulness.
Let's be serious: students of color, vets, LGBTQ students, first generation students, these folks (and others) need spaces on campuses where they can find community, discuss issues and experiences, find solutions or work-arounds to problems, and they need these safe spaces where "majority" students aren't going to tell them that there's no racism, and so forth.
All students need faculty who will intervene if another student gets inappropriately aggressive in a classroom discussion.
All students need faculty and other students to recognize that some traumas are hard to deal with.
And all students need to be challenged and uncomfortable at times, too. But too much discomfort makes learning harder and less likely. Majority students need to be uncomfortable, too.
Real teaching skill involves helping students be uncomfortable at a fruitful level and point, supporting them through. If you're one on one with a student, it's probably easier. If you've got 30, 90, or 400 students, it's way, way harder.
The piece responds to the recent anti-safe space attack from the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago with nuance and thoughtfulness.
Let's be serious: students of color, vets, LGBTQ students, first generation students, these folks (and others) need spaces on campuses where they can find community, discuss issues and experiences, find solutions or work-arounds to problems, and they need these safe spaces where "majority" students aren't going to tell them that there's no racism, and so forth.
All students need faculty who will intervene if another student gets inappropriately aggressive in a classroom discussion.
All students need faculty and other students to recognize that some traumas are hard to deal with.
And all students need to be challenged and uncomfortable at times, too. But too much discomfort makes learning harder and less likely. Majority students need to be uncomfortable, too.
Real teaching skill involves helping students be uncomfortable at a fruitful level and point, supporting them through. If you're one on one with a student, it's probably easier. If you've got 30, 90, or 400 students, it's way, way harder.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Other People are Weird
I invited a new colleague from a different department on campus to stay at my house until their apartment opens up on the fourth. I was trying to be nice.
But holy cow, other people are weird. I say that with a bit of a wry smile, because I'm sure my quirks are just as weird as anyone else's, truth be told. But since I'm writing, let me say, other people are weird!
I want to practice my violin, but I don't want to wake the person. It's after noon, and I haven't heard the least stirring yet. I guess I'll go do other chores and practice later?
As someone who lives alone, I think I'm probably very set in my ways.
The person moves out on the first, so it's only a few more days.
(If you were reading this person's blog, I bet they'd say that they're staying with someone who's sort of crazy, and so very weird!)
But holy cow, other people are weird. I say that with a bit of a wry smile, because I'm sure my quirks are just as weird as anyone else's, truth be told. But since I'm writing, let me say, other people are weird!
I want to practice my violin, but I don't want to wake the person. It's after noon, and I haven't heard the least stirring yet. I guess I'll go do other chores and practice later?
As someone who lives alone, I think I'm probably very set in my ways.
The person moves out on the first, so it's only a few more days.
(If you were reading this person's blog, I bet they'd say that they're staying with someone who's sort of crazy, and so very weird!)
Friday, August 26, 2016
Gamifying Meetings and Grumpy
I'll start with the grumpy. I simply haven't been sleeping well for the past week or so. It happens sometimes, bad insomnia, and then I tend to get over it and start sleeping pretty well. (I had terrible insomnia for years, and didn't quite even realize it; I'd just be awake from the time I went to bed, at say, 10, until 2 or 3 am, and then have to get up for school or work or whatever, and would drag through the day, especially as a teen.
Yesterday, I was at a long meeting, a four hour "retreat" for my college, and a new deanling did a presentation on GE sorts of stuff. We're starting a new GE program this year, so we all need to know the rules and how to advise students, figure out schedules, and make our courses "fit." Okay, I get that.
I have high hopes for this deanling; I've served on committees with them and they're smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, feminist. So I was disappointed, because they set up this "game" that was basically, new GE trivia on a computerized platform.
At each table we had to log on with a device, and then there were questions, and we were supposed to answer these questions with points for being right, and points for being fast.
So we responded to the incentives: the person who knew the answer said it, the person clicking clicked, and the people who didn't know the answers hung out. At my table, I knew the answers because I've served on curriculum committees of late.
But if the purpose was to get the people less familiar with the new GE to learn about it, then it didn't work, because they weren't involved at all.
But at least it wasn't horribly irritating.
We also had a meet and greet thing with some local officials. We have about 20% representation of people of color in our local high schools, and within local governments, people of color are increasingly well represented. There's a really strong local organization, and they're very involved in the community.
You wouldn't have known that from the local officials who came to our meeting, though. That was irritating. (I bent the dean's ear a bit about that, and he was receptive, but didn't have a solution; the meet and greet arrangements happened well over his head, I think.)
According to our headmaster, this is the year we really focus on increasing our service to people of color in our community. (There's a better way to put this, but you get the idea: we're after attracting and retaining students of color to better reflect our community and region, and also faculty/staff of color to contribute in all the positive ways diversity does.)
You wouldn't have known that from the college meeting, either.
I have another four hour "retreat" today. At least this one's led by a feminist person of color, so I'm pretty sure we'll address both feminism and social justice issues.
Yesterday, I was at a long meeting, a four hour "retreat" for my college, and a new deanling did a presentation on GE sorts of stuff. We're starting a new GE program this year, so we all need to know the rules and how to advise students, figure out schedules, and make our courses "fit." Okay, I get that.
I have high hopes for this deanling; I've served on committees with them and they're smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, feminist. So I was disappointed, because they set up this "game" that was basically, new GE trivia on a computerized platform.
At each table we had to log on with a device, and then there were questions, and we were supposed to answer these questions with points for being right, and points for being fast.
So we responded to the incentives: the person who knew the answer said it, the person clicking clicked, and the people who didn't know the answers hung out. At my table, I knew the answers because I've served on curriculum committees of late.
But if the purpose was to get the people less familiar with the new GE to learn about it, then it didn't work, because they weren't involved at all.
But at least it wasn't horribly irritating.
We also had a meet and greet thing with some local officials. We have about 20% representation of people of color in our local high schools, and within local governments, people of color are increasingly well represented. There's a really strong local organization, and they're very involved in the community.
You wouldn't have known that from the local officials who came to our meeting, though. That was irritating. (I bent the dean's ear a bit about that, and he was receptive, but didn't have a solution; the meet and greet arrangements happened well over his head, I think.)
According to our headmaster, this is the year we really focus on increasing our service to people of color in our community. (There's a better way to put this, but you get the idea: we're after attracting and retaining students of color to better reflect our community and region, and also faculty/staff of color to contribute in all the positive ways diversity does.)
You wouldn't have known that from the college meeting, either.
I have another four hour "retreat" today. At least this one's led by a feminist person of color, so I'm pretty sure we'll address both feminism and social justice issues.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
One of Those...
I went to a sale on campus of used stuff this morning. My campus has these sales regularly, sometimes with basic office/building stuff, but this was a once a year used rec stuff sale. This is the same sort of sale where I got my yacht.
There, I saw one of those colleagues who just makes you glad to know them. She's thoughtful and kind, smart, knowledgeable, and an all around good colleague. We chatted.
And then another colleague interrupted, the polar opposite of the first. He's the sort who mansplains, who tries to dominate everything with his opinions (this was a rec sale, so he was opining about rec stuff; often he opines about everything else).
If I never had to interact with that colleague again, it wouldn't be too soon, you know?
I got an extra sleeping mini-mattress thingy. Good deal!
Another colleague may come camping with me, over night. Her first time. Fun!
There, I saw one of those colleagues who just makes you glad to know them. She's thoughtful and kind, smart, knowledgeable, and an all around good colleague. We chatted.
And then another colleague interrupted, the polar opposite of the first. He's the sort who mansplains, who tries to dominate everything with his opinions (this was a rec sale, so he was opining about rec stuff; often he opines about everything else).
If I never had to interact with that colleague again, it wouldn't be too soon, you know?
I got an extra sleeping mini-mattress thingy. Good deal!
Another colleague may come camping with me, over night. Her first time. Fun!
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Program X
Our contract period started, and lots of friends have already started teaching.
My to-do list is a bit overwhelming. Holy cow!
Meetings, endless meetings, scheduled for the next couple of weeks.
There's a program here, let's call it Program X, which provides a degree, and is the only such degree for about 80 miles around, and far more in some directions. The problem is that Program X requires a good amount of resources but has very few students. And we don't have all the resources we should for Program X, though we like to pretend we do, so the few students we have don't really get a strong Program X degree.
Every few years, we have a meeting and someone has a big plan to "save" Program X. Some of these solutions are about getting more students, others about cutting down resources.
Early on, Program X's director wanted to cut one of the required courses because students didn't like it, and most faculty didn't like it. But it was one of those "how to research in this field" courses, so not having it made the program a bit weaker. A part of the material was added to another required course. (There were, when I started, three required courses, an intro, a research methods, and a theory course.)
One year Program X added a new sub-program which, we were assured, would bring in lots of students. It brings in a few, but mostly, people who were in the old program switch over. But the new sub-program takes resources from the old, so the old program was cut down, making it even weaker.
Then Program X's director said that with the new sub-program, we really couldn't ask students to do the theory course, and they didn't like it, and if they got rid of it, they could take more new sub-program courses. So that change happened. A little theory was going into the intro course, they promised.
More recently, Program X's director came up with the idea that students in another major could sort of do a double with Program X, and that would bring in lots of students. Of course, in order to do this, the other major would be weakened.
Now, Program X has a new director, and unlike the other directors, this one very much wants to get into administration. Since they've been here, they've been taking on or trying to take on increasingly administrative roles all over. In some ways, they're good at this. But holy cow, every time I'm in a meeting, this person has to talk, and my brain just shuts down on them. This may be me being a jerk, or it may be a response to the administrivial jargon they tend to use for everything.
It sounds like the new director is making a big push for assessment (quite natural, given the climate), and re-asserting the other changes in hopes of attracting all those students to do the extra program.
(On one level, this person is pushed into administrative stuffs by those above, but they're "missing" one quality the upper administrators love, and so I think that's held them back. I don't think they'd be a great administrator, but I don't think that's the quality that's holding them back, since other folks who are crap get pulled up into administration fairly often. The quality this new director is "missing"? Whiteness. Yeah, that's a problem around here. And so I both root for and dread the new Program X director's desire to get into administration.)
My to-do list is a bit overwhelming. Holy cow!
Meetings, endless meetings, scheduled for the next couple of weeks.
There's a program here, let's call it Program X, which provides a degree, and is the only such degree for about 80 miles around, and far more in some directions. The problem is that Program X requires a good amount of resources but has very few students. And we don't have all the resources we should for Program X, though we like to pretend we do, so the few students we have don't really get a strong Program X degree.
Every few years, we have a meeting and someone has a big plan to "save" Program X. Some of these solutions are about getting more students, others about cutting down resources.
Early on, Program X's director wanted to cut one of the required courses because students didn't like it, and most faculty didn't like it. But it was one of those "how to research in this field" courses, so not having it made the program a bit weaker. A part of the material was added to another required course. (There were, when I started, three required courses, an intro, a research methods, and a theory course.)
One year Program X added a new sub-program which, we were assured, would bring in lots of students. It brings in a few, but mostly, people who were in the old program switch over. But the new sub-program takes resources from the old, so the old program was cut down, making it even weaker.
Then Program X's director said that with the new sub-program, we really couldn't ask students to do the theory course, and they didn't like it, and if they got rid of it, they could take more new sub-program courses. So that change happened. A little theory was going into the intro course, they promised.
More recently, Program X's director came up with the idea that students in another major could sort of do a double with Program X, and that would bring in lots of students. Of course, in order to do this, the other major would be weakened.
Now, Program X has a new director, and unlike the other directors, this one very much wants to get into administration. Since they've been here, they've been taking on or trying to take on increasingly administrative roles all over. In some ways, they're good at this. But holy cow, every time I'm in a meeting, this person has to talk, and my brain just shuts down on them. This may be me being a jerk, or it may be a response to the administrivial jargon they tend to use for everything.
It sounds like the new director is making a big push for assessment (quite natural, given the climate), and re-asserting the other changes in hopes of attracting all those students to do the extra program.
(On one level, this person is pushed into administrative stuffs by those above, but they're "missing" one quality the upper administrators love, and so I think that's held them back. I don't think they'd be a great administrator, but I don't think that's the quality that's holding them back, since other folks who are crap get pulled up into administration fairly often. The quality this new director is "missing"? Whiteness. Yeah, that's a problem around here. And so I both root for and dread the new Program X director's desire to get into administration.)
Monday, August 22, 2016
Solo
My neighbor had offered to pick me up any time he's around, in his pick up. So I called him when I was on land again. It worked out GREAT!
(To the right of the green dot, it looks like that's another river coming in, but it's really a little lake, separated by some land, with probably an open pipe under the road between the little lake and the river.)
Friday, August 19, 2016
Syllabus Number Three: Shakespeare Topics
My topic is geographies. What I want to do is bring together my interest in physical space/resources, race, ecocriticism.
I've mapped out some, a little.
We'll start with the physical space of the stage. (I could use suggestions beyond Weimann for this.)
And a little bit on the physical space of printed pages, because Folios and Quartos are so interesting!
Then we'll move into the stage in London, and London in England.
And then we'll move into the Mediterranean and broader Europe and the world, sort of.
I've chosen the plays:
Merry Wives
1 Henry IV
Anthony and Cleopatra
Merchant of Venice
Winter's Tale
Tempest
What do you think? Suggestions for readings, fun stuff to do?
I love trying to teach new combinations and approaches, but it's also always lots of hard work.
I've mapped out some, a little.
We'll start with the physical space of the stage. (I could use suggestions beyond Weimann for this.)
And a little bit on the physical space of printed pages, because Folios and Quartos are so interesting!
Then we'll move into the stage in London, and London in England.
And then we'll move into the Mediterranean and broader Europe and the world, sort of.
I've chosen the plays:
Merry Wives
1 Henry IV
Anthony and Cleopatra
Merchant of Venice
Winter's Tale
Tempest
What do you think? Suggestions for readings, fun stuff to do?
I love trying to teach new combinations and approaches, but it's also always lots of hard work.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Violin, Level Two!
I haven't written about my violin studies lately, but I've been coming along. Yesterday, I had a sort of "test" to pass from Book 1 to Book 2, and I passed. I gather in the old days, a student wanting to pass had to make a recording and send it to Dr. Suzuki to get his approval to move on. And even today, I think little kids often have to do a recital of some stuff.
I had none of that. Instead, my teacher (Strings) had me do the final song in Book 1, plus a song of my choosing from Book 1, and a song she chose from Book 1. And I also had gotten to start on the first song of Book 2, which is from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus. I practiced and practiced them for a couple of weeks (while Strings was out of town on vacation), and yesterday, I played them pretty darned well (for me).
During my last lesson, I was so nervous that I was shaking. Really. I was playing the last piece from Book 1, and I wanted it to be good, and for some reason I was just nervous as all get out. And, of course, that made my playing way worse.
So we talked a bit about nerves and playing, and some strategies.
I asked her if I am progressing okay, and Strings assured me that I'm doing really well.
I hadn't quite believed her, but I just looked over the posts I made earlier this year about learning violin, and I really have learned a whole lot and improved tons. Just playing the notes was really hard. It's still hard, but now the hardness is trying to sound right, and to play in tune, and to be musical.
About the nerves: I talked to my niece, who is heading off to college to study [kazoo] (remember Terminal Degree used to blog about being a kazoo prof?), and who's played a fair number of recitals, concerts, and even a solo concerto with her high school orchestra. And she was able to offer me some helpful advice, which I can't repeat, quite, but along the lines of you prepare, and it's going to happen, so you prepare to make it happen the way you want it to happen. It was nice to get her advice.
So, I'd been preparing (except for the camping trip), and I played my program, and Strings congratulated me, and got me started on the next piece! So that's exciting!
I started playing AD&D in college, and have played various games since, so the idea of leveling in violin amuses me a bit. So now I'm a level 2 violinist!
I had none of that. Instead, my teacher (Strings) had me do the final song in Book 1, plus a song of my choosing from Book 1, and a song she chose from Book 1. And I also had gotten to start on the first song of Book 2, which is from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus. I practiced and practiced them for a couple of weeks (while Strings was out of town on vacation), and yesterday, I played them pretty darned well (for me).
During my last lesson, I was so nervous that I was shaking. Really. I was playing the last piece from Book 1, and I wanted it to be good, and for some reason I was just nervous as all get out. And, of course, that made my playing way worse.
So we talked a bit about nerves and playing, and some strategies.
I asked her if I am progressing okay, and Strings assured me that I'm doing really well.
I hadn't quite believed her, but I just looked over the posts I made earlier this year about learning violin, and I really have learned a whole lot and improved tons. Just playing the notes was really hard. It's still hard, but now the hardness is trying to sound right, and to play in tune, and to be musical.
About the nerves: I talked to my niece, who is heading off to college to study [kazoo] (remember Terminal Degree used to blog about being a kazoo prof?), and who's played a fair number of recitals, concerts, and even a solo concerto with her high school orchestra. And she was able to offer me some helpful advice, which I can't repeat, quite, but along the lines of you prepare, and it's going to happen, so you prepare to make it happen the way you want it to happen. It was nice to get her advice.
So, I'd been preparing (except for the camping trip), and I played my program, and Strings congratulated me, and got me started on the next piece! So that's exciting!
I started playing AD&D in college, and have played various games since, so the idea of leveling in violin amuses me a bit. So now I'm a level 2 violinist!
Monday, August 15, 2016
Planning Classes - Poetry Time!
I'm teaching our intro to poetry course for the first time in ages (6 or 7 years). I think most of my colleagues and I teach it as a skills course, rather than as a survey of poetry across time, or great poetry, or whatever. So we focus on how to read poetry, how to approach it. And it's fun, really fun.
The difficult thing is that the course is geared towards two very different audiences: the general ed crowd, often first year students, and the creative writing crowd, for whom it's one of three or four courses they choose from to complete a "genre" requirement.
The upshot is that you get first year students with no experience in poetry, taking the course because it was open at a time that worked for them and will fulfill a GE type requirement, and you get senior creative writing majors, some of whom really, really want to be poets. (I don't know why they put off the genre courses, but they often do.) And everything in between.
How do you set up a course for that diverse an audience?
What sorts of assignments help the first years while not boring the seniors, or letting them get lazy?
How do you challenge the seniors to learn new stuff without overwhelming the first years?
I have 35 Students enrolled, so a biggish class for my department, but not at all for many departments. What sorts of assignments do you give?
(I'll post about what I've got going later.)
The difficult thing is that the course is geared towards two very different audiences: the general ed crowd, often first year students, and the creative writing crowd, for whom it's one of three or four courses they choose from to complete a "genre" requirement.
The upshot is that you get first year students with no experience in poetry, taking the course because it was open at a time that worked for them and will fulfill a GE type requirement, and you get senior creative writing majors, some of whom really, really want to be poets. (I don't know why they put off the genre courses, but they often do.) And everything in between.
How do you set up a course for that diverse an audience?
What sorts of assignments help the first years while not boring the seniors, or letting them get lazy?
How do you challenge the seniors to learn new stuff without overwhelming the first years?
I have 35 Students enrolled, so a biggish class for my department, but not at all for many departments. What sorts of assignments do you give?
(I'll post about what I've got going later.)
Friday, August 12, 2016
A World Away
I decided to take a couple days, and drove a long way, to an island in one of the great lakes. I was only gone for two days, but when I came back, I felt that sort of dislocation in time that you feel when you've been away a lot longer than two days.
I had to take a ferry. Here's the ferry terminal.
Like pretty much everyone else with an LL Bean green Subaru, I call my car the "Green Bean." Here's a top view of the Green Bean on the ferry.
Home away from home!
The view from inside my tent, the first day, opening everything up and airing things out. The first day, it was hot and humid, the sort of humid that has me sweating just standing in the shade. I went for a good, long walk that first day.
From my campsite to the beach was about a three minute walk. This great lake, on this calm day, was beautiful! Lots of folks were swimming.
I took a selfie!
And more walking.
On the second morning, it started raining after I'd had my coffee and breakfast, so I went to the little town. I spend an hour or more in the local history museum (which was quite good).
The second evening, it sprinkled for a bit, so I packed everything to be rain/night ready, and headed to bed. And then it stormed. I've never camped in the rain, but my tent kept me warm and cozy. The only leak was in the little pass through (lower left of the tent picture), and that was about a tablespoon of water, all told.
The thing I hadn't realized was that if you're in a tent in a rainstorm, you're sort of living inside a drum being beat on by hyped up two year olds. It was amazingly loud!
So, I didn't sleep great. But now I've had a totally new experience! In the morning, it was still raining, pretty much, and my camping arrangements don't (yet?) include a covering for eating, so I packed everything in the car, and headed out.
Here's from the ferry headed away. It didn't stop raining until I was maybe three quarters of the way home. And it had rained at home, too.
I had to take a ferry. Here's the ferry terminal.
On the second morning, it started raining after I'd had my coffee and breakfast, so I went to the little town. I spend an hour or more in the local history museum (which was quite good).
The thing I hadn't realized was that if you're in a tent in a rainstorm, you're sort of living inside a drum being beat on by hyped up two year olds. It was amazingly loud!
So, I didn't sleep great. But now I've had a totally new experience! In the morning, it was still raining, pretty much, and my camping arrangements don't (yet?) include a covering for eating, so I packed everything in the car, and headed out.
Here's from the ferry headed away. It didn't stop raining until I was maybe three quarters of the way home. And it had rained at home, too.
Wednesday, August 03, 2016
Carrie Furnace Visit
On the last full day I was in Pittsburgh, we went to the Carrie Furnace. It's an old steel mill, closed in the 1980s, I think, that's open one or two days a week for guided tours. It's pretty run down, but the tour is really, really interesting!
I always wondered how, in those pictures you see of giant ladles with melted metal, how come the ladles didn't melt. And the answer, as you can see from the interior of the molten metal holder thingy here, is that everything is like with several courses of bricks. Everything. The furnace, the floors, the pouring stuff, everything. The preparation of those pieces of equipment must have taken a heck of a good brickworker.
Okay, back to academic stuff next time.
It's August, and time to face the reality of the coming semester.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
On To Gettysburg
One of the highlights of my visit to Pennsylvania was visiting Gettysburg. I mostly didn't find it as emotional as, say, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. And then I went to the cemetery, and that was pretty emotional. So many young men, so very many young men.
We spent two days there; the first we took one of the tours, watched the movie, went through the museum, and drove around a bit. The second we went back on the auto tour, went to the cemetery, and went through the house in town where Lincoln stayed and learned about that.
Before the second day, my Mom had texted me that my Great Grandmother Blanche's uncle had been at Gettysburg, and killed in action shortly after. So we asked the ranger how we'd find out where he'd fought and stuff.
(My great, great uncle is the second Samuel Wilmot on the list, who was in the 46th Pennsylvania Infantry.)
The ranger was fantastic, and looked him up (I knew he'd been in a Pennsylvania regiment and his name), and she was able to tell me that he'd enlisted in July, 1563, AFTER Gettysburg, and been killed in Georgia on 20 July 1864 (she told me where he's buried), I guess part of Sherman's army.
You know you've heard that wealthy people could pay someone else to fight in their place during the Civil War? Well, my great grandmother's uncle was one of the people who went to fight in someone else's place. He died at 18, I think, and so I'm guessing my Great Grandmother never knew him. (I was lucky enough to know three of my great grandmothers and one great grandfather, and I remember my Grandma Blanche well.)
But the regiment he joined had fought at Gettysburg; she was able to show me on a map where their monument is, and showed me a picture so we could find it. And we went to look. They were on Culp's Hill. Here's their monument.
These pictures look down at the ground from which the Confederate forces would be coming.
The unknowns. Imagine losing a loved one who's body was so badly damaged that he couldn't even be identified. (The unknowns who could be identified as to state are buried in their states' area, so these poor men were in much worse condition.)
We spent two days there; the first we took one of the tours, watched the movie, went through the museum, and drove around a bit. The second we went back on the auto tour, went to the cemetery, and went through the house in town where Lincoln stayed and learned about that.
Before the second day, my Mom had texted me that my Great Grandmother Blanche's uncle had been at Gettysburg, and killed in action shortly after. So we asked the ranger how we'd find out where he'd fought and stuff.
The ranger was fantastic, and looked him up (I knew he'd been in a Pennsylvania regiment and his name), and she was able to tell me that he'd enlisted in July, 1563, AFTER Gettysburg, and been killed in Georgia on 20 July 1864 (she told me where he's buried), I guess part of Sherman's army.
You know you've heard that wealthy people could pay someone else to fight in their place during the Civil War? Well, my great grandmother's uncle was one of the people who went to fight in someone else's place. He died at 18, I think, and so I'm guessing my Great Grandmother never knew him. (I was lucky enough to know three of my great grandmothers and one great grandfather, and I remember my Grandma Blanche well.)
But the regiment he joined had fought at Gettysburg; she was able to show me on a map where their monument is, and showed me a picture so we could find it. And we went to look. They were on Culp's Hill. Here's their monument.
These pictures look down at the ground from which the Confederate forces would be coming.
These mark the flanks of each regiment.
This is looking up at their position.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Pittsburgh History Center
While I was visiting, I asked my friend about the local history museums and such.
So we visited the History Center, and it was GREAT!
I saw Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. I never knew that was a Pittsburgh thing, but it was.
So we visited the History Center, and it was GREAT!
I saw Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. I never knew that was a Pittsburgh thing, but it was.
We spent the better part of a day there, and could have spent more time. It was that good. They focused on Pittsburgh history, as you'd expect.
I never realized how "southern" Pittsburgh is in some ways, but the museum taught me about that, and about Pittsburgh's role in US slavery. There was also a fascinating area on local glassmaking, where there were videos about how they made plate glass before the ways they do now (by floating melted glass on a pool of molten tin). I never realized that Pittsburgh had been a big glass manufacturing area (as well as steel, which I realized).
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Pittsburgh: My Grandma Grew Up Here
When I was in Pittsburgh, my Mom texted me to say that my grandmother's family had lived there, and were recorded there in the 1920 census, and gave me the address. So my friend and I went to look.
And here's where my Nana lived when she was 13:
It's an empty lot. One of the neighbors told me that he remembered the house being torn down about 20 years ago. It's a steep neighborhood, with a brick road. I don't know what it would have looked like in 1920. Still, pretty cool.
And here's where my Nana lived when she was 13:
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Pittsburgh!
It's been a while, but I've been busy.
I visited Pittsburgh for the first time, visiting a friend who recently moved there. Really fun visit.
We went to the Duquesne Incline. It's a funicular (basically, a short railway with two tracks and two cars, counterweighted to help each other go up and down a hill), and pretty darned cool!
I visited Pittsburgh for the first time, visiting a friend who recently moved there. Really fun visit.
We went to the Duquesne Incline. It's a funicular (basically, a short railway with two tracks and two cars, counterweighted to help each other go up and down a hill), and pretty darned cool!
At the top, there's a "self-guided tour" of the machinery stuffs!
Next up: we visited the History Center, Gettysburg, and the address where my grandmother grew up for a bit!
In other news: I just switched to Windows 10, and the switch so far has been okay. I had to turn off a ton of "report X to Microsoft for tracking" stuffs.
Sunday, July 03, 2016
Projects!
I gave the presentation I talked about here. It went well.
About three weeks before the presentation, I went to visit the venue (it's a gallery in a small store) and talked to someone there about the set up. The person I talked to (a store worker) said they were well able to set up power points and such, and I could bring my own computer or a flash drive. I gave him my name and number; he said the person responsible would call a bit ahead to check what I needed.
But I didn't get a call. I thought about going into the store again, but I was busy (see below), and since I'd gone in earlier, I didn't go again. I did prep the talk with a powerpoint (to show some pictures), and a handout (for text passages), and put my powerpoint on my computer and on a flashdrive.
So I went in 45 minutes early on the day of. The chairs were ready, the podium was ready, but they weren't at all ready for anything computerish. But they got on it. The person working the store called someone else, and they figured it out, connected their Mac, and I used my flash drive.
Then the person in charge of the local group came in and was surprised that I needed computerish stuff. She said that the person responsible had called her, but she'd told them that we wouldn't need any computer stuff. And it didn't occur to her to check with the actual speaker (me) about that, or to give them my name and number. (And who knows what happened to the information I gave the first store worker.)
But, as I said, it went well. There was a small but appreciative audience.
After I'd done the initial prep, as I predicted, I felt free to do other stuff.
I woke up one morning, and decided that the other stuff would be sanding down and repainting the woodwork on the front porch.
Here's what I started with:
About three weeks before the presentation, I went to visit the venue (it's a gallery in a small store) and talked to someone there about the set up. The person I talked to (a store worker) said they were well able to set up power points and such, and I could bring my own computer or a flash drive. I gave him my name and number; he said the person responsible would call a bit ahead to check what I needed.
But I didn't get a call. I thought about going into the store again, but I was busy (see below), and since I'd gone in earlier, I didn't go again. I did prep the talk with a powerpoint (to show some pictures), and a handout (for text passages), and put my powerpoint on my computer and on a flashdrive.
So I went in 45 minutes early on the day of. The chairs were ready, the podium was ready, but they weren't at all ready for anything computerish. But they got on it. The person working the store called someone else, and they figured it out, connected their Mac, and I used my flash drive.
Then the person in charge of the local group came in and was surprised that I needed computerish stuff. She said that the person responsible had called her, but she'd told them that we wouldn't need any computer stuff. And it didn't occur to her to check with the actual speaker (me) about that, or to give them my name and number. (And who knows what happened to the information I gave the first store worker.)
But, as I said, it went well. There was a small but appreciative audience.
After I'd done the initial prep, as I predicted, I felt free to do other stuff.
I woke up one morning, and decided that the other stuff would be sanding down and repainting the woodwork on the front porch.
Here's what I started with:
I'm lucky to have good neighbors, who lent me a sander, which was wonderful.
But as I was working on that, I thought about what to do about the bench, too.
It used to look nice, but it's really weathered since I got it (maybe 14 or so years ago). I consulted with my neighbor, and decided to get some yellow paint for the wood and gray rust stuff for the metal.
I took it all apart, sanded. There was a lot of sanding and priming. Everything got two coats of priming.
Then I decided on another pair of projects, the ugly yellow circle on the front door and the woodwork around the garage door.
Once you're sanding, priming and painting a bunch, you may as well go for it. All the house stuff would be the same color (the sort of light buff around the garage), and I chose a nice yellow for the bench.
I'm pretty happy with the results. Look!
So now I'm off for a week's vacation visiting a friend in a somewhat far away city.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Sausages Being Made - What Job Candidates Should Know about Notification
You know there's that old saying about not wanting to know how sausages or laws are made?
So I want to say there's something of that to the hiring process. To remind you, I chaired a search committee for a one year position in interdisciplinary basketweaving.
The committee did its part, the applicants did theirs. The chair offered the position to someone who accepted, put in the paperwork. And voila, that should be good, right?
This was back in mid-May.
In May, after we'd had the offer accepted, I drafted a short rejection note, using the help you folks had offered here, on May 19th. But everyone warned me that I cannot send the rejection note out until we have a signed contract back. It's been over a month. And it hasn't even gone out to the candidate yet, I bet. (I bet this because I got an email on Friday asking me for some information needed to process the candidate, so I'm guessing the processing didn't get done until after I responded to the email at 3pm, if then. And being Friday and all, even if the contract was put in outgoing mail, it's probably still sitting there, waiting for the Monday pick up.)
I'm sure the candidates have decided that I'm an irresponsible jerk.
I'd like to apologize to all the job candidates out there who've complained, and rightly so, about not getting a timely note about their status when a campus has hired someone else.
The thing is, once the call's been made and an offer accepted, a long train of paperwork starts. Here at NWU, the department chair initiates hiring paperwork, which goes on it's merry way up the ladder, first to the dean, and then the provost. The provost gets it to HR, where it sits for however long (in this case, over a month).
And the committee chair who intends to send out timely notifications can't. And then the committee chair gets really busy, and is probably out of the loop about when the contract gets back, so maybe things get pushed aside, and by the time the committee chair looks at them again, it feels silly to send out a rejection note.
I'm going out of town in early July, so if I don't get the information before then, my notes will have to wait even longer.
So I want to say there's something of that to the hiring process. To remind you, I chaired a search committee for a one year position in interdisciplinary basketweaving.
The committee did its part, the applicants did theirs. The chair offered the position to someone who accepted, put in the paperwork. And voila, that should be good, right?
This was back in mid-May.
In May, after we'd had the offer accepted, I drafted a short rejection note, using the help you folks had offered here, on May 19th. But everyone warned me that I cannot send the rejection note out until we have a signed contract back. It's been over a month. And it hasn't even gone out to the candidate yet, I bet. (I bet this because I got an email on Friday asking me for some information needed to process the candidate, so I'm guessing the processing didn't get done until after I responded to the email at 3pm, if then. And being Friday and all, even if the contract was put in outgoing mail, it's probably still sitting there, waiting for the Monday pick up.)
I'm sure the candidates have decided that I'm an irresponsible jerk.
I'd like to apologize to all the job candidates out there who've complained, and rightly so, about not getting a timely note about their status when a campus has hired someone else.
The thing is, once the call's been made and an offer accepted, a long train of paperwork starts. Here at NWU, the department chair initiates hiring paperwork, which goes on it's merry way up the ladder, first to the dean, and then the provost. The provost gets it to HR, where it sits for however long (in this case, over a month).
And the committee chair who intends to send out timely notifications can't. And then the committee chair gets really busy, and is probably out of the loop about when the contract gets back, so maybe things get pushed aside, and by the time the committee chair looks at them again, it feels silly to send out a rejection note.
I'm going out of town in early July, so if I don't get the information before then, my notes will have to wait even longer.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Over My Head
Way back in April, I agreed to do a talk for a local group connected with a not-quite so local Shakespeare festival, here in town. We set a date, and it's coming up.
I knew I didn't have to worry about it for a while, but now, well, it's coming up, and it's hanging over my head. But it's still a week off.
Here's the thing. If I do the work on this talk, get it set up, figured out, then I'll feel free to go out and play at different stuff. But instead, I've been procrastinating. But I haven't been procrastinating by going out and playing at what I most want to play at (say, biking, birding, kayaking, gardening), but instead just procrastinating and wasting time. (I have been practicing the violin at least.)
So, today, I just need to go get the initial work done, and then I can feel good about going out and playing. Right?
(I need to reread some lit crit, reread the play, put together a handout, put together a power point with a couple of pictures, and write out notes for the talk. I'm guessing 10-16 hours, at least. I should keep track.)
I knew I didn't have to worry about it for a while, but now, well, it's coming up, and it's hanging over my head. But it's still a week off.
Here's the thing. If I do the work on this talk, get it set up, figured out, then I'll feel free to go out and play at different stuff. But instead, I've been procrastinating. But I haven't been procrastinating by going out and playing at what I most want to play at (say, biking, birding, kayaking, gardening), but instead just procrastinating and wasting time. (I have been practicing the violin at least.)
So, today, I just need to go get the initial work done, and then I can feel good about going out and playing. Right?
(I need to reread some lit crit, reread the play, put together a handout, put together a power point with a couple of pictures, and write out notes for the talk. I'm guessing 10-16 hours, at least. I should keep track.)
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