Reparations--a word on my WS100 terminology quiz--
a voice in Australia calling to the Stolen Generation
along a Rabbit Fence--
mud cookies in the news--
where do you and I fit in?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/world/asia/31australia.html

Fridge

Faced her green blouse and dangling earrings,
wondering if she'd let me in--
previously others had directed me to a piece
hanging on the wall--
a box with three skinned women inside,
some wire.

Black shoulders, shoulder-to-shoulder,
turned away from the art,
turned away from me,
not letting me into
the conversations, wine, and cheese.

Mirrors and frames,
dominoes and monarchs,
inflated tags, spinning candles
made me finally snicker--

walk back to the parking lot
amid the snow
and fallen glances.

::HAPPY DANCE::

hey, i had a good day!

let's put this down for the record.

same class as last week; walked in, lectured for an hour;
showed _Crash_ (sigh--yeah, they've never seen it);
much more reasonable discussion.

back to the Writing Center for our quarterly meetings;
everyone is happy to work there. seriously.

now? dinner even!

Neat-o

Check out Webster:

http://www.webster.com/info/07words.htm

"Woot" is absolutely nothing like "yay"!
"Woot" has an in-your-face connotation,
whereas "yay" drips rainbows and emo-smiley faces.

A Whole 'Nother Campus; WS200

"I'm so done with _Thelma and Louise_!" me, venting
my frustrations that the film had to be dragged out until today
due to technical difficulties.

"I'm so done with the class!" the 65 year-old woman exclaimed.
"I'm sorry--but what does any of this have to do with feminist issues?!"

"Wow. Gee." I stuggle to remain composed. "Maybe if you had been
here the first day of class when I explained these connections
you'd understand better. Or maybe read the syllabus?"

"Even the book you have us reading [Toni Morrison's _Beloved_]
is all about slavery and blacks--not women--" she continued.

Next quarter? Instead of creating a reading packet,
incorporating film, analazing internet resources, etc.,
I shall: Assign one, single, $80 text "Feminist Issues."
Read Chapter one.
Read Chapter two.
Read Chapter three.
Test.
Repeat.

Her implied question? "If I'm here to get my degree, to get my money,
how is reading this book going to get me money? What does this black
literature have to do with me, with my success?"

Perhaps these are valid questions.

If I could put my index finger into a wall socket
and shock my brain back into academic curiosity concerning
my students and how best to teach them, I would.

What a Glorious Day that Will Be

Somehow the significance that MLK was only 39
when he was gunned down
escaped me.

If you'd like:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080120/ap_on_re_us/mlk_legacy

Not Even Light or Low-cal

Why am I covering everything in ranch dressing?

I dipped a grilled cheese sandwhich in the stuff. Crispy food
simply taste better with ranch . . . even grapes.

[No, not preggers, either. Hey, _Juno_ sucked--well, disappointed. Jason Bateman was so creepy his performance haunts--the only good aspect of the film.]

Is my body just that serious about keeping those extra two pounds?? Or--what mineral is Kraft ranch dressing providing that my body lacks all of the sudden? Perhaps--Kraft has started using opium as a suppliment?

Time to get out my old chemistry set.

I See Blood

I try to be prepared for racism
on that campus, but everytime I feel ready
to stand they knock me back down.

Today?

I was working against the tide pretty well,
getting ready to cover "color-blind" racism
and "underground" attitudes
when some 18-year-old tiny voice in the back
decides to enlighten us all:

"Well, I work at the [new, local, affluent] mall,
and they are just destroying it--
ruining everything."

Yes, she meant blacks. Yes, she thought the entire
white, suburban class of 35 would agree with her.
Yes, she felt safe in saying that in front of me,
her "white" teacher.

I let my jaw drop and simply stared around the room.

"I'm not racist or anything--it's just now that
they're coming in, the whole place is going to crap--what?
I'm not racist--I feel like the minority now"

"In her defense," another woman picks up the standard,
"I think she's talking about the shooting up there."

_Her_ defense? And my class says Audre Lorde is a racist
for saying white women don't understand the struggles
of black women.

I collapsed in a chair. 20 minutes left
of this 4 hour class and I'm exhausted.

Yesterday I tutored a bi-racial young man
who could barely write, but he wanted his essay to say:
I am studying psychology because I admire my mother
who traveled from Honduras to the [the bleak state] to seek out a better life.
Also, I understand the poverty and sorrow she experienced as a child
because I experienced my own challenges, being partially deaf
and consistantly made fun of all through [a local HS] school because of
my IEP and my ethnicity.

He grew up maybe 40 minutes away from the previous chic
mentioned above. I see how much pain whites inflict
on people of color; I see how opportunities are not all the same.

So, how much more can a young teacher take without
fantasizing violence?

If I had a daughter, perhaps she would console me; perhaps
she would point out all the white men in history who have begun
wars and killed hundreds of thousands without the notoriety
of the mall shooter, without their actions being attributed
to the color of their skin.

Dust Brothers Don't know Shirley

Can you imagine if I had children?
3rd grade. 10th grade.

I'd be an educational machine.

Who knew Mr. Smallwood
would carry so much anger year after year?

SQ is Morphing into SQ Rabid Mojo at the Regional Campus

I have a common last name that can be spelled
in about 3 ways--and then the way I spell it.

As if I don't struggle with this odd spelling enough,
the IT guy who finally hooked up my Outlook 2007
didn't bother to check the spelling of my name.

It's actually causing problems now--people are unable
to respond to my emails.

But, again, it's only been 6 weeks. Maybe I should give
him a couple more days to fix it?

"Waves"

Brief Historical Overview
in Class Friday:

First Wave:
1848--Seneca Falls
18blah blah--13th Admend
followed by 14th Admend
1870-something women's suffrage bill introduced
1920 Right to Vote-Roaring 20s--Flappers

30s--Depression & survival
40s--The War to end all Wars--Rosie the Riveter
50s--Back to Housewives--pink appliances--MRS degrees--Valium

Second Wave:
60s--Civil rights movement--Vietnam--Betty Friedan
70s--Women in Academia--epistemological questions--battered shelters
80s--Backlash--Reagan--big hair--debt
90s--Technology--Gay rights--more debt

Now?
Terrorism--globalization--environment--and addiction

It's the addiction part that struck me. Meanwhile,
I checked out Showtime's _Weeds_ for a student who
thought we should analyze it in WS200. Yes, it's well written,
but the way it normalizes weed! How naive have I become?
I thought maybe 50% of the population smoked--
is it more like 80%?

Addiction is a central Q for our society now, but
does it define who we are?

Saturday? Seriously?
My last post was Wednesday?

I'll never get a handle of this time warp thing.

Today? What's APA?

Met with Geography Man today--
what a riot!

I feel guilty for posting this,
but the handbook he wanted me to use
was from 1977!

"Outdated, huh?" he smiled.

"Um, well, yeah," I hesitated, "There's been
this whole computer thing . . ."

Yesterday? That would be Tuesday, right?

At 10am I had planned to negotiate
the double class, so I left a message in room 101
with WS200 and briskly headed down the hall to room 103
to tell ENG150 they would be rescheduled.

Only room 103 was being used to teach WS100
--"doubled-booked."

"That's impossible," claimed the Dean after he saw me headed
toward the information desk, students like duckies behind me
all in a row. He hid behind his hands
whispering _I'm not here_. "The computer's software
is designed to not allow that."

He barked a few orders and soon discovered that, indeed, 103
had been double-booked.
By the time I had sorted out the mess
and headed back to WS200 at 10:30, a quiet little headache
I had been nurturing ruptured.

I lectured through and, determined,
headed to the Writing Center afterward.

Sitting at my computer, developing a presentation
I'll be giving to a geography class on Monday,
the headache turned migrain.

I've never really experienced a migrain, apparently.

My head began to hurt in my throat; all of my teeth ached;
and I felt like vomiting my power bar. It refused to be ignored.

At 2:30 I stood up, told my staff I'd return by four,
and drove directly home. Two Aleve and two hours
after a nap, I returned to my office to clear my desk.

Couch, then bed by 9pm.

Yep, these are the types of posts I don't write.
You aren't missing much. ;-)

Less Than Glorious First Day Back

Yikes--the U scheduled me to teach 2
unrelated classes at the same time: T/H 10-12noon.

Ummm . . . any thoughts on how to combine
Developmental Writing and Feminist Issues?

Meanwhile, what's ringworm?!?! and, ewww!

Wireless Pitfalls Around the House

Don't you just hate when your partner
chews too loudly
and you are trying to think of a witty topic
for blogging?

Lazy Saturday, Again

Yep. Time to pound out a meaningful syllabus.
See, if my standards weren't so high, there'd be no problem:
I'd recycle an older one, not caring about the nuances,
not evaluating which assignments were sucessfully productive . . .
but oh no, I want a "learning experience" for each of my students.

Geez, I haven't even mailed out my friend's Christmas gift yet.

Pretending to Know Something

How could Hillary come in 3rd?
I mean, historically speaking, yes, Obama
should win, but 3rd?
Edwards? Edwards? Come on!

D*mn. She should have tipped that waitress in Iowa.
I mean, honestly, her refusal to leave a Grant on the counter
made me hesitate as well.
But Edwards?

Actually, these two guys are both a little creepy.

Doldrums? No more.

Know that friend who invited me to Alaska?
Who studied in London for a year?
Who writes fabulous poetry
and once commented on this blog under "avacado"?

She and I may trek from Seattle to Houston at the end of March.

I had complained to her that I have yet to find my wardrobe.
Now, that's a friend.

Astrology 101

Reading = hoping in this field.
Or a strange blend of hoping and fearing.

In my newly acquired _The Daring Book for Girls_,
I may learn which line on my palm represents fate,
but not how I might control fate (as if!).

We need to develop a science that can read our
freckles like the stars.

Happy 2008

When I think of 2008,
I'll eye the twisting of the 8
and remember coupling
against the sounds of winter ice on our windows.