Blogs

I'm waiting for my friends to get ready, so why not?

Virginia Woolf: Orlando. You are a challenge, for
outer events, the outside world, the time etc.
play no importance to you. Your focus is in
writing, in gender issues, and inside your own
head. Self-analysis and exploration of yourself
as well as the outer world hold great
importance to you.


Which literature classic are you?
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Via Palmer.

Tomorrow I go here:




This image comes from a series on diners I did back in 1997 as an independent study for my photography minor. Here's another photograph from the series, taken inside The Southland:

I didn't watch Julia Child's show, but all the tributes to her -- and this interview -- have made me want to. I wonder if they'll release it on DVD?

When Krista and I went to the movies recently, I made an excited noise when I saw the standee for Seed of Chucky (link goes to the trailer). A little embarrassing, yes, but what the heck, I've already said I want to watch The Pirate Movie. Krista made the insightful observation that the more theory one reads, the more one wants to watch pleasantly stupid movies. Having been bolstered by this validation, I believe I'll rent both The Pirate Movie and Bride of Chucky tomorrow evening. I've seen Child's Play 1, 2, and 3, but not Bride of Chucky, and I want to respect the narrative sequence.

Just read it. I needed those laughs. Everything this guy writes is funny (oh, and see also his story "Academia").

Via John & Belle.

Am I going to make it?

On Friday morning, I got my last two preliminary exam questions, and my answers are due Monday morning. The first essay is basically done, but I still have some work to do on it. I plan to mobilize for the second essay late tonight, get up in the morning, and write all day, yet again. I want to do anything but this right now. Things I'd rather do include:

• Knit
• Watch Farscape
• Go to my friend Brooke's show tonight at First Ave.
• Work on my syllabus for this fall's class
• Oh yeah, did I happen to mention, anything but these prelims?

I know, I know, this will be over soon and I'll look back and laugh.

A friend and I went shopping today, and she pointed out some Doc Martens sandals that were on sale. I've been wanting some of those for over a year now, so I bought two pairs:

Turns out I'm not doing my tour of Indiana after all. Last night, my friend P. called me and urged me to come home again before the fall semester starts. I had thought I wouldn't be able to find a reasonably-priced plane ticket, and indeed, the flights into Nashville and Huntsville were going for about $500.00, but I found a flight to Birmingham for $226! I leave Tuesday and will be home for six days, which is good, because I've been taking stock of my summer. What have I done? I:

• Moved into a new apartment
• Co-authored the introductory chapter of the blog collection and did a lot of editing work before it officially went live
• Taught a Technical and Professional Writing class
• Studied for and took prelims (will be done with those soon, anyway)
• Wrote two short articles for The Encyclopedia of Third Wave Feminism
• Made some smart, healthy, and long overdue lifestyle changes and, as a result, lost 32 pounds (eleven dress sizes)

Sounds good, but despite the fact that I've been relatively productive compared to summers past, I'm not happy (for an soundtrack, imagine Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer" or Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" playing in the background), and I was thinking that if I had spent more time at home, I wouldn't feel this downcast. I hope I'm right about that.

I encountered both of these recently in conversations with colleagues in various departments about academic blogging and using blogging in writing pedagogy.

First: "I want to do A, B, and C in my (Insert discipline here) (Insert course number here) class. Would I be able to use a blog for that, or must I enter the WebCT gulag?"

Second: [Colleague who's just starting to learn about blogs, reflecting after our lengthy discussion of public/private and the pros and cons of real name v. pseudonym in blogging] "You know, academic blogging under your real name is sort of like the intellectual equivalent of going to a nude beach."

Note: I'm putting that second one in just because I found it so humorous. I'm not trying to weigh in on the real name v. pseudonym debate. One is not more valuable than the other, in my opinion, and there are definite advantages and disadvantages associated with each choice.