Blogs

Today I've been struggling with what readings to assign to the class I'm guest lecturing in a week from tomorrow. I haven't been working on this all day, actually; the weather was gorgeous, so I went rollerblading on the trails in Como Park for a while, after which I felt remarkably serene. Anyway, I had originally intended to have the students read the pedagogy articles in Into the Blogosphere and Michael Angeles' presentation notes. Then I realized that I'd be assigning them about 100 pages of reading, so I decided to use the KISS approach and just have them read a few short articles and look at a few weblogs. Many of them haven't heard of weblogs anyway, so they might have been lost had I assigned the Angeles and ITB pieces. Here's what I'm having them read:

Jill Walker, Definition of Weblog

Jill Walker, notes for “Weblogs: Learning to Write in the Network”

Meg Hourihan, What We're Doing When We Blog

Then I'm asking them to look at Kairosnews, Chez Miscarriage, and this semester's Rhetoric 1101 weblog.

I hope they'll appreciate this basic overview of weblogs. I'll draw upon the Angeles and ITB articles for what I'll talk about, but I definitely want to put them in small groups and have them brainstorm some ways they might use weblogs in education and training; perhaps they can synthesize possible application of weblogs with the material they've already covered in the class.

Some people think of a particular person they love first thing in the morning. Not I. My first thought is, "Don't hit snooze! Don't go back to sleep! Other people are already up and getting work done!" It's like the slogan on a t-shirt worn by girls on the volleyball team back when I was in junior high: "The player who will beat you tomorrow is practicing today." Yeah...I'm a freak.

I'm sitting here with Saturday Night Live in the background, and Ashlee Simpson was about to perform one of her singles (I don't know which one). She started singing, and I think either her microphone flaked out, or she just froze. Anyway, she stopped singing, stood there for a few seconds (UPDATE: Actually, I think she hopped around on one foot for a second, alternating feet), then walked off the stage. The band continued playing, and the guitarists shot each other knowing, somewhat rueful smiles. Then it cut to a commercial. Did anyone else see it? The way my apartment is arranged, I have my back to the TV when I'm on the computer, so I didn't see exactly what occurred. Did she forget the words? Was she exposed as a lip-syncher?

SECOND UPDATE: Simpson explains: apparently "the band started playing the wrong song," so she started "doing a hoedown." :? I don't follow. Couldn't she have just sung the song they were playing? That's what Judy Garland, Debbie Reynolds, Bette Midler, and a host of other truly professional stand-up broads would have done.

THIRD UPDATE: See the hoedown here, and Amy's Robot has an mpeg of the whole thing, as well as a much funnier narrative of the event than what you see here. Now that I've really gotten to watch it, I'm guessing the person running the mixer board was taken out and shot by Lorne Michaels himself.

Tonight I discovered Meow Power, a new feminist e-journal. They're seeking essays for their first issue:

Meowpower feminist online journal is looking for papers for its inaugural issue as a quarterly journal. We are seeking papers from a variety of approaches and topics including but certainly not limited to: body image, pop culture, music, television, film, spirituality, sexuality, literature (classic or popular), theory, politics, LGBT, violence and the body, historical approaches personal narratives, creative writing, academic papers, journalistic writing. Please send your completed paper and a CV or writing resume to submissions@no_spam.meowpower.org take out the no_spam) by November 12.

The first issue is slated to appear in late December; I'll be checking back around that time, for sure. I like that they embrace the kitten-with-whip girly-girl aesthetic that, I realized once again as I shopped at Barnes & Noble today (some of my purchases are pictured here), has me firmly in its grip.

I've spent a good deal of time today tweaking my CV after attending a job search workshop in my department. I've updated my "Conference Presentations" category, taken out most of the bulleted lists, added a couple of items under "Professional Activities," and added two categories: "Invited Presentations" and "Interviews." I do presentations at colloquia and workshops here at the University of Minnesota, and I've done a few interviews with news publications, but before the workshop I assumed no one would care about that stuff, and it would look like I'm padding my vitae. However, I stand corrected: Everyone urged me to put it on there, so there it is. If any of you have other suggestions for how I should arrange and present the material, feel free to let me know; I'd appreciate the feedback.

With much-appreciated help from James Farmer, I am going to start a wiki (subject matter TBA, :) but I think everyone will like it and find it to be a useful resource). He has asked me if I want PHPWiki or TikiWiki. Based on what I know of each, I'm leaning toward Tiki, but I'd like to hear more opinions.

Last night, I made a lot of headway on that purse I blogged about a while back. I did the following while indulging my latest addiction: season 2 of Alias on DVD. I can watch four episodes in one night. :)

Today marks the 56th day since the last time I donated blood, so at 1:00 I'm scheduled to donate again. I don't know if I've written here before about why it's important to me to donate blood as often as they'll let me. As long as I can remember, my mom used to give every 56 days, but in November 1999 she got diagnosed with breast cancer and went through chemotherapy and radiation. She hasn't been eligible to donate blood since then; she's now on Tamoxifen and, while she'll be eligible again in a couple of years or so, she hasn't been able to donate in a long time, and I know she would if she could. So I wanted to do it in her stead (not that I'll stop when she's eligible again! Only 5% of the people who are eligible to donate do it, so I'll continue). I'm going to eat a huge lunch of pork tenderloin, black beans, and jasmine rice beforehand. I weighed myself this morning to make sure I was still meeting the weight requirement -- 110 lbs. -- and I was, but barely. I've experienced a weird sea change in my body and metabolism after losing all that weight in the summer; now, it seems, I have to try to keep from losing weight. My goal now is not to go below 110. One last thought on blood donation before I move on to go-go boots: Last time I gave blood, they timed it, and I filled up the bag in six minutes. I'm both fascinated and disturbed by this fact. I even opened up my calculator and figured out how many ounces per minute it was.

Via feministe comes Go-Go-Boots.com, a fabulous tribute to go-go boots. It's got a great image gallery, and I've chosen this one as my desktop wallpaper.

Hilarious!

Via Makeout City.