Find them here.

In the speech class I teach, the first presentation the students do is an "X>Y presentation," in which they compare one person, place, or thing to another and take a qualitative stand favoring one over the other. Since this is a very short speech (3-4 minutes), the content needs to be light and fluffy--something that everyone in the audience can recognize. Therefore, we turn to mainstream popular culture. I've assigned some reading in the textbook on planning speeches and transforming ideas into speech points, which entails some brainstorming, idea mapping, and outlining. Tomorrow in class I'm going to try out this exercise, which I thought of sometime during The Apprentice. I'm going to put the students into their peer groups and give them a selection of five topics. They will have to use the planning techniques in the reading to compose an X>Y speech on the topic, present the speech, and describe their planning process.

Why am I so tired all the time? All I want to do is sleep. I have plenty to say...a lot to blog about, which will have to wait until tonight or tomorrow, which is my lovely off day. For now, I'll just give you a little too much information, but I see this as a case of "personal is political." Here goes: About six or seven weeks ago, I stopped shaving. I now embody one of those stereotypes (heh), and am actually loving it.

I find some of the most tripped-out stuff via La Di Da. Thank you Lauren for introducing me to her. So...when Elle linked to this site, I thought it couldn't be for real, but it is:

I will go on record as saying that I think this is brilliant. Are there other celebrities you can get your portrait with?

My latest Winamp playlist...oh, the memories.

Jodeci - Stay
Bell Biv Devoe-Poison
Shabba Ranks - Mr Loverman (original)
Heavy D - Is It Good To You
Warren G - Regulate
Heavy D & The Boyz - Girlz, They Love Me.mp3
Naughty By Nature - OPP
En Vogue - Never Gonna Get it
Babyface - Whip appeal
Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It
Marky Mark - Good Vibrations
Natural Selection - Do Anything
Gregory Abbott - Shake You Down
New Edition [Ralph Tresvant] - Do What I Gotta Do
DJ Quik - Born And Raised In Compton
Jodeci - Lately [studio version]
Digital Underground - Kiss you Back
Salt N Pepa - Push It
Grandmaster Slice - Electric Slide
It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock
Wreck N Effect - Rump Shaker
E.U. Da Butt
Prince - Gett off
Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - Joy and Pain
Unknown Artist - Heavy D - Now That We've Found
Ralph Tresvant - Sensitivity
L'trimm - Grab It
Babyface - Two Occasions (original)
L'Trimm - Cars With The Boom
DJ Quik - Tonite
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out.mp3
LL Cool J - Goin Back To Cali.MP3
De La Soul - Me Myself And I

Jill has some good stuff to say about method. It takes me back to when I was working on my master's thesis, and my advisor asked me what my method was. I was frustrated and flummoxed, and thought, "I'm writing a freakin' essay! I guess that's it." Having a method for a critical reading of the ways that composition theorists have used Haraway's cyborg theory seemed utterly counterintuitive to me. Since then, I've learned that in some disciplines, "method" is a mechanical procedure, like "the sample was placed in a centrifuge and left on a petri dish for 5 days," and in others, it's more a basic question of what texts you're going to study, the basis of selection of those particular texts, and the theory and assumptions, the (to use the Burkean term) teministic screen, you're using to interpret the texts. For example, in my M.A. thesis, I went into my reading with the assumption that Haraway's theory is, of course, a way of looking at humans and technology, but indissociable from the theory are its political underpinnings; it is a socialist feminist social theory, and it has implications for activist practice, which Haraway has said in an interview with Gary Olson in JAC. I used my reading of "A Cyborg Manifesto," along with my assumptions/convictions about the argument's meaning to critique the way that composition theorists have used Haraway's theoretical framework (at times focusing too much on the implications for human-computer interaction, collaborative writing, and hypertext at the expense of the rich socialist, feminist, anti-racist aspects of the theory).

Amrita Ghosh has written an incisive column on gendered colorism in India. She describes the damaging classification of darker-skinned, or "dusky" women as not marriage material and generally undesirable. The makers of one product, "Fair and Lovely" skin-lightening cream, are particularly egregious (but, as Ghosh points out, are just making explicit undercurrents in the culture that were already there):

In 2001 they ran an offensive ad claiming that darker skinned women are incapable of getting jobs in the corporate world. I was shocked during one of the trips to my hometown, to see the advertisement flashing several times on one of the mainstream television channels throughout the day without respite. A 'dusky' girl goes for an interview to be an air-hostess for a reputed airline. She is obviously rejected because of her darker complexion. She returns home forlorn and sad, and faces her father who wishes he had a son who would have taken care of the parents in their old age; instead all they have is a dark daughter who is only capable of causing misery to the family.

I am supposed to write a review of Feminism and Composition: A Critical Sourcebook, edited by Gesa E. Kirsch, Faye Spencer Maor, Lance Massey, Lee Nickoson-Massey, and Mary P. Sheridan-Rabideau. The problem is, I want to hide when I think about its behemoth-like length (589 pages of maybe 9-point font!). It's not that I'm such a tenderfoot that I can't read a long book, but I'm also taking courses this semester, working constantly on the blog collection, presenting at 4Cs and maybe another conference, teaching, etc. etc. So. I've decided to blog about essays in Feminism and Composition as I read them--at least one or two a week. I intend to be done with this review by the end of March. I'm going to try my best to blog like Clay. Hold me to it, now!