Day 3 of CCCC...I've been so busy up to this point. The old tootsies are killing me, what with doing all the walking -- even in comfortable shoes with insoles.

So what have I been doing? On Wednesday, I was doing some work in the morning and then went to the Intellectual Property Caucus. I took notes on it, and I'll pull these together and post them, but it probably won't be until next weekend. I have to go to New Jersey for MediaCommons-related stuff, and after I get back on Tuesday, tons of teaching-related work to do.

On Thursday, I had my session. I can never go to other sessions before mine on the day I present -- apologies to Mike, whose panel was right before mine. I don't know why, except to say that I want to focus for a while before my presentation. My session went okay, for the most part; at the beginning, we were trying to prod the previous presenters out, and one of them didn't seem to want to leave the podium, where she was answering questions. Then there were other technological stumbles that set us back. As a result, we started at 1:51 -- six minutes late. I looked at the time right before and right after my talk, and my presentation went from 1:52 to 2:12. I'm pretty good at cutting my presentations on the fly, but I thought I'd planned my talk to go under time anyway, so I didn't. But I should have, especially given the late start.

We ended up not having any time for questions, which is bad. I hope everyone who had burning questions, at least questions for me, was able to talk to me after the session.

After my session, I got together with some Minnesota people:

Then I went back to my room and watched Take 20: Teaching Writing: the documentary film in which 22 rhetoric and composition scholars and teachers are asked twenty questions about teaching writing. As one would expect, it's a valuable resource. The highlights for me were the stories people told of their first semesters as new teachers, as well as the repetition of the same answers when they were asked the following three questions:

"If you had to pick only one book for a writing teacher to read, what would it be?" [one popular answer: Pedagogy of the Oppressed]

"If you had to pick only one essay for a writing teacher to read, what would it be?" [one popular answer: "Inventing the University"]

"If you had to pick only one scholar for a writing teacher to read, who would it be?" [one popular answer: Peter Elbow]

Of course, I also have some criticisms, particularly on the issue of camera time: David Bartolomae, Erika Lindemann, and Nancy Sommers seemed to get more camera time than the others, and Howard Tinberg and Paul Kei Matsuda seemed to get less. I know editing decisions are difficult, but I wonder if Todd Taylor went through the final edit and timed each person's appearances in the film.

Another point about the film (and I hate to end on a somewhat cynical note): three questions I would have liked to hear answered are:

1. Are you teaching a first-year composition course this semester?

2. Did you teach a first-year composition course last semester?

3. When was the last time you taught a first-year composition course? [Or: how often do you teach first-year composition? This issue is one reason I wanted far more Tinberg in the film. Another reason, obviously, is community college representation.]

It's quite possible that I would have been pleasantly surprised by the answers. I wish I could have had the opportunity to be.

Earlier this evening I arrived in New York and settled in at The Pod Hotel. It's one of those teeny tiny NYC hotel rooms, but at least I have a private bathroom, which I made sure to request:

Problem #1 with the room: no iron or ironing board -- not that there would be room for them anyway. I'm going to see if they'll bring me an iron.

Problem #2 with the room: no coffee maker! I had been somewhat panicky about this one, but tonight I ordered dinner from the Morning Star Café. As I was looking at the menu, I noticed that I could place my order using delivery.com. I did so, then I realized that I could place an advance order for breakfast, including coffee, and I did just that.

Off to New York for CCCC. I have a lot of writing (not so much the conference paper, which is under control), grading, and networking to do, so blogging will take a backseat. I hope to blog at least a couple of sessions, though. I might post some pictures too, but I'm not sure whether or not I remembered to pack my camera's battery charger and USB cord, though. Gah.

There's no purpose for this post other than to whine. I'm already a good bit of the way through my spring break, but I'm not yet rested, but I have to plunge back into work anyway: papers to grade, conference deadlines, and other writing deadlines loom. All I want to do is lounge around, eat, and watch movies. Over the past few days, I've watched You, Me and Dupree (hilarious!) and See Jane Date.

1. Smart Organizing: Simple Strategies for Bringing Order to Your Home, by Sandra Felton (the organizer lady!). I'm the biggest sucker for this 43folders kind of stuff. Jonathan will be so exasperated upon reading this post.

2. The Nanny Diaries, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Various friends have been telling me to read this book for years, so why not now?

3. The Cylons' Secret, by Craig Shaw Gardner. Until now, I have never read one of those "based on the TV series" novels, though I have been very tempted, especially with books related to the Buffyverse, Star Trek, and to a lesser extent, Star Wars. I'm bracing myself for something abysmal.

I'm on my way to Florence, AL, where I will be blogging from the public library and from Krystal: (|]

Posts planned include a review of The Freedom Writers Diary, a couple of posts about copyright and intellectual property, and a few others.

Baudrillard passed away at age 77. I (embarrassingly) hadn't been aware of his most recent book about the 9/11 attacks; I'm now interested in reading it.

True confession: I used to have a big crush on Brannon Braga:

which is fine, but nerdy on an epic scale as he is a writer and producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise, and First Contact. But in the early 1990s (particularly my first couple of years in college), I thought, OMG, he writes this stuff, and he's so cute!