Cattle

We came home (to Big Creek) for the weekend. We drove up last night after the Tennebrae service at church for Good Friday. I skipped it to pack (and order a new camera), but the kids said that it went well. The purpose for this trip, other than Easter service with my family, was to work cattle. By work, I mean vaccinate, spray for insects, mark, tag, fly tag, and, ahem, castrate as necessary. Todd and the kids did not have skilled jobs in this program. Instead, they chase cattle, and help separate calves. Actually, Mea had a skilled job. She organized all the supplies, and handed tools as necessary, kind of like a surgical tech.

My contribution to this operation was documentation. I took my video camera and filmed an hour of their work. One of the neighbors, Phillip, came over and helped out. He works around for different folks on the weekends. Phillip is amazing to watch. Dad was, too. I wonder if those skills will be around in 30 years. I know when I taught in St. James, the farmers had already switched to a service instead of doing it themselves.

Closing tabs (and up too late)

I just put the Vino on a CD to send to press. It took longer than I expected. A couple of people had technical problems that slowed things down. I guess I need to remind everyone that they are welcome to use the Vino computer for editing ; )

The Skidmore Writer is guide to college writing for students. I find the section on Understanding Professor's Comments to be interesting and can see where it would helpful for a first year student.

"How to Create Scoring Rubrics" from the Teagle foundation has information on creating and using scoring rubrics.

So... Saturday Morning

Why can't I sleep late on Saturdays any more? Is this an unforeseen (and even unforetold?) curse of oldness? Bah.

The remote control for our cable box has disapparated. Evidently the cat snuck in an ate it. I say this because none of my children have seen it. My husband swears that I was the last person to touch it. Of course, if this were true, it would be in one of the places I leave it (which it is not). Miss O had a knock-down drag-out tantrum last night because she hadn't had a "tv turn all day." And no remote.

We ended up watching Muppet Show (season two) in my bedroom. With the crisis over, she was asleep within ten minutes.

So, up, with everyone asleep, remoteless, I am watching Lost in Translation.

Random Blathering

So my life is so completely lame. I am trying to think of something to write about, and all I can think of is what is on television-- Friends. The one where the girls lose the apartment.

Mea is sick today-- we are hoping that it is *not* strep. Especially since strep means that I have to do her wretched babysitting job.

Today is my spring break. No class today, but I do have to get my research project started. I now have IRB clearance from two institutions. That is a lot of IRB.

We are doing professional development to get ready for our assessment program. It is really going pretty well, but it is tiring. More tomorrow (along with my regularly scheduled class load), and on Thursday.

On another subject...
My children are seriously lacking in the 80s-90s movie department. I discovered a couple of weeks ago that Mea had never seen Wayne's World. Or Weekend at Bernie's. Or Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. She (and W) are seriously missing out on the whole... understanding of the popular culture that has shaped my understanding of reality. They get the music, so I am not completely isolated in my home. (Actually, Mea introduced me to Bauhaus-- how wrong is that??) So on movies, I educate them, one movie at a time.

Feel free to give me some ideas for 1980-1995 movies to share with teen aged children.

Sound Essay

This was done for the New Media Theory and Practice course that I am taking... I have no idea how the grade will be, but I love the result. (Crossposted from http://cybernatedlearning.blogspot.com-- dreary class blog)

I knew what I wanted to write about from the beginning of this assignment. I believe passionately that people should write and tell their stories. Or just tell their stories. I draw heavily on my past and on my cultural heritage to make meaning of my life and experiences. So it was very important for me to try to pull in someone from my hometown.

I have some video of my grandmother, who passed away in 2005. She was our next door neighbor, and was consequently very important in my life. She often talked about her past, but of course, she never considered herself to be a writer, and she never wrote. Rarely did she even write letters, as the telephone was so much more immediate. My video, however, would not import (after about eight hours of trying), so I did not get to use my grandmother's voice.

Something that I did have, though, was an interview that my daughter did for her history day project with Mrs. Marshall, a friend of my mother's. Mrs. Marshall and my mother ended up talking about the stories they knew from childhood, and how telling stories made it easier to cope with the death of loved ones. So after 14 hours of attempting, I finally re-imported Mrs. Marshall's interview into Adobe Premiere Elements, which allowed me to extract the audio.

My audio essay was originally a lecture that I gave to our Honors College freshmen class about writing memoir. It was based heavily on a piece by Patricia Hampl that we all read. So I removed most of what came from the reading, except one little piece that I quoted.

I also went looking to see if I could find Donald Murray talking about writing. He has been the most influential theorist on my teaching. And I love the way he approaches writing, especially if I trying to encourage someone to write. And I did find an audio interview with him by Chip Scanlon.

I used Mediaevel Baebes' Veni Veni as a background track.

I am really pleased with how this turned out, except that I am afraid that the volume is not even throughout. That was hard to get right because the Murray clip was posted online, and he was on a telephone. The interview footage with Mrs. Marshall was from a video camera without a separate microphone. The difference in inputs makes it hard to get the volume right. If I only had a mixing board.

I was really surprised by how many problems that I had with the technology. I usually have way more problems with the concepts than with the tools, but this time the concept came pretty easily and the tools nearly killed me.

Audio Essay: Writing Your Self

Writing home

Yet another post inspired by Tim...
I am trying to write my home. And that keeps me from writing other things. And I am not sure that I can write it until I come to terms with it.

As much as I love the Ozarks, and the Ozarkers who live there, growing up, I was more ambivalent. I never really fit in as a child. I read too much, I had asthma. I have a non-verbal learning disability-- I don't pick up some social cues, especially non-verbal ones. And I was sensitive as a child and cried easily. Sounds like a textbook case for alienation, doesn't it?

And so I hung out with my family. My grandparents lived on the next hill. My great-grandmother across the field from them-- a quick walk around the pond. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. I learned to sew. I learned about when they lived in Kansas City and in California. I admired the strength and determination that allowed them to buy the farm that we all lived on (my parents bought part of it).

But then school intruded.

Everyone I knew is dying, though, Joe Kenneth, Timothy, Amber (a girl I used to baby sit-- baby sit! She was 26), my granny, my grandparents, Gladys (my grandmother's friend).

I would love to do this well-- a cynical A Long Way from Chicago... a story that shows the beauty of the area and its people, and that shows me as, well, frankly, not a pathetic victim. I want to be a smart, engaging observer. But the problem is, of course, the reality of who I was. So really, the first character I have to create is myself as a child. And that is a major reconstruction job.

So, of course, I am paralyzed. I write about what I would write if I were to write. And I really only manage to write that here. So.

There you go.

Reruns

I am watching a Designing Women rerun, which makes me wish for the 80s, or at least 80s television. Mary Jo and Suzanne are debating the difference between "come hither" and "happy to make your acquaintance" looks. That is so what I want to see on TV Land, not the High School Reunion reality show they are hawking. I have managed to miss my own high school reunions. The only one I have any desire to watch is Romy and Michelle's. It makes me wonder what is wrong with those people who sign up for that show. Kind of like Who Wants to be Superhero (which I love, don't get me wrong-- mostly out of adoration for Stan Lee).

Now Mea wants to watch The Breakfast Club, which I think glorifies drug use. And worse, it shows drugs solving isolation. Drugs don't ever solve isolation. Drugs don't solve anything. I try not to judge people who use. I understand that some people need to escape from their lives. I try to construct my life in such as way that I do not need to escape it through anything more than a couple several hours of husband & kid free scrapbooking. Mostly, I have been successful with that.

I am obviously getting old. It is 10 pm and I am falling asleep as I type.

Stranglehold

My life is a bit overwhelming. Miss O was not feeling well, so I let her sleep in and then took her to school. W didn't realize that she was at school, so he did not get her.

And our childcare provider completely forget about the kids. Completely. And her cell phone battery died. So we could not contact her.

And of course, today was one of those days when I had a meeting with my department head and people outside my department (including another department head).

And the renewing contract that I thought I was getting? Seems be have become someone else's tenured position. But I am sure they will still let me do site visits.

Oh, and the circus I thought I was sending my kids to? NEXT week. In my defense, Todd had the tickets with the date, not me.

I want to go to bed, but I have another hour of class.

Fun.

Funerals

This began as a comment about Tim's really wonderful piece about Southern Funerals.

My family is about as bad. I know which funeral home will be called, and where my family members will be buried. I even know which florist various members of my family will use. I think we are all leaving the songs up to whoever is stuck planning the thing (and paying for it) though.

And I don't know where I'll be buried and funeraled, which I find distressing. Everyone I really know is down here, but "our" funeral home is in Harrison. The older I get, the less I belong in Harrison (or the surrounding areas). So what do southerners do who have lost their place in the world?

Joe Kenneth died week before last. It is not like he and I were close, by any stretch of the imagination. But Joe Jr. and Craig were best friends all the time we were growing up. And when Jr came over, I played GI Joe with them (I got to be Scarlett) until Algebra destroyed any free time that remained in my life.

When my parents called me to tell me that he died (okay, so Dad emailed me-- we are just that dysfunctional) my question about the arrangements was "when" because I knew where. And who would officiate. And I wish I could have gone. Right now, my life is not arranged in such a way that I can just take off. Although when Aunt Dorotha died, I made a flying trip to Harrison for the visitation.

There is something comforting about going to a funeral in my hometown. I know the people who are there, many of whom I care for a great deal. I know what will happen. (Well, except the time I almost pulled out of the "family side" of an icy parking lot at a funeral home). But a funeral, for better or for worse, is a ritual. And as such, it reinforces our place in the world.

Lots of family time

Everyone was over at one point or another today, since it was W's birthday. The house, of course, is a wreck, but at least the seating areas were cleaned off by the time everyone got here. Dad helped Todd cut a tree and put up cement board in the bathroom. We still need to replace the window with glass block, but that will be a pain, so I am avoiding it. After the window, we (read I) will have to tile the surround. I am avoiding that, too.

Todd is changing sheets, because he told me two days ago that he would. He didn't actually mean it, as it turns out, but I'm holding him to it (I hate changing sheets-- cleaning the bathroom I don't mind so much). So he is fussing at me to find stuff and is making snorting noises as he works so I will fully understand how vexed he is.

Now that the bed is made, I am going to get it in. Today has been a long day.

Oddly enough

Pilots may benefit from anti-impotence pill

I am not completely sure why this article from Reuters strikes me so. I find it both funny and terribly, terribly wrong.

And Ricky is off of Project Runway. I'll grant his design was not as good as some of the others, but I was so happy that he won last week's challenge. Had they not done away with immunity, he would have been fine. I suppose that one reason I liked Ricky so much. besides his constantly feeling unsure of himself in a non-annoying way, is that I have an affinity for people who come from marginalized backgrounds. Not from my own background, which was fairly solidly rural middle class, but from the working class background of so many of the people I grew up with. I get so tired of hearing how they could be "just as successful as anyone else if they just tried harder." Well possibly, had they been blessed with parents who read to them, mentors who encouraged them, a prestige accent, and above average intelligence. But that is not really trying harder, is it?

So I am old...

My daughter (who is really only 14) has a job. It is a temporary job, working in a church nursery for a Bible study. But still. One more milestone in the downhill slide to old-ladyhood.

We're going back north tomorrow morning for another attempt at History Day interviews.

I played hooky this afternoon. I did. After my classes, since I had no office hours, I left. Just walked out. Becky and I went to Bread Company and had lunch, and then went shopping. I bought the girls some stuff & me some shoes. I needed shoes. I have a hard time getting shoes that I am comfortable in all day walking around, so if I find shoes that I can get by with wearing with a skirt that are socially acceptable, I snap them up. And then wear them until the insides are shredded and/or the soles disintegrate.

Miss O is having multiple meltdowns this afternoon. She is "hungry" but only wants food that I don't have here. She doesn't even want to go shop for food. She evidently only wants to terrorize me.

And she is succeeding.

And to make things worse, she is watching Animal Planet. I HATE Animal Planet. I had rather sit in a room with flickering lights. Even if they buzz.

She has subtly changed her demands so that they can, technically, be met. Perhaps that means they are negotiable? And I do get to run some errands this afternoon? (Although it must be noted that I can no longer run them all, since it is now after 4:30).

So I am now off to do the bidding of a tyrannical five year old.

Study Break

I am reading for my research methods class-- the third graduate level research methods class that I have take. Trust me, it is not any more interesting this time.

Yesterday, though, I helped Mea with some fun research. We went to visit my first grade teacher, who sold (rather was forced to sell) her land to the government to create the Buffalo National River. It was so good to see her-- I haven't seen her in years.

On a not quite as happy note, W is having problems in school. His teachers are not enthusiastic about his modifications & his grades are showing that. He is also having problems with anxiety (sigh). I am not sure that I am going to do. Homeschooling keeps coming up as an option, but I am reluctant to try that route again (we made a valiant attempt last year). W resists working, especially at home.

Anyway, I am off to create a handout for ethnography.

Break

MLK is awesome. I got a whole extra day to work on my homework. Sweet. I had to start a blog for one of my classes (English 866), and spent the better part of the day thus far composing an entry about this week's reading.

I am trying to make my computer desk into something other than a chaotic mess. So we went to the box store and brought home a couple of cabinet pieces to set on either side of the desk, and to hide the cpu. I built an awesome computer, but the case is huge. And sucks dust like nobody's business. So I am hoping that keeping it in a cabinet might reduce some of the dust. And it will certainly be hidden. And we got a drawer unit, to hold the media that go with a computer. I have a ton of CDs. A *ton*. Installation CDs, kids games, clip art, backup files. All of these need a home.

Of course, lots of stuff at my house needs a home. I have way too much stuff. And every time I begin to think about getting rid of some of it, I get overwhelmed and distracted.

Last day of vacation

I am aware that students will not start showing up until Thursday, but I have to get up early and take the kids to school tomorrow morning, so for all intents and purposes, my vacation is over.

Overall, it has been a nice break, but, wow, I have had way too much family togetherness. Todd's truck broke down on Christmas Eve. The transmission went out (again-- happily it was under warranty). So we have had, in essence, one vehicle for most of the break. Hence, too much togetherness.

I think that I have put together a cool assignment for Comp II. The assignment is to find a Wikipedia stub and expand it into an article. Co-opting the evil of Wikipedia for good. I was going to hit the ground running with this assignment, but MLK Day falls where I would want to have a library intro... and heaven knows students can't make it to the library after a holiday. Although, I could go ahead and work on summary and response first. Actually, we should probably work through active reading, annotation, and summary first. Okay, decision made.

Now I just need other writing assignments. Because, of course, we have to put these jewels in our teaching portfolios that we turn in this spring. This means that I have two audiences: my students who have to figure out what I want them to do and my colleagues who are performing assessment.

New Runway!

Tonight is a new episode of Project Runway.

How did I miss the first three seasons of this?

Not fitting

My dress, that is... Part of the problem, I understand, is that I have bigger hips that anyone ever ought to have. I generally keep them well hidden with loose wrap tops or tunics, but this dress I am making is forcing me to deal with them. Part of the problem is a design issue, I think. The bodice is really loose, so I probably made a size too small for me. Which means the skirt is too tight. I do not have enough fabric to remake the skirt. So I keep regathering the skirt to make it fall over my hips. It may be a lost cause.

Nicktoons has started re-running old Rugrats, which makes me insanely happy. While they may not be as educational as Little Einsteins or Wonder Pets or whatever, I find them vastly entertaining. And Miss O is just as entertained. (Okay, I recognize the vast superiority of Sesame Street & Electric Company. However, Miss O does not like Sesame Street and I cannot find the Electric Company on cable). Of course, Tommy's adventure today would in actuality kill a child, it is still kind of funny. And the first half, when Tommy was convinced his dad was a robot was really funny.

Aftermath

So my kids are mutinying and are demanding to stay with my parents. Mea is trying to arrange her social life in conjunction with the extended stay.

This puts me teaching Sunday School by myself on Sunday. Still with no curriculum-- at least no good curriculum. So I am looking up the beginnings of Methodism. At least I am interested in that.

Mom and Dad gave me tons of clothes & tons for the kids. Which is absolutely what we needed.

Dad is working on a synopsis & first three chapters for a book he wrote. The agent wanted him to re-cast the book as a juvenile. So I have been reading and editing this week.

I am heading back home after lunch. I have laundry to do and have been trying to get a chance to sew for a couple of months now.

Party over

The party that I have been anticipating/dreading for the past month went off without a hitch (well, with only a minor meltdown by my husband). The house looked presentable, after much work and much yelling. We got the living room rearranged, resulting in a net loss of storage in the living room and a gain in the kitchen.

Several people showed up (Jenn, Luke, Christie, Brad, and Carl) but not as many as I expected (Willie, Heather). We had plenty of food-- we mostly stuffed ourselves for four hours. Really lovely.

NaDean took the younger two to mass with her this morning, then to a Christmas party this afternoon. They came in just as everyone else was leaving.

I taught Sunday School this morning for the sixth graders. Wow, a couple of those were a handful. Sixth grade is not my favorite age, but I'll be working with them for a month or so until Lali finds a teacher for that age.

Panic

My house is not fit to be seen. And ten of my oldest friends are coming to my house on Sunday. Sunday! And my house still looks like one (or more) of my children exploded in here. How many days away is Sunday? Five?

And tomorrow, I have to go to a stupid meeting about how I can further donate my time. Aarg.