More Rives

In case any of you Core folks happen to be bored during beach week and you think to check this blog...

I found some new funky Rives poems. I thought I'd put them here so I don't have to keep searching youtube. I gotta find a way to bring him here next year.

Javier and Renee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaMSljO0zhE

Boys and Bears:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5p6S-M1Sb0&NR=1

Camp Counsellor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMcTISe9guQ&feature=related

sacrament of mo(u)rning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm6NcgBwsJw&NR=1

POW and Freud

Two blogs each had two votes:

Peyton on aggression

Abby on Gulliver's Travels

Freud and Happiness

All year I have tried to figure out the same things for the nonfiction pieces we have read. First, what is the author's central vision of humans? And, second, where does he look for data to create this vision? Freud spent his life dealing with unhappy and severly disfuntional people. Is it any surprsie then that his central focus is Happiness? (Besides that, his name, in German, means "joy"!) While his sentences can be long and hard to follow, his arguments are among the clearest of any we have read this year. He loves a numbered list, and so do I.

Here are the parts that I find important in the first half:
1. He asks "what is the purpose of human life" but feels he has no answer. What he can answer is: based on their behavior, what do humans seek? A: happiness (p.25)
2.Life is hard, and happiness illusive because of:
a.our body is doomed to decay (pain and anxiety)
b. the external world is against us
c. other people can cause us suffering


3.so we need "palliative measures"
palliative 1: diversions
palliative 2: substitutions
Palliative 3: intoxications

4. Civilization is actually the cause of our anxiety and neuroses. It is interesting to see if he believes this for the same reasons that Neitzshe believed it.

And then there is all the stuff about sex and religion. I'm looking forward to great conversations in class this week.

interesting op ed

I thought this was a well written piece in the COllegian, and it brings up some important issues. What do you think?
I, of course, got stuck on the part where he says Core teachers "preach." It makes me remember telling you guys the other day that I am surprised at how hard it is to change the student culture of passive "learning." I have this picture of bored students and frustrated students remaining silent while a professor drones on. Is that what you want?

extra credit opportunity

This week the Core Colloquium will be especially interesting. Professor O'Brien and Professor Yellin are both interesting and have unique perspectives to add to the topic:

Core Colloquy on “COLOR LINES: RACISM & SOCIETY”

A Discussion of Racism as Portrayed by Du Bois and Coetzee

Led by Eileen O’Brien (Sociology) and Eric Yellin (History)

This Tuesday, March 25, 7:30-8:30 p.m.

The Great Hall, Ryland Hall

Consider going, and writing about it in your blog.

Race Today

One of the groups on Monday was thinking about how DuBois' ideas apply today. The injustices and the Veil are still affecting us today, but it is so complex. I think we mostly try to avoid talking about it. and now, in our election, we have a viable candidate who is African-American, and I have been worried about how old wounds would be opened. Too often in politics it becomes a big chessgame, and people are maneuvering and speaking to stay alive,but too often this means they can't deal with complex issues in complex ways.
I have never heard a more wonderful exposition of this that in Obama's speech. Please, please read it (or watch the YouTube recording). His final story hit me in the gut. I think it is in many ways the antidote to the John story, a speech that says there is common ground for us to stand on.

apathy or frustration?

I remember learning about "learned helplessness" in a psychology class. After our talk on Monday, I wondered if that is part of what you were saying about why students are passive. Then I saw an article that talks about teacher and student perspectives on apathy.
I was especially struck by this comment:
Empathy for students
Submitted by Cathy McDonald (not verified) on March 13, 2008 - 13:12.

I am a high school English teacher who teaches many students who are struggling readers. I find myself complaining that they don't care. Just recently, I attended a technology conference where I sat in two sessions that lasted 6 hours each. By the end of the second day, my only thought was, "My brain hurts! This is too much at one time." If I felt that way at 50 with a Master's degree, how much more must these kids feel that. It is not apathy; it is total frustration and they are giving up. If we don't empathize and work to fight this problem, we will lose even more students. Fortunately, my school has engaged an awesome consultant to help us deal with this idea (UDL addresses it in assistive technology) through project based learning which makes what students do in class relevant to their lives.

We all get stuck sometimes in believing we can't do anything about "the system." I think that is what Dubois was talking about. But having jsut re-read "Of the Coming of John" I wonder if that makes it all sound too simple. DuBois does an amazing thing with his story: he shows all the tragedy and complexities.

Liberal Education

I was in a restaurant recently and overheard a man say to a younger man: "You'd better be careful about college. I hear you get a very liberal education there." I guess he is right, at least at a liberal arts college where they teach "the liberal arts." Does that mean that you learn how to paint like a left-wing progressive? We know that isn't what we mean by liberal arts-- but what DO we mean? DuBois talks about the great books tradition that is part of the liberal arts. He felt that, in his own time, the opportunity for higher education in the liberal arts should be made available to all races, but he also felt that not everyone would benefit from that kind of higher education. We ended class before break wondering: if the liberal arts are to teach you how to think and solve problems, well, don't plumbers need to solve problems? Our POW that week also ponders the different kinds of "higher education." I have thought a lot about that since that day.

I am currently working on a project here at UR that looks at the changing definition of "a liberal education." On the front page of one of the documents we are looking at is a quote from DuBois!

Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled andfought for the last 5,000 years,the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental.
—W. E. B. DuBois

If DuBois was alive now and looking at the world of the new millenium, I wonder if he would be working with the folks at the AAC&U and if he would agree with their conclusions. Read their definitions of "liberal learning" "liberal arts" and more here. You can also read more about the Liberal Education and America's Promise project which seeks to find a bridge between the Ivory Tower and the work world and life after college.

I would love to hear what you think about the LEAP reports.

POW!!

Carolyn's post on higher education has inspired many people. Go here and check it out--

consider this...

This article from Inside Higher Ed reports on research done on college graduates and their careers. What do you think of our conversation about "liberal arts" and employment after reading this article?

interesting opportunity

On Wednesday, March 19 at 7:30 pm, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky brings his internationally celebrated "Rebirth of a Nation" to the Modlin Center's Alice Jepson Theatre. A noted conceptual artist, writer and musician, DJ Spooky has created what he refers to as a "remix" of D. W. Griffith's controversial 1915 film "The Birth of a Nation." In re-imagining the film, DJ Spooky has combined his acclaimed talents as a club DJ, multimedia storyteller and social commentator to transform the silent-era epic into a sweeping statement on corruption and racism in America. Tickets are available now through the box office at 804-289-8980 or modlin.richmond.edu. Get yours before Spring Break as it may sell out!


IF you go and write about it in your blog, it is extra credit toward class participation : )

Loving v. Virginia

No court case was ever more aptly named: Loving v. Virginia was the landmark case that made legal marriage between people of different races--and it was decided in 1967!
You can read more about what I was going on about in class at this wikipedia page
If you follow the link to "Racial Integrity Act" you will see a short bit about the awful Mr. Plecker I was talking about.

Eugenics was an awful pseudo-science, we now know. And here is a connection to another Core text: it grew out of Darwin's theories. But it is a misuse, I believe, of Darwin's scientific observations and theories. Read these pages, and you can decide for yourself.

I also want to point out an assumption that had to be made in all of these "color-line" distinctions: not only that there are differences between races, but that such a thing as race even exists! I mean, Darwin would say we are all one species. In fact, none of us has "pdeigree papaers" that tell who are parents are and where they are from, all the way back to--when? So the way race got designated was either by someone like Plecker making arbitrary decisions, or as in the case of Kirby v. Kirby:

The Arizona Supreme Court judged Mrs. Kirby’s race by observing her physical characteristics and determined that she was of mixed race, thereby granting Mr. Kirby’s annulment

...judging by "looks."

POW!!

Abby's post on what REALLY happened on that ferris wheel tops our nominations this week.

Lots of interesting posts this week. I love that people made connections to movies and your own digital stories and real life! I always enjoy reading these posts.

Shakespeare!!

This is the closing weekend for the play that the wonderful Mr. Hamm was telling us about. Want to go? How about the final performance: 2:30 on Sunday. If we can get a group together we can get cheaper tickets. Email me if you are interested.

more on "Taking on the Big Boys"--free book!

I thought you might be interested in this as an extra credit opportunity and as a follow up to what we were talking about in class when we discussed Adrienne Rich's work:

URL: http://commonground.richmond.edu/events/One_Book.htm

While supplies last, anyone who signs up for a One Book, One Campus discussion can receive a free copy of this year's book, "Taking on the Big Boys" by Ellen Bravo. Stop by the One Book table in the Commons on Thursday, February 28th from 11am until 1pm to sign up for a one hour discussion of Bravo's book on gender bias and its effect on women & men. Discussions are held on Tuesdays at 12:30pm and 5:30pm from March 4 until April 1 in the Commons Room 331. Bravo will lecture on campus on April 8 at 7pm in the Alice Haynes Room.

Another extra credit opportunity

Core Colloquy on "Love: One Word, Many Realities"
A Conversation on Augustine, Shakespeare, Rich, and Murakami
Hosted by Mavis Brown and Reingard Nethersole
The Great Hall in Ryland Hall
Monday, February 25, 7:30-8:30 p.m.

If you go, please write about it in your blog and you will get credit!

how to get started "sharing"

TO nominate a post for the Post of the week, you should continue as you have done: write a comment on the post itself. BUT: the wiki page did not actually make my grading life easier, so we are going to go back to what I had originally hoped to use: the Google Reader "share" feature.

It is easy to make a site where you will send "shared items". Google Reader leads you through it the first time you try to share a blog post. YOu will ntice that when you open a blog to read in Google reader it has a bar at the bottom of the post that looks like this:



You will click on the symbol to the left of the word "share", and it will turn to orange and say "unshare." Here is what your screen should look like:




It is hard to see here, but when you do this on your own computer, you should see the little symbol turn orange!

Google Reader automatically starts what is essentially a webpage for you where it will display any post that you choose to share by clicking the share button when you read it in Reader.

What you need to do is send me the URL of that webpage. Here is how you find that URL:
In Google Reader, in the upper left corner is a menu with a blue background. It looks something like this:



This image shows what it looks like when you click "your shared items." When you do that the middle part of the reader will show:



DO you see the long URL that comes after "They are available as a page at..."? SEND me that url in an email. I will then be able to see whatever posts you have chosen to share. I can even monitor that site so that I get it as soon as you click share, and it will keep all your nominations in one place so that I can give you credit for nominating them. Whew--that will make it better all around. SO send me that url ASAP : )

Chris W

Alex

Persepolis at the movies!

You might want to see the movie of our "ninth text" that was recently released. I have heard from friends that they really liked it. It is animated, rather than live action, which makes sense...
So here is a link to the page about it. It is playing at the Westhampton Theater which you can walk to from campus. Make a night of it--go to Phil's Continental lounge for the world famous greasy fries and then pop next door for the film : )

Rich

If you are interested in learning more about Adrienne Rich, the wikipedia page on her is a good place to start.

And, while it helps to know what her books were called and what prizes she won, I think she would actually be happier with us trying to make a connection to her through her own writings. I was struck by the last line of "The Phenomenology of Anger:"

Every act of becoming conscious
(it says here in this book)
is an unnatural act

I think that would be a great place to start tomorrow!

Awareness

I know today's discussion didn't seem too "Core-like" or academic. But I just don't think we can begin to "hear" what Rich has to say until we develop some awareness of gender roles, as well as religious affiliations and sexual orientation, and the assumptions our culture contains. It can be really hard to notice assumptions that are hidden in things that seem "common sense." One example from class today would be that businesses have to hire the most reliable workers, and mothers are more likely to be unreliable because of their responsibilities to their children. The assumption implicit in that is that male parents don't have the same responsibilities. Many business people thought this way. It took people saying --wait a minute, you are making an assumption here. The first step is awareness, the second step is to break the silence and open a conversation. Only after that can we begin to imagine a different way of doing things, a different language.

I believe a couple of things:
1. the academic, like the political, is always personal

As you all pointed out in class, we are products of our own experiences. They are the reality we know. It takes active listening and imagination to begin to understand that other people have other experiences. And still, we pursue, in politics and in academia, those things which are meaningful to us. Scratch the surface of a scholar and you will find a passion that started in a youthful experience.

2. Education should help us notice our assumptions.

This is sometimes called "critical thinking." Our class isn't about finding out the right things to believe; it is about looking hard at what we already believe, and at what others claim to be "true."

3.This is why we really need everyone in the class to add their perspectives and experiences.
When we hear someone else's experience, we can begin to see what our assumptions are.


NOW--let's go back to Rich's writing. She articulates so well the development of her own awareness. On Wednesday we'll look at this in detail.

One Book, One Campus

HERE is a link to the page on Amazon about the book I mentioned in class today. If you are interested in hearing some current statistics and thoughts about gender roles and society, this book is a good resource. As I mentioned, if you go to one of the lunches that talks about this book, and you write about it in your blog, you will receive extra credit toward your class participation grade. To learn more about the lunch discussions, visit this page

POW Valentines Week

And this week, Kaylin goes in a new direction on her blog and fellow classmates are inspired! Read her post here:

I also think it is a good point. Let's talk about jealousy in class and also about love and gender--which leads us right to Adrienne Rich!

POW awards

Conratulations to our tied winners this week:
Abby
Alex
and Chris.

It is interesting to see what different ideas people come up with--from racism, to gardening to manipulative people! Great!

POW award for last week

By my count, Chris Shanks's post had the most nominations: 3 votes. You can see it here
There were many good, interesting posts. Thank you all for writing so thoughtfully about the Confessions.

For next week, please post twice as usual, but since we don't have a "text" please post about your experiences with writing and creating your digital story.

Augustine, Curiosity and God

We have talked about Augustine's restlessness. We wonder "Why is he so restless? Why does he keep seeking, changing, moving, questioning?

Watch this video. It is not long, but it is very important that you see the end. What do you think it means? would Augustine agree? Are we essentially seekers all of our lives?

fighting the quicksand...

Do you ever have those dreams where you are trying to run, but you can only go in slow motion? That is how I felt in class Friday! For some people, that kind of hands on set up time is crucial; for others, it is boring. My hope is that you will help each other whenever you can, and be patient--which you were, so thank you.

Have you tried setting up any other rss feeds in your Google Reader?

For the week coming up: make sure you have looked at the new pages on Blackboard about the digital storytelling project. On Wednesday, you will turn in a draft of your 500 word story so I can give you a little feedback.

Tomorrow we will dig in to Augustine's Confessions up through Book 8 (or as far as we can get--I know it is a lot.) I was rereading the part on the death of his friend and his experience of grief earlier today and found it even more poignant than I remembered.

I had spilt my soul upon the sand, in loving a mortal man as if he were never to die... (62)

For where was my heart to flee for refuge from my heart? Wither was I to fly from myself? To what place should I not follow myself? Yet leave my native place I did. For my eyes would look for him less where they had not been accustomed to see him

It doesn't get much sadder than that. Older Augustine, writing and looking back finds comfort in faith:

"Blessed is the man that loves Thee, O God, and his friend in Thee, and his enemy for Thee. For he alone loses no one that is dear to him, if all are dear in God, who is never lost (63)."

since we are talking about blogging...

Here is a nice video about the what and how of blogs. Do you think it is a good description?

Happy New Semester!

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to change and improve for this semester. I just reread your end of class reflections/suggestions and I thought I would give you a sense of what your peers said.

Two messages came through loud and clear: you like small group work and discussions, and you weren't totally happy with the way we did the blog writing.
SO-I will keep using small group discussions as a part of our class. The one frustration that several of you mentioned was that the class is short, so many times there are goups who don't get to report back to the large group. I know that is frustrating. I have some ideas about how we might deal with that:
1. maybe we could have a wiki where group comments are written during class, with one person every day bringing a laptop for this purpose. I wonder if there might be ways we could then use the information stored in the wiki?
2. I can try to give groups a chance to do a quick report and then we can go back and go in depth. I kind of tried to do that last semester, but wasn't so successful at it... One way might be to have 2 groups to each topic, and then the groups would have a few minutes to synthesize their comments and report out after that. I'll think about that some more.
3. do you have any thoughts?

Blogs: you seem to want to post less frequently and/or to bring the blog writings into class more. I think this means that not all of you found the blogs to be as useful for personal reflections on the texts and for making connections on your own. No--I think that is not accurate. I think maybe what you mean is that the blogging felt like a lot of work, and you didn't see how it counted much in the grade. (Although--it did, as part of that blog paper which really helped the grades of many people--have your opinions changed about that since you did the reflection paper?)

Many of you said that you would like to perhaps have 3 required blog entries per week, due 24 hours or so before class, and that would then be used in class. It does seem to me that the writing is a useful way for people to get prepared for class. YOu could write about the topic that is your group's topic, but then some of that nice freedom to explore on your own is lost...hmmmm...

So I am working on redoing the grading scheme for this semester. You will see that the generic Core syllabus is up, but I am still playing with the grading and assignment specifics for our class. If you have any thoughts, concerns, suggestions, leave a comment here or email me directly.
Looking forward to seeing you soon!