From a resource called “All Headline News” comes this story, “Scottish School Forces Students To Use Fountain Pens.” There’s not much really there beyond the headline of the story (other than the students claim to like using fountain pens), but I thought it was worth linking to in my ongoing collection of links about handwriting and penmanship. I am beginning to sense a different sabbatical project….
Month: December 2006
Links/Readings on Web 2.0 Stuff
A couple miscellaneous readings I’ll probably need to think about for English 516 for the winter:
- There’s this article from the Sunday NYT, “2006, Brought to You by You,” which is about a whole bunch of different Web 2.0 phenomenon and a pretty good introduction to one of the latests twists in the ‘net typified by things like YouTube, MySpace, and other sites with “user generated content.”
- I came across a web site this morning called Open Culture, which appears to be a blog with lots of cool links to, well, “open culture” sorts of things. I came across it after following a link about free sites for learning foreign languages with your iPod.
Again, just something to start making me for next year– really, next term, but I’m going to say “next year” to make me feel like I’ve actually got more time to work with.
Christmas Greetings/Sexually Explicit Cards/Christmas Letters/ Pepper Nuts
I was talking with my friend Mary T. today and she mentioned that I must be pretty busy with that pesky teaching/job thing because I haven’t been posting here much lately. You’re darn tootin’ I’ve been busy! You can read about some of it at the official blog and also at EMUtalk.org, which is the community blog that I started this year because of the faculty strike. But the short version is this has probably been one of the busiest semesters in my academic life, simultaneously and at different times horrible and wonderful.
Actually, the whole year– official and unofficial– has been like that for us around here.
Anyway, to get to some things in the order they appear in the subject line here:
- Sure, have a Merry Christmas; or a Happy Holiday. Or a Happy Festivus. Whatever. Just don’t war against Christmas, okay?
- About the, um, “suggestive” Christmas greeting: I got this card in a store in Ann Arbor the other day; it probably requires at least a line or two of explanation for non-locals. Among many other fine things, Ypsilanti is home to the Ypsilanti Water Tower, which has been voted as the most phallic building in the world. So really, this photo was just inevitable. I like the text on the back of this postcard, all of which is true to local legend: “The Ypsilanti Water, also known as the Ypsi Dick, was erected in 1889. It is located next to Eastern Michigan University. Legend says the Ypsi Dick will fall when a virgin graduates from the school.”
- I thought about writing a blog version of one of those Christmas letters that are so popular this time of year– you know, the notes that you get from people you barely know once a year that report on things that happen in these peoples’ lives. I enjoy the ones I get from my relatives and one of my friends, Bruce, writes a pretty entertaining one. But other than that….Besides, why write one of those letters when I can just point to the archives? Ah, what a year it’s been. Beer, eating out (this restaurant review gets hit a fair amount), Coldplay, Not Coldplay, Florida, the big 4-0 birthday week, Omaha, stupid dog, Holland, Monkey Chow, Annette’s messed up knee, A new mayor in Ypsi, Chicago, near-death golf experiences, Florence and Mittenwald (of course, that trip!), Will’s birthday, Barbie Poo, Dan Bern, dead TVs, Kathi Griffin, Darth Vader Jr., White and Nerdy, Thanksgiving in Iowa, and the best gallon of milk ever. That about sums up my year.
Finally, I just wanted to mention that I cooked up a batch of Grandma Krause’s famous “pepper nuts,” an annual Christmas cookie of sorts for the Krauses. I’ve written about this a couple of times in the recent past; here’s the recipe I followed this time. But because I have described these in the past described them as looking like dog food and/or little nut-like pellets, I thought I’d include a picture:
They are tasty though….
Wow, where has Steve been? Makin' Movies (and other things….)
Just in case you’re wondering: it’s been pretty crazy-busy around here lately. But in a good way. Among other things:
- I had the pleasure of hosting a panel discussion with some of our recent MA graduates about PhD studies in composition and rhetoric last week. It was really cool and, I am happy to say, we were able to use some nice and new video equipment to record it. Soon I’ll slap it up on the writing.emich.edu web site. Not exactly an “exciting action” shoot, but some really good discussion points.
- I also had the pleasure of hosting (well, sorta) the bi-annual EMU First Year Writing Program Celebration of Student Writing. As always, that was a great event. It was the first time we had it in the new student center and its ballroom, which is a very fine space indeed. For the time-being, be sure to check out this link. But at some point in the near future, you will be able to view “The Celebration of Student Writing: The Movie,” a project I (along with Linda Adler-Kassner and my still photography colleague Steve Benninghoff) filmed/shot while this was going on. Quite the day; I showed up at about 7:45 am, left to go walk the dog and take my son to school, and then I was there from about 9:15 am until about 6:30 pm or so. A long and tired day, but a load of fun.
I have a lot of things to say about these video experiences, but for the time-being, let me just say that I find iMovie absolutely addictive. Better than almost any video game I’ve ever played. - And then there has been a lot of interesting developments as of late with the on-going struggle between the EMU-AAUP faculty union and the administration. There’s lots of discussion on EMUtalk.org; the short version is I am cautiously optimistic about the chances of actually settling this mess and moving on in a positive way.
And then there is the general chaos of the end of the term. It’s funny; I’ve been doing this work for years and years, but it seems to me that every semester, I never quite figure out what works best for my schedule until the semester is almost over. Oh well….