The crux of Krause's comments was that the teacher needs to not only demonstrate how to use a blog but explain what the blog is used for. With our class he did not do much of that, other than to say, post comments and leave links.
If Krause's contention was that the instructor needs to guide the students through the blogging process, I disagree. What I have done for two semesters now is show the students how to use a blog as an online journal. I show them how to sign it and create a blog to use for my composition class. As we have many other assignments to cover in pre-collegiate comp, we don't have much time to talk about the blog until mid-term and the end of the course.
Despite the limiting intruction and discussion of blogs, the results were fantastic. There were photos, drawings, art, comments, sarcasm, criticism of readings, links, everything one could imagine in a blog--most of which we never talked about doing in class.
Explanation? Some students already had great technology skills from MySpace or other sites. Some new bloggers liked the assignment. Now of course, this does not mean that these students will continue to blog after the course is over. Most, I think, will not. This instructor, however, continues to blog, moreso during vacation, as he is doing now on blogger. com.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Letter: X
One wonders why so many people commit suicide at holiday time: the utter silence this morning when I woke up at 8 am. The clouds, the fog, some drizzle, and dead silence. I guess I knew what to expect after the last few years when I have been alone and felt left out: when i am supposed to be the big pops.
Well, Harold Pinter died yesterday, on Christmas Eve, so I guess it is good to be alive: he was so bitter about Bush, Blair, even Margaret..... why do that, esp. at end? I guess the PK thing has taught me better: we already know, Plato explained, that politicians and doctors cannot rule effectively because they love the basics like money and power, and respect pride.
So I refuse to get wrapped up in the new politics: I remain suspicious like of a new wife.
I guess the best attitude is to think the same about Christmas..... That brings me to the letter X. And letters are signs that run out of meaning, yes, nothing is more surprising than life except writing, but my addendum to Pamuk, rhetoric is just rhetoric. Not profound but it is my blog and no one reads it anyway, right? Don't end with a question.
Well, Harold Pinter died yesterday, on Christmas Eve, so I guess it is good to be alive: he was so bitter about Bush, Blair, even Margaret..... why do that, esp. at end? I guess the PK thing has taught me better: we already know, Plato explained, that politicians and doctors cannot rule effectively because they love the basics like money and power, and respect pride.
So I refuse to get wrapped up in the new politics: I remain suspicious like of a new wife.
I guess the best attitude is to think the same about Christmas..... That brings me to the letter X. And letters are signs that run out of meaning, yes, nothing is more surprising than life except writing, but my addendum to Pamuk, rhetoric is just rhetoric. Not profound but it is my blog and no one reads it anyway, right? Don't end with a question.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
noche buena
The desert is a beautiful place when there are clouds and rain. That is the irony of this valley. Whatever happened to discussions of different styles? Not genres, just styles. For example how would you describe my style? Yes, whatever happened to a simple discussion of styles in new novels, around and around--not the Christmas tree--but the dinner table?
In the morning silence I look out over a nursery or two. I think of the families living there in trailers or little portable houses. I think of the field workers. I think of all the pool cleaners here in this valley: can we stand one more pool cleaner? How about one more rock or stone layer? With a big white pickup truck, and a shaved head, and a long ugly goatee (that looks like the hair under my arms tho less nice), little blue eyes, short and muscular but overweight and muscle bound?? How about another "landscaping" crew... you know, they cut your lawn, that's it? Or how about the real estate people, but should I say people or sharks? Lying is a virtue for those people.
Then I suppose there is the community college folks: older, some very old, so old you are thinking, is there no retirement anymore? People who want to die at work, do they think that therefore the college will pay for their burial? Ha. This group is slightly disheveled, a little confused, unsure of the year, but well versed in the art of digression.
Like our friend Pamuk's novel, the Black Book, one big digression linked together almost carefully with good transitions, I guess. Dreamy, poetic.
Yes, so then, there is the composition instructor, who when he has 90 essays to grade, stalls and stumbles until he finds a way just to grade the first and last sentence. Done.
In the morning silence I look out over a nursery or two. I think of the families living there in trailers or little portable houses. I think of the field workers. I think of all the pool cleaners here in this valley: can we stand one more pool cleaner? How about one more rock or stone layer? With a big white pickup truck, and a shaved head, and a long ugly goatee (that looks like the hair under my arms tho less nice), little blue eyes, short and muscular but overweight and muscle bound?? How about another "landscaping" crew... you know, they cut your lawn, that's it? Or how about the real estate people, but should I say people or sharks? Lying is a virtue for those people.
Then I suppose there is the community college folks: older, some very old, so old you are thinking, is there no retirement anymore? People who want to die at work, do they think that therefore the college will pay for their burial? Ha. This group is slightly disheveled, a little confused, unsure of the year, but well versed in the art of digression.
Like our friend Pamuk's novel, the Black Book, one big digression linked together almost carefully with good transitions, I guess. Dreamy, poetic.
Yes, so then, there is the composition instructor, who when he has 90 essays to grade, stalls and stumbles until he finds a way just to grade the first and last sentence. Done.
Can you buy the chola with a new ring?
Someone has moved the globe on my desk so Australia is in clear view. Yes, as you can see from the photo, my desk is clearly a mess. Clearly, clearly, a mess. We are going to use a new textbook next semester. That's exciting; now you have to prepare to use it, don't you? No, the state and district forgot about a raise or even COLA so forget doing any extra work now. Until kingdom come.
Anyway, you couldn't buy the chola after all: so are you disappointed? Then she would ask, Are you going to buy me something for Xmas? Sure when her car breaks down, then she is married. Although the perfume (cologne?) the neighbor bought her smells like a man. So I am being coxcombed again.
Then she remembers... what took so long--about all her bounced checks--even though your name is not on the account. Don't you know, chola, that writing checks when you don't have the money is called fraud, you know, fradia??? I guess you have forgotten that for now too.
Anyway, you couldn't buy the chola after all: so are you disappointed? Then she would ask, Are you going to buy me something for Xmas? Sure when her car breaks down, then she is married. Although the perfume (cologne?) the neighbor bought her smells like a man. So I am being coxcombed again.
Then she remembers... what took so long--about all her bounced checks--even though your name is not on the account. Don't you know, chola, that writing checks when you don't have the money is called fraud, you know, fradia??? I guess you have forgotten that for now too.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Celal today living in Coachella Valley...
First he would have to be hispanic. Or latin, I suppose very possible. He would speak Spanish, comment on familismo. How the latin male is demonized if he takes off with a younger woman, with whom he wants to have more kids. He digresses about a lack of trees, limited films, no newspapers period other than the desert garra (rag). The absolute heat and sun. the bald mountains.
So really, the subject would not matter: as long as there is digression and transitions to hold them together, we are set. Let me excuse myself to check the potatoes, since I have no cook or wife who cares, as I lose touch with the English language again. That memory thing, Celal.
So really, the subject would not matter: as long as there is digression and transitions to hold them together, we are set. Let me excuse myself to check the potatoes, since I have no cook or wife who cares, as I lose touch with the English language again. That memory thing, Celal.
Pamuk-like.... green pens, dark spots...
Enter the world of the broken zipper: how could your daughter Zoo's zipper break and then yours on your jogging sweatshirt? They are not simply off track but completely opening in the middle, bizarre.... Meanwhile our hero, Celal, is shot to death outside the theatre, no doubt by the narrator who is also probably Galip. Jealousy no doubt. Out pours green ink all over his body, and later his body is covered with inky newspaper from the cheap local press.
The dark spot is the Western subconcious, if it exists: but my take is on the cartoon dark spot. Place it down on the ground, and you can disappear into it. How is that for Western trickery not innocent stupidity or greed.
Yes, I like to use the green pen but students cannot read my comments in green, even though I say it is tribute to a character in the BB. They think it is funny but nothing more. The zipper problem has a cure: don't wear clothes with zippers. But there is something deeper, more sexual about zippers, like that skirt with the zipper in the back or side. The dark spot as I understand it is the best invention out of Hollywood ever.
The dark spot is the Western subconcious, if it exists: but my take is on the cartoon dark spot. Place it down on the ground, and you can disappear into it. How is that for Western trickery not innocent stupidity or greed.
Yes, I like to use the green pen but students cannot read my comments in green, even though I say it is tribute to a character in the BB. They think it is funny but nothing more. The zipper problem has a cure: don't wear clothes with zippers. But there is something deeper, more sexual about zippers, like that skirt with the zipper in the back or side. The dark spot as I understand it is the best invention out of Hollywood ever.
Monday, December 22, 2008
A Beard and a problem....
He realized that as he got older, his beard actually grew faster. He had to shave every day now to hide the grey. First, he pondered Celal's memory problem and wondered if it was Alzheimers or what. What was he searching for?
So was it true that only writing was more interesting than life? How about art in general, he thought and look: I did not even say philosophy, which in the anglo-american vein, had become so riddled with insignificant questions, most of which are not of "import."
He decided to forget all this; go shower and off to the coffee shop to read for an hour. Then he would take up the case again--large breasts probably.
So was it true that only writing was more interesting than life? How about art in general, he thought and look: I did not even say philosophy, which in the anglo-american vein, had become so riddled with insignificant questions, most of which are not of "import."
He decided to forget all this; go shower and off to the coffee shop to read for an hour. Then he would take up the case again--large breasts probably.
The Morning...
Our tired philosopher made his way to his desk in his office, which was also his living room, his storage space, his TV room, his pretend detective room, his failed Wolverine no-win-in-big-games room, after he had put on a strong pot of espresso in a can coffee, and after he took care of his most pressing need, after a night of drinking Italian lager.
His wooden desk was so littered with papers, bills, medical news, assignments, research notes, magazines, an Irish flag hanging from the blinds, the globe turned to South America, while the grey sun tried to make it into his "office." He heard his teenage son sniffle in the next room, which reminded him that he did have a son and other responsibilities. His son did not look like him and sometimes he wondered where he came from. But this was no epiphany.
His son was intelligent but lazy in school and smoked cigarettes but sleep most of the time, while the father dreamily eyed the globe for Uruguay or La Espana Verde. He lit a clove cigarette after more coffee and asked where the next case would take him, or which female student he could next fantasize about: some woman must have fuller breasts which need squeezing... That word squeezing; you could almost hear the word and action.
Well anyway he thought we are all like the bums on the street: coffee in the morning and liquor the rest of the day. Philosophy had no cure, but teaching was the sinecure.
His wooden desk was so littered with papers, bills, medical news, assignments, research notes, magazines, an Irish flag hanging from the blinds, the globe turned to South America, while the grey sun tried to make it into his "office." He heard his teenage son sniffle in the next room, which reminded him that he did have a son and other responsibilities. His son did not look like him and sometimes he wondered where he came from. But this was no epiphany.
His son was intelligent but lazy in school and smoked cigarettes but sleep most of the time, while the father dreamily eyed the globe for Uruguay or La Espana Verde. He lit a clove cigarette after more coffee and asked where the next case would take him, or which female student he could next fantasize about: some woman must have fuller breasts which need squeezing... That word squeezing; you could almost hear the word and action.
Well anyway he thought we are all like the bums on the street: coffee in the morning and liquor the rest of the day. Philosophy had no cure, but teaching was the sinecure.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The PK project
Okay all you PKs academic bigshots: here is a proposition for you, like you have never heard before: we are going to visit 4 countries on four continents. These are not nice countries that are doing well. You have 2 hours to meet with local officials and the people. No excuses. Your job is to turn these countries around after only a few hours. Yes, praxis: philosophy is to the world as.... yes, bigshits, you know. Now what can you do outside the classroom and the ivory shithole???
The countries will be the following: first, Haiti. Second, Somalia; third, Afghanistan; and last, and probably, least, Sacramento, CA, yes, califes, which is its own continent....
Okay, motherfuckers, get to work.
love and kisses, dt
The countries will be the following: first, Haiti. Second, Somalia; third, Afghanistan; and last, and probably, least, Sacramento, CA, yes, califes, which is its own continent....
Okay, motherfuckers, get to work.
love and kisses, dt
celal's articles...
Since newspapers hardly publish anymore and have gone away from the general editorial, if Celal were around, as much as a ficitonal character can be, he would publish a blog. Not as many readers, but what to do when the detroit papers have decided not to print every day, but just 3 days a week.
He would still be writing about Istanbul in the good old days, but his audience would be--who knows for sure who? Since it is the Internet, more of the upper crust. (But why crust? To me, the crust is the best part--always).
So yes, Dee Tremens novel would make use of this device, but on a blog and not a regular newspaper.
The whole novel could be the search... the usual allegorical search... for love or a missing or lost person. Ironically, in a world of religions which promote love, there is little or none. The individual has to show it: the institution is too busy collecting for Xmas, Chunaka, Feastivus for the rest ofus.
He would still be writing about Istanbul in the good old days, but his audience would be--who knows for sure who? Since it is the Internet, more of the upper crust. (But why crust? To me, the crust is the best part--always).
So yes, Dee Tremens novel would make use of this device, but on a blog and not a regular newspaper.
The whole novel could be the search... the usual allegorical search... for love or a missing or lost person. Ironically, in a world of religions which promote love, there is little or none. The individual has to show it: the institution is too busy collecting for Xmas, Chunaka, Feastivus for the rest ofus.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
That Virgin Mary-Type Worship
I have failed to mention that I suffer from that former- (Recovering) Catholic syndrome of I worship all women: in the case of the Virgin, it is justified; I want to make that clear. Now for the restofyas--forget it. You are not worth the cheap money you crawl (and cojer) for.
That is a man's first mistake: to put a woman on the pedestal. You got it all wrong and you keep falling into that trap. And really in general if you show people you care, they will not respect you. They will not treat you with respect but expect you to fall for all their lies and excuses. All sophistry and illusion but especially with women: why should I almost worship you when you have no education or educacion?? Don't waste my time because you have had a child. So what? and that means??
signed, Pamuk
That is a man's first mistake: to put a woman on the pedestal. You got it all wrong and you keep falling into that trap. And really in general if you show people you care, they will not respect you. They will not treat you with respect but expect you to fall for all their lies and excuses. All sophistry and illusion but especially with women: why should I almost worship you when you have no education or educacion?? Don't waste my time because you have had a child. So what? and that means??
signed, Pamuk
Fictitious Thoughts...
A description of the problem. It was another very hot summer where there is no feeling like that hot ball of fire bullying your head when you go out on your balcony for 7 seconds. An out of work composition teacher calls about an ad for a researcher for a PI. The pay is low but he decides he can search mainly for info on the Internet and not drive so much while the price of gas is prohibitive. So he settles in to nights of searching for info on a missing person on the Internet. On the third night of searching using a green screen, he comes across a blog of a former student which may provide a clue, in coded social networking language, which may be just the intoxicated imagination of the researcher. Then....
Rhetoric as Seduction....
I was simply trying to keep my pre-collegiate students from sleeping. I explained rhetoric, persuasion, as seduction: not don't ask, you convince, you seduce. The student from Panama loved it. The other students laughed, but a little nervously. The flower never said anything.
Then she started to write a blog, an assignment for my class, my fault. She adds to it every day, adding cryptic messages and not so cryptic ones. Every day is a new clue. Now I am the seduced, not the seducer.
Then she started to write a blog, an assignment for my class, my fault. She adds to it every day, adding cryptic messages and not so cryptic ones. Every day is a new clue. Now I am the seduced, not the seducer.
The mindless pursuit of boredom...
I was simply trying to get thru the semester at the satellite campus and not go crazy teaching pre-collegiate composition.... But then along came a flower, or as I wrote in an email:
Nancy, I know what your name is, but a rose is known by many names. Or should I say a flower? Yes, I know one of your names is flores.
A rose is a rose is a rose, as with any kind of flower. So why is it that Shakey still applies to today? stories like Romeo and Juliet; Othello.... The whole thing about skin color and the villain Iago. The misunderstanding of culture and language, ja. What which others? King Lear with the children arguing about who gets what; sonnets, Henry IV with Hal and Falstaff. More sack sherry!! Then I go to Cervantes with Sancho Panza. So how about a book entitled Falstaff and Sancho. How could I forget Taming of the Shrew... which is really about my step-wife. It failed because I was too nice: you can't be a good Latin husband if you don't beat your wife. Not politically correct but true nonetheless.
So yes: NF by any other name.
Nancy, I know what your name is, but a rose is known by many names. Or should I say a flower? Yes, I know one of your names is flores.
A rose is a rose is a rose, as with any kind of flower. So why is it that Shakey still applies to today? stories like Romeo and Juliet; Othello.... The whole thing about skin color and the villain Iago. The misunderstanding of culture and language, ja. What which others? King Lear with the children arguing about who gets what; sonnets, Henry IV with Hal and Falstaff. More sack sherry!! Then I go to Cervantes with Sancho Panza. So how about a book entitled Falstaff and Sancho. How could I forget Taming of the Shrew... which is really about my step-wife. It failed because I was too nice: you can't be a good Latin husband if you don't beat your wife. Not politically correct but true nonetheless.
So yes: NF by any other name.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Signs of Hope....
So my 5 year old daughter is learning to write. Here is what she put on a paper for me to read and try to make sense of:
Ragu the see rqu cat big don't go toes did out he yes win on me ready hat warm
Right out of Joyce, I thought; the good old stream of consciousness that no one uses anymore, but that I can bring back a bit. Plus no one really writes about blogs or online social networking or the big bushie spy computer.
and a name like McName...
Some day, probably not on here yet, I will describe how all this came about with NF--when I understand it and have time to reflect and for creative nonfiction.
Maybe she should not learn to write; what was the reason that Plato's Socrates said that? It becomes a lie when it becomes permanent. that transience.
Given the lie, then, what would it take to write a novel over break? Write a short version of my love story, assassination fix. No the comp teacher who analyzes all the language of a missing persons investigations but the scene?????
interesting idea but back to grading essays and putting in grades.
Ragu the see rqu cat big don't go toes did out he yes win on me ready hat warm
Right out of Joyce, I thought; the good old stream of consciousness that no one uses anymore, but that I can bring back a bit. Plus no one really writes about blogs or online social networking or the big bushie spy computer.
and a name like McName...
Some day, probably not on here yet, I will describe how all this came about with NF--when I understand it and have time to reflect and for creative nonfiction.
Maybe she should not learn to write; what was the reason that Plato's Socrates said that? It becomes a lie when it becomes permanent. that transience.
Given the lie, then, what would it take to write a novel over break? Write a short version of my love story, assassination fix. No the comp teacher who analyzes all the language of a missing persons investigations but the scene?????
interesting idea but back to grading essays and putting in grades.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
pre-Christmas confusion....
I feel busy yet confused. One week until Christmas. Yet I feel old man depression coming in: was it the rain, the confusion about a woman (love's confusion). Not wanting to be alone? The people we have lost: Bing, Paul Newman, Gerald Ford, and of course Bo and Woody?? All that is left is words, sounds, memories.
That depression about not wanting to be alone, in mind and in person, even though I have children does not seem to matter. The thought of not being in command of my classes... and there have been some great moments teaching this semester. So now I have until mid-January to relax and recover. Yes, many things to do, but also time for some creativity.
Some ideas: for painting how about a big nude? For novellas, how about the detective that is not really a detective but just a composition teaching who has to follow the words and letters and makes plenty or sense out of it all--more than is real--to the point of pyschosis. No, those machinations do not come true.
The canvass must be huge to depict the full import of it all.
And then there is the reading list: the new life; black book... yes, I need to read mainly fiction.
who knows? I may be inspired to write about this latest occurrences (the art of seduction???) Well, one time it worked. I still don't know exactly why.
But I do say: as crazy as I am, there is no true seduction without the possibility of bringing new life into the world, which needs it even if it never quite turns out as we plan. And why should it? I do not want to grow out without having more children. It is Christmas season after all. I guess I don't need to go insane: I am already there!!!
Sincerely, Dee Tremens
That depression about not wanting to be alone, in mind and in person, even though I have children does not seem to matter. The thought of not being in command of my classes... and there have been some great moments teaching this semester. So now I have until mid-January to relax and recover. Yes, many things to do, but also time for some creativity.
Some ideas: for painting how about a big nude? For novellas, how about the detective that is not really a detective but just a composition teaching who has to follow the words and letters and makes plenty or sense out of it all--more than is real--to the point of pyschosis. No, those machinations do not come true.
The canvass must be huge to depict the full import of it all.
And then there is the reading list: the new life; black book... yes, I need to read mainly fiction.
who knows? I may be inspired to write about this latest occurrences (the art of seduction???) Well, one time it worked. I still don't know exactly why.
But I do say: as crazy as I am, there is no true seduction without the possibility of bringing new life into the world, which needs it even if it never quite turns out as we plan. And why should it? I do not want to grow out without having more children. It is Christmas season after all. I guess I don't need to go insane: I am already there!!!
Sincerely, Dee Tremens
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