Here I am - Alaska! ;-)
Slept well, despite the fact that the touchpad on my laptop stopped working. I don"t have a backup plan for no powerpoint!
I'm giving myself credit for arriving early - have all day today to get it fixed. Might be a hint that it is time to upgrad he ol" pzmo to a newbie with OSX> (Not today! But soon. Bill wil be happy for me.)
Meanwhile - am getting nervous about the presentations. I hope the design works!
We are going to rock the house! :-) Spent today refining the design; I'm feeling quite good about it.
I'm building on success from Boston's PM/WAD workshop at the CGO, where we really nailed a problematic moment with a sophisticated group of organizational diversity consultants. Exhausting (I'll need good rest!), but gives me a great sense of optimism for the large group activity in the workshop. Had a fun flurry of emails today from the organizers - always love to pick up the jazz via cyberspace!
Also building on all the recent paper-writing on problematic moments (and aren't I glad THAT's done for awhile!) and the CGO workshop, I did something new while interpreting last week that I've never done before and don't recall seeing anyone else do. There was a moment of din - when literally everyone in the group burst out with something at the same time. Instead of trying to continue with the thread of the primary speaker's comment I represented the verbal action of the din. It felt...right, somehow. :-) The Deaf interlocutor was with the group's outburst, not informed of it after the fact.
Finally found the specific reference I wanted:
Tokarczyk, Michelle and Fay, Elizabeth (1993) Working-class women in the academy: Laborers in the knowledge factory.
Here's a review that contrasts the above with The Madwoman in the Academy: 43 Women Boldly Take On The Ivory Tower.
Hardee Center for Women in Higher Education looks like a find too.
Issues of socioeconomic class came up during the rhetoric class's debriefing of the PM. Here are is one source (might be good for Lisa's seminar on class cultures next fall, too).
Impostors in the Sacred Grove: Working Class Women in the Academe
Apparently some psychologists tested it, Clance and ____, but I can't find their study, only folks talking about it, and they are all over the map (not just working class).
This Bakhtin listserv summarizes heteroglossia and suggests some authors I ought to read.
For instance, Karine Zbinden: "Bakhtin begins his argument about centripetal
and centrifugal forces with a few historical observations...[and]...details the diverse ways in which other 'dialects' have been suppressed....Heteroglossia thus accounts for both the common social nature of language as a shared code and for the individual appropriation of language in use."
Another link with great quotes, to wit:
p.272 But this occurs in the midst of heteroglossia, which grows as long as language is alive. ëEvery concrete utterance of a speaking subject serves as a point where centrifugal as well as centrapetal forces are brought to bear. The processes of centralization and decentralization, of unification and disunification, intersect in the utterance; the utterance not only answers the requirements of its own language as an individualized embodiment of a speech act, but it answers the requirements of heteroglossia as well; it is in fact an active participant in such speech diversity.í
Donna sends along this prochoice info/ad with a bit of [what she herself described as] a rant (smile):
"I don't think NARAL has been able to afford to buy time on any of the major networks, but wouldn't it be 'fair and balanced' if the mainstream media at least covered the assault on a woman's right to choose? Instead, I see newspapers calling women's clinics "abortion clinics", and the media using right-wing euphemisms (couched in legislation like the "Unborn Victims of Violence" Act and the so-called "Partial Birth Abortion" ban) without questioning their effect on women's lives. Allegedly, Conservatives want less government, but where women are concerned, they seem to feel justified in imposing their view of morality on everyone. I happen to remember what life was like before Roe v. Wade, as well as when it was still illegal even for married people to possess condoms without a doctor's perscription (no, I am not making this up). I would hope the moderates and civil libertarians out there are not going to permit the religious extremists (who seem to be running the country) to go unchallenged. Why don't the media pay more attention to this administration's efforts to roll back women's reproductive rights? [rant mode off]"
Just posted an update for my students from the winter session continuing ed class.
Well, Andrea caught some weird behavior from me back in January when the news of [the FP]'s and my break-up was fresh. Territoriality about the computer lab (whatever!) and anti-social behavior in the parking garage ("Go ahead. RUN me down!")
Yesterday I realized I projected a whole lot of frustration onto/into the Media Watchdog Project - a safe place, I guess, to process the extreme liminality I'm experiencing. Then I came unglued during class - a bit too raw to be delving into growing up stuff perhaps? It was "easier" being a kid and totally checked out, but i keep reminding myself its good to be aware of being in a body with emotional capacity!
The weekend in Vermont was rough. I figure the ratio was about 1 1/2 hours of really good contact/interaction with Hannah and 47 hours of agony. Hmm. Wonder how long it'll be before I complete the transition of "being a different person in the same place", as Carolyn described it.
I did get a lot of work done for Alaska, upcoming, and my class, and even made progress on that blasted quantitative analysis paper....
CIT has just opened a new website full of goodies. :-) Looks like they will run regular discussions too. Neat! Funny timing too, as I just wrote the check for this fall's conference a few hours ago.
There have been a number of problematic moments in COM250: the very first day, when I asked students if they were sure they understood what each other meant (during the icebreaker "cocktail hour" activity); in The Super Death Machine when Peter asked Jen if she knew what the Chinese characters on her sneakers meant, in The Tangents when Allison asked for someone's phone number in case she missed class again. The last instance doesn't seem (at least on the surface) to have anything to do with social identity per se - it appeared more related to the inclusion stage of forming, and the kind of role group members feared Allison might enact. (We'll find out more about this one when Allison and D present next week on "perception.")
trying to find these cute dachsund pajamas that Carolyn has - both [the FP] and Hannah would love them. Googled (including Macy's where Carolyn learned her nephew had bought them two years ago, sigh) and came up with this blog. The sheep counter is much more irreverent and witty than me.
Several of my friends have joined a protest movement at UMass against international students paying a separate fee that will partially fund their own surveillance by the U.S. government (as outgrowth of the Patriot Act). Oddly, I have not received a bill yet for the spring semester, so I haven't withheld my $65 yet. There has been a significant amount of news coverage.
The following article, Fear and the Foreign Student quotes both one of the professors and a fellow student from my department. It includes a succinct definition of the SEVIS program and the choices UMass has to deal with it.
Most of my blogging energy has been going toward the interpersonal communication class I'm teaching this spring. In addition to the main weblog, we subdivided a while ago into three random groups, the students named themselves: The Smooth-Talking Hermits, The Super Death Machine, and The Tangents.
We're starting to emerge (I think!) from the storming stage of group development and students are starting to realize specific learnings around their own interpersonal communication skills. It's an exciting time!
