September 2004 Archives

Well, I was worried in the beginning but I think Kerry did well, overall. Will it backfire on Bush, him repeating "wrong war, wrong time, wrong place" so often? (I'd love to see a clip of him saying that statement over and over again! How many times?)

The difference certainly (!) seems stark. A vote for Bush is for hegemonic go-it-alone, American supremacy. Period. I liked Kerry's insistence on alliances, and the notion of a global test. And that he articulated several ways the world is more dangerous now than it was before.

Who else is gonna chime in? Is my preference clouding my judgment?

I got some confirmation from one of Eileen's examples that time is perceived and experienced differently by the Deaf than the hearing. It actually came up a couple times, in a couple of different ways. Betty talked about it in terms of "silence" in an example she gave in the Discussion part of the workshop about what it means to be an ally. She said, "Hearing people hate silence!" I think the emphasis on silence might be ... not mistaken, but confused with the experience of time. When there IS a "silence," hearing people experience the passage of time. This is what makes them nuts, not the silence itself. (Which is not to say that Hearing people like or are comfortable with silence; most Americans are not.) Deaf people, however, are used to experiencing the passage of time during "visual silences" when they are waiting for eye contact to resume. This is what is happening when an audience member comes to stage to make a comment, and the presenter (and the rest of the audience) waits until that person returns to their seat before responding. It's a form of turn-taking. It shows respect. It is not experienced (I don't think) as "wasting time."

Confusion was the main emotion at most of the Allies conferences (spilling out sometimes as rage, sometimes as grief). I strongly believe that the Allies conferences were an important attempt to try and address some of the deep sociopolitical differences among and between Deaf folk and interpreters. I do believe that many individuals benefitted personally from the experience, but overall, the conferences did not move us toward any kind of collective understanding. Why they failed, given the good intentions and positive desires of the founders, participants, and later planners, has been a puzzle that I continue to think about.

First, let me record what happened today.

Since I think the ways we talk about things have a great deal to do with dynamics, I was fascinated by some of the anecdotes and jokes about certain terms. For instance:

RSC - originally known as the "reverse skills certificate" was renamed the "relay skills certificate" at least partially because RID wanted to maintain the same initials. (Thanks to Betty Colonomos for sharing this historicial tidbit with us.) Eileen made a joke about driving in reverse as an example of the kind of metaphor, or implied meaning, might have been "hidden" in the original term. (Now the certification for Deaf persons who are trained as interpreters is CDI - Certified Deaf Interpreter, which Betty also let us know has its problems: the linguistic construction in English indicates that it is the "deafness" that is being "certified"; not the interpretation skills!) Betty suggested, when one is trying to explain to hearing interlocutors why a Deaf interpreter is needed, describing them as a "specialist."

I was (am still) overwhelmed by the amount of stimulation I received from Eileen's presentation, "Teaching Deaf Interpreting Processes." She and I are looking at a very similar subject - what I usually call dynamics - but in different ways from our different experiences and positions. I'm going to try and organize some of my thoughts in a few separate posts...

The Iconoclast of Crawford, TX, editorializes: Kerry Will Restore American Dignity. They tally some of Bush's "accomplishments" that they describe as a "hidden agenda":

"Empty the Social Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security benefits.
ï Cut Medicare by 17 percent and reduce veteransí benefits and military pay.
ï Eliminate overtime pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50 percent.
ï Give tax cuts to businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by policy encourage their departure.
ï Give away billions of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive bids.
ï Involve this country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
ï Take a budget surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of the United States, creating a debt in just four years that will take generations to repay."

~ from Sheri Schmidt on the social justice listserv.

Well, the door to the bathroom DEFINITELY needs some WD-40! Sounds like a horror movie. Reminds me of the time I visited a friend who's cat was in heat and meowed (actually, wailed) all night. She slept straight through and I hardly slept at all! One of the many advantages of being deaf, she told me. :-)

The Gallaudet campus is special though, and the staff of the Kellogg Center managed a full house last night with grace.

Itís been a long time since Iíve been in an all-signing environment; my eyes are rusty! We had a characteristically Deaf start at my first ever Interpreter Trainers convention, the keynote began only 50 minutes past the scheduled time. I, in my introvert fashion, found a seat to plant myself while most folks schmoozed. Anna R. knows how to work a crowd! I exchanged greetings with lots of people from Allies ñ that feels like a very long time ago. Saw Trix and recalled juggling in Alaska. (I was hiding from Angela.) And Rhonda said hi; I had to confess to choosing to share a hotel room with Patty because of my age (i.e., the need for comfort.) Once we got underway, there were a few of those moments when someone went up to the stage to say something, and we all waited while they returned to their seat and turned around to watch the response. There is just no doubt that time passes differently in Deaf. ;-)

I especially enjoyed the institutional history that Anna Witter-Merithew and Becky Carlson shared.

Just in case (!) anyone wants to start something here.... :-)

I'm still waiting on a volunteer or two to add as "authors" so the class doesn't have to only respond to my initiative....but only if someone really wants to. It could be fun to transform this into more a group-type blog (that was Raz' and my original idea, but that was before he abandoned me, sniffle).....

Hope those of you at the lecture might share too. (sigh...!)

Uh oh, these are getting shorter and shorter! Saw Sam for only half-an-hour today. I am zooming around preparing for a trip to a conference in DC.

One of the nurses, Mary Lung, fed Sam this morning. She usually does, but Sam explained his reason for telling me: ìI like Mary. She has a gifted vocabulary.î

Iíd brought him his favorite large cup of black Hazelnut coffee from Dunkin Donuts, which choked him up on first swallow: ìSee how you affect me?!!î After he recovered his breath, he said, in his laconic fashion, ìCoffeeís a little hot.î

Someone "sold" all her books to friends at school by sharing her book reports explaining the quality of these stories. One was "The Borrowers," another was "Elana" (although I'm not sure I'm spelling it correctly), and there was one more too.

Anyway, I got some fashion advice (Billabong and Gramsci are "in"), and learned a lot about Vermont history.

A wonderful day! ;-)

It was a nice evening although it did cool off pretty quick, so we spent most of the time indoors (my red slippers on the deck as I grilled were a big hit).

Li came by with Leona for awhile, she hung in there in this strange environment with all these stranger English-speaking people for about an hour before becoming overwhelmed. Hunju wanted to blame me but I think Leona was just as upset by looking at Hunju. ;-)

Ingrid was the first arrival, Sarbjeet the last. Raz, Andrea, and Cata hung out with me outside during the roasting, and Cata and Hunju had their very first roasted marshmallows in full s'more form ( I supbstituted Nestle Crunch mini-bars for the standard Hershey's). Matt joined us for awhile.

All-in-all, a quiet, relaxed evening - so mellow I can't even generate many jokes about it! The intense pace of the semester's start takes its toll...? I did score a bunch of extra food and beverages; hosting isn't such a bad deal! :-)

Melissa sent this link about why teachers dress so badly. :-) I'll be testing the assertion that "students don't actually notice how we look" when I do the fishbowl on the teachers' body. Dang - better get busy on that informed consent! Paperwork SUCKS.

Jung Yup told me Learning to Labor is the best ethnography he's ever read, because it fully contexts the microsocial within a political economy (at least, this is what I understood from our conversation).

I've found a follow-up Learning to Labor in New Times that lauds the original book and updates it through a series of essays that might also be very good to read.

I sent a few bucks to the fundraising campaign for the new National Museum of the American Indian way back when they first started ~ ten years ago? I hope the opening does serve to refocus public interest in the gravest (and ongoing) injustice in our nation's history.

Can hardly wait to see it - HEY! - I'm gonna be in DC soon! (duh.) I definitely need to sneak away from the Conference of Interpreter Trainers to check it out. And, figure out where and with who to watch the first presidential debate this Thursday.

This story inspired me ~ maybe there IS hope. :-0

"Left-wing politics are thriving on blogs the way Rush Limbaugh has dominated talk radio, and in the last six months, the angrier, nastier partisan blogs have been growing the fastest. Daily Kos has tripled in traffic since June. Josh Marshall's site has quadrupled in the last year." ~ NYTimes, Fear and Laptops on the Campaign Trail

Of course, as far as democracy goes...

David has located a wonderful site for me! The EU Directorate General for Interpretation! I'm gonna have to peruse this site thoroughly. :-) It's a great site and the timing couldn't be better! How do you say thank you in Hungarian? ;-)

I just voted at the NOW with Bill Moyers site on this question:

Where do you stand on the issue of gay marriage?

I am for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. 27%

I am not for gay marriage but I think a constitutional amendment goes too far.
23%

Pay attention to local feeling and leave the matter up to the states. 11%

I believe that gay marriage should be allowed nationwide. 37%

Total Votes: 303177

Shame on me for not including one of the best exchanges of the afternoon! We learned about the 1974 revolution in Portugal, when the people rose up and deposed a dictator of 50 years in a bloodless coup - not one death.

Jose was seven years old on the day the army entered Lisbon. By noon, it was over and Jose's father took him and his siblings out to experience the moment. The code to distinguish which soldiers were with the rebellion from those not were carnations. Ever since, they commemorate the coup by wearing carnations.

I've been thinking about David's involvement in my class's weblog....he asked, "How do I get [these students he's never met] to participate in a discussion about human interaction with me?"

I have a wild proposal. ;-)

Well. I talked with both the principals at Hannah's school where I'm doing the media literacy project about this opening with the 6th graders to show how they're influenced by media images about "sex". The school does great interpersonally ~ everyone is treated well with a lot of respect and regard ~ but sexual orientation or sexual identities never comes up in "normal" conversation. So, while the school treats everyone the same, everyone is not talked about in the same ways.

"They're all bastards."

Yassir provided both extreme statements, which framed our lunch on the "beach" near Sarbjeet's today. While I did shots of Portuguese green wine, we discussed the alarming rise of religious identification in Syria and India as a "response" to US foreign policy (a.k.a. GWBush).

Did you know that there is a small Jewish population in Syria? And 10-12% Christians? And it used to be that people could be friends for years without knowing each other's religious affiliation? Not anymore.

Just finished Landscape for a Good Woman by Carolyn Kay Steedman.

Lisa sent out some questions/guidelines for how to read this text (in view of it's purpose in our academic setting), but I'd already read half of it, and decided to forge on without the guidance. I'll return to those questions now that I'm done, but I decided I needed to read this without framing, to allow myself the full subjective experience of it.

is palliative.

Danny the Destroyer (grin) taught me a lot tonight, as did everyone who participated in the critique of Smith. Thanks, Li, for telling me a gave a "good defense," at least I have that to hold onto! :-) and, the brief de-brief with Srinivas and Jung Yup, about how we all have different points of entry, was helpful somewhat reassuring. I knew I was entering new turf, but ... well. I've never been one to learn quietly or make my mistakes in private. ;-) Natalia, you ROCKED as a partner. Your balanced view and ability to shift between "pros" and "cons" enhanced our presentation a lot (although it might also have had the effect of highlighting my less (I won't say "un"-) critical enthusiasm.

We've got one presentation down! I had one more thought (a parting shot?!) about the apparently pervasive view that Smith's "stories" were "disconnected."

We're doing a pretty good job of surfacing differences now. ;-) We haven't necessarily come to any agreements over issues of moral difference, but more possibilities are on the table (methinks). As I drove home (to work) and half the class went out (to party), I was thinking about trickery and provocation.

Sam was in an editorial meeting for the newsletter when I got there yesterday but they were just finishing so I didn't get to spy. (Darn!) When I entered his room and he wasn't there I took the moment to jot down the list of visitors from his guest book (Phil and Lorraine gave him this and what a great thing it is - Sam is quite attached to making sure everyone DOES "sign in", smile).

Since September 1:

I played this game as an icebreaker with the 6th graders today - Day 1 of "media literacy" as part of the Health Curriculum. Each person has to give three statements about themself, two that are true and one that's a lie. The others have to guess which is a lie. For instance, I said:

I was born in Rhode Island.
Dogs are my favorite pets.
I go to school in Massachusetts.

Can you guess? :-) Anyway, the kids have fun with it and so did I. However, one "truth" threw me (and the teacher). He (the teacher) recovered and tried to save it but we'd already missed the moment and agreed we'll have to come back to it. One boy shared, "My sister died." When he said it, I had an odd reaction - like, that's not something someone would joke about it, and when one of the kids guessed that was the lie and he said, "No, it's true" there was a bit of a silence. Then a kid guessed one of the other statements correctly...we started to move on. A kid said, "Did your sister really die?" He said, "yeah"....bit of a silence, then the teacher shared his sister had died too but the next kid (at my request) was starting to share their three statements.

I was too caught off guard. We "should" have dealt with it as we had some of the other topics that came up, by asking who else had lost a sibling or member of their family, but somehow it was shocking in comparison with the other kinds of statements. Anyway, the teacher and I agreed that we'd come back to it at some point.

Well, I wasn't able to do any celebrating, although I have noted that tonight's the night. What with Frankie chomping up Hannah's birds, Carolyn's luggage being stolen, a toilet being backed up, and trials & tribulations loading new software....I'm really HOPING there's no omen factor at play....

Well, I don't know, but I would guess that we ended up about where Lisa was hoping we'd end up in our discussion last night. :-) I was noticing how oriented I am to "structure of feeling", how Marxist-oriented (or at least well-grounded) many (most? all?) of the new cohort is, and now wondering about poststructuralist group dynamics. :-) Someone was telling me that the first round of this class was tough (in some respects) because the students had such different interests....I imagine we do too, but we pulled off quite a participatory discussion that (from my subjective space of point of view, smile) was a thinking-together which generated new knowledge (although to what degree and how much varied, I'm sure). Probably I'm in this mode because of an intellectual interaction between this class and Stephen's (where we're discussing inclusive democracy, how to make room for difference).

In this class, I'm still struggling with the notion of overdetermination, which is used by Althusser and Freud, among others. My penchant for group dynamics and forms of social metonymy (when the microsocial "stands in" for the macrosocial), has me thinking about the valences individuals bring to group membership & participation....which I'd just bet can easily be overdetermined in a parallel way as Gibson-Graham et al used it (building on Althusser).

Anyway, congrats to Erin for nailing the inverse equation of "suffering" being the possible overdeterminant instead of "class"!

Well, David has successfully entered my COM250 class's blog, posted, and was immediately responded to by one of my intrepid students! :-) We'll see how far this can go. I don't want to dilute the group dynamic, sense of belonging and identity being developed, but I can see a broader interaction adding a lot to the students' learning. It's also giving me concrete ideas for next semester's Small Group course....he he he. :-)

when I get around to updating the template for the blog (one of these days), I'm gonna include some quotes:

This one from Becky is terrific: "tact is a gift we offer to those with whom we want to remain friendly."

and the one Camille shared from Raymond Williams is too - I want it where I can read it everyday.

"To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing. "

I can't say that I've found Bourdieu "riviting," as Lisa did. I'm working my way through the interviews but needed to shift gears, so I read the background piece by James C. Scott. (Confession: first time ever.)

I am enthralled. Scott's analysis fits right in with

For those of you curious about what I'll write about our wonderful evening last night....let me say that the food was DELICIOUS and the company a great deal of FUN. My deepest appreciation to our hosts.

I'll refrain from spreading gossip about pets, relationships, and rumored external affiliations, but the laughter was (is still) appreciated. :-0

After seeing Bush Family Fortunes (which details how the Florida vote was compromised..."bought for 4 million dollars"), it's especially discouraging to read in the NYTimes today that electronic voting will go national this year despite numerous already identified problems and weaknesses.

Can you hear my sigh?

Stephen just posted for the DRP class (Democracy, Rhetoric & Performance) that one must "fight propaganda with propaganda" and yet questions whether this attitude in and of itself contributes to the difficulty of reaching genuine democratic decision-making. (We're still debating what might qualify as "genuine.")

This brings up something Kennaria and I have discussed on a few occassions - whether human nature is inherently incapable of rising to (or being taught, as the deliberative democrats advocate, and social constructionism would seem to support) this level of....integrity? It definitely has something to do with a balancing of regard for oneself AND others, whomever those "others" might be.

Bryan shares this link to a site that updates the electoral vote daily as determined by polling. It's rather depressing right now, but this should serve to galvanize us, not instigate despair.

David shares this important info:

Dear EarthAction Partners & Friends,

The outcome of the US election this November 2 will have a tremendous impact
on the future of the whole world.

With this in mind, EarthAction has launched a new global campaign called
"Earth to America". We are collaborating with 4 other organizations through
a new Internet Gateway, "The World Speaks", to bring written and video
messages from individuals and organizations worldwide to American voters
before November.

Earth to America's goal is for Americans to hear directly from people around
the world about how the outcome of the 2004 US election -- and the policies
that will follow -- will directly affect their lives.

Just joined this listserv as part of preparing a proposal to do research in the EU next summer.

Gotta do some serious grant searching asap:

EuropaNet, The Scientific Research Society, and The Society Psychological Study of Social Issues are some places to look.

The German Marshall Fund looks particularly promising.

I'd have to say that I qualify for just about every single one of the statements that they say are indicative of "membership" in this supposedly new social-group. It clearly has a socioeconomic class component, which rules out a lot of people with otherwise similar values and knowledge bases. Maybe that explains my hesitation with fully embracing the label.

This documentary film by journalist Greg Palast provides a sobering complement to Moore's F 9-11. Palast covers much of the same territory but in a non-sensationalized format (although he does include a few slo-mo's of GW struggling for something to say).

I've been thinking about sharing the earlier post about the youth vote with my class, especially since Ben commented. Does sharing my passion that they ought to vote violate Fish's prescription not to my position as an educator to try and cultivate citizens? The fine line we were discussing about encouraging active and deep critical thinking without telling students WHAT to think is at issue here. If they look closely at my blog, they will be able to discern that I have a distinct preference as to WHO I wish they would vote for....

Sarbjeet told me about an activity he did with his students that I thought was awesome (and want to remember). :-) He showed them part of Jerry McGuire, when he shares his optimistic, value-based new plan with his co-workers and receives their applause. The cut-away shows people betting on how long he'll "make it" in the company. Sarbjeet then asked his students why they needed to know Jerry's values and led them into a discussion that I wish I could have witnessed!

We escaped the sauna of our classroom last night and moved outside to the courtyard, onto the grass, where it was cool (and a bit buggy). Big class, about a dozen, several people from outside COM, which is cool - I like more, diverse perspectives. I'm also psyched that I'm in class now with folks I haven't been before, Srinivas, Jung Yup, Danny...they also see things differently than I do and I'm looking forward to getting to know them (I hope!)

Paula had to move us along quite a bit, some hadn't read, others had perhaps read but were shy to join in the discussion. I'm sure that'll ease up as we go along. The summaries of David Harvey and Saskia Sassen's arguments were really helpful to me; they helped put Smith's critique into perspective. The overt discussion of what Smith's argument is and where he's coming from was also terrific for me because that made the connection between what Smith had written and the background that Paula shared - the relationship to LaClau and Mouffe, reviewed by Saul Newman, and the general sense of this emphasis on any form of agency being "heretical." When Paula said that I thought, "No WONDER I like him!" :-)

Here's someone who argues "the project as a whole is unlikely to achieve its intellectual and political ambitions". And another who analyzes LaClau and Mouffe's reconstruction of the term, hegemony.

This is my first class in political economy so I know I'm missing a lot of knowledge most (if not all?) of my peers have - grounding in Marxism, most obviously. Hopefully, my willingness to display my ignorance (!) through guesswork and thinking-out-loud won't reflect too poorly upon me. ;-)

I asked my students on Wednesday if any of them would be interested in volunteering for a video-session that might help me prepare for this panel presentation. It came up because some of the students had assumed Iíd use video as one of the teaching methods, and I explained that the only way Iíd use it would be to tape us doing our thing, then we would watch ìus doing our thingî and analyze the interaction. :-) There was a rather deep silence. I provided an example by introducing the notion of volunteers discussing my panel topic. Someone asked, ìWhatís the topic?î ìThe teacherís body.î Silence. ìWhat does that mean?î ìWhat I look like, how I move. How what I look like influences my teaching, what it means to you.î Silence. ;-) We moved on, but after class I got three volunteers! One of them asked me, ìWonít that be hard for you?î I explained that Iíd done similar things (being under that kind of scrutiny) but not for this particular topic. A kind of ìyes and noî answer. (Iím sure Iíll have plenty of visceral reactions when it happens!) And one of the students said to a peer something about turning around in slow motion. ìYeah, When she said that...it was like...whoa, did I just hear that? What did she mean?î

Iíd say weíre already up and running! I have to crank on informed consentÖ.

What a class we had last night! After a deliberative first half ("the best discussion" Bryan said he's "ever had" in one of Stephen's classes, grin), and a raucous second half, Stephen debated Viveca on the morality of Michael Moore's filmmaking. He had been searching for an area of genuine disagreement that we could use to illustrate the prescriptive methodology in Gutman and Thomas' form of deliberative democracy. It was tough (as the topic indicates) among our (apparently) fairly homogenous "leftist" group, which I think indicates less our lack of disagreement on important issues and more the intensity of taboo and risk-taking involved in airing genuine disagreements.

Scott must have zoned out because he asked at one point, "Is this for real?" :-) Stephen

I've got to take a whole new critical look at Tom Atlee's stuff now that this class has severely problematized "deliberative democracy". Maybe I'm just gaining clarity on the aspects of this that have always made me a bit squidgy. (Or I'm identifying another way in which I've been a naive dupe, sigh!)

Here's the latest from Tom, comments on an article from The Observer, called "Kicking the Six Figure Habit":

The town's agog with a special exhibit at our (fairly small!) museum which includes items from a private collection apparently not shown in public before.

The opening gala was covered by the local paper this past Monday: Wild About Warhol. (I often have trouble with the links to the local paper; they seem to take 2-3 tries to get through. If you want the article via email, let me know - I sent a copy to myself.)

I was contacted about interpreting this event but couldn't manage to squeeze it in. Besides, what would I have worn? I'd have looked like I was slumming!

Hey hey, what do young (as in college-aged) folk have to say about who the next President should be? Wouldn't it be grand if they really do turn out to vote, as the registration numbers indicate they might? ,a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/politics/campaign/15youth.html?th">Vote Drives Gain Avid Attention of Youth in '04.

(First time I've looked at the NYTimes since classes began last week!)

Yesterday afternoon I blew by Hunju and Raz while leaving Boyden (the gym). Busted! Brushing my hair while driving. :-) A nicer person would have stopped to give 'em a ride but hey. It was a beautifl day and I couldn't be late to Lisa's class (that would have been a stellar start). I still had to stop by the campus center store to buy a notebook. Think they'll forgive me? ;-)

What a bit of serendipity! Sam was napping when I arrived this morning (looks like Tuesday mornings are gonna be my most reliable time to visit). While we were waiting for Michael to come get him up, he asked how I was doing. In general? Fine. But I can't get over [the FP]. :-( He said, "And that's the shits." Then added, "Put that in the weblog." What cracked me up was that later I was reading him an email from Jennifer that was along the lines of supporting both me and the FP in this process, and you know what she had written? "It's the shits." ! Hilarious!

Our negotiation about how to use our hour today was funny too.

Class today was great. :-) Thoughtful debate about face-to-face and computer-mediated communication (F2F, CMC) ~ are they both, equally, "interpersonal communication"? We'll tease this out a bit through our use of the class weblog: how will it compare to the interactions we have in class?

We only got through a small portion of what I'd planned, but the time was well-spent and will serve us well as we develop norms for classroom discussion.

The goal of today was to demarcate what we'll study in this class, compared to other communication courses. The group charged with the task of giving us an initial definition of interpersonal communication came up with: "Any form of interaction between two or more people." We took each part of this definition and wound up reducing "any form" to F2F (mostly) and some CMC - physical presence, in the moment, simultaneous give & take, responsive. We eliminated all forms that are essentially monologic or performance-oriented (to an audience), and mass media. The word "between" took on a lot of meaning to several; and "interaction" emphasized connection and contact...we kept adding to this things like the importance of emotion and timeliness, as well as distinguisheing between intra- and inter-personal.

I went ahead with the reading assignment (on listening) even though we didn't get through all the small group share outs today. Most folks (if not everyone!) seem to be listening carefully, but there's nothing wrong with moving ahead on two fronts simultaneously. :-)

Well, the high school kids (or graduates) who've been harassing [the FP] for the last 3 years struck again - this time they pulled the mailbox completely out of the ground (despite the concrete I poured last month) and made off with it. Hannah and I spent a half-hour on the phone as she searched Google for possible culprits (the FP knows the name of a kid who was involved last time it got bashed but didn't have any "proof"). We may be upgrading to serious surveillance, as the other option is to "give in" by getting a PO Box.

I am wicked psyched for my interpersonal communication class. They jammed on thier first blog posts. What an amazingly upbeat and inspiring tone they've already set for the class! No glitches with getting in, everyone posted on time, no drops (yet, smile). As far as I know, I still have a few slots open...

this book by Michael Peter Smith, Transnational Urbanism: Locating Globalization. (I can't seem to locate any online info on the author :-( - poo!)

He unabashedly argues for the social construction of "globalization" and critiques the heck out of Michael Harvey and a few representatives of what he calls the "global cities discourse" (Michael Friedman and Saskia Sassen). Smith "advance[s] a social constructionist analysis which exposes the entire discourse of globalization as 'a tightly-scripted narrative of differential power' (Gibson-Graham, 1996/1997: 1) that actually creates the powerlessness that it projects by contributing to the hegemony of prevailing globalization metaphors of capitalism's global reach, local penetration, and placeless logic" (italics mine, 2001: 58).

A crow woke me this morning. I'm sure I could have slept longer, but....I lay there and started thinking about squirrels finding the feeder. Wouldn't you know, a few hours later the first squirrel appeared! Maybe it was there, already, this morning and my mind computed the different noise it makes? Or, I psychically sensed its presence? :-) I tried to scare the sucker off but the ballsy thing just stared at me. Now I'm gonna have to figure out what to do with the window ~ it'll try to get in through the screen if I leave it open all the time. Or, maybe if I remove the spare birdseed down to the garage there won't be any enticing smell to inspire it in?

They make no bones about being prescriptive and laying out the principles and values that "should" inform deliberation. I agree with many, if not all of them, but doubt everyone does, or would, or even should. My agreement is probably based upon (emanates from?) a subjectivity similar to theirs, but I don't think I want everyone I interact with to be boilerplated along "my" lines (! Horrors!)

While I am attracted to the idealism and possibility in Habermas (as I understand the distillation of his views, having not yet squeezed him in ~ even via Bryan's audio link), what a bland, dull, and monotonous mode of production.

I am intrigued, however, by the chart G&T have put together on p. 53, contrasting prudence, reciprocity, and impartiality as principled (philosophical?) bases for approaching moral disagreement. The notable absence in sign language interpreter's code of ethics (in the US) of any mention of "impartiality" has been a gap that has drawn my attention for a variety of reasons, but this reading has me wondering if there is an even deeper debate between/among members of the Deaf community and sign language interpreters - one which challenges the basic assumptions embodied in an "impartial" base. Deaf people have overtly questioned this as a different cultural value, but I hadn't yet come across an alternative. I think the notion of reciprocity might do it ~ being as it already is a noted and notable intra-group value of American Deaf Culture. The premises and assumptions that accompany these three foundational bases (as laid out by G&T) open up terms for deliberation (!) that might actually move the institutionalizing forces of the RID (national certifying body) and NAD (nat'l advocacy organization for the Deaf) toward a mutually-satisfactory outcome.

So, I'm wondering if deliberation based on reciprocity is a contingent strategy or mode that needs to be responsive to the conditions and environment of a particular issue? It may, in fact, be quite well suited to some contexts, and inappropriate for others. G&T seem to propose it as the rubric for all political decisions. I think this is much too broad.

Well, almost everything that could go wrong *did* go wrong yesterday, except that I got a hug from a very sweet cabbie from Cameroon who tried to teach me some French. :-)

Actually, the workshop was well-received by the 20-some folk, mostly Deaf, who attended. I'd targeted it towards hearing folk, so had to do some adjusting (mostly that means I signed about half of it). The sucky Washington Hilton didn't have a cable for my Mac and no one informed me I needed my own cable (despite two months notice) so THAT just about put me over the edge, thank the spirits I finally found the videotape I had misplaced the night before because I was at least able to show the clips, even though no one got to see my pretty powerpoint that I spent (sigh!) hours developing. Interpersonally (notes for COM250!), my stress came through and Randy felt the need to reassure me that it was worth my time to be there and make this presentation. :-)

I do believe that and am glad I went. I will add some explanatory notes to the powerpoint slides ~ Randy wants them for the Proceedings and the slides by themselves probably won't convey much to anyone not at the workshop. He also encouraged me to get in touch with Robyn Dean, the driving force behind demand-control theory. Others have recommended her too, and I think I actually did email with her 3+ years ago....but we haven't really connected. She has a similar premise that interpreters need to be much more assertive in our management of the "environment" (that's the term Randy used).

My thoughts were clarified by my reading (on the plane) for the Democracy, Rhetoric, and Performance class.....I think defining mutually acceptable boundaries for the interpreter's role and performance is a suitable topic for deliberation guided by the principle of reciprocity. More on that soon.

Stephen made a typical grand entrance, kvetching about the campus cop who hassled him en route. :-) He's also pulled his usual stunt of mixing us up with an undergrad (welcome Jamie! I'm sure you'll fit right in) and given us an impressive lot of books to read and ideas to ponder.

Viveca (pushing her statute of limitations, as she says), Donna, and Brian drove most of the discussion last night; usefully for me, as I became aware of some huge gaps in my basic knowledge. Just when am I supposed to read Habermas (I missed the recommended title, but I gather its 1200 pages, and he authored many pieces) and Hegemony and Socialist Strategy?

Meanwhile, I enjoyed Wolin's piece in Benhabib on "Fugitive Democracy." (PDF available for download - just search.) The concept of fugitive democracy is in many of his works.

What struck me is its resemblance to the conceptualization James and I have of "problematic moments" in which contesting/contrasting discourses emerge simultaneously in talk and a group must choose between recognition or repression.

Overall, everyone's voice got in at some point (a feature of Stephen's classes which I value highly) and I'm psyched. (I did squelch a desire to just let out a holler on a few different occassions.) :-)

got a rave review in Newsweek for her first book, Sammy's Hill. Might wanna check it out.

So said Cata about Hero, which I saw the other day with Ingrid and Kirsten. I wonder how my Chinese classmates feel about it ~ does it inspire patriotism or nationalism for them? I found it moving, inspirational. (And of course it triggered that vein of sorrow I have for all things that cause pain, sigh.) Not surprisingly, I've forgotten some of the specific moments of dialogue/interaction that intrigued and/or triggered me; the colors remain.

I don't think it's the grundge look but it sortof feels like it. Those 13 pounds I lost this summer (not in the recommended fashion) have turned the loose clothing I prefer into drapes. I'm gonna have to start wearing a belt!

The Pennsylvania Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf has posted my articles on Sign Language Interpreters and the Practical Management of the Communication Process on their conference website. The papers will be prep for their professional discussion on the interpreter's role. :-) (No direct link, click Conference then "Kent article".)

See what happens when I let my email backup? Missed this in the August EFLSI newsletter about Deaf athletes in the recent Olympiad.

"There will be 2 Deaf athletes competing this year. The first is Terence Parkin will be swimming for South Africa. Terence won a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in the 200m Individual Medley. The second is Frank Bartillo one of three Australian fencers. I wonder if they have interpreters travelling with them."

This article, Sign and spoken language interpreting: a componential approach to skills development by Carol J. Patrie is in the September-October issue of Communicate!. It emphasizes similarities between signed and spoken language interpreting, and provides detailed information on the Conference of Interpreter Trainers (CIT).

In her article on Critical Link (previous post), Maria Rosaria BURI references Samuel P. Huntington's book, Who Are We? The Challenges to American National Identity. The book seems to be an exploration of the changing geopolitical situation in which Huntington argues that "'civilizations' are replacing ideologies in international relations and politics" (Buri).

Buri recommends this book for community interpreters.

"The Critical Link is a network established in 1992 at the University of Ottawa, Canada when a group of interpreters gathered together with people providing services in legal, health and social settings to clients with whom they did not share a common language. That first group became the think tank..."

Li sent this article to the comm-grad listserv. National recognition for everyone who participated in protests about the discriminatory international student fee! We rock! :-)

Some of our COM colleagues went all the way, I know of at least two who "refused to pay and risked possible deportation this fall."

Craig (of Craigslist) did a better job than me of collecting sites about blogging at the democratic national convention.

I'd like to add his blog to my rss feed, but it seems I can't figure out the sites using xml. :-(

I admire this dude ~ at least as he's represented in this NYTimes story about his online community. ;-)

Here's the link to Boston's Craigslist, the closest, geographically, to Amherst. I'm amazed - Providence, Denver, Kansas City, Indianapolis - most of the cities I've lived in have 'em!

Definitely an interesting post, which I traced off of Shiny Glass Beads.

Two excellent questions to the presidential candidates from Critt, about measuring success in coalition-building, and specifically, in regards to military endeavors.

i think this is the way I want to go in the future with...the blog? a real website? the other as-yet-unformed yet intuitively-sensed online directions/calls to cyberspace....? everything!

Ben mentioned it to me before he left for school, and just obiki.org.

Mother Jones has a blog and they were at the protests in NYC during the just ended Republican National convention. The difference they can make is the subject of this post.

Looks like a fascinating expose of "how right-wing groups pressure the media and spread misinformation to the public." The Republican Noise Machine was written by a former right-wing publicist, David Brock, whose original confession was seen skeptically by some.

Todd sent out a bunch of pictures mostly of his newborn son, Sam, but there are a few shots of Leona with various characters too, including her dad Li, and me and Carolyn.

There are a lot of sweet shots here; I like all the smiley ones (surprise!) but am also drawn to Sam with the octopus hat. :-)

The Wanderer, by Sharon Creech, is a very quick read about a family discovering their love for each other.

Two passages grabbed me, one on time and the other on parenting:

One conversation that stuck with me last night was about the notion of privacy. We were talking about blogging. I said something about trying to dispel the fiction of a separation between one's personal and professional life; and Olga said she couldn't think of a commonly-used word in Russian that means the same thing as "private" or "privacy". She could describe or explain it, but there's no particular word for it (unless one goes way back into archaic (?) language use). Sreela then said the same thing, of the three (or was it 15?!) Indian languages that she knows, none of them have a specific term for the concept, even though it is explainable. Wild, huh? :-)

At least, so it seemed to me, as 17 guests converged upon the house formerly known as Carolyn's. :-) Much mingling and chatter, with several jokes about damaging furniture and doing graffiti (in order to leave a "mark"), tours of the "grounds" (!), good music, and I'm pretty sure no one left hungry. :-)

Of those who could attend, most were COM-folk,

Bush by numbers: Four years of double standards

These are creepy - they show how if you simply SAY things, repeatedly, and the media disseminates what you say, "reality" follows. :-(

Here's a few, click through to read them all:

1 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security issued between 20 January 2001 and 10 September 2001 that mentioned al-Qa'ida.

104 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned Iraq or Saddam Hussein.

101 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned missile defence.

65 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned weapons of mass destruction.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Osama bin Laden in his three State of the Union addresses.

73 Number of times that Bush mentioned terrorism or terrorists in his three State of the Union addresses.

83 Number of times Bush mentioned Saddam, Iraq, or regime (as in change) in his three State of the Union addresses.

This is an edited extract from "What We've Lost", by Graydon Carter, published by Little Brown on 9 September. ~ sent to me via email from Becky Townsend

This is the 2nd time I've read about this in Zohar's Quantum Self. It's starting to sink in, although now I recognize it as only one of those nine currently existing ways of interpreting the connection between these states of quantum unity. "The crucial distinguishing feature of Bose-Einstein condensates is that the many parts that go to make up an ordered system not only behave as a whole, they become whole; their identities merge or overlap in such a way that they lose their individuality entirely" (p. 83, italics in original).

"A quantum physicist would say...

Acording to this opinion piece, "claims that evangelicals have hijacked the nation's politics are greatly exaggerated. In fact, polling data show that President Bush's political base is not religious but economic, the group he jokingly referred to as 'the haves and the have mores.'

"The General Social Survey found that 20 percent of American voters have family incomes of more than $75,000 a year, while twice that many earn $30,000 or less. The high-income group (about the same size as the evangelicals) votes Republican by an 18-point margin, while the low-income group favors Democrats by 24 percentage points. If the Republicans were to lose their 18-point advantage among the affluent, it would cost them about four percentage points nationwide in the election, more than twice the cost if they were to lose their edge among evangelicals."

This book, White on Black by Ruben David Gonzalez Gallego, looks intense.

It was reviewed in the NYTimes today: "In one of the book's most affecting moments,

My buddy Kim is stressing about Hurricane Frances. She is hoping it doesn't touch down in her area....as she's "trapped" in the hospital and can't help with any of the safety precautions. At least they don't live in the evacuation zone. She's been battling a blood clotting problem since May and her bod has NOT been receptive to medication. Scary scary. Four kids.

I'm worrying about Leda's family too.

From the Kerry campaign:

"Excerpts of John Kerry's Upcoming Remarks

The election comes down to this. If you believe this country is heading in the right direction, you should support George Bush. But if you believe America needs to move in a new direction, join with us. John and I offer a better plan that will make us stronger at home and more respected in the world. And we need your help to do that.

For three days in New York, instead of talking about jobs and the economy, we heard anger and insults from the Republicans. And I'll tell you why. It's because they can't talk about the real issues facing Americans. They can't talk about their record because it's a record of failure.

We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention. For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief. Well, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.

The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi royal family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.

And we have a specific plan to do just that. So tomorrow morning, John and Elizabeth and Teresa and I are hitting the road across America's heartland. From here, we'll go out and talk with Americans in towns across Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. And because a stronger America begins at home, we'll talk about our plan to create jobs, cut taxes for the middle class, lower health care costs, and make America safer and more secure."

Another coincedental timing thing? This editorial in the NYTimes today, Lebanon's Lost Sovereignity and just last week I gave Raz the book, Pity the Nation by Robert Fisk.

Sam was delighted to be teased by so many of you about how he got his black eye. :-) However, he re-asserted (with a straight face!), ìThe black eye was from a fall.î

Weíve got a few new people added to the email list: Bill and Cheryl, Rick Scott, and Larry LaBarge. Sam had comments about each of you. :-)

Institutional coordination attempts to thwart free speech. That's my take on this story in the NY Times Tactics by Police Mute the Protesters, and Their Messages.

an honours student at RMIT is doing research into the psychology of blogging:
http://weblearn.rmit.edu.au/surveys/blog/.

cheers
Adrian Miles ~ Air-l-aoir.org@listserv.aoir.org

Well, the vernacular "roomies" works for me but one of them prefers the more classy-sounding "flatmates." I might have to compromise with "flatties." ;-)

We're planning our first of (hopefully monthly) parties...with alternating trepidation and excitement. Communication (among comm majors!) has had its tentative moments but I have no doubt we're going to pull it all together and have a smashing year. :-)