January 2005 Archives

NOW I know why Deb said it was an awful morning even for a Monday!

I know you all hardly ever get recognized, but personally I am very grateful for Sue's attention to detail, Deb's willingness to run down to the computer lab at any given moment in time, and Kathy's ready sense-of-humor.

I wish April was still in charge of registration!!

So very interesting developments. Did you all know that a similar attempt to nudge up enrollment figures occurred just long enough ago that its not in most current students' memory? I think it would be cool if any involved parties wanted to share your recollections.

This Dept of Defense site (!) lists housing and meals allowances around the world.

had a hard time navigating the Eurail's official webpage, so found a US seller.

I'm having a hard time finding a train or a flight from Strasbourg to Budapest. :-(

My good pal John Smith has created this awesome site, Deaf Smith Journals.

It's a competitive call for presentations of visual art, ASL in its natural parameters. Entries must be submitted by October 1, 2005. I hope many people enter!

Todd used a blog for his class on autobiographical media. Looks like it went well. :-)

My winter session's class blog was exciting for me, because the students really got into using it for thier own purposes.

Priority 7: These have a closing date of April 13 (electronic submission to Brussels).

shit. Here's a specifically policy related call due Feb 1! argh! (Is my stress showing?) %-/

I'll have to select the "research instrument" of being an SSA: a Specific Support Action.

Oh my gosh. They want a 25-page first stage proposal. And then a second (longer?) one upon invitation! to be valuated by relevance and potential impact (p. 4, pdf).

FP6 overview Looks like I need a partner. Not sure any are close enough?

Multilingual text analysis, providing cross-lingual information access

Human Language Translation and Translation Research

Should have joined the CES Immigration Network awhile ago: email Fiona Anderson f.adamson@ucl.ac.uk.

"Substantive areas of research covered by the network include: citizenship, national identity and multiculturalism in Europe; diaspora populations and diaspora politics; transnational communities; political asylum; refugees; forced migration; illegal migration and human trafficking; migration of skilled professionals; Roma and other transborder groups; dual citizenship; and relations between migration-sending and migration-receiving states. The network also supports research which examines the nexus between migration and other phenomena, such as: European integration; European Union enlargement; economic and cultural globalization; the welfare state; urban politics; Euro-Mediterranean relations; European security; organized crime; economic development; human rights regimes; ethnic politics; and indigenous and minority rights."

Retracing my steps:

applied for membership to SPSSI to become eligible for their $1000 grants due May 1.

Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid-of-Research is due March 15.

The CES fellowship is due February 1. Hurry! Oh my. It is very involved. :-(

oh my gosh!

Chartering Europe: Legal Status and Policy Implications of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

What's so European about the European Union? Legitimacy between Institution and Identity

I'm trying to figure out if any of my academic sources qualify.

Found a youth site which announces an upcoming (Feb) conference on the constitution and includes press releases. One regards Turkey and the Constitution.

ÝDick Cheney: Dressing Down

Becky sends this fab photo and suggests: "Enlarge the picture to get the full effect."

Ý

Ý

I had a great day working today. My teammate was (is!) awesome. :-) We had the best conversation at lunch, about her workshop on discretion (which gets as much of a plug as I can give it), and a quasi-update on where I am with the research on role.

Our conversation was fascinating because it was going along just fine, full of investigatory questions and comments, and then it got tense! Why? It was right before we had to get back to work.....and then didn't come up again....but was really on my mind. Why? Was I presenting my hypotheses and tentative findings in an ethnocentric or oppressive way? It worked out that we walked to our cars together, and the moment arose for me to ask if she'd felt the conversation get tense. (Maybe it was just me?) Yes, she had noticed! And she thought it was about something she was doing! Being too questioning or too .... something (I can't recall her word - persistent, maybe).

I haven't been too good about keeping up my deal re Sam and letting you all know what's up with him. Sorry.

He's doing fine. A bit restless; really wants to get out. Is psyched about seeing Phanton of the Opera but it hasn't come to Brattleboro yet. Would like to see The Aviator too.

And we're off! Twenty-seven students today (three no shows). After the opening "icebreaker" activity they had to fill out worksheets on the effect that particular icebreaker might have on the class as it unfolds. A way to try and get our attention on watching group processes. One student described the class as "unconventional". An observer thought so too - "you gave them mixed messages," on the one hand "it felt like a party", but "then there was a test!" "That," she said, "was a shock!" Hopefully her prediction that "they're really wondering" about the class and how it will turn out is accurate. We'll see if they're really "hooked"...

So, us TA's have been asked to over enroll our classes because, "Typically between 10% and 25% of students initially registered for a class drop by the third week (often DURING the third week).

I can only speak for myself, but in the four classes I've taught over the last two years it has been quite rare for a student to drop. It's happened a few times, yes, but no where near even the lowest 10% mark. Maybe the dept has stats to back up this claim?

Margaret Atwood is amazing. I listened to Oryx and Crake on tape a couple of months ago. Her view of how current trends in the bio-medical sciences could unfold are chilling. She's also got a keen vision on mass media. Downright creepy, most of it. fyi, John Clute hated it. His review reads like a personal attack - which I guess it is, since it's directed at Atwood's claims about her style of writing.

It's a bad sign when the semester begins today and I'm already tired!

Actually, the break was a real break until the last week when deadlines got a bit tight. Oh well, so it goes. I'm working (mentally, anyway) on my response to Stephen, but need a chunk of time to write it when I'm not distracted.

Meanwhile, a tidbit on one of the books I actually read for pleasure:

Robin recommended this guy and I checked out his webpage - found urban multilingualism working papers. Follow up!

This site has some interesting papers, including one Tom recommended by Werner Schiffauer.

Babies!

Becky sends:

http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1717_reg_print.html

See the chapter on blogs.

Carmen sent this on and I signed it. I was telling a friend last night that I wondered if there were Germans when Hitler was inaugurated who knew in their gut that something was deeply wrong, but felt powerless to do anything about it? At least I want to leave some evidence...

http://impeachbush.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=VTI_vote_now

Received some info in preparation for a job:

"This link has a nice picture that shows how wobble pairing occurs
http://www.web-books.com/MoBio/Free/Ch5C4.htm

And, we might as well cover the copolymer conundrum as part of PS2, which will be posted on blackboard within the next 24 hrs."

"The nematode genetics lab exercise"

Ah, the life! Never a dull moment!

I didn't watch or listen to Bush's speech today. Someone told me to was "really, really scary." Something about how freedom can burn you?

I have received so many responses from interpreters in AIIC that I am overwhelmed!! Some folk without leads for me are writing just to say good luck (thanks!), others are writing to let me know they're trying to hook me up with someone, and others are directly involved in the specific sites where I'll be doing the research.

I believe its really going to happen!

maybe the problem is with Shannon's post? Maybe she has an anti-cyber-communication from men blocker? :-) I got the same error message and there were no words with "men" in it. Gender-wise, I guess Stephen's off the hook.

so, this is my response to Shannon's post.
in time, it comes after I've read Stephen's post and includes a reference to it at the end.

"Ah, the rich irony is that I've tried to post this a few times over the past 24
hours, and it refuses to let me do so, with a message that says I am unable to
post because it is on a topic 'deemed controversial: men.'"

i googled myself today to find "documentation" that I'm really a sign language interpreter who wants to do research in Europe this summer. I came across this article in Utne Reader, which quotes me!

Community Leaders Says Public's Y2K Interest Is Waning. Yep, I was one of those. :-) I wasn't convinced there would be a crisis, but it didn't seem out of the realm of possibility. Maybe I've read too much science fiction. And, it was an issue I could care enough about to get involved with other folk who also cared in a concrete way about local community. I got to meet a lot of really neat people. :-)

word from Jen ~

"The Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe/Harvard has requested Mary Frances' papers! What a nice thing."

How wonderful. She deserves the honor. :-)

Donna sends this interview with Eric Boehlert which includes comments on navel-gazing. (Do you think she's trying to tell me something? - grin) Seriously, its about his take on "the enormous role the press plays in society, and specifically in regards to our political discourse."

I rely on Donna to share the good stuff from salon.com because checking that is something I haven't managed to work into my routine.

hello, all.

i'm finally here, on-line, on your screen in typeface. i just got steph's missive about needing us, and decided finally to respond. so here i am, signed on, ready to co-author even though barthes would have us all dead.

i'm wondering about my resistance to this, my computer, the blog, technology i don't understand (or care too much about)... and am afraid that besides my ignorance (and consequent avoidance) it doesn't feel kinetic to me, doesn't feel dynamic in the ways i know and am comfortable working through. so please forgive me that i would prefer ritualized dance with the group instead of sending myself wireless, destination you.

camille once invited us to the movies online, so i'll make a parallel leap, presenting in some fashion, the 'self'. i just adopted a cat (dory) who is scared of the world. she's hiding under my housemate's bed at the moment (housemate is none the wiser in argentina). i made cookies (vegan oatmeal choc. chip) yesterday and the apartment still smells sweet. my brother's old sweater (a gift from me when living in ireland, shrunk by my mother in the us) is usually too warm to wear even outside, but in here, today, it's just right.

and if anybody wants to go see that life aquatic movie, let me know.

i'm signed on now, still interested in bringing on the matter with kansas and performances/critiques of radical jesus.

stay warm.
--s

AllÈe du Printemps
B’timent Louise Weiss
BP 1024/F
F-67070 Strasbourg Cedex

+33 / (0)3 88 17 40 01

+33 / (0)3 88 17 51 84

epstrasbourg@europarl.eu.int

Todd sent me these (among other) questions awhile ago. I think the timing is good to answer them now because I basically threw down the gauntlet to my blogmates from DRP.

1. Do you remember the first time you thought, "hey I want to create a blog!" That is my "!" You might not have had a "!" when you thought of it.

When I learned about blogs, my "!" was the ability to combine two things: group dynamics (including discourse) and publicity (like Peter Wiggins of Ender's Game). Not that I identify with him in terms of personality or scale of ambition!

3. Do you think your "voice" or "identity" as changed since you started your blog?

My "voice", perhaps, but not my "identity." I think of voice more like representation, and I've tried to spice things up a bit. Early reviews found my writing dry, dull, and deadly. :-) I always wonder if people experience my writing as pedantic. (Do you?) As for my identity - in terms of my presentation or performance of self, I think I'm pretty consistent, but again, I don't know if others agree...?

Todd sent me these questions awhile ago. I think the timing is good to answer them. Since I threw down the guantlet to my blogmates from DRP.

1. Do you remember the first time you thought, "hey I want to create a blog!" That is my "!" You might not have had a "!" when you thought of it.

When I learned about blogs, my "!" was the ability to combine two things: group dynamics (including discourse) and publicity (like Peter Wiggins of Ender's Game). Not in terms of personality or scale of ambition!

3. Do you think your "voice" or "identity" as changed since you started your blog?

My "voice", perhaps, but not my "identity." I think of voice more like representation, and I've tried to spice things up a bit. Early reviews found my writing dry, dull, and deadly. :-) I always wonder if people experience my writing as pedantic. (do you?) As for my identity - in terms of my presentation or performance of self, I think I'm pretty consistent, but again, I don't know if others agree...?

Back to the official chain-of-command. I was thinking I'd already sent emails to them, but perhaps it was to other places? And, my request is obviously a miniscule detail amid a vast range of priorities.

Here's what's new: March 4 broadcast of "A First Review", an all-day conference on interpreting in the EU which will be webcast.

And, I have just learned that the SCIC does NOT arrange for interpreting at the Parliament's Plenaries. sigh Back to the drawing board!

Another lead trickles in. :-) This, from Elvira:

International Association of Conference Interpreters

A Chief Interpreter's View is an address from 1996 about interpreting within the UN system.

Ruth thinks it is ìHILARIOUS you donít think youíre depressed or have adjustment disorder." ;-) Hey! I usually don't. I think I'm living my life and dealing with the stuff that's happening to me, period. Not something to be pathologized. Just doing grief. But she was persistent in nailing me with any "evidence" I provided that she identified as "depression." "That's what it feels like," she'd say. Ok alright. I know I still am mostly depressed, because when I have those periods of happiness they are in stark contrast to how I usually feel. But I still think the process itself is a basic human life/living one.

I just received acceptance to present at the next national American Sign Language interpreters convention in San Antonio!

Eileen Forestal will join me. Yippee yahooooooo!

Here's what the proposal looks like:

Making progress! Mechtild is coming through for me!!! :-)

The sites are all in German, but Norbert Z”nker is head of the German national interpreting association (BDÐ). He does conference interpreting, as does another woman who's name and email Mechtild provided.

This yellow pages link is for German-Turkish interpreting. Isn't this awesome?!!!

Also: the German sign language association and its Berlin chapter.

I really enjoyed this Indian film, Fire, with friends last night. (The running commentary was entertaining too, grin.) Afterwards we discussed the slower pacing at the beginning (which made it seem like a "bad movie" to one critic) as a means of introducing the loaded topic of lesbianism to a mainstream Indian audience. It got much better (!), but I also felt like the first kiss was not realistic at all.

We went for culinary risk at the new Tibetan restaurant in Noho. Ate it, it was ok but I liked my chicken soup better. :-) The dumplings were yummy too, especially with the spicy sauce. Best, though, was the company and the nice, mellow chat. Grad student life, my woes, then back to the apartment for wine, German chocolate (!), and more schmoozing. Lesbian politics, discourse analysis (here's where I want to go someday), Kinsey, and the fundamentalist Concerned Women for America. Oh, how could I forget Annie Sprinkle?

who went off and started his own blog (instead of becoming a TEAM on MINE hmmmph!) and what does he do but go off and find some philosophical reminiscing on blogger's dying?

What interested is me how far the links go back to the source (I went through three blogs and chose not to read the 'hidden message' that apparently was revealed after someone recently died.

Some comments from Paul Jones, which he describes as: "not an official reading, but i blogged about a session on corporate blogging held at the O'Reilly Camp this fall. the upside is several links to corporate blogs and references to current corporate bloggers and the issues they, the corporate bloggers, see as important."

Worker sacked over blog comments

"Mr Gordon claimed his dismissal breached his right to free speech."

~ from Rowin Young via the air-l listserv

I kinda want to download these smiley faces, but the end license user agreement is intense! If i submit anything to them, it becomes their intellectual property. wow. I don't know why I would do that, but if I did....! Their privacy stuff seems good as long as they don't sell the company; if they do, then it looks like the privacy protection goes out the window. ;-(

I've been slow to follow up on this lead from Jackie Urla: The European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages. However, it seems to be only invested in autochthonous languages? And I'm more interested in the allochthonous ones.

I've received the name of one Turkish-German interpreter who works in legal and medical settings in Berlin, but no contact info. No luck with the EU folk in Strasbourg yet. But I keep getting more leads and tossing out more feelers. Eventually I'll get some bites. :-)

I just picked up Tove Skutnabb-Kangas' co-edited book on linguistic human rights...

I like her opening to her homepage, "I am what I write?" :-) There are many links to follow. (go there again!) Many Deaf education and interpreter training programs use her work.

a sociolinguistic perspective on linguistic human rights

bibliography with links re linguistic human rights

Well, rumor has it Denise will actually finish her inspiring dissertation on suicide in 2005. Hope this doeesn't jinx her! Carolyn provided quite the anticipatory dinner (yum), and we finished off the dregs of four (4) bottle of liquor. Grand Marnier is pretty good stuff! Denise and I then took a midnight hike up Rattlesnake Gutter. It was beautiful in the snow and half-moonlight.

Was I supposed to finish writing that EFS grant proposal tonight? oh. %-/

i'm already in trouble. gulp!. Probably not really, but making language work accurately and precisely is going to be even more of a challenge in a context I don't know so well. Tom advises (his words but the links are mine):

"I notice you write of "Turkish culture" - in case you're not aware:
Turkey is / Turks are almost as diverse as Europe/ans, despite the Turkish
state's efforts to forge a unitary culture. And a lot of the 'Turks' in
Europe are Kurds for a start, or Alevis (whom some call the 'Blacks' of
Islam) or from the many other minorities (and many in the UK are
Cypriots)... For an expert and activist I suggest the author of "Turkish
Speaking Communities and Education: No Delight" and other books - Aydin Mehmet Ali."

Human beings suffer,
They torture one another,
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.

History says, Don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

That means someone is hearing
The outcry and birth-cry
Of new life at its term . . . .

The transfer of authority for decision-making, finance, and management to local government. Devolution usually transfers responsibilities for services to municipalities that elect their own mayors and councils, raise their own revenues, and have independent authority to make investment decisions. In a devolved system, local governments have clear and legally recognized geographical boundaries over which they exercise authority, and within which they perform public functions. It is this type of administrative decentralization that underlies most political decentralization.

http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/civilservice/glossary.htm

Tom Cheesman turned me on to Marilyn Martin-Jones. :-) I've yet to actually land a specific person in the Berlin area but the list of names and network of contacts keeps growing. Very exciting!

She and Tom were in contact about asylum issues with (lack of) interpreting. Tom wrote that he's been "getting heavily involved in local voluntary work with refugees (see www.hafan.org). This brings me up against the realities very sharply (sheer lack of interpreters / translators, lack of funding for such services in legal, medical and other critical contexts, huge harm done by unethical and incompetent practitioners and lack of understanding of translationissues among service providers, reliance on children, friends... Also growing reliance by organisations on telephone services which are rarely satisfactory from clients' p.o.v.). "

Donna sends the linnk to musingonamerica a new blog by Jerry Lanson.

Sharp.

post-migrant Turkish-German Culture: Transnationalism, Translation, Politics of Representation

Dialogue on the Third Language: Germans, Turks and Their Future

Bastardized Language & Fear of Bilingualism

This would be cool to attend, Summer Institute on international Migration, Ethnic Diversity and Cities. A bit pricey, but it does have a track on integration policies: "This block focuses on national and local integration regimes as developed in different welfare states, and the (perverse) effects of integration policies."

check out the faculty for possible contacts...

before I totally crash:

interparliamentary delegations, one includes Turkey.

Here's an Internal Organization page for Interpreting that is currently under revision. Check it later!

A definition: Full multilingualism means that interpretation is provided from and into all official languages of the Union. This will continue to apply in connection with simultaneous interpretation of plenary sittings and meetings of Parliamentary bodies, the parliamentary committees and the political groups.

However, in meetings involving smaller numbers of Members, which have no bearings on Parliament's decision-making procedures (delegations outside the places of work, working parties etc) the arrangements should be more flexible.

Also, The right of every Member to follow debates and express himself/herself in their own mother language is explicitly provided for in the Parliament's Rules of Procedure.

Download the pdf on the Sixth Framework Program: participating in European research.

ethical rules

open calls for proposals

of Germany is located in Berlin. Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Ðbersetzer e.V.. Of course all the info is in German. :-) My friend Mechtild (met at CL4) might be able to hook me up with folks there.

And, this link is very promising - monthly parliamentary meetings in Strasbourg, which is right on the border with Germany.

This science fiction book by John Barnes has been on my mind since the tsunami. I enjoyed it when I read it ... 4 or 5 years ago? Keen predictions on several trends, and spooky with the stuff about (attempting to) control the weather. At least, that's how I remember it, the reviewer describes it a bit differently but maybe it was a combination of an 'accident' and planned attempts at direct influence? The media stuff was creepy. Similar to media prediction in Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. Also intense, and awful grim.

Translation DG's field office in Germany

http://www.germany-info.org/relaunch/welcome/work/guide.html

Shemaya is going to be published in French!

She wrote a nice bit about Mary Frances too, GetOut: Mary Frances (you have to scroll down past the spam, sigh). it seems there are new comments there since I last read it. (Link back to my entry, In Memoriam.)

The Toddster must be bored. Here's what he sent me via email today; do you think I should actually respond?! %-)

Interview for Steph

I read the other day that blog was the most looked up thing on the Internet. Do you know what #2 was? Incumbent.

Wow. Never get complacent with group dynamics! This winter's group (interpersonal comm) started IN storming. Well, not really of course, but within two hours. So, no easing into skills development; we're taking the plunge. I've been literally exhausted after class the past few days. Maybe it's 'cause I haven't been doing people very much for three weeks? That could be part of it, but I think it's also the unique mix of this group: seven guys and one woman. And young. No duh - traditional undergraduates. But usually I have a few "older" students too. So this is a very different configuration than I've experienced before. Nothing like being on the edge of my own learning curve!

Here's the link to their blog, we start using it today.

7th Conference on Minority Languages

Nation-Building, Ethnicity and Language Politics in Transition Countries

Information seminar on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages - The role of non-governmental organizations within the scope of the Charter.

PART I develops an analytical framework where language policy is viewed as a form of public policy. The framework is based on the economic approach to language and language planning, with a strong inter-disciplinary orientation.

According to Stephen, who I saw on campus yesterday (we're both teaching winter session courses), we are one hot group! He praised our papers collectively and said it's really time we share our work - not only with each other (but that's a start), but with the world. Publish!

I think it'll go easier if we do some kind of "support group" for/with each other...share our stuff, talk about it amongst ourselves, motivate - rewrites, submissions, etc. Who's with me? My second "teaser" is included below...

Saw this film last night. Liked it. He was an ambitious guy, and, bottom-line for me, he changed history. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like if he had not done the work he did.

Would like to know how accurate the movie was to the known facts of his life and work. It struck me as balanced between the much less pleasant - even unethical, and fair to the spirit and intention of his vision. He doesn't come across as a hero, just driven. Compelled, even. I think one would have to be to face the criticism and scorn he endured. And, they absolutely went too far in many respects. But as far as the basics of identifying the wide range of natural human sexual practices? Thanks.

I'm sad. NPR did a great story with excerpts of her speech announcing her bid for the democratic nomination for the presidency, 1972 election. She was a hot ticket!

Shirley Chisholm dies at 80 (L.A. Times)

In the NYTimes article today: "Our representative democracy is not working," she wrote in a 1970 book that borrowed her campaign slogan as its title, "because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men."

"incredulity toward metanarratives" ? - Jean-Francois Lyotard This essay says NOT.

or

the "age of indeterminacy" ? - Ihab Hassan It's not so keen on this either...SOME things are random, but maybe not as many as we think.

characterized by "indisciplinarity, working outside of the parameters of one's own body or field of knowledge" ? - Charles Jencks

Sreela posted this but the comment function is screwed up. :-( She wrote:

I am thinking of the relationship between micro and macro seen through the metaphor of the body politic. The phrase "the king is dead, long live the king" suggests that a larger organic whole (monarchy)goes on despite the the component(king)missing/dead. Yet the king/micro is what the macro (kingdom) derives its value from. I am not sure that made sense! But microcosms have always been celebrated, I guess, like the Romantic poets who visualized a unity in the micro scenery representing the universe.

I like the idea of postmodernism as a "preoccupation." Interesting choice of words, implying a tendency toward obsession?

[S]he was part of my dream, of course -- but then I was part of [her] dream too.
-- Lewis Carroll

There's a concerted effort by members of the UMass campus to generate aid for survivors of the natural disaster in Southeast Asia. You do not need to be a member of the UMass community to help. Please scroll to the end for URLS and contact info for direct donations, or contact one of these folk:

Swati Birla, Department of Public Health
sbirla@schoolph.umass.edu OR sbirla@donahue.umassp.eduÝÝ

Sirisha Naidu, Resource Economics Dept
naidu@resecon.umass.edu

Anu M Sundaram, Polymer Science Department
anu_revathy@yahoo.co.in

Steph Kent, Communication Department
kentcon@sover.net

" What we call "postmodernism," whether we refer to the sciences or the humanities, is a certain preoccupation with the role of the human observer in the composition and perception -- perhaps even construction -- of reality."

~ To See More Clearly and Broadly: Science and the Postmodern Sentiment

This is the best, most concise explanation I've come across to explain postmodernism (I'll have to read more of this online journal, Reconstruction to see if/how they distinguish this from poststructuralism).

by Lorraine Sullivan

This was the hardest paper I've ever written. It sure ain't perfect (I dread the revision process already!) but ... I sure hope I'll get some feedback from my peers. hint hint :-)

Participating members: Camille, Joanna, Steph, Leda, Stephen, Scott, Becky, David. By reference, Bryan, Viveca, and Donna .

"ìEmpirically Fatî