February 2006 Archives

That's how I felt about Match Point, Woody Allen's latest (and by some accounts, best) film. It's message? There is no meaning; everything comes down to luck. The protagonist is never happy, despite the stream of "good" and "bad luck" that happens to him. Even when he taunts it, it goes his way, despite his Dostoevskiesque maunderings. Ultimately, Chris performs with seemingly extreme rationality to maximize his agency. Yet one must wonder, since he never rejects an offer of apparent good luck, if he's not in thrall to some deeply-ingrained suspicion or fear that ultimately rules his every "choice". Does it come down to the difference between love and lust or is that merely another rationalization to justify his violent resolution of good luck gone bad?

Allen is sanguine about the role of luck in the making of the film:

"Woody on luck: The entire film was permeated with luck. The film is about luck and the film is permeated with good luck, that it came through in London, that the weather was good every time I needed something. I got lucky with the actors and actresses in the film. The film came out pretty well I thought and I'm usually a harsh critic of my films. This one I felt positive about."

I enjoyed TransAmerica with friends at the Pleasant St. Theatre last night. We had alternative opinions about its smooth resolution. Was it just a typical Hollywood happy ending? Did it resolve too quickly, too painlessly, the awkwardness of a son trying to seduce the only person who's been consistently kind to him - who he doesn't know is a biological parent? I was impressed by the clean, clear and morally unhesitating response of the parent, who is instantly all too aware of the horrible reality her son will now face: "I don't want it. I don't want to like it. I don't want it at all."

My buddy asked me if my family was that entertaining. Don't I wish! :-/ Searing honesty about mutual disappointments could have made caricatures out of them all (mom/grandmother is a bit over the top), but in the end there is a bond that supercedes mistakes and character flaws.

"Wanda" and I have faced a couple of interpreting challenges recently. One is the perennial issue of not knowing the subject matter. "I feel like he's poured out a bag of multicolored M&M's with every sentence and I have to sort them."

It isn't that one has to know every subject in great depth and detail, but one does need to be conversant with the general types of thinking that go along with a particular setting. For instance, I think I was mistaken a while back when I said one shouldn't take a job involving "gay history" without knowing gay history...it isn't that the facts need to be known, but the general issues and concerns of the group should be familiar, as well as important terms commonly used in the community.

Similarly, interpreting for graduate level classes means one must be prepared for deep theoretical discussions. Of course we can't know each and every particular theory, but the larger framework of concerns about thought, thinking, research, the construction of knowledge and questions about what it means "to understand" span most coursework at that level. These broad concerns may not come up all the time, but we ought not be caught off guard when they do. My M&M-sorting colleague had a bad day (normally she handles this stuff with aplomb). But the event clarified for me a way of talking about what "minimum qualifications" mean in a given setting or for a particular assignment.

And - speaker's sentences can feel like multicolored M&Ms needing sorting for other reasons too: for instance, their own lack of organization! As Seleskovitch writes: "The message is naturally conditioned by the person who originates it". If a speaker doesn't provide a framework or fails to explain transitions from one topic/subject to the next, meaning is hard to grasp. In these instances, one has to wonder if the speaker themself knows what they mean or even has a point that they are trying to convey!

The worst situation is when both conditions collide.

It's time for me to dive in to the literature on the theory of interpretation. The obvious starting point is with Danica Seleskovitch who published the first descriptive (explanatory) materials for training purposes in 1968 (blurb from a google search - the URL won't open). I've got Interpreting for International Conferences (1978) with me now. There are updates, expansions, digressions, and alternatives on the AIIC website, where I'll soon spend considerable time.

Daniel Giles has divided interpreting research in the West into four periods, with a particular emphasis on the "Paris School," which theorized interpreting as based on meaning (French sens) and renamed (when?) "La théorie interprétative de la traduction", the interpretative theory of translation." This is the primary theory informing the practice of professional simultaneous interpreters at the European Parliament.

Squeeze number three. But today someone mentioned an alternative screening possibility, so I checked it out with the radiation tech. Lisa hadn't heard of it...thermasomething, but she did say ultrasound is used at a certain point to determine if a lump is cystic (has fluid) or solid (biopsy time). A lot of stuff is being done with MRI technology now, but nothing new in this arena. The most interesting part of the conversation (I thought) was comparing European and US research. We both had the sense of the Europeans being much more broadly interested and even experimental with a wider range of concern while the US is more invested in high-profile crisis research.

The other point had to do with the doses of radiation used these days compared with the old days. I did ask (according to my rights, posted on the wall) for the exact dosage.... it's calculated in millirems and she cited some comparitives to emphasize the minimal risk involved. It reminded me of concerns someone had at some point when I was a kid with all kinds of dental work being done and a few concussions....that we needed to be careful of the number of xrays I had. Lisa said dentists used to use very high dosages (apparently not so anymore). At any rate, I wondered - is that what happened to my memory? Some of my synapses got fried or otherwise 'mis'configured? :-) That would explain a lot...

JOIN THE MARCH ON WHITMORE!
March 8, 2006
12:15 at the Student Union Steps

Join us in presenting Chancellor Lombardi and the UMass Administration
with a list of STUDENT DEMANDS & signed petitions in support of those
demands.

Our demands:
1. We DEMAND that this University prohibit ALL forms of MILITARY RECRUITMENT on our campus. No more preferential treatment of the US Military!
2. We DEMAND that the University remove the F.B.I. agent currently on its payroll. Keep education and law enforcement separate!
3. We DEMAND that the University REFUSE TO ACCEPT all future research grant funding provided by the US Department of Defense and its subsidiary agencies. Money for education, not war.

You can read the complete text of the letter to be delivered to Chancellor
Lombardi.

It's a weird sense of presence - his absence. I note things I want to tell him, catch myself thinking about the next visit ... remember odds and ends, tidbits of memories from this story or that anecdote. Received emails from various folk, "Sam's People". He put so much fun and love and all-around good feelings into circulation. :-)

The formal obituary with details of his life will be submitted to the papers soon. Lee asked me for some kind of something...what I wrote doesn't follow the obituary format so probably won't be included:

This "most important movie for women to see in 2005" was too intense for light banter throughout. Although a few flip comments did float out into the darkened living room at La Guarida, for the most part we were a quiet and attentive audience. Banter was intense before and after . . .

Prior to the screening, Consuela Bananahammock was asked, "Do you want a piece of my bottom?" - apparently because she didn't appreciate the coconut on top of the homemade carrot cake. A late arrival, after getting a synopsis of what had happened so far, thought he'd "seen the end of this before" and was promptly informed how such could not be possible. One of our hosts spent most of the time out of the room on the phone. He did inquire as to the media effect of this particular film at this particular time - is it attempting "to do" something? I almost wondered if there was a subtext: sexual harassment is so DOA? Don't we wish. :-( I speculated about the number of social justice-themed movies up for one kind of Oscar or another. Now, I wonder, this may or may not be a direct effect of the type of movies selected - many of which (so I'm told) are smaller production affairs than the typical Hollywood glitz.

# of rapscallions in attendance? Nine.

I showed Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room to my mass media class last night. They spoke vigorously among themselves in pairs, but were hesitant to speak to us all - shyness or were they overwhelmed? The emotions named were mad, sad, and scared.

We spent the most time discussing the link between Enron and the (manufactured) California energy "crisis". How deliberate was coordinated planning between Bush's political allies and Enron's economic motivations? Speculation also arose about the timing of September 11. Were the attacks coordinated on purpose to distract the public from the upcoming scandal? I don't personally think so but certainly the media's agenda-setting function kicked right into gear (not to mention the dialectical response of Bush et al which has escalated more tensions than it resolved).

I want to go to this conference in Chicago next fall.

It was some kind of bowling night. Not only did we have to wait forever to get a lane, but only two (2) people broke into triple digits! Well, unless you count Anuj, a.k.a. Robin Hood, who bowled a perfect 100 in his last game.

For some reason, tonight was the night I finally remembered to take the informed consent forms. Since we weren't bowling (!), everyone had plenty of time to dispute my intentions. LB did his level best to dissuade folks from giving permission of any kind...I don't know if the fact that most everyone did sign a form means I have a higher trust factor than he does? ;-)

I confess. I liked it. I wasn't so drawn in at first, but it grew on me as I listened. I think the reader's voice may come across too cheerfully? I'm not quite sure how to characterize it. She was consistent though, and pulled some nice tonal inflections which did add to the storytelling, especially near the end.

I can't locate my notes, which is kindof a bummer, so I can only report the line I remember:

Feel free to share this link to the "Presidential Warp".

This was the encore number at "Remembering Ray," a mixed combo, big band, and solo vocalist who performed at the Academy of Music this afternoon. Cynthia Scott was fun (if a wee bit heterosexist - I sang with the women and the men).

I liked Come Rain or Come Shine, then she followed it with Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying. Romance don't last long, does it?

Fathead was hot. Kinda bold too, announcing that Ms. Scott was not one of the Raelettes who "let Ray." Can you imagine that price of fame? No no no, I never slept with the lecher.

I especially enjoyed the third song played by the Jeff Holmes Big Band. Was it Walkin 'and Talkin'? Then there was the best small group moment: Yoron Isreal refusing to come out the groove after his first drum solo. Radam and Scott checked him out and laughed.

I've seen many but not all of this year's nominees.

Watched two movies this evening, Bulworth, and Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

I enjoyed Bulworth's assault on the current state of political-economic affairs, but mostly I empathized with the fact of making personal mistakes on the grandest public scale possible. I wish I could learn well in a more discrete fashion but it just doesn't seem to be my modus operandi.

I'll confess, "Diary" just made me sad with it's them of love gone wrong. It's hardly a comedy, as my fellow movie-viewers critiqued, it is falsely advertised as such. It's more a proselytizing film for Christianity - and not necessarily in its most radical/humanizing form. Nonetheless, once we've made people "pay" for their sins against us (real or imagined?), we do have the option to forgive and move on. Best would be to forgive before any degree of retribution but such requires true sainthood, yes?

The assault on learning continues. Now, the administrators of Notre Dame University wish to ban events for fear of endorsing "values that conflict with Roman Catholicism."

Contrast that attitude with the Hebrew-Christian collaboration between two colleges in Massachusetts. The partnership assumes "interrelation with others is a source of enrichment that expands us rather than threatens."

Meanwhile, McCarthiesque efforts to shut down so-called "liberal" professors continue throughout the US.

Truman was a messed up dude, as far as I can tell from the depiction in the movie. He was brilliant, understood the power of media (as in McLuhan's infamous "the medium is the message") and apparently had no compunction in using people's lives as fodder for a good story - to wit, In Cold Blood.

His own life wasn't so glamorous, which isn't an excuse for being nonchalant with others' lives - regardless of their own choices. The most compelling line of the movie, to me, was when Capote explains the similarity between his life and the life of Perry Smith - who turns out to be the one who committed all four of the cold-blooded murders. "One day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front."

Yes, and. Truman Capote may have walked out the front door and led a life that didn't violate the law, but that doesn't mean his actions didn't violate other persons. He needed Perry Smith and Dick Hickock to be guilty and die for their crime. They were, and they did... does it excuse his lack of compassion? His book was more important to him than their lives. But they were guilty - most especially Perry, to whom Capote became most close.

Six Rapscallions gathered again at La Guarida last night to dissect The Constant Gardener. A seventh left before the movie, not wanting to "ruin it" for the rest of us by talking through it. As if! Some of us struggled with the British brogue and the low/muffled sound of much of the dialogue. After the first rewind and debriefing (in which it was determined only 30% of us "caught it" the first time around) we turned on the captioning. Oh my.

Careers for Communication Majors Ref P916.3...

Career Opportunities in Advertising and Public Relations Ref HF5828.4 F54 2002

Occupational Outlook Handbook Ref HF5381 U62

So said my fortune from Chinese dinner on Tuesday night. Lee, Pat, Phil, Lorraine and I completed the clean-out of Sam's belongings yesterday. The weather could not have been more congenial for moving. Did Sam plan it all? :-)

The staff at Eden were wonderful. Many came in to share condolences and reminesce: his editorship of the newsletter and presidency of the resident's council, all the teases (too too many to recount!), his attention to detail and concern for fairness. "It will never be the same," one aide said. Several folks from Eden are working on tributes to Sam for the next newsletter; I'll share that when it comes out.

Sam's largest plant was placed in the downstairs windowbay, by the lobby. May it thrive.

"Peace is a fabric and people must work their way into the fabric," says Sam. One man cannot make world peace by himself, but he can find inner peace without the help of others.

~ Inscribed on the back of this double exposure by Evan when he was as middleschooler at Hilltop Montessori. The deck is the upstairs balcony at Sam's home in Putney.

And here's an old photo of Sam with all his siblings. Sam would be the one rubbing his eye. Such a cutie-pie!!

Sam's body was cremated today. Lee dressed him up all spiffy, and included three pinecones from the land around his Putney home and a few other special tidbits.

It was an eventful evening, perhaps capped off by the new ricocheting-ball technique invented by the newbie who "got the link [last week] but didn't even check". Alex helped the cause tremendously when she confirmed, "It was kindof rude." [Gasp! The nerve!]

Responses to the blog continue to range from none (with its vast range of possible meanings) through varying degrees of puzzlement to statements of ... well, appreciation is an overstatement, mild enjoyment perhaps. As I've heard, sometimes anyone can read and understand, sometimes the entries are sensible only to those who were at the event, and, as Anuj says: "Sometimes no one knows what's going on!" Rumor has it (btw) that his spin "turned the corner" this week. Such was noted - independently - both by LB and Lava, who said "watch his spoons." I don't really know what that meant, but I watched anyway. He was tied with Lava at 43 in the 4th frame of their first game....

Broughton equated coming out to bowling on the night before her thesis defense with eating raw sea urchin. "That's adventurous enough for me!" She's a "Monkey" according to the Chinese calendar: "clever and skillful to the point of genius, practical and given to detail..." Perfect for the defense!

Just in Time showed up NOT on time, but promises he'll be back and actually bowl next time. uh hmmm. ;-) Max showed up in his cowboy boots drinking beer. Meanwhile Sabina was here for two days worth of work for some study abroad program (for some reason she was shy to give me a link to it...?)

"I am everyone who ever died, without a voice, or a prayer, or a hope, or a chance. Everyone who ever suffered for being an Indian, for being human, for being indigenous, for being free...." The audio track continues.

Apparently there was a hearing on his case yesterday but I don't find any news about the outcome yet.

There will be a run-off election for secretary-treasurer of the Graduate Employee Organization (roughly, the student union) this week. Read Swati's statement.
(Yes, read her competitor's as well.)

Then vote!

He couldn't have choreographed it better, leaving on a wintry Vermont night under the full moon. Lee didn't know that Sam had told me way back that he wanted to leave listening to Mahler - she mentioned to me that she'd taken some CDs over to the hospital and that was one of them. It all just came together. I hadn't remembered this until Lee said how much Sam loved Mahler - it sparked that memory from Sam's first year in the nursing home, when we spent so much time talking about death.

I spent several hours with Lee at Eden Park. She's been taking care of business: paperwork, at the funeral home, serving as the communication node for everyone, and sorting through his stuff. One of the nurses, Sue, came in. She was on vacation last week. It was hard on the staff here that Sam went over to the hospital because they weren't able to say goodbye. It was the right decision under the circumstances, but hard all the way around. Dani and Paul came in and we toasted Sam, remembered many special moments. We listened to Marvin Gaye. Danced. Laughed. Just like Sam would want us to. Paul said, "He didn't want nobody to feel bad for him!" Lee described Sam's parties - how "he always wanted all of his friends to be friends with each other: the circle of Sam."

There are so many memories in this room, with Sam's belongings. I remember painting his wheelchair - we made it groovy. :-) That first year I visited every Wed night after hours (!), and we'd talk and hang and talk and laugh. Sometimes we'd watch movies - his favorite of all time, The Princess Bride. We once gave him Nosey Parker. Some ofher movies we enjoyed together: Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Fight Club... and then the music. Josh Groban, Johnny Adams, Annie Lennox, Gregorian chant, opera, blues, on-and-on...so much happiness here.

Lee hasn't taken the paintings down yet. It's odd to walk in here and feel Sam and know he's gone. He sure claimed this room! His energy's still in it, in his things and the memories they spark. In us.

Just peeking at the introduction to a collection of essays, The Grammar of Politics, which attempts to apply Wittgenstein's reputedly conservative politics to more radical practices.

A quote from his later work speaks to my writing students and to my own linguistic evolution (if I can be so bold as to hope certain changes are an improvement).

"But how many kinds of sentences are there? . . . There are countless kinds. . . . And this multiplicity is not something fixed, given once and for all; but new types of language, new language-games, as we may say, come into existence, and others become obsolete and forgotten. . . . Here the term 'language-game' is meant to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or of a form of life. (PI $ 23)" (p 5-6).

A bit later, the term "moral imagination" (coined by Sabina Lovibond) is introduced to describe a commitment "for creating and sustaining immanent yet sometimes oppositional political languages" (6-7). Indeed (referencing James Tully's Political Philosophy as Critical Activity, and aligning with Quentin Skinner, Charles Taylor, Jonathan Havercroft, & David Owen), "This approach starts from the rough ground of practice rather than theory: from political language games that are experienced as problematic and are called into question to become the site of struggle" (8).

The goal of such engagement (genealogical in some respects) is "to change our conventional way of looking at problems in which we are entangled and to enable us to think differently about them" (9).

The Immigrant Solidarity Network is organizing protests TOMORROW against upcoming repressive anti-immigration legislation.

Specifically, protests in Pennsylvania tomorrow will try to raise public awareness about H.R. 4437 Sensenbrenner-King, which passed the House of Representatives last December. According to the email I received, the bill will

"***make any relative, employer, student, coworker, co-congregant, or friend of an undocumented immigrant into an “alien smuggler” and a criminal. The legislations “smuggling” provisions go way beyond any common sense definition of a “smuggler,” and include average people going about their business. For example, it makes criminals out of the: soccer mom who drives her neighbors to the grocery store, the local ESL teacher, the neighbors who has a live-in nanny, landscapers who drive workers to jobs, etc.

***To require employers to verify workers’ legal status, without providing access to legal workers through immigration reform."

Sam used to recall the discrimination, verbal epithets, vandalism and threats of violence his family experienced as immigrants when he was a boy. Maybe that's one of the factors that played into his deep conviction that people are people and borders are a nuisance at best and a curse at worst. His interest in politics never flagged, although he was more prone to just go out and help people become friends rather than engage in direct collective action. He would support and encourage us to do it, though, wanna bet? (If anyone knows of his participation in public rallies like this I'd sure like to learn about them. Did he have a civic action phase?)

“He’s gone, Steph.” Lee's voice was thick just before 7 am this morning. "A nurse came in at 4:30 and told me." Lee had dozed off in the hospital bed next to Sam, who hadn't really been "with it" since her arrival yesterday. He had been responsive when the Eden staff made the decision to send him to BMH but Lee's not sure he was aware of her presence - at least, he was no longer able to give any signs. His decline began during the night shift Thursday night/Friday morning. Lee told me last night about the excellent care Sam was getting from the staff at Brattleboro Memorial; she was glad he was there being ministered to so attentively.

An email from Pat late last night said Lee "is his angel for now til he gets to the real ones..."

It will take a while for scheduling any kind of event. Sam had some specifications about what he did/didn't want...have to work those out.

Lee was imagining Sam in his VW, driving around Vermont, wearing jeans, and getting out to walk around with his hands in his pockets.

I remember our last few conversations, in which he expressed gratitude for our friendship, and told me to "get on with your life." Of course, that is what he will want us all to do. Lee summed it up: "A lot of people loved him. He will be missed."

when Lee and I were going through these slides with Sam, I had the weirdest moment....that looks like my mom, that's my dad! Those are my parents! In the backyard of our house in Denver. :-) It might have been Sam's last visit before we moved to Florida...circa 1976.

Here is is, the infamous photo taken by Tom.

As you can see, Sam's early academic career did not indicate that he'd be rubbing shoulders with genius:

Captain Neary appears as a young 'un in this photo with Sam and a family in ... Turkey? I forget. Lee knows!

Alvino, is this you? We weren't sure and Sam's vision isn't clear enough to tell...

And here's a great shot of Sam in his Putney living room.

Well all, Sam's back in the hospital with another urinary tract infection. They have not been kind to him. Send thoughts. Meanwhile, enjoy these pix:

Young Sam blurred. Lee and I had fun checking out the hairstyles, glasses, and other fashion trends. :-)

When I learned of these cartoons (via two headline stories in the NYTimes a week ago), I inquired of a journalist friend. I then summarized our conversation to another friend via email:

"We agreed that provocative humor is important but ought (?) to be wielded with an eye toward some 'higher' goal rather than the mere incitement of xenophobia. My pal also talked about the editorial responsibility of making the decision to publish. In the current political context, there needs to be complete assurance that no one's job is going to be sacrificed to appease the predictable public outcry. In other words, the decision to publish carries a lot of ethical weight. It must be clean and clear enough to be justifiable and withstand criticism."

She responded:

"I agree on your point about editorial accountability/responsibility, in the muhammad cartoon debate. I also find it very interesting to think about how the issue has been conceptualized in terms of minority/majority cultural conflict; however, who constitutes the threatened minority (muslims in denmark or danes in the world?) and who constitutes the majority in power (danes in denmark or muslims in the world) changes continously, depending on whose perspective is assumed."

Meanwhile, I received an inflammatory anti-Muslim email from another friend, which I passed on to my journalist buddy with the comment:

"I became friends with this woman, a Jew, who impressed the hell out of me on every level.... our friendship has cooled some since I learned of her rabid views but I'm intrigued.... how can such contradictions be possible in one otherwise kind and wise?"

The response was both sharp and insightful:

"Yup, and then there's that. How easy it is to be asking "But why aren't they rising up?" of downtrodden people, uneducated and unemployed, whose lives have, for generations, been mired in helplessness, forced and ideological submission to clever thugs... cosntantly searching for something spiritually meaningful (if material welfare is not to be had at any costs)."

I had all this in mind when I was reading the comments posted in two British web-forums last night (excerpted in Dr Suess and WAR). Toward the end of a long, detailed, markedly "rational" discussion, someone blames the media for making it such a circus. Of course, the participants neglect to notice how their own comments inflame and enliven the very tensions they bemoan.

Who knew? Dr. Seuss was overtly political? I know there are metaphors for social relations in his popular children's books but not that he also sketched editorial cartoons. Cool. I wonder if he'd take a pro/con side in the Mohammed cartoon bisaster? Here's some disturbing anti-Muslim discussion on the Sheffield Forum and a bloglink to The Daily Ablution's roundup of UK news coverage from Feb 3rd, which includes some streaming video.

A friend recently lauded Robert Fisk but not so Scott Burgess, who takes Fisk to task.

Yasser sends this New Left Review article about his father, Abd al-Rahman Munif, explaining "It's almost an accurate account of Munif's work and political views." This leaves one to wonder where it is off! But for a generally naive american like myself, it looks like quite an impressive corpus demonstrating a good deal of personal courage.

Mr. Munif died a year ago.

The author of this piece, Sabry Hafez, makes many laudatory claims: they convince me I ought to read at least some of these works. For instance, "Ard al-Sawad is by far the best Arabic novel on Iraq."

"Here and Now is a hospital in Prague where ex-political prisoners are sent by their parties for treatment, to seek a cure for their bodies and souls. The hospital, however, is no isolated cosmos, but a locus of contending forces in which external political powers are also at work."

Munif is most famous for Sharq al-Mutawassit, East of the Mediterranean, "whose public impact was deep and immediate."

A close second for fame might be the quintet, Cities of Salt, which Hafez describes as "construct[ing] a fictional universe of remarkable imaginative coherence that is a passionate cry against what Munif once called the trilogy of evils afflicting the Arab world—rentier oil, political Islam and police dictatorship—and a profound call for justice and freedom."

"A World without Maps offers a fresco of a huge city that has descended into obscurity and chaos."

"Endings remains one of the most advanced fictions in contemporary Arab literature."

"Hin Tarakna al-Jisr (When We Abandoned the Bridge, 1976), already showed his restlessness and capacity for formal reinvention."

This is what happens when I'm not feeling well but resist going to sleep. I would swear that I selected three spam comments to delete but NO, I erased a whole 17 good ones along with them. An irretrievable error. Did someone say something about a slow learning curve? :-(

I might have to check out the International Society for Presence Research. Conference in Ohio this fall. Online publication and print publications... focused more on what they describe as "(tele)presence, commonly referred to as a sense of 'being there' in a virtual environment and more broadly defined as an illusion of nonmediation in which users of any technology overlook or misconstrue the technology's role in their experience."

Posted to AoIR by Cheryl.

A resource on New book on evidence-based media regulation in a converged world was posted to the AoIR list today by David.

It looks especially useful for folks interested in regulation.

I assigned this essay by Ted Koppel, And Now, A Word for our Demographic, to the writing class. We discussed it yesterday, and today a student in the Intro to Mass Media class posted a link to this sharp article, ACCESS TO THE DEBATE: PUBLIC EDUCATION IN A POST-POST COLD WAR WORLD by Robert Nolan. The opening paragraph reads:

"SINCE THE EVENTS OF September 11, 2001 ushered in a "second" post cold war period, Americans have failed to reengage with the world at a level sufficient to maintain its role as a leader of democratic states. As potentially dangerous doctrines are put to the test with a largely consensual and uninformed pubic, it is imperative that educators and concerned citizens examine the role of the media, think tanks and the academy itself in shaping public attitudes towards America’s role in the world. Only by creating a richer, more accessible and more internationalist vernacular that draws on common values can the United States continue to lead the increasingly globalized and democratic world it is largely responsible for creating."

Koppel's main point is that journalism is supposed to tell us "what is important", not cater to the whims of consumerist/profitistic desire. Interestingly, he concedes that the most practical strategy might be to use the economic power of the largest demographic, e.g., to work within the paradigm because "That's the way it is." Yet, the title of his piece suggests a more subversive motive. What "word" is he trying to spread?

Somehow, my balls started curving . . . not that it did me much good, a 107 and a stunning 73! I did come back to 137 once I switched to the right...but LB still blew me away by 30 pins. None of the spinmeisters was on, :-(, leaving the hottest competition of the night to Alenka and Renee, who struggled to stay in the single digits for the longest number of frames. Renee's 1 in the first frame held until the 5th, but she didn't break into double digits until the 7th! Amazing. Alenka's streak was a bit shorter - she hit the doubles in her 5th frame.

Qiao scored 70 in her very first game ever, and picked up both a strike and a spare before the night was over. Eli, I mean Steve, started with a high 120 and did the sine curve to 73. Alex kept trying to steal my ball - picking up some strikes of her own when she was successful. Dan was busy showing off the scarf he knitted. I was wondering about making an offer but thought that might be a bit presumptuous...?

I don't have so many rituals in my life. Wikipedia notes the adjective is related "to the noun 'rite', as in rite of passage." Such as a birthday.

I found a bottle of Jubilee- Hugel 2000 . . . from the superb 2000 vintage, by the best known Alsace Company, founded at Riquewihr in 1639."

The Implications of Multiple Perspectives on Power for Organization Development.

"The law laid down who would be loved, how, and how much." I recently finished listening to The God of Small Things on audiotape, so I missed the "stylistic tricks [such] as capitalizing Significant Words and runningtogether other words." I've also been reading Snow, at a significantly slowed-down pace since the advent of the spring semester: "How much can we ever know about the love and pain in another's heart?" (259).

I found both foreign in certain ways. It turns out I had an abridged version of Roy, and Pamuk's novel is translated from the original Turkish. Perhaps it is worldview, sensibility, perception - so shaped am I by faux middle-class anglo-americanness. Perhaps it is content: "What was the difference between love and the agony of waiting?" (Pamuk, 247). There is "a time when the unthinkable becomes thinkable and the impossible happens" (Roy).

I'm reading someone's brilliant prospectus, and he uses the term, homology, several times.

It's a term common in biology, and in mathematics. It's range is specified here.

Whatever Cat Stevens' actual politics, his music has been meaningful to me. In particular, I've always enjoyed Miles from Nowhere.

I know those of you who know Sam will not be surprised, but he's going to give a strong and unyielding show 'til the end.

I tried to upload the slides tonight but there's some technicality I can't quite figure out. Darn.

Anyway, I saw him yesterday. Just as I arrived, Tom was leaving. We met in the parking lot, and he explained he's created a letter board for Sam that has the letters listed in order from most used to least. Sam's first words? "Fuck Me."

I needed a lesson though, as Sam and I struggled to use the durn thing. I should say, I struggled. It was uncomfortable to feel myself being mother hen-ish trying to confirm that a particular letter was a "yes" or a "no". :-( Eventually, I did get the beginnings of what Sam wanted to tell me, but by then about two hours had passed. In the meantime, he squeezed my hand to let me know he still thought I was alright, even I was a bit slow with the letter board. :-) He's still Sam.

I will not reveal the identities of the eight rapscallions who recently gathered at the department's new pseudo-gay couple's lair to view Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Quips and clarifications occurred during the viewing, but the most pungent statement was made after it was over, to the effect of Lay and Skilling being appropriate candidates for capital punishment: "if we've got it, why not use it?"

Let me mention, briefly, that there were two sets of (coded) directions to the lair, which is part open, "come and see my room", and part closed, "guided tours only." A meal for one was, however, generously shared with drooling onlookers. Rumor has it we'll watch Junebug (?) next week.

making the comment about Strom Thurmond that became the historical moment of blogs challenging traditional journalism. I found a blog reference with the offending quote from December 2002.

I also found a story citing a study of blogger's role in Lott's resignation as the US Senate Majority Leader. "The report does not portray the blogs as lead actor, but as intelligent reactor to an event of neglect (similar to an act of omission) within professional newsrooms, where the story of Lott’s remarks languished and nearly died. The case study is largely about herd thinking in the press, and the illusion that “news” jumps out at everyone simultaneously."

David sends neural.it, a McDonald's videogame.

Here's something that could be fun, Jon Stewart hosting the Oscars.

This is the most appropriate Romanian way to say "Good job!" (It is left to the imagination what a literal translation might mean...) It was some kind of bowling night. Anuj opened with a strike - although this might surprise you if you came in on the 8th frame of game two when he was crowing about his score: "22! Twenty-two!" Luscious Larry got another turkey and even rolled a strike with his left-hand! I think he does deserve honorifics for it, since he's a serious righty. Let me note, however, that I pulled off four (cont 'em, 1, 2, 3, 4!) left-handed strikes tonight. Unfortunately, they didn't help my overall scores too much: at one point I was told, "You're a disgrace to The Final Countdown." This was before LB managed NOT to beat me in the last frame of the last game, even though I'd told him it was his game to lose. We ended up tied, 109-109.

Zeynep started collecting high fives before her turn, leading to apparent improvement, Cesar and Cata played with characteristic understated style, and Claudia pulled off a couple of strikes in her very first games! Luscious Larry thinks, superstitiously, that he bowls best when there's a new woman joining us who has never bowled before. He also said, "Green is out; blue is in." This does not account for the pink ball he was using near the end of the evening.

Burcu also managed a very strong showing, considering she's still recovering from the sledding mishap that is apparently all Don's fault. Or the fault of Don's shoes. Or some other agentless whimsy of the universe.

Luckily Elena was there to make sure I knew when it was my turn. I'm not usually (?) so distractable. Or perhaps I am and last night it registered? :-) Somehow I found conversation more engaging than actually bowling...the topic? Organic chemistry.