group dynamics: November 2004 Archives

I had to start taking notes when we got to Karl Marx. Did you know he was ìa middle-class guy in debt like everyone else?î Lived beyond his means, couldnít get it together. It was image. Pretense. Reminds me of Donnaís questions about Ö not Benjamin (heís the good guy). Heidegger. The philosopher who was a Nazi. ìLetís not look too much into stuff like that.î

Department politics: We're full of strong hard cutting edge folk shifted to the right. Sleeping Beauty and the AntiChrist. Who do you want to work with? Will they work with you?

Can we manage the coordination of meaning?

ìIts stupid to dismiss someone just because you donít like them.î ìIs it possible my reaction is different than everybody elseís? Is it possible?î

I want the coolish folk - those with some courage and a tad bit of the foolish.

ìSrinivas looks like a tv commercial.î This was said by one of the two women who saved my butt yesterday, Elizabeth or Lynn. I think. I didnít actually see who said it but we were the main three in the kitchen, and it was a womanís voiceÖ

Donal sent out this link to Saila's News of the Week from the University of Helsinki.

"Finnish women donít date" proclaims the headline. Now, why is it that this is framed from an American point-of-view? Eye-catching, certainly. But doesn't it set up the Finnish norm as an "exception" to the "American way"? I say, poop on that! I kinda like the idea of serendipidity...

Balibar again. :-) He's both totally depressing and marvelously inspirational:

"But when, by a structural necessity, the criteria of distinction and triage become violently discriminatoryÖÖ[devastating description of injustice]Ö..We must set the idea of a ëcommunity of citizensí back into motion, in such a way that it should be the result of the contribution of all those who are present and active in the social spaceî (emphasis mine, 2004:50).

this one's for Ben. Innovation in Open Source communities through processes of variation and selection.

"I dunno what your mother did to you..." !!

:-)

So said one of my classmates after I gave some feedback on her proposal. It was a compliment - I was able to say something about two of my peers' work today that got the class into discussions that clarified something important in their projects. They said nice things to me. :-) It was a good day for me to get some recognition. :-)

One person (thanks Nadine!) approached me after the panel on Saturday saying she'd like to know how things turn out. I don't know, yet, but I'm mapping a possible path....

The overall audience response was ... remarkable, now that I stop to think about it.

Well, I suppose it was worth the trip. The highlight might have been Hunju trying to leave our hotel room through the bathroom door - twice! And other social gaffes and moments of humor. I'm 300 emails behind, not to mention papers and reading and...you know the drill!

Was bummed to miss Danny's presentation yesterday, not to mention both of Kirstin's. Saw Emily briefly yesterday morning - did you know she's scored the very last presentation slot 3/5 times? She's probably getting ready to go right about now. Hope someone shows up!

Raz and I head out in about an hour; we'll squeeze in Iris' presentation and then catch the shuttle. After the debacle on the subway last night (!) we decided to play it safe and let a Chicagoan navigate for us. :-)

Despite being mislead by our erstwhile guide (ahem), we arrived at an Ethiopian restaurant way way way up on the north side and had an absolutely delicious meal. I was able to waylay a new "victim" to listen to me carry on about problematic moments - grin - and much laughter was shared by all. Not to mention a bit of department gossip - gasp!

I had to wedge myself in between bodies at the door to hear Hunju's presentation!

Now I'm at a workshop on displacement and "bringing the lived experience into globalization".....will bail early to go see Kennaria.

Raz had himself another European morning. I enjoyed it yesterday but am really glad I drug myself up today to go to this panel on all the problems with North American communication theory. Iím gonna have to join the intercultural and international division of NCA.

Saw Lynn; she was jazzed up, jotting down fieldnotes (!) from a conversation sheíd just had with someone who (if I remember right) was at her panel yesterday. Joanna, Olga and I had a great talk about theory and practice, not to mention merging the macro and the micro. Joanna shared with me Vernonís sense that such a merger is the task of our generation. :-) Well (!) ñ letís get it on!

Am gonna follow-up with Alexa Dare. Intriguing presentation on post-development discourse in which sheís using a Butler-Freire merger between performativity and dialogue to posit the possibility of social change in moments of repeatabilityÖnow, Iím off to join Max who is lingering in the hall trying to listen to two panels at the same time. Iím gonna hear the great HUNJU (who now knows, by the way, that I drank her contacts this morning).

that I almost drank her contact lenses this morning! Actually, I did. :-( Luckily, I felt one of them hit my lip and was able to retrieve the other one from the sink where I had dumped the remnants of (what I thought was) the water I had last night before Hunju returned from her presentation prep.

THEN, Raz, ever the gentleman, offered to set his phone alarm instead of me using a wake up call. Fine. Except the turd got me up at 5:30 instead of 6:30! Of course I didn't realize this until I'd already been up for an hour. Retribution for the "aberration" is forthcoming!

Weeeeeeell, here we are at NCA. After an uneventful flight and a loooong van ride to the hotel out in the boondocks where the wisest of the wise found a "reasonable" rate, I was disappointed that threats of "accidental petting" or even "drooling" didn't occur while sharing a bed last night with the questionable character who shadowed me in to the hotel.

The windy city it is. While our peers present away...Lori yesterday (long before we arrived), Matt & Bryan today (competing with Raz, who I'm already committed to go see, darn), and rumor has it Olga and Lynn are also presenting at that time. Double darn! I think the department *ought* to produce and share a list of not only current students but also alumni who are presenting. Maybe it's my penchant for "groupness". (Don't GROAN!) :-) What about a little COM Dept spirit? It won't be long before we might only see each other at conferences like this....

50% of us showed up today, although there have always only been 7 in our face-to-face social gatherings. Two miscreants said they'd come and didn't (for shame!) and one has apparently abandoned us forever. (Hell no I ain't gonna let it go!) ;-)

All I can say is, Todd for President!! Not only did he perform an inspirational counter-Bush rhetoric and proclaim moderate Republicans as his new heroes, he used his old money to treat us all to breakfast! Buy my influence anytime dude, anytime! :-)

Mostly we just caught up on news, although there was ONE bit of gossip about someone who has a new boyfriend. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Hey! No one told ME it was a deep dark secret! The only other secret is that Todd has forgotten how to be a grad student. Fatherhood has gone to his head. He spent some time in the library impersonating other students, trying to get into the swing of things.

Heavens to Betsy but did we have a genuine Problematic Moment tonight! It was great. :-) Nothing like junk poetry, wine, and a bunch of grad students carrying on about the meaning of it all. :-)

In addition to grousing about the election results, there was a fair amount of humor in class last night. (And I like it that now I'm being directed what to record for the blog!) :-)

Donna was on a roll with witty characterizations and good humor. The joke that won the day had to do with her desire to see "an Orthodox Jewish player in Hasidic clothing who wins the game and then says to the media, 'Oy, I am so glad I dahvened (prayed) before the game! And now that we won, thank G-d, I am gonna go out and buy everybody bagels and lox!'"

We read a piece on Franz Fanon by Robert Stam for class tonight. It grabbed my attention more than the other articles in this reader, Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality, and Transnational Media, because it describes applications of psychoanalysis deployed by Fanon. It also brings to mind the way we are being taught to pick apart and critique academics - Fanon is accused of a gender bias and homophobia. One day (we hope!), we will be the subjects of such scrutiny. It continues to challenge and puzzle me about how we can prepare each other against future exposures by addressing and dealing with the evidence of such oversights (which I conceive of as typically unintended)

It was a grim day in the COM dept, lots of long faces and low energy. A few folks raged. Some shared diversions and jokes. Some went for beer at noon.