teaching: May 2006 Archives

I am in a melancholy mood, yet I am resolute.

Yes, that is better phrasing than yesterday's version. :-/

Today was the last day of COM375 Section Five. I am sad. There was so much good energy generated among all these students. Yeah, I definitely annoyed them at times (they were definitely not happy I still care enough to penalize them for incorrect punctuation) but ... those who were ready took the horse by the reins and rode this class for all it was worth. As my favorite spiritual advisor says,

Students will make their choices over the remaining days and the wiki will take it's "final" shape. Final, that is, until the freshmen take over in the fall! :-) I haven't decided yet - should I give them their own separate wiki or have them build and add on to this one?

"After picking up her tickets Steph was outraged to find a dangling participle in one of the billboards near the stadium. As she was about to pull out her flamethrower and burn the sign down, someone told her that the sign was originally written in Korean and that sometimes people let grammar rules slide when Advertising Across Cultures. Steph wasn’t buying it and set fire to the billboard sending the burning wreckage plummeting down on the crowd of hippies below. Steph then torched a Disney banner saying that it was helping to contribute to the Commercialization of Childhood and then an Este Lauder billboard because it promotes the message of The Kept Woman as a Commodity. Feeling that she’d accomplished enough good deeds for the day, our hero entered the stadium. Steph sat in her seat with a fresh beer and listened as the stadium announcer called out rap singer Guerilla Black to do the national anthem. Steph, looking puzzled, turned to the person next to her and exclaimed “King Kong is Black? What?!" "Entschuldigung Bitte, um, excuse me," the German dude replied, "Warum Schreien Wir?."

Excerpted from the prologue to the Junior Writing in Communication students' "big papers".

I was a little slow in a couple of ways regarding the discussion about propaganda which centered on the animal rights movement. I titled the discussion thread “animal rights/hunting propaganda” and Kirk changed it to “animal rights mumbojumbo.”

I asked a handful of questions, including whether there was any evidence of bias in Glen’s presentation itself: was there more information on the 'support' side (of animal rights) than on the 'against' side (or vice versa)?

Who are the publics that animal rights advocates target? Who are the publics that hunting advocates target?

Is this a false dichotomy? (Can one support hunting and animal rights?)

A great discussion ensued in which I realized I had missed a crucial point. (Imagine!)

As the final extra credit discussion in the Intro to Mass Media course, I asked a few questions to try and clarify some essential teaching objectives. Three threads have been developing into awesome conversations:

Jen: “my grasp of representaion is how we view a certain (usually a minority group) of people based on the usual, stereotype image of them that the media shows us or is reinforced in our everyday lives via selective intake and selective "remembering" of incidents relating to the continuation of our own bias of a minority taht keep the cycle going and going...thats a bit vague, i cant seem to get it into a good point that comes out and makes sense...anyone else?”

So said Donna, calling me a "techhead" at the end of the Deaf-Interpreter Community Forum today. As I drove the 3+ hours to get there this morning I listened to NPR's Weekend Edition. Several stories caught my attention. First, an interview with Tom Wolfe, discussing the role of speech (he means language) in human evolution. Next, an interview with the author of Challenger Park, a novel about an astronaut mom. I was already interested because of my own childhood fantasies of space travel. I also remember driving from one job (at UPS) to another (at Taco Bell) on the day the Challenger expoded. I heard it on the radio and cried. What really hooked me was the notion of being so far removed from your child that even the possibility of communication is prevented.

Then there was the story about Desi Arnez being an auteur. I can't seem to find the interview (poo) but the argument was that Arnaz himself was really the first tv auteur. This article credits the combined team Desilu (with Lucille Ball). I've been more exposed to arguments about Ball's genius; it was interesting to listen to this perspective arguing that Arnaz has been somewhat overlooked. There was a line about the genius of making fun of himself (as Ricky Ricardo) except when he was performing as a musician, then he was always taken seriously.

Finally, a graduation speech by Scott Simon: Platitudes with Attitude. My students definitely deserve this one!

Oh, and there was a brief mention of Winston Churchill? Today is the anniversary of his assumption of the role of Prime Minister at the beginning of WWII. He proclaimed, in deep stentorian tones: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

Glen gave a very interesting paper about the PR strategies of the Humane Society of the US and the National Forest Service regarding bear hunting/trapping in Maine and coyote hunting in Vermont. All of us got to practice recognizing our own biases and trying to learn to talk without our own propagandistic rhetoric! One of the questions I posed was whether this either/or dualism is a false dichotomy: can one be both in support of animal rights and in support of hunting?

If you're interested in coyotes, one of the storylines in Prodigal Summer, a wonderful novel by Barbara Kingsolver, concerns a forest service naturalist who has a love affair with a bounty hunter. There's an incredible section in there about the role of the predator in maintaining biological diversity and ecological balance.

I didn't write much about it when I listened to it on tape. There is one hint about wildness and another hint in this prayer for life offered up by the naturalist.

Rachel treated us to several music videos from Yahoo, but told us about Launch.com, where you can "free" downloads (but you have to watch an ad first!)

She basically demonstrated how lyrics and graphics are both censored, but artists still make profits through massive hypercommericialism rapping about liquor, shoes, Cheetos and any other product "only because I like them" and getting paid for product placement.

Here are links to the lyrics of the music videos we watched:

What You Know lyrics by TI.

Nelly's Air Force Ones lyrics

Big Tymer's Still Fly

Interestingly, Eminem went to Sirius (with good ol' Howard).

Adam gave us an overview of the FCC's attempts to regulate "indecency" on the airwaves. He provided us this link to Radio In Persecution and treated us to Eric Idle's FCC song (replete with the f-word).

The question of "terrestrial vs satellite radio" has been with us all semester. Is the only way to guarantee freedom of speech being able to pay for it? Stern was fined $495,000 in April, 2005, apparently the straw that broke the camel's back and precipitated his move to Sirius satellite radio.

Some say Stern is the major catalyst for the FCC's crackdown of late, while others argue it was really Opie and Anthony. Long a haven for Playboy and others interested in broadcast sex, according to the NY Times even the Catholic Church is getting into satellite radio: Sirius to Begin a Catholic Channel

Whatever the content, one must wonder at the task of analyzing the category of material prohibited from free public consumption by the Federal Communications Commission: obscene (not protected by First Amendment), indecent, patently offensive, and profane (sexual or excretory deemed not quite obscene and therefore allowed but not between 6 am and 10 pm).

The entire class of junior writers in Communication (at UMass, Amherst) participated in producing their own wiki.

I performed (!) the last stanza (that I wrote) for the course rap for the mass media students (at UNH, Manchester) last night. I had fun experimenting with that new form. I'm also quite proud of the wiki overall; the students' writing has clearly improved and there's no doubt most of them actually had some fun (although few might admit it publicly, I mean who could actually like writing?!)

Last night was the grand finale for Introduction to Mass Media at the University of New Hampshire-Manchester. Some students prepared wiki pages as part of their presentations.

Presenting American Ethnocentricity which includes much historical information and analysis of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy (and a fun game of Jeopardy).

A comparative analysis of the Mary Tyler Moore show and Desperate Housewives in Female Image: Past and Present. Includes links to several theme songs whose lyrics (or lack thereof) project certain representations of gender.

An application of Uses and Gratifications theory to Monkey See, Monkey Do? Film Violence and Reality, especially in recent streetcar racing blockbusters.

And links to the online websites of several alternative news media, the so-called (?) Independent Media. I write "so-called" because in the course of researching the Project, Kirk found that the Associated Press "monopolizes the new media, to the point that even progressive "alternative" sources use them." He found the same story about the May Day immigrant's rights protests under different headlines in both the mainstream and alternative press! I did not confirm (during his presentation) if the stories I linked to were also the same one.

As reported (unscientifically) in the NYTimes Book Review section.

In an essay about this quest, the writing is characterized as "a hybrid (crossbred of romance and reportage, high philosophy and low gossip, wishful thinking and hard-nosed skepticism)," possibly suggesting a mix-n-match style to aspiring writers in any genre. In addition to forcing questions about cultural assumptions we must wonder, as suggested by A. O. Scott, "in the age of James Frey, reality television and phantom W.M.D.'s, what do we mean by 'fiction'?"

Perhaps the meteoric rise of the winner, Beloved, by Toni Morrison is because of what Scott labels its "essential conservatism...which aimed not to displace or overthrow its beloved precursors, but to complete and to some extent correct them." Perhaps, despite the rhetoric of its radicalness at the time, it wasn't "too" radical and thus discountable, but still far enough within the system to be eventually accepted by it? Did Morrison find that delicate balance between activism that inspires and that which triggers backlash?

Scott also identifies a preoccupation with the recent past as a theme in American novels: "how heavily the past lies." This might be one way to characterize the discipline of communication in a nutshell, for good or ill. :-/ That, and its opposite: how lightly the future calls.

Half a dozen of us went out after the last Intro to Mass Media class. I received some constructive criticism (!), stories were told, the final bashed. Gosh. I might have to stop with multiple choice! One would think I don't know the difference between essentialization and representation. Perhaps it's just that I'm not sure in the wee hours of the morning ... ? Could be the wrong time for test construction. :-/

Thanks, Rich, for picking up the tab! I enjoyed your company, along with Chris, Gen, Alan, and an undisclosed fifth. No worries. I'll admit you were there if it's important someday. :-)

Confession. I'm really going to miss the two classes from this semester. Both groups of students have worked hard intellectually, as individuals and together (with me and each other). It's been a satisfying semester for me as an instructor and I'm going to miss their energy.

Although some of the stress from concerns over their performance I think I'll be able to do without! ;-)

I have been grading the question on last week's quiz regarding this term based on a simplistic and strict definition implied by Mortimer Adler: illiteracy.

Uh oh. Since half the class was getting the answer wrong, I thought maybe I ought to look the term up myself. (Imagine, following my own instruction!)

abecedarian. Adler uses the term in Chapter Three, Reading is Learning.

Now accepting wagers regarding how many challenges I receive when we discuss the quiz in class this afternoon...

Thanks to J.I.T. for turning me on to Adler!

Earlier today, I posted a statement about my teaching philosophy in the wiki created by Section Five of COM375, the course that satisfies the Junior Year Writing Requirement.

Little Brother, meanwhile, sends this discouraging confirmation of critique of the US public education system: Geography Greek to young Americans.

Paula hopes so, reflecting (by email) both on an impressive Day Without Immigrants demonstration in Amherst yesterday and this national media event:

Colbert rips Bush to his face (video) at the White House press correspondents dinner.

I imagine many, if not most, of the persons who made an appearance in his speech weren't too happy about it. There was laughter from the crowd at some points, as well as by some of the individuals targeted. There were also palpable silences.

Previous protests for immigrant rights on April 10 surprised politicians in Washington forging ahead with their elitist agenda. The Boston Globe reports largest local participation for yesterday's protests within Latino communities. The NYTimes headlines the Show of Strength.

I was just reading Kara's essay on What's Wrong with Writing. The junior Communication majors in this writing class have been wrestling with me all semester to convince me of the fact that writing sucks. :-)

I'm waiting on Kara's confirmation (or anyone else's, for that matter) to verify that I finally understand something that has not been clear to me for the past two months. Kara wrote:

"The process of writing has come to be extremely time-consuming and restricting as rules of standard writing have expanded."

I've always read this to be a general criticism of writing, the writing process, not to mention reading, and the reading process. As such, I've understood it more as a misunderstanding of what writing has always been about - as if students are "just now" getting on board with "the way it has always been." But (!), what just clicked, is that their phenomenological experience and accountability as a writer has been expanded to include more things (that were always there) which many of them (as students) have not been required to address before (for whatever reasons - deliberate pedagogy, poor instruction, low expectations, etc.). In other words, it does feel to students as if "the rules" for "standard writing" have changed. They have! (Ok, so maybe I'm a little slow. Sometimes.)

The argument, (if we could call it such) between me (representing the junior writing requirements for the university) and the students in this course, has been about this fact: I would say "the rules for quality writing" have not changed at all, but the measure of acceptable quality is higher now than it has been in most of their previous experience as writers. This feels like a change in rules, yet I'd say it is a change in expectations. Students say (!) that changing the expectations is changing the rules!

Here is a real life example (that belongs in a textbook!) about why diction matters so much! :-) I love having this kind of brainstorm. Thanks Kara!