Thanks, Julie! Now the FSM can beat up on those fishes. Or at least noodle them.
This would be good:
Having turned the page on Mr. Bush, the country hungers for a vision that is something other than either liberal boilerplate or Rovian stagecraft. At this point, merely plain old competence, integrity and heart might do.
–Frank Rich, NY Times
Well, I think I’ve found where it’s coming from. This article from the Clarion-Legdger outlines a possible plan for the Bush Administration to foist the blame for the deteriorating levees on The Sierra Club’s desire to delay a plan for a levee project along the Mississippi. Of course, it wasn’t the levees on the Mississippi that broke. Here’s the internal e-mail:
The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys’ offices: “Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation.”
Though the Fox News story about the email is not much different in tone, note the difference in the headlines.
Some interesting discussion about the whole thing, seen here. The right is ignoring the detail that the suit pertained to the levees that *didn’t* break. The left is assuming that this shows that Bush is trying to cover his ass. As I’m continuing to watch and read assessments of why this disaster was handled badly, I’m also continuing to watch each side solidify its point of view. As that happens, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell whom to believe. I know where my inclinations lie, but I’ve watched some people jump to some poor conclusions.
First the important thing: Geeky Girl scored a goal!
Okay, now the color commentary from the sideline. A group of parents, two moms and a dad, started talking about the hurricane. Between kids yelling and my not being close enough, I couldn’t hear all of what they were saying. I couldn’t really tell who they were blaming for the whole thing. They were saying how horrible it was, how many people were left behind, the poor planning and execution at all levels of government. It sounded to me like many of them were fed up with the administration. Then came this nugget, from the dad:
“Well, they asked for the money to fix the levees but then the environmentalists came in and told them it would screw up the marshlands and stuff.”
Ugh. It’s always the environmentalists’ fault. Maybe he should read this or this.
Wish I had been closer or had read the above articles before going to the game. We really need more science in the media, so that people don’t make stupid comments like this (and believe them). Just after this, two tall dads came and stood right in front of me. I had to get up and move. I was so pissed. Gah!
I did wear a t-shirt from this site to the game. 
I need more though. Any suggestions?
My kids have gotten along pretty well most of their lives, but lately, lots of tension has arisen between them. Once, Geeky Boy was protective of Geeky Girl, but now he bosses her around and generally tortures her psychologically. Geeky Girl, on the other hand, invades Geeky Boy’s space all the time and while she doesn’t like to be tortured by him, wants him to help her do things she can easily do herself.
The whole thing is driving me crazy! Last night, we had to have a discussion about personal space. Worst of all is the tone of voice they speak to each other in in these moments. It’s like fingernails down a chalkboard to me.
My own personal assessment of the situation is that they’re both growing up–and fast!–and they’re working through their relationship which now functions on a different level than it did before. Before, Geeky Boy proudly helped Geeky Girl get cereal or reach a game. Now he’s annoyed. When Geeky Boy asks about something at school, he sometimes plays the role of parent, which annoys the heck out of Geeky Girl. I’m trying my best to generally let them work these things out themselves, intervening only every once in a while. I try to point out why they might be annoyed with each other and offer suggestions for changing their behavior to avoid getting on each other’s nerves.
I have been blessed that I didn’t have kids that were in rivalry mode from day one, each trying to find ways to win the power struggle through methods psychological and physical. I hope we make it through the rocky period ahead without too much damage.
This is as representative of my completely varied and bizarre musical tastes from past to present as any.
“I Call Your Name”–The Beatles
“The Search”–Manikin
“Can’t Get Used To Losing You”–The English Beat
“Wondrous Stories”–Yes
“Hey Mama”–Los Mocosos
“Movies of Myself”–Rufus Wainwright
“Keep Coming Back”–Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians
“Just Like Heaven”–The Cure
“Walk Like An Egyptian”–The Bangles
“Ripple”–Grateful Dead
Profgrrrrl writes about making progress, about feeling as if at the end of every day, she’s accomplished something. I feel like I’m accomplishing a lot, too, but I’m also feeling very frazzled right now. Today was the finale of the summer program I ran. We had a great turn out, including the president and provost and nearly all the project sponsors. But there were little things that happened that showed my frayed edges. Because my schedule has been absolutely packed this week, both at work and after work (back-to-school night, soccer practice, faculty cocktail reception), I didn’t have much time to prepare, so my introductions weren’t as polished as they could have been. I also forgot the list of projects and sponsors (I literally came directly from a meeting to the presentation), so I failed to mention the project of one faculty sponsor who had made an extra effort to come. I’ll be calling her tomorrow to apologize profusely.
I’d like to find a way to be more effective even when I’m very busy. I wish I could find the peace Profgrrrrl has found.
At home, I feel like collapsing, though I have managed one workout and one brief stint writing this week. My kids are as tired as I am and that’s not a good thing. They’re snapping at each other; I’m snapping at them. The house is filled with tension.
I am a person who needs down time and I’m not getting much these days. The weekends, filled with soccer and errands, just aren’t quite enough. Interestingly, I was having a conversation with my boss and a faculty sponsor about 4 day weeks. I think I’d love that. I would feel a little more relaxed if I knew I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow. The day could be spent sleeping in a little, taking care of household stuff, perhaps some reading. It would do wonders. But, alas, the 4-day work week is not on the horizon any time soon.
Yesterday, Mr. Geeky and I shared classroom space. There we were at the front of the class, each holding a piece of chalk, facing 30 students. We had spent two hours the night before hammering out what we were going to talk about, what we wanted the students to discuss. I have shared teaching space with many people over the last three years since most of the workshops I run are co-taught. I admit to wanting some amount of control over things. I like to feel like the space is mine (and the students’).
With Mr. Geeky, though, I didn’t feel like I was giving up control. We fell into a rhythm of give and take. He talked; I talked. We both called on students; we both responded to students. It was, in many ways, like our dinner table. Our dinner table, our car rides, our trips to the park, are quite often teaching moments. Our kids ask us questions; we ask questions back. We discuss; we ask for elaboration. The questions are never simple. Example: on the the way home from work this evening, Geeky Boy and Geeky Girl wanted to know exactly what our relationship was to dogs. Where is the common ancestor? I wanted to call on Pharyngula for help. I did the best I could for an English major.
There were times, during the planning process for the course, that we had some heated discussions about the shape of the class, but we worked those out. Now that the class is underway, we pretty much present a united front. But that united front represents a lot of little compromises, compromises that I think came a little easier because of our 15-year relationship, filled with millions of such compromises.
Yes, there are things that I would do differently if Mr. Geeky weren’t teaching with me. I’d probably have the syllabus completely sketched out through the end of the year. I wouldn’t be making lesson plans the night before class. But I think this has been a positive experience so far.
Tomorrow, we step into the classroom together again. We’ll see how it goes. This evening, at a cocktail party with the college president, we told her that we didn’t think the whole class knew we were married. We thought we might pull an Al and Tipper move on the class. She said, “I think one of you should say, ‘That’s a great point’ and then dip the other.” I’m thinking that’s not going to happen, even if we do have the approval of the president.
Since I railed on the faculty yesterday, I will compliment them today. My favorite comment below, by the way, is Tim’s because I have so been there. I’ve spent a long time fiddling with video settings in front of crowds of people.
Today, I was out and about on campus and ran into lots of faculty. Every single one of them thanked me for something I’ve done in the last couple of weeks. And we continued to have conversations about various things, some technical and some not.
One woman was sad that I was unavailable to run a workshop for her class and I had recommended a couple of other people who could do it. She said, “I’m sure they’ll be fine, but you’re the best.” It was nice to hear.
And, I ran a nice workshop on PowerPoint. All in all worth dealing with the problem children.
This will be my once a semester rant about technology challenged faculty. In a numbered list.
1. Do you know how to read instructions? Do you not see the big, giant question mark that leads you to help?
2. Do you read email either? How many notices have I sent out, pointing you to specific help?
3. When I say that the problem lies with another system–say, the registrar–I mean it. I cannot fix the registrar. I’m good, but not that good.
4. When your students come to you when they’ve missed a class and basically ask you to give them the lecture again (“Did I miss anything?”), don’t you get frustrated? Well, so do I. No, I will not provide a play-by-play of a workshop. I will post information online afterwards, but see numbers 1 & 2 above.
5. Basic usability, people. You can’t expect your students to navigate a course without any clear indicators about where to go for what. If you’re not using an area, remove the link. Rename links appropriately.
6. Please don’t decide to try something new (for you) two days before classes begin. I cannot hold your hand through the process and help the 60 other faculty who are dealing with any number of the above issues or are actually trying to do innovate things in their classes.
7. If you want your students to use the course management system extensively and you don’t know how to use it yourself, have an IT person come and do a demo for your class. Don’t expect them just to know. This goes for any technology really. Better yet, learn how to use it yourself so you can use it more effectively.
8. I don’t know everything about technology. I am a multimedia and instructional technology specialist. I’m dumb when it comes to things like specific email clients that I don’t use or specific software programs that I don’t use. Whenever I hear, “You might not be the right person . . .” or “While I have you on the phone . . .” my head starts to spin. I’m happy to direct you to the appropriate person.
I really want to help. I do. But you’re not making it easy when you’re behaving like 4 year olds. Try first. Try to find the information. Then ask. I have a 5 minute rule myself. I’ll try to figure something out for 5 minutes. If I can’t, then I ask. If it’s a really hard task, I’ll give myself a little longer. I’m sure I said almost the exact same thing sometime last year.
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