This week, so far, has been a very good one - very busy but very good. There have been moments of fairly deep introspection and equally high moments of validation.

Monday I had a conversation with a colleague that amounted to a fairly swift kick on my backside asking when I was going to get this degree completed. In truth I've been thinking about the same thing for a couple of weeks, but this was the last straw...or I guess the lub to get me moving. More on what "moving" means in this context in a near-future post.

Tuesday I put together an updated version of my computer and information ethics lecture for my intro class. It's a good lecture with group activities. Plus I like ethics so it's fun to teach. After the class was laid out and ready to roll I took a break. Coming back up to the office in the elevator I ran into the departments director of community relations. Ended up spending some time talking to him about PhD programs in general, and my work in specific. He's looking into possible media contacts for interviews to discuss my work. Very cool it is all works out.

Tuesday's class went well, as I would have expected. After class I had dinner with an old friend, John, from undergrad, see Ok...so I didn't talk about EVERYONE from my undergrad days for background. It was great to sit and talk with someone who really did know me when. I have been blessed to have a few friends who seem to keep me in their viewfinders even when I am to self-absorbed to do the same for them. I thank all of them because they really are my heart.

Wednesday I taught the computer and information ethics class to my smaller section in Columbus. Sometime ago I had asked a local master teacher to sit in on my class and give me feedback. I wanted his opinion on what I can do now to improve me teaching and I wanted to have him available to write recommendations for me in the future. So Wednesday was the night he sat in and watched me run a class. After the students left we sat and talked about the class. He had some very good recommendations on things I can do to increase participation. It was good to get someone else's opinion on spots where I was missing some opportunities to move my skills to a higher level. I was so pleased that in the wrap up he said that I was an engaging teacher who had almost made him "go native." Seems he was getting into the lecture and the discussion to the point that he had to remind himself that he was observing. I'm not sure there is a higher complement than that I engaged a master teacher to the point that he almost forgot his purpose in the room. That reward will stay with me for a while.

Thursday, today, I went to main campus to attend a colloquia given by Lawrence Grossberg. Grossberg's topic was Cultural Studies: In Search of Modernities. It was a very interesting talk that hit many points I've been thinking about as I yell back at narrow minded mass media announcers. Issues like why must modernity be defined using western terms, isn't that colonialism? I've got notes that I will be posting but for now I want to think on all of it before I sit down to do any writing. Here's the abstract for the talk:

ABSTRACT: Asking the right question--that is often the hardest part of cultural studies. Unfortunately, too many critical scholars allow theory to define their questions, as if theory were sufficient to describe and intervene in the world. This talk begins from the argument that the contemporary conjuncture poses a new political question: that of a multiplicity of modernities. It then goes on to rethink the current U.S. political climate through a double process: on the one hand, by engaging with current writings on modernity from around the world; and on the other, by considering concrete historical formations of alternative modernities. The focus here will be on changes in American modernity during its history and on the Levantine culture centered around Islamic Spain.

Posted by prolurkr at March 9, 2006 10:08 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.professional-lurker.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/1409

Comments

Post a comment