Wow. I can't believe this is my last semester here at UNR. Time has gone by quickly. This semester I'm taking Scott Slovic's Ecocriticism course and Stacy Burton's Literary Theory course, leading two discussion sections of Core Humanities' American Experience course, and working on comps.
Well, maybe all the work I put into the environmental rhet paper will be worth it. J & S think it could easily be turned into a publication. They recommended a couple of journals and even offered to work with me this summer to get it "perfect." So cool!
I'm missing the Idlewild Earth Day Celebration to finish work on this environmental rhetoric paper. Somehow that doesn't seem right... :(
Of course, there have been on and off sleet showers most of the day and it is pretty cold out there, so I suppose it could be more of a torture being stuck at my computer on Earth Day. Last year the kids, my brother and I went to WildLaw Earth Day at Tuskegee N.F. The weather was so nice and warm that we went on a wading adventure down the creek. Sigh. Well, the land in the eastern shadow of the Sierra needs water now to stave off summer drought, and from what I gather the Sierra snowpack has been pretty low this year, so... Happy Earth Day! Bring on the snow, sleet, and/or rain!
Of course, there have been on and off sleet showers most of the day and it is pretty cold out there, so I suppose it could be more of a torture being stuck at my computer on Earth Day. Last year the kids, my brother and I went to WildLaw Earth Day at Tuskegee N.F. The weather was so nice and warm that we went on a wading adventure down the creek. Sigh. Well, the land in the eastern shadow of the Sierra needs water now to stave off summer drought, and from what I gather the Sierra snowpack has been pretty low this year, so... Happy Earth Day! Bring on the snow, sleet, and/or rain!
working
Er, first Jameson: "postmodernism is what you have when the modernization process is complete and nature is gone for good" (1991).
Postmodernism can be characterized in part by the conjunction of the following elements: (1) a decentering of the subject as origin, end, and arbiter of theory and practice; (2) a destabilization or fragmentation of all kinds of identity; (3) a lack of belief in any foundation, totality, transcendental signified, or grand narrative; (4) a move from the domination of sameness to the recognition of difference; (5) a generalized awareness of limits, particularly the limits of reason; (6) a valorization of the local in the face of inexorable globalism; (7) a change in material conditions, including the disappearance of nature as the great referent that ontologically grounds Western epistemology; (8) time-space compression; (9) the displacement of nation-states by transnational corporations; and (10) the rise of both image politics and micropolitics. (66)
Must return to project at hand...
Postmodernism can be characterized in part by the conjunction of the following elements: (1) a decentering of the subject as origin, end, and arbiter of theory and practice; (2) a destabilization or fragmentation of all kinds of identity; (3) a lack of belief in any foundation, totality, transcendental signified, or grand narrative; (4) a move from the domination of sameness to the recognition of difference; (5) a generalized awareness of limits, particularly the limits of reason; (6) a valorization of the local in the face of inexorable globalism; (7) a change in material conditions, including the disappearance of nature as the great referent that ontologically grounds Western epistemology; (8) time-space compression; (9) the displacement of nation-states by transnational corporations; and (10) the rise of both image politics and micropolitics. (66)
Must return to project at hand...
A draft of my paper for Environmental Rhetoric class is due on Wednesday and so I am madly trying to get my thoughts on the the rhetoric of Wild South (previously Bankhead Monitor/Wild Alabama),McGee's concept of the ideograph, southern identity, and the locus of the irreparable in order and on paper.
Since I have a tendency to be distracted by passages that I run across in my reading, but that really have nothing to do with my current project, I think I'll just type them into my journal and think about them another time.
From DeLuca's Image Politics (1999):
If feminism sees men as the problem and the civil rights movement sees white people as the problem, there would be no common ground that would enable the two struggles to unite and understand how their particular oppressions expose a common relation of dominance within the hegemonic discourse under which both are oppressed.
Since I have a tendency to be distracted by passages that I run across in my reading, but that really have nothing to do with my current project, I think I'll just type them into my journal and think about them another time.
From DeLuca's Image Politics (1999):
If feminism sees men as the problem and the civil rights movement sees white people as the problem, there would be no common ground that would enable the two struggles to unite and understand how their particular oppressions expose a common relation of dominance within the hegemonic discourse under which both are oppressed.
They actually put UNR on lockdown for a few hours this evening due to some man who had graduated from UNR saying that the Virginia Tech shooter was his hero. Evidently he was also wanted for parole violation. A couple of my students emailed me asking if they could skip class tomorrow because of this. Fortunately, the local news just announced that the man has been captured in Carson City.
In other news, the S.E.E.D.S. campus Earth Day Celebration went well this afternoon. K. did a great job organizing it, and it was a lot of fun to help out with. I really enjoyed Action Sound String Band that provided music for us, and I got to announce the raffle winners and help judge the recycled art contest. Hopefully some new faces will be at our next meeting!
In other news, the S.E.E.D.S. campus Earth Day Celebration went well this afternoon. K. did a great job organizing it, and it was a lot of fun to help out with. I really enjoyed Action Sound String Band that provided music for us, and I got to announce the raffle winners and help judge the recycled art contest. Hopefully some new faces will be at our next meeting!
Ten Things that I have done so far:
1) Finished Linda Hogan's Solar Storms for my Environmental Rhetoric class - loved the book!
2) Went on a hike to Hunter Creek falls with some friends from school - tried to go on to find Hunter Lake, but the trail became too sketchy and we turned back
3) Drank too much cheap wine
4) Slept in - sorta
5) Saw some spring wildflowers on lower slopes of Peavine Peak
6) Went for a picnic with the kids and Mom
7) Found out I have a summer research assistantship with Cheryll Glotfelty - yay! I'll be compiling an annotated list of literature and theory on Environmental Justice for a grad seminar she hopes to teach
8) Started collecting sources for my paper in the Race, Gender, and Environment course
9) Wondered why on earth UNR's Spring Break is not the same week as Washoe County schools' Spring Break
10) Realized that Spring Break needs to be a lot longer if I am going to get to the
Ten Things that still need doing:
1) Register for the ASLE conference
2) Finish 102 lesson plans for the rest of the semester
3) Write paper for Environmental Rhetoric class
4) Polish Essay for Creative Nonfiction class
5) Hike to the top of Peavine
6) Go visit Donner Lake with kids and Mom
7) Get Nevada Driver's license
8) Readings Journal for Race, Gender, Environment course
9) Journal Review for Environmental Rhetoric class
10) Drink more cheap wine
1) Finished Linda Hogan's Solar Storms for my Environmental Rhetoric class - loved the book!
2) Went on a hike to Hunter Creek falls with some friends from school - tried to go on to find Hunter Lake, but the trail became too sketchy and we turned back
3) Drank too much cheap wine
4) Slept in - sorta
5) Saw some spring wildflowers on lower slopes of Peavine Peak
6) Went for a picnic with the kids and Mom
7) Found out I have a summer research assistantship with Cheryll Glotfelty - yay! I'll be compiling an annotated list of literature and theory on Environmental Justice for a grad seminar she hopes to teach
8) Started collecting sources for my paper in the Race, Gender, and Environment course
9) Wondered why on earth UNR's Spring Break is not the same week as Washoe County schools' Spring Break
10) Realized that Spring Break needs to be a lot longer if I am going to get to the
Ten Things that still need doing:
1) Register for the ASLE conference
2) Finish 102 lesson plans for the rest of the semester
3) Write paper for Environmental Rhetoric class
4) Polish Essay for Creative Nonfiction class
5) Hike to the top of Peavine
6) Go visit Donner Lake with kids and Mom
7) Get Nevada Driver's license
8) Readings Journal for Race, Gender, Environment course
9) Journal Review for Environmental Rhetoric class
10) Drink more cheap wine
Yes, I did make it out here. I did not drive off the edge of the world. It was a beautiful trip. My apartment is nice. The kids are enjoying their school. I really, really love the L&E program. Teaching isn't as overwhelming as I thought it might be. I really believe that I am in the right place for this time of my life.
I am going to be very, very busy though. I just got the first bunch of essays from my Comp 101 class today. You know, I still really can't believe that I am actually out here doing this - teaching a composition class at the University of Nevada, Reno and taking graduate seminars with some of the most amazing people I've ever met. I'll have to write more often, so I can convince myself that it is real. Or maybe to remember the dream when I wake up from the blur that is grad school...
I am going to be very, very busy though. I just got the first bunch of essays from my Comp 101 class today. You know, I still really can't believe that I am actually out here doing this - teaching a composition class at the University of Nevada, Reno and taking graduate seminars with some of the most amazing people I've ever met. I'll have to write more often, so I can convince myself that it is real. Or maybe to remember the dream when I wake up from the blur that is grad school...
RENO OR BUST!!!
I'm really going to miss my clothesline. I actually like to do laundry because I enjoy walking out to the clothesline and hanging up the damp clothes, towels, and sheets. They are so cool compared to the blazing heat of the sun as I drape them over my arm and one by one pin them in a neat line of pinks, blues, tans, or whites to dry. Sometimes Azara helps me, sometimes a cat or two will meow around my feet hoping for a mid-day snack, sometimes a mockingbird will scold from the nearby muscadine vines because he had been using the line to scout for grasshoppers before I came out with those colorful flapping things. The crisp grass and the dust are hot to my bare feet, and I must look out for the prickly pear that pokes out from the grass in spots. The AC feels so good when I get back inside.
I enjoy dashing out at the first splatters of a summershower to madly unpin and gather the sunstiff laundry as dark clouds rumble around me and a cooling breeze begins to stir the leaves of the oak tree. Loose leaves flutter down toward me when the wind comes from the south, and the large plopping raindrops release sunscent from the cloth and from the hot soil beneath my feet. The kids come out to watch me from the porch, but I tell them to get back inside - there's lightning. I see its flash, getting closer. I'd better hurry. Still, I could think of worse ways to go...
I enjoy dashing out at the first splatters of a summershower to madly unpin and gather the sunstiff laundry as dark clouds rumble around me and a cooling breeze begins to stir the leaves of the oak tree. Loose leaves flutter down toward me when the wind comes from the south, and the large plopping raindrops release sunscent from the cloth and from the hot soil beneath my feet. The kids come out to watch me from the porch, but I tell them to get back inside - there's lightning. I see its flash, getting closer. I'd better hurry. Still, I could think of worse ways to go...
It was much cooler today - upper 80s.
So much to do. Almost went ahead and packed up the computer, but decided to wait until Wednesday.
( Read more... )
So much to do. Almost went ahead and packed up the computer, but decided to wait until Wednesday.
( Read more... )
The vans are packed with yard sale stuff. The house looks so much more empty. And, yes, I am beginning to realize that it is real. I am leaving again. I will do a better job this time. Last time it was one year in Arizona. A beautiful place that made me feel so very, very small. It was so slick. It was a postcard. Could I find any roots in the red, red rock? Rock that slid color-changing through sunsets and sunrises on canyon edge. So beautiful, but never home. All of my sleek young summer memories still creekside Alabama. My ghost I had seen there in fields of moonlight. Ecstatic with night sound.
But now I bring something more than myself and my green-brown-gold-light memories. Small containers. Like basket weave - still being woven. Still the pattern of sun-slant will effect their design. Not rich southern root black soil, but I bring them to desert sand. Where three will make a family. How can we stretch back, how become immortal in such a climate? I cannot create all of the stories they will need...
But now I bring something more than myself and my green-brown-gold-light memories. Small containers. Like basket weave - still being woven. Still the pattern of sun-slant will effect their design. Not rich southern root black soil, but I bring them to desert sand. Where three will make a family. How can we stretch back, how become immortal in such a climate? I cannot create all of the stories they will need...
OK, the heat and humidity are getting old now. There was a wonderful lightning storm yesterday evening though. Watched it from Mom's back porch. I'll miss that porch.
Went through the kids' winter clothes today. I made them try most of them on. Azara thought it was fun; Tim was less than thrilled. I have Seriously Limited space for packing for this move and I am not about to waste it on clothes that they have outgrown. Azara is right on the edge with many of her winter clothes. They still fit her now, but one small growth spurt before cool weather will have her looking pretty silly. Hmm. Should they stay or should they go?
I'm also trying to use up what is in the pantry. So, does anyone out there have a good vegetarian recipe involving quinoa? I have a good bit of it left and need some new ideas...
Went through the kids' winter clothes today. I made them try most of them on. Azara thought it was fun; Tim was less than thrilled. I have Seriously Limited space for packing for this move and I am not about to waste it on clothes that they have outgrown. Azara is right on the edge with many of her winter clothes. They still fit her now, but one small growth spurt before cool weather will have her looking pretty silly. Hmm. Should they stay or should they go?
I'm also trying to use up what is in the pantry. So, does anyone out there have a good vegetarian recipe involving quinoa? I have a good bit of it left and need some new ideas...
Today many family members from the Sullivan side came out to our place for homemade peach ice cream and to wish me luck on my adventure into grad school and the wild west.
On the local news this evening they mentioned that for some reason yellowjackets in the area are making "megaswarms" this summer. One swarm filled the entirety of a '58 Chevrolet and another was the size of a Volkswagen beetle. We have never had such large swarms around here, they went on to say, and they do not know what is causing them. They said it might be the drought-like conditions we've had this summer, but I can't see why a drought would cause a larger than normal swarm. Anyway, all the talk about yellowjackets made me think of the essay![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
eve_prime is working on. I'm looking forward to reading it.
On the local news this evening they mentioned that for some reason yellowjackets in the area are making "megaswarms" this summer. One swarm filled the entirety of a '58 Chevrolet and another was the size of a Volkswagen beetle. We have never had such large swarms around here, they went on to say, and they do not know what is causing them. They said it might be the drought-like conditions we've had this summer, but I can't see why a drought would cause a larger than normal swarm. Anyway, all the talk about yellowjackets made me think of the essay
eve_prime is working on. I'm looking forward to reading it.
Went to a 4th cookout / birthday party / going away party at lunch time. Half-joked about politics / space shuttles / little north korean dudes while half-watching CNN with some colorful family members of four generations. As to why Kim Jong II fired the missiles Uncle K. said, "He just wants some idiot in the U.S. to tattoo his name on their ass." OK... Listened to Uncle K. and Granddad tell about family vacations in the 1950s to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. And, evidently, Mom used to swim with sharks in the 70s when she lived on Grassy Key. My family is crazy. I sure will miss them.
Later, took the kids to see Prattville's firework show. After it was over, we drove up the highest hill in town which overlooks the river and Montgomery and watched its fireworks from a distance. It was nice, but the mosquitoes were pretty bad.
During the bit of downtime I read some newly published letters by Edward Abbey in Orion magazine. Here are a couple of the quotes I found interesting:
"yes, I do distrust mysticism. I regard it as too easy a way out. Whenever I find myself sliding into mysticism in my writing...I know my mind is relaxing, taking the easy way around a hard pitch of thought. Just as those who casually throw in the word "God" think that they are answering questions which may very well have no answer. Not all questions can be answered. I think that Carl Sagan is a bit naive in his scientific optimism, just as those who call themselves mystics are naive in identifying their personal inner visions with universal reality."
"By submitting to huge hierarchies of power, we gain freedom from personal responsibility for what we do and are forced to do - that is the seduction of it - but we lose the dignity of being real men and women. Power corrupts; attracts the worst and corrupts the best.
So what should we do, here and now, as individuals?...Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab ahold, be a citizen - not a subject."
Later, took the kids to see Prattville's firework show. After it was over, we drove up the highest hill in town which overlooks the river and Montgomery and watched its fireworks from a distance. It was nice, but the mosquitoes were pretty bad.
During the bit of downtime I read some newly published letters by Edward Abbey in Orion magazine. Here are a couple of the quotes I found interesting:
"yes, I do distrust mysticism. I regard it as too easy a way out. Whenever I find myself sliding into mysticism in my writing...I know my mind is relaxing, taking the easy way around a hard pitch of thought. Just as those who casually throw in the word "God" think that they are answering questions which may very well have no answer. Not all questions can be answered. I think that Carl Sagan is a bit naive in his scientific optimism, just as those who call themselves mystics are naive in identifying their personal inner visions with universal reality."
"By submitting to huge hierarchies of power, we gain freedom from personal responsibility for what we do and are forced to do - that is the seduction of it - but we lose the dignity of being real men and women. Power corrupts; attracts the worst and corrupts the best.
So what should we do, here and now, as individuals?...Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab ahold, be a citizen - not a subject."
Does anyone want a kitten? We must find homes for these guys and for their mother. There are many strays wandering around near my house. This is the only mother cat that we have been able to tame and help.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
melancholy
Well, after putting it off for as long as I could, I finally transferred my insurance from my dear old '78 Buick to the '93 Ford Aerostar. I need to get used to driving it around here before I drive cross-country in it. My Buick may be an evil gas guzzler, but it was sooo comfortable and has character and has been with me through so much that I almost cried after hanging up with the insurance company knowing I will not be able to drive it for almost two years. At least I don't have to sell it. El will look after it for me. Still, how will I find a white mini-van in the grocery store parking lot? Oh, how I will miss the dark rust red shine of its hood matching the autumn leaves as we roll down a country lane or matching the red rocks of Arizona as we go on a grand adventure together... *Sniff*
Because I may never again have an entire hour to waste on "blogthings"
Posted on 2006.06.11 at 21:35
And because I spent too much time today working on apartment hunting and other move related issues and I feel a bit braindead.
But, hey, I found out a lot of things about myself that I didn't know. Heh.
( Read more... )
But, hey, I found out a lot of things about myself that I didn't know. Heh.
( Read more... )
The shot I got yesterday for school made me feel sore and exhausted yesterday afternoon and this morning, but by mid-day the negative effects seemed to have worn off. I managed to do most of my weekly cleaning and pack for the beach.
We finally had some decent rain today. Yay! Now the grass won't be all crisp and crunchy when I walk barefoot. I want this summer to be as green and lush as possible. I want to drink in all the thick, humid greenness that I can before moving to the desert edge....
And what is with Timmers suddenly saying yuck to kisses? He seems to think that since he is almost five now he has to get all "big boy" on me. Noooo.
We finally had some decent rain today. Yay! Now the grass won't be all crisp and crunchy when I walk barefoot. I want this summer to be as green and lush as possible. I want to drink in all the thick, humid greenness that I can before moving to the desert edge....
And what is with Timmers suddenly saying yuck to kisses? He seems to think that since he is almost five now he has to get all "big boy" on me. Noooo.