The Compositionist

Moving Day

2006-12-01T02:36:00.000-05:00

Gang, and others,

I'm not posting here lately. I am going to keep this space active, but I'm not interested in posting here at this time. I have registered a domain in my own namesake, and you may find me there. So, Lindsey, if you're paying attention, Candace, if you're still lurking, and all the potential rest of you, I am at jasonwester.com. Find me there.

Jason

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-22T17:21:00.000-05:00

Enjoy turkey and yams and rolls and apple pie and greenbean caserole and mashed potatoes and all the other yummies you enjoy. Give thanks to those who provided your meal instead of imaginary beings who had nothing to do with it.

Atheist by the Grace of God

2006-11-02T09:41:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly recovering from slight trauma I experienced last night after being preached to for two hours about Islam at a presentation I attended as part of my sociolinguistics course. The presentation was billed as a Muslim woman feminist speaking about the roles of women in Islam. What it actually turned out to be, however, was a two hour preaching session in which this woman extolled the virtues of Islam, preaching about how polygamy was good (Muslim men are allowed to have four wives), how women were really not treated badly in Islamic cultures, and how we are all going to have to stand before Allah on judgment day.

What was striking about the presentation was how eerily similar it was to our own Christian fundies in this country and the rhetoric they vomit forth. For example, gays and lesbians, very bad (this woman even implied that AIDS was a homosexual disease), premarital sex, bad, and the language of certitude, as in, all of us will have to bow before the Creator. The Creator rules us all.

Why is it that the one thing that people cannot know, cannot possibly know for sure, that a God exists, is the very thing that they express with absolute certainty? Never are any qualifiers used: I believe God exists. I think there is a good chace that God exists. God probably exists. NO! It is always expressed with absolute certainty. God is going to kill you, you fucking sinner. You WILL answer to God for your sins!

The thing is, when I hear that, it tells me the exact opposite. It's like this, and I've said this before: If I go out of my way to say to you, you don't scare me! I'm not afraid of you! What am I actually saying? I'm saying the opposite. I'm saying that you scare the hell out of me, otherwise I wouldn't say it at all.

Same thing here. Everybody with a brain on thier shoulders knows, knows deep down in their gut, and I mean they KNOW, that there is no big bad God. They know it is a fairy tale. They know that it is utter bullshit. But, they think by stating it with certainty that they will somehow make this bullshit fairly tale real. They can trick their unconscious mind into buying it. That's all there is to it, really. When you say, in absolutes, that God is exists, you are effectively saying the opposite: God doesn't exist (but I sure wish He did).

The more I see crap like this in the world, the more certain I become of the destructive role of religion. It hurts people, and almost never helps them, and any benefit that comes from it is almost (qualifier) certainly a byproduct, a lucky break. In other words, if a religious person is a good person, it is in spite of their religious beliefs, and (almost) certainly not because of them.

All of the faiths, Christianity, Islam, you name it, are the product of the same disease, and they all exploit the same human weaknesses for their livlihoods. Religion may be a necessary evil, but on the whole the human race would be much better off if people would simply listen to their hearts and dismiss religious beliefs for the fairy tales they are, stop deluding themselves with the wishful thinking of god-belief, and accept reality as it truly is.

Who am I Kidding? Beck is still God.

2006-10-31T10:54:00.000-05:00

As the title says, who am I kidding? The Information has entered my waking consciousness so now I walking in the hallways of Leonard Hall and whistling, singing, various songs from the album. It starts with a seeping into the unconscious mind, percolating there for a couple of weeks, and finally emerging in the conscious mind. It is a good album, it just has to percolate for a while. Disregard previous review. Beck is God.

Something Missing: Review of Beck's The Information

2006-10-18T12:33:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, a new Beck album is a rare treat for me, something I look forward to and sometimes dream about. Naturally, I was at the record shop when they opened the doors to purchase Beck's newest offering, The Information. The disk came with a set of bizarre stickers and the cover was made of graph paper, the idea being that every person can design their own cover.

Okay, so that was moderately fun. (See my cover to the left). Problem is, and please understand how much is pains me to write this, that is about the only thing fun about this album.
I don't necessarily want to go into the scientology stuff, which has been written about elsewhere, particularly here and here and here. Suffice it to say, when the last track on the album "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" contains an absurd conversation about space ships, I start thinking the worst.

But this album is bland and joyless, mindless, and limp as a noodle. It is all dressed up with a hiphop veneer, but beneath the flashy surface there's none of the depth, the complexity, the brilliance that characterizes Beck's previous work. Maybe Beck is the victim of his own success, or maybe I'm holding him to an impossibly high standard, but I've listened to it beginning to end several times, giving it every benefit of the doubt, hoping that it will reveal itself to me, but as yet that hasn't happened.

I experienced a similar sensation with the previous album, Guero, but eventually I did find a spark in it, just not as quickly as I was accustomed to with Beck. I found many of the tracks on that album cold and pointless, but there was still some musical inventiveness and a touch of fun, a muted homage to the themes of Midnite Vultures, that won me over. That, I think, is where The Information has failed. The lyrics are predictable and and the music lacks flair. Most of all, it lacks fun. With the exception of "Cellphone's Dead" and "No Complaints" I can find no other tracks to hang on to.

To echo what other reviewers have said, Beck is goin' nowhere fast, and that might be because he has stopped reaching out into the musical universe. Both Guero and The Information are remarkably hermetic, rehashes of terrain that Beck had already explored. The genius of Beck, when he was on top of his game, was his ability to grab music, the leftovers and throwaways of diverse musical genres, from all corners of the globe, and mesh them into something fresh and unique. Officially, that aesthetic has gone missing in The Information, and the result is music that feels stuffy and stale. Beck desperately needs a breath of fresh air.

Awesome!

2006-10-11T00:23:00.000-05:00

I'm too direct with my speech. I tend to tell the truth too much, let people know exactly what's on my mind. If something sucks, I say so. If I like something, I say so. I keep forgetting the beautiful rhetorical modus operandi of my good buddy Chris S., who, instead of the direct approach, had a code. If something sucked, it was awesome! With gusto. If some idiot freak did something utterly stupid: Awesome! If some some awful task was given him: Awesome!

I keep forgetting how useful this sytem is. This post is to remind myself of its obvious utility. Hey you, dumbass, you're awesome!

This book, fuck it is awesome!

George W. Bush is awesome! Etc.

A Rebel Among Yankees

2006-09-28T15:20:00.000-05:00

My Southern drawl is pointed out to me almost daily, which doesn't bother me, but I am self-conscious of it to a degree because Northerners judge the Southern accent as a sign of stupidity. Self-conscious but also proudly defiant because I wouldn't change my accent if I could. Though I'm sure it will gradually lessen as a result of my stay up North, it will never fully dissipate, and that gives me comfort, reminds me where I came from.

But there's no doubt about it, it is the first thing people notice about me and it marks me for better or worse. Probably the most irritating thing is how often someone asks me if I'm from A. Kentucky, or B. Texas, two states I would never associate with intentionally. I tend to snap back, MISSISSIPPI! and I think to myself, please go soak your face you Pennsylvanian redneck. Go "Redd up" your room and put some "gum bands" around your stupid head. And while you're at it, let me wipe my ass with your Pittsburgh Steelers jersey and piss on the Superbowl trophy the refs awarded you.

Okay, now I got that off my chest. Professor Williamson warned that we have to careful what we post in our blogs because it could come back to haunt us when we get on the job market. This is probably a good example of that.

Bush Secretary Aims at Higher Ed.

2006-09-27T20:59:00.000-05:00

From the administration that brought you "No Child Left Behind", currently crippling a school near you, comes Margaret Spellings and her plan to "reform" higher education. Why does this make me nervous?

Reading this, I noticed a couple of buzzwords: "Accountability", the favorite word of the Bush administration when talking about education, "User-friendly", and "Consumer-friendly".

While I agree that financial aid could be streamlined, everything else about Secretary Spellings proposals I oppose. Higher education is not a commodity, and students are not consumers. I'm afraid "accountability" is code for "no more tenure".

And the last thing we need in higher education is more standardized testing. In fact, I'm of the opinion that most standardized test should be burned and pissed on because they do nothing to teach students. Nothing at all. Not ONE DAMN THING.

My gods, will there be anything good left in this country when Bush leaves office?

Doctoral Study So Far

2006-09-27T00:36:00.000-05:00

For those of you who might be interested, my doctoral studies are going well so far. I feel I've made a positive impression on my professors, and I'm learning a lot, though this newly acquired knowledge feels jumbled and disconnected at this point. I spoke to a professor about that feeling of disconnectedness, and he assured me that it was natural and expected, and that with persistence I would eventually get a "handle" on things. I hope so. I'm impatient by nature, and I want to figure it all out right now, but it just isn't feasible. I must continue plodding along until it comes into focus.

What I do know: My interests, as general as they are, are literacy and technology, narrative inquiry, pedagogical theory and pedagogical practice and how the two relate (or don't relate). The tricky part is figuring out which of those interests will lead to my qualifying paper, and then to my dissertation. It is wide-open at this point.

As part of my Technology and Literacy course, I've created a web page on the college's server, which I'm happy to link here. There you will find some of the reflections I've written in response to reading in that course. Enjoy.

Suicide

2006-09-23T03:45:00.000-05:00

I received word today that an old friend of mine, Jim Wallace, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with his shotgun. I've been thinking about it all day.

Jim was my roommate two consecutive summers at Lion's Band. We got along very well, and I always had a deep fondness for him. He was usually quient and reserved, and I always felt like he looked up to me. I was a year older than him, and I was all about chasing chicks and getting into trouble. I was experimenting with cigarettes, blowing the smoke out the window to try to keep the smell out of the room, but invariably it blew back in, and after a week of that our room smelled like an ashtray. Jim never complained about it, nor did he ever share a smoke with me. Jim never got into trouble that I know of.

I wish I could remember the things we talked about, some snippet of conversation we must have shared while stretched out in our bunks before we fell asleep.

I hadn't seen or spoken to Jim since my sophomore year in community college, when I transferred and we went our separate ways. I heard that he got married and that he had a daughter and that he was directing band in Columbus. I guess I figured he'd be doing that for a long time.

I doubt anyone who knew Jim ever thought he would take his own life. I wonder what happened to him that made suicide a viable option in his mind.

I wonder what could make a man give up and decline to watch his daughter grow up.

It hurts to think about that.

Jim Wallace, the world was a better place with you in it. You will be missed.

Re-Thinking Literacy

2006-09-19T00:39:00.000-05:00

Those of you who had my English 101 course began your semester with the Literacy Autobiography, a diagnostic essay designed to get you thinking about what it means to be a literate person, the process of becoming literate, and how you think about literacy. I admit, that first essay came from my days as a GTA in my master's program, and I'd taught it ever since because I liked the way it made my students squirm. No one seemed to like the assignment, and I think that is because they weren't accustomed to thinking about their literacy. It was just there, something to be taken for granted.

I'd fallen for the company line, though, in thinking about literacy as a buzzword used by politicians when they proclaim that literacy is the key to economic success, that illiteracy is akin to a disease that must be irradicated. I didn't consider literacy critically, nor did I ever really think about what I meant when I tossed the word around.

The word is fraught with implications, and it is very difficult to define. What do we mean when we talk about literacy? Do we mean simply the ability to read and write? If so, surely we must recognize that there are levels of ability there, and that some people read better than others, are more comfortable with challenging texts than others, are better writers than others.

So what then? Are we talking about minimal competency? The ability to sign one's name on their paycheck? To read a street sign? That doesn't work, either. That's too minimal. That sort of literacy alone would never get a person through English 101.

Do you have to enjoy Shakespeare to be considered truly literate? Do you have to read Moby Dick?

Do you see the problem? What is literacy?

Politicians toss the word around, and we all act like we know what it means, we think we know what it means, but in reality we have no idea. It is just a catch-all buzzword, and if it means something, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint that meaning.

If you've followed the controversy at Clemson about the required reading for incoming Freshman, it is crystal clear literacy is threatening to a great number of people, conservative people who wish to control the ideas that young people are exposed to. It is no different than the conservatives who were very much concerned with keeping their slaves from gaining literacy. If they learned to read, they might read the wrong text that put ideas about freedom in their heads.

The Clemson choice of books, Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett, and I haven't read it, seems to have sparked controversy because of its sexual content. Conservatives always seem to want to control the sexuality of other people, especially the prized and cherished and innocent sexuality of young people, but I admit I'm a bit baffled where that presumption comes from. Why do they think they have that right? Where do they get off? (Pun intended)

But ultimately, literacy is about control. It is good to read and write, as long as it serves the State's interests. As long as you read the right texts, and are exposed to the right ideas, the right sexuality, and you don't think too critically, and you don't learn any of the wrong ideas, literacy is just hunky-dory.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, right? How many of my students had no intellectual curiosity whatsoever? A majority. As a teacher, I always wanted to inspire that curiosity in my students, but I'm no miracle worker, and I'm sure I failed much more than I suceeded. There is power in texts, as conservatives surely recognized when they came out against the Truth & Beauty, but I think they overreacted a bit. A person needs curiosity, intellectual curiosity, the desire to learn more than they already know, and the desire to seek that knowledge in texts, or any text, no matter how powerful or well-written, is lost on them.

In retrospect, in spite of my lack of critical consideration of literacy, I think I got one thing absolutely correct when I taught the Literacy Autobiography: Literacy is what you make it. You can take it as far as you want to go. It really is up to you.

The Other Side of the Fence

2006-09-12T20:46:00.000-05:00

I'd written a short essay during the summer session about how easy it is to forget where you came from once you've managed to jump over the fence. Let me clarify that metaphor by relaying an anecdote.

In class, we were asked to brainstorm a list of qualifications the ideal writing teacher should have, and among those listed was "should have two to three years of teaching experience" and on the surface that seems fair enough, reasonable enough. A writing teacher probably should have experience.

Unless he doesn't have a drop, but happens to be an outstanding teacher, then he's been disqualified on a technicality. How is he supposed to gain experience if no one will give him the chance to teach?

I dealt with this when I was on the job market. It was frustrating to say the least. So, I had experience as a graduate teaching assistant, and I had experience as an adjunct, but none of that experience counted. When they say they want experience, they mean full-time experience, and breaking into full-time teaching, getting a foot in the door as it were, was not easy, but my persistence paid off and I finally broke through.

In the upcoming departmental newsletter that they are putting together now, they want to do a section about how teachers transition to being students again, and I certainly have a lot to say about that, but the number one thing is the fact that this transition was very humbling for me. In a lot of ways, I had forgotten what it was like to be a student. No, I didn't forget what it felt like to sit in those uncomfortable desks, but, for example, I did forget how big of a pinch buying textbooks can be.

My books for this term cost me $370, which is not chump change to me, especially with my current predicament of my impending progeny. I was not happy forking out the cash for books that I need to own, but that will be obsolete in one or two years as the publishers change a couple of sentences and release another edition. But, when I was teaching, I never gave the cost, the outrageous cost, of textbooks a second thought.

In an earlier post I wrote about having to adjust to being the student again and having a professor who didn't see teaching quite like I did. It took a week of giving him the benefit of the doubt before I adjusted to his teaching style, but I've gotten a little more nimble since then. This term I'm taking three courses from three different professor who have three different teaching styles, and it feels like second nature. I guess I'm settled into being the student again.

I think this experience will help me become a better teacher when I get back to work. I had forgotten a lot about being a student, what it was like on that side of the fence, and this experience gives me a point of reference so I don't forget so easily next time.

All That is Good: Part I

2006-08-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

For my first post of this series, consider the turntable. I had a couple of weeks off, and I wanted a project. My previous turntable was destroyed in the move, and I had a heap of luscious vinyl just begging to be heard, so I bought an under-appreciated Marantz 6100 (circa 1976) on Ebay for $100. It was a pretty machine with the silvery aluminum accoutrements, but the plinth was covered in an ugly wood-grain veneer. My project: strip off the plastic veneer and stain the underneath wood blue. This involved taking it apart, and I've never tinkered with a turntable before, so I was risking taking a working turntable and, well, destroying it.

Before

Stripped

Stained

Finished

Looks good doesn't it? Or, at least it looks better, I think. But, there was a problem. I put on a record and I only had audio from the right channel. Not a sound came out of the left. I was disappointed to say the least. I took it apart again, resoldered some wires, and tried it again. Still no left channel. At my wits end, I took it to a repair shop that had a guy who knew a thing or two about turntables. Funny thing is, the problem was the output cord, the one that connects to the receiver. In other words, I didn't screw it up. I bought it screwed up, even though the guy I bought if from assured me it was a working table. Let that be a lesson to you when you buy something from a stranger on Ebay. Anyway, the guy installed a new cord, and today I picked the baby up and spun a couple of records.

How does it sound? First record I put on was Beck's Guero. Wow! Was a sumptuous slab of vinyl. The detail is just amazing. Compared to the CD of the same album, vinyl wins, hands down. In fact, it is a rout. The CD just can't compete with the vinyl when it comes to musical detail. The vinyl is warm, detailed, full of little surprises that are inaudible on the CD. If you have a turntable and a decent receiver to connect it to, and if you want to lay back and float away with your music, vinyl is the only way to fly. It is one of the good things.

Hell is (Un)Real

2006-08-27T10:52:00.000-05:00

Read this cultural text. What does it say? Literally it says "hell is real", but what else?

I found this billboard along the Interstate in Ohio, and I was struck by the implicit message of the sign. I thought, if something is real, really flesh-and-blood smack-you-upside-the-head real, there is no need to proclaim its realness. Realness is obvious. For example, if this billboard read "Ohio is Real" wouldn't that be silly? Does any sane person doubt the existence of Ohio?

On the other hand, Hell is not real, and that is the implicit message of this billboard. If it were real, there would be no need for billboards proclaiming its realness. It would be obvious to everyone, a given. I wonder if the people who paid for this billboard ever considered the irony. By proclaiming "Hell is real" they actually underscored the fact that Hell is not real, but rather a fictitious, mythological place designed to scare people. Hell is so unreal that it depends on billboards to bolster its existence.

New Direction

2006-08-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

After much thought, I have decided to change the scope of this blog to better reflect what I am doing now. This is in conjunction with a course I am taking called Technology and Literacy. I want to use it as a place to write about my ideas. I want to more narrowly focus the discourse. To that end, I have decided to remove all contributors and fly solo. Now, those of you who might be interested in what I'm doing, I encourage you to read the blog and offer comments. The only difference is that you won't be able to create posts. Feel free to email me, and, again, feel free to comment on my posts.

First Day back to school

2006-08-20T21:02:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was my first day back at Greenville Tech. I have four classes total this semester. Overall I enjoyed coming back. The school itself sucks, but the people are by far the friendliest I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I only saw a few familiar faces, but I made up for it by introducing myself to as many new people as possible. Once again Greenville Tech increased the total number of students while keeping the same number of parking spaces. This was by far the most annoying thing as I had to park on the opposite side of campus from my classes.

My class schedule

MWF: Public speaking, Western Civilization
TR: Biology 102, Algebra

Updates Request

2006-08-15T07:17:00.000-05:00

I've deleted a couple of members who didn't contribute, which leaves us with a core of five who still use the blog, which is plenty. Lindsey was added back to the blog roster by request, so welcome back, Lindsey!

As the Fall semester is about to begin, let us know, in individual posts, what you are up to. What is going on in your life with school, courses, plans, etc.?

Papa Wester

2006-08-14T22:44:00.000-05:00

Just call me Papa. It appears your former teacher is going to take on another role in about seven months. I'm going to be a father! Yes, my darling wife is pregnant. My sperm wiggled their flagella until they hit the jackpot. My biological imperitive shall be fulfilled.

Isn't that life? I quit my job, go back to school, and my wife gets knocked up. Oh well, I'm sure we'll manage. Actually, I think this could be a great time for this. I'll have more time at home than I did when I was working, and a flexible schedule will be an asset for the challenges ahead. Too bad I don't have that handy paycheck anymore . . .

But no negativity! I'm going to be a daddy!

Reconnecting with my Inner Student

2006-08-14T22:34:00.000-05:00

My second course of the summer forced me to remember what it is like to be a student, and the first week I didn't like it one bit. All of you know, I'm a fairly laid-back teacher in terms of planning and flexibility. I'd always have a plan, but I might or might not adhere to it, and I liked letting the course unfold naturally (for lack of a better term). My professor in the second course was exactly the opposite of that. He planned classes to the minute, and he became bothered if the class deviated from his schedule by one minute. The first week of class, I felt stifled, a little bewildered. I'm so used to doing it my way, I really hated being forced into a rigid structure. This guy seemed too strict to me, too intent on keeping his lesson plan perfect. I called some friends, complained about it, all that stuff.

By the second week I settled down. I had to be the student again, grant this professor his authority to run the class as he thought best. That marked a real transition for me. I'm not the teacher anymore. No authority. No real say in how the class unfolds. Once I made that adjustment, the course went along fine, I did very well, and I actually started to like the professor.

It is so easy, once you get on the other side of the fence, to forget what life was like before. If anything, I think teachers need to be well-aware of what it was like to be a student. They should work hard to remember that. It helps them be more effective teachers, I think.

Mountainous Pile of Debt

2006-08-01T05:16:00.000-05:00

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but this is what many of you have to look forward to when you transfer to four-year institutions.

A Glimmer of Hope

2006-07-31T16:57:00.000-05:00

Evangelical Christianity, in the opinion of this writer, has largely made a mockery of itself in the incessant waging of culture wars against all the wrong things. When I consider comtemporary Christianity, I think of bigotry for homosexuals, a complete ignorance about the value of the separation of church and state, backward attitudes about human sexuality like abstinence-only sex "education", a backward distrust of science, a bloodlust for war, a total disregard for the poor and downtrodden, a deep love of guns, and the dangerous mixing of religion and jingoistic nationalism, to name a few. In short, I can think of almost nothing good about evangelical Christianity.

I don't think it always used to be that way in this country. This article in the New York Times gave me a reason to be hopeful that not all Christians are utterly insane. Check it out.

Mel Gibson: Drunk Bigot

2006-07-31T13:44:00.000-05:00

"Based upon reported comments of Mel Gibson who was arrested for DUI, the creator of the Passion of The Christ shows the true passion of the man in his hatred against Jewish people. It also shows why he created such a movie with such violent depiction that gained controversy yet worldwide praise.

Reportedly, Gibson “Apparently, he went on a rampage against Jews, whom he thinks are responsible “for all the wars in the world.” Gibson also cursed and reportedly said “f****** Jews” and asked the deputy who pulled him over whether he was a Jew. Next he said "You motherf****r. I´m going to f*** you," threatening to flex his celebrity muscles to get back at the officer.

Many Jewish people wondered why Gibson would make such a provocative movie with such violence and blaming a religious group existing over two thousand years ago.

If the police report statements are in fact true, his motivations for making such an anti-semetic movie are now very clear."

Teacher under fire for his Cheney-9/11 theory

2006-07-22T17:56:00.000-05:00

Check out the above link. I think you may find it interesting in light of our discussions in the Spring. Again, we have a legislative body attempting to silence the voice of a teacher. I think I see a pattern here.

Florida Bans History

2006-07-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

If you have any doubts about the fact that learning to think critically constitutes a threat to the ruling elites, check out the latest bit of legislation signed into law by our president's brother. Critical thinking is under attack in the classrooms of Florida thanks to legislation that requires history be taught as "knowable, teachable, and testable."

"The fundamental fallacy of the law is in the underlying assumption that “factual” and “constructed” are mutually exclusive in the study of history. There certainly are many facts about history that are widely, and sometimes even unanimously, agreed upon. But how we arrange those facts into a narrative to describe and explain history is clearly a construction, an interpretation. That’s the task of historians -- to assess factual assertions about the past, weave them together in a coherent narrative, and construct an explanation of how and why things happened."

Another link that helps explain the folly of this law:

Several problems with this law: One, it entrenches what Freire called the "banking system of education" in which students are seen as receptacles of facts. Facts are deposited into students by teachers. There is no critical reflection, and students do not actively participate in constructing their own knowledge. Instead, they are only required to memorize facts by rote and spit them out on a test.

Two, it makes the teaching of history almost impossible, reducing it to a set of facts without narrative. Problem is, people think in narrative. We need stories to make sense of facts. Without this interpretive structure, history means nothing.

Three, it doesn't allow for diverse perspectives on history. Do you think history might be different depending on who you ask? Of course. Your perspective determines how you view the world. Potentially, this law could stop any perspective on history that runs counter to the dominate, "Great Men" view of history that I discussed in an earlier post about Howard Zinn.

Four, Why are we so obsessed with testing? Reducing things to mere facts that can be spit out on tests is not education. It is dehumanizing and dangerous. We are creating a generation of automatons.

Five: What business do legislators have in the classroom? Are they historians? Are they trained to teach? Why don't they see the wisdom in leaving the teaching of history to professionals? Why do they feel the need to butt-in?

I think I know the answer to that question, and it disturbs me.

I need advice Mr. Wester

2006-07-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

School will be starting back in a few weeks, and I have already signed up for classes. The classes I have chosen are the universal ones that everybody has to take. I haven't signed up for the major specific ones because I want to change my major, and don't want to waste any time. Officially my major is exercise science to be a physical therapist and I'm on the fence about changing it to psychology to be a clinical or forensic psychologist.

My question to you Mr. Wester is how did you finally decide on your career path? Were you just naturally gifted in English composition, did you just enjoy it and decided to go with it, or was composition just one thing you were working towards and just settled on it?

I don't want to waste a year of my life studying the wrong thing. I enjoy and find both of my future career choices interesting. The pay is almost the same in both career choices, but thats not at the top of my priorities list because I want to do something that I can wake up everyday and smile knowing that I made the right choice. I have interviewed people of both careers and neither been able to tip the scales towards one side.

Patting Myself on the Back

2006-07-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

Your humble ex-teacher made an A on his first paper in a class in which the majority of students made a B or worse, which makes him very, very happy and gives his confidence an always needed boost. I'm determinded to become one of the hard-hitters in this program, and I have started with a knockout.

If you read over the posts I wrote about process, I want you to notice that I've used this blog as part of my process. By writing about my process, I made it a self-fulfilling prophecy, and I further solidified my process by writing it out, reflecting on it, and noting the changes I made to it as I wrote.

You can use this blog in the same way. If you're working on a piece for class, any class, you can post about it here, and such an addition would be very valuable because it helps fulfill the purpose of this blog, which is about our journeys as writers and the discoveries we make along the way.

The lesson I want to convey is that process is so crucial to producing good work. I preached that to you over and over, but I practice what I preach because I know it works.

Fighting "False Consciousness"

2006-07-19T06:04:00.000-05:00

The late James Berlin in his essay "Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class" outlines four types of "false consciousness".

1. Reification: Means that students see the social and economic sytems that oppress them as the natural order of things. They don't see the possibility to change those systems and become supporters of "the very practices that victimize them." Consumerism, according to Berlin, is the most common form. People are more concerned with the stuff they can buy than pursuing more rewarding kinds of behavior.

2. Pre-scientific thinking: Superstition. Luck. Notice how when people avoid disaster and tragedy, like the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, they thank God for saving them, never considering how terrible such a statement sounds when a bloated infant that God didn't see fit to save is floating in the muck.

Celebrity worship. Elevating people to prestigious status for nothing.

Loyalty to brand names. Irrational belief that Colgate is better than Crest.

3. Acceleration: The pace of life. The fast pace of American life leaves little time for reflection, and creates boredom. How many times have you said, "I'm bored?"

4. "Students are constantly told they live in the most free, most democratic society in the world, yet they are at the same time sytematically denied opportunities for 'self-discipline, self-organization, collective work styles, or group deliberation' instead being subjected at every turn to arbitrary authority in conducting everyday affairs."

Food for thought.

Finished! (Sort of)

2006-07-16T20:24:00.000-05:00

I got it down to six pages, two more than the four required, and I hope that doesn't offend the teacher too much. Six was the best I could do and still get my argument across. I've edited once, but I'll have to do it one more time, probably in the morning because I'm tired. I also had someone read it, and of course they saw some things I missed. APA style is tight, I think, and all the nuts and bolts seem to be in place. Aside from the last edit in the morning, this baby is ready to submit.
Here's the part I hate. I've never written for this guy before, so I don't have a clue as to what he likes. All I had to go on was advice from a couple of peers who took him before. I guess I should submit a burnt offering to the grading gods, pray my teacher's hemorrhoids don't flare up when he gets to my paper. Ya'll send him some postive cosmic vibes because I want an A.

Letting Go is Hard to Do

2006-07-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a short breather from my writing, which has come along pretty well. Some of the predictions I made in the earlier post "My Process" didn't come true. I didn't do much with my essay yesterday, which is sometimes necessary to get a little distance from the piece. On Friday I churned out ten pages, more than I expected, and when I finished that I was exhausted, and I had to take a break.

I woke up Saturday with every intention to work on the piece, but I looked at it and I couldn't do a thing. The text seemed too daunting at that point, so instead I prepared my references page and I highlighted a few quotations that I plan to use. The rest of the day I watched television.

This morning I arose with energy, and I jumped into my manuscript. I read it, and it was rough, but I had written so much that I knew I could get this paper done. All I had to do was cut it down to around four pages, organize it, and move on to the final stage of editing. Easy, right?

Wrong! Writers fall in love with their words, and cutting them feels like putting a beloved pet to sleep. You don't want to do it even though you really have no choice. The dog isn't what he used to be, he's sick, he'd be better off because he wouldn't suffer anymore, but no rational argument seems to have to have the force of that irrational love.

That metaphor isn't so good, but I'm trying to communicate how I feel. I've been sitting at my desk since 9 o'clock excising the fluff out of my piece. It is hard work and the going is slow. I started off with ten pages, and here it is noon and I've only whittled it down to 7. I still have to cut it down to at least 5, which will put me in the reasonable range of 3-4 that was assigned.

It is going to be an all-day affair. But, you know, it is a good way to spend a Sunday. It feels good.

New Look

2006-07-15T12:18:00.000-05:00

I've been tweaking the blog template. Still not perfect, but I think it looks much better. What do you think? Any suggestions?

My Writing Process

2006-07-14T07:16:00.000-05:00

I have my new set of headphones on, a nice pair of Sennheiser's I got for my birthday, and I'm listening to The Flaming Lips At War with the Mystics (thanks Stewart!) which is an album that makes the headphones dance. Man, I love The Lips.

I'm in prewriting (invention) mode, and the music is keeping me from getting too bogged down with thought. My task is to synthesize three disparate pieces into a coherent themematic essay that explores the question: What must a writing teacher know?

My invention process, which is steadily evolving, involves writing in my journal, freewriting mostly, to see what I know and what interests me about the pieces I've read. It involves hitting the topic from multiple angles. I freewrite in my journal because I have to use my pen. I freewrite on the computer because that employs my typing fingers, another route all together. I have my headphones on in this phase because, like I've stated, I don't want to get bogged down, I just want the ideas to flow without getting stuck on any single idea, just let them do their dance, using me as a conduit, or to carry on that metaphor, a dance floor. Sometimes we have to get out of the way of our minds and let them party.

I'll read some critical articles soon and see what new ideas, new perspective, they shed on the reading. I'll have a pencil in hand and a notebook on my desk. Using my pencil, I'll underline passages that I like in the text, and the ideas that particularly connect to the direction I'm steering this theme I'll jot down in my notebook. If I do that, what I think of as active reading, I'm much more likely to remember the ideas I've encountered, and they are more likely to appear in my essay, either explicitly or implicitly. Explicitly as in I will parphrase or quote them, implicitly as a kind of knowledgable underpinning about the discourse.

At some point I will burn through a first draft. I won't worry about documentation style, nor will I edit myself as I write. I will pretty much freewrite that draft, spill my ideas onto the page willy nilly. This thematic essay is supposed to be 3-4 pages in length, so hopefully my first draft will yeild at least double that, about 6-8 pages. I'll print this draft and read it to get a sense of what I'm saying, then I'll try to ferret out the "center of gravity" as Elbow calls it, which you may know as the thesis statement. What is the central idea I'm expressing? Hopefully I'll find something that makes the essay stick together, something I can rally around.

Next I will organize my ideas around that center of gravity. Maybe I'll do an outline, maybe not. I will cut it mercilessly. Cut it down to the barest essentials, the spine, the barebones of the piece, and I will throw the rest in the trash can. From there, I'll address the specific concerns that have cropped up through the process to that point. I'll add here, find a relevant quotation there that accentuated the thought. I'll work on the introduction, make sure my thesis is clear, make sure my ideas are developed well, and try to get to a decent draft that is a step closer to the one I'll turn in.

I'll set the piece aside for a while, maybe even sleep on it, and hit it again in the morning. Usually a fresh set of eyes will see things I've missed, and I'll get back into the text and work those out. Hopefully at that point the draft will be about ready to submit.

The last thing I will do is edit. I'll proofread, correct my mistakes in grammar and mechanics, make sure all my verb tense lines up consistently (I'm very good at shifting verb tense while I write) and then I'll pass the piece on to a reader, who will undoubtedly uncover mistakes that I've missed. I'll correct those. I will do the Works Cited page and make sure all of my citations are where they should be and formatted correctly according to the documentation style I've chosen, in this case APA format.

I'll reach a point at which I can't do anything else to the draft and I have to let go, give it up to the teacher, hoping he will like what I've written and that the grading gods will guide him to give me an A.

My solution to illegal immigration

2006-07-13T02:59:00.000-05:00

I have not heard anything similar to this so as far as I know this is my own idea.

There are a countless number of people in America who nothing about it or even care for that matter. Legal immigrants have to learn every president in order, memorize every major and minor historical fact for a test that the Average American couldn't even come close passing. people who call themselves American for the sole fact that they were born here never contribute anything meaningful to the country, Meanwhile immigrants are grateful to be in America even if they are doing bad jobs and being exploited.

My solution is allow illegal immigrants to join the military. Upon completion of four years of service each immigrant will be granted full citizenship just as if they were born in America, they can even run for president if they want. This solves two problems 1) lack of people joining the military 2) Illegal immigration. If the illegal immigrants truly want to be here they will jump at this chance, and the ones that don't will be deported.

I also think we should stop giving citizenship to people born in America. They should either have to take the same test the illegals have to, or join the military. It amazes me when I watch tv and see people who don't even know who the vice-president is. As far as i'am concerned any illegal willing to serve in the military is already more American than the majority of America

Core of Learners

2006-07-12T21:02:00.000-05:00

I've been reading Writing Without Teachers by Peter Elbow, which is an excellent book full of practical suggestions about how to improve your writing. If you write, and you hit brick walls like most of us do, Elbow has some good ways to break through those walls, and I highly recommend the book to any of you who are serious about writing.

Anyway, one of Elbow's main points is that students don't need teachers, but teachers absolutely need students. In other words, people can learn quite well on their own, and they don't need teachers to make it happen. He advocates that the teacher get off his high horse and approach students on their level, as a student himself. If the teacher gives an assignment, he should do the assignment, too. He should participate in workshop and open his writing to criticism.

As all of you pursue your educations, think about that. You don't need teachers. Teachers need you. You have all of the power, but the system is rigged to keep you from figuring that out. I think the lesson to learn is, take control of your own learning, and learn because it is a worthy pursuit in and of itself. Immerse yourself in your studies. Do more than is required of you. Make your education YOURS.

In another class, when I told them about going back to school to work on earning a Ph.D. one student expressed her amazement that I was so excited to be going back to school, like something was wrong with me for actually liking school. Learning is the most rewarding activity I do in my life. If I stopped learning, my life would effectively be over. If more students would embrace learning instead of fighting it, they would find similar enrichment, and I encourage all of you to seek that in your lives.

Lastly, another point that really resonated with me in Elbow was an observation of his about how courses tend to develop a core of learners, and it is a shame that the core forms just about the time that the semester ends, students disband, teachers get another section, and that chemistry that was formed is lost forever. Think about that, how if things were structured differently and you could carry on that core, how deep and wonderful the learning experience would be. I think, overall, we had a special group, and I think we could have accomplished a lot more than we did had the time frame been a little more forgiving.

"Truth, Justice, and the American Way"

2006-07-12T06:22:00.000-05:00

I watched the orginal Superman movie with Christopher Reeve again a couple of days ago. At the end of that film, Superman says that he will continue to fight for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" and I smiled. I remember being a kid and watching this film, picking up cues like that one from Superman, that there was this thing called the "American Way" and it was a good thing, so good that Superman, a being from another planet, recognized its value and fought for it.

What is the American way? I'm not sure what it used to be, but a quick look around might reveal what it is now: Is it preemptive war? Is it torture? Guantanamo Bay prisoners held without being charged and denied the right to a fair trial? The relentless pursuit of profit? Incarcerating more of our citizens than any other nation on Earth, many of them on non-violent drug charges? Bigotry for gay people? Celebrity worship? Extreme poverty? Lack of health care? Lack of quality education?

And with so many glaring problems, what are our rulers talking about? Mexicans, gay marriage, and flag burning. Talk about skewed priorities.

I heard Superman say that and I couldn't help but think how far we've fallen. Or, was there ever an American way worth celebrating to begin with? I'm saddened by the deaths of each American soldier who fights for this American way, spilling his or her blood at the altar of Islam for the profit of the wealthy elites. I'm saddened that America no longer (was it ever?) a force for truth and justice in this world. If there was a Superman, he would have to find another slogan, find better ideals to fight for.

Contrasting Narratives

2006-07-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

Working through my thoughts is never easy, and invariably I miss things. Writing helps, but writing comes from within, and I am limited to what I can understand by the things I already understand. That's why reading is so important. It can open avenues I hadn't previously considered, push me in new directions.

Sometimes I have an idea for a piece of writing, and I start it, but it doesn't go where I expected it to go. It takes a life of its own, and if I try to bring it back to my original intent it feels forced. I can't make a round peg fit in a square hole, so I go with it.

I take the piece, steer it off the originally charted course, hopefully find a better course, and make some discoveries along the way.

I have contrasting narratives, contrasting stories, and I have to settle for ambiguity, but I never want to. Who likes ambiguity? We all want it settled. We want the clear facts. We want our stories to be true or false, fiction or nonfiction, and no blurring of those categories.

Doesn't this fly in the face of reality? Where does this drive for certainty come from when all one has to do is look around to realize nothing is certain. The landscape changes. People are born and people die. People move, divorce their partners, turn gay, join monasteries, turn over a new leaf, change churches, adopt kids, and tornadoes strike, floods rise, hurricanes hit.

Narratives change. Stories are told differently. Ambiguity is life.

"Put Away the Flags" by Howard Zinn

2006-07-02T10:07:00.000-05:00

Jason's Introduction: This Independence Day, consider our great country from another perspective. The following was written by Howard Zinn, one of the most brilliant minds of our time, whose work A People's History of the United States changed my life. In the book, Zinn considered history from a different perspective than the one you will find in the typical textbook. Instead of looking at history through a lense of great men, a top-down view of history that is predominately concerned with the wealthy and powerful, Zinn presents a history from the people's perspective, those who have to live with the decisions of their rulers, and whose voices too often go unheard. If you haven't read this book, I encourage you to do so. It has the potential to blow your mind wide open.

"On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

Is not nationalism -- that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder -- one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?

These ways of thinking -- cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on -- have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.

National spirit can be benign in a country that is small and lacking both in military power and a hunger for expansion (Switzerland, Norway, Costa Rica and many more). But in a nation like ours -- huge, possessing thousands of weapons of mass destruction -- what might have been harmless pride becomes an arrogant nationalism dangerous to others and to ourselves.

Our citizenry has been brought up to see our nation as different from others, an exception in the world, uniquely moral, expanding into other lands in order to bring civilization, liberty, democracy.

That self-deception started early.

When the first English settlers moved into Indian land in Massachusetts Bay and were resisted, the violence escalated into war with the Pequot Indians. The killing of Indians was seen as approved by God, the taking of land as commanded by the Bible. The Puritans cited one of the Psalms, which says: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession."

When the English set fire to a Pequot village and massacred men, women and children, the Puritan theologian Cotton Mather said: "It was supposed that no less than 600 Pequot souls were brought down to hell that day."

On the eve of the Mexican War, an American journalist declared it our "Manifest Destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence." After the invasion of Mexico began, The New York Herald announced: "We believe it is a part of our destiny to civilize that beautiful country."

It was always supposedly for benign purposes that our country went to war.

We invaded Cuba in 1898 to liberate the Cubans, and went to war in the Philippines shortly after, as President McKinley put it, "to civilize and Christianize" the Filipino people.

As our armies were committing massacres in the Philippines (at least 600,000 Filipinos died in a few years of conflict), Elihu Root, our secretary of war, was saying: "The American soldier is different from all other soldiers of all other countries since the war began. He is the advance guard of liberty and justice, of law and order, and of peace and happiness."

We see in Iraq that our soldiers are not different. They have, perhaps against their better nature, killed thousands of Iraq civilians. And some soldiers have shown themselves capable of brutality, of torture.

Yet they are victims, too, of our government's lies.

How many times have we heard President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld tell the troops that if they die, if they return without arms or legs, or blinded, it is for "liberty," for "democracy"?

One of the effects of nationalist thinking is a loss of a sense of proportion. The killing of 2,300 people at Pearl Harbor becomes the justification for killing 240,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The killing of 3,000 people on Sept. 11 becomes the justification for killing tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And nationalism is given a special virulence when it is said to be blessed by Providence. Today we have a president, invading two countries in four years, who announced on the campaign trail last year that God speaks through him.

We need to refute the idea that our nation is different from, morally superior to, the other imperial powers of world history.

We need to assert our allegiance to the human race, and not to any one nation."

The Wonderful Art of Alex Ross

2006-07-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

How's this for a cultural text? If I'd known about it a few months ago, I would have brought it in.

Accidental Deletion

2006-07-01T08:21:00.000-05:00

Lindsey just brought to my attention that she was deleted from the blog roster. When I was clearing the blog of disinterested members I accidentally got rid of her even though she expressed interest in staying on. If you want to be re-added, leave your email address in the comments to this post and I can invite you again.

Comments are Open to Registered Blogger Users

2006-06-30T07:24:00.000-05:00

Superman Returns Sucks

2006-06-30T00:00:00.000-05:00

I walked out of the theater dumbfounded. I couldn't believe this film was so bad. With so much wrong, where do I even begin?

Well, let's start with the casting. Who was that high school chick playing Lois Lane? This woman/girl, Kate Bosworth is her name, had the screen presence of a mailbox. She's 23 in real life, but looks all of 19 on the screen, and the audience is supposed to demolish their disbelief and accept that she and Supes go back at least 5 years, when he left Earth to visit Krypton? That would put her in high school. We're supposed to believe this woman, barely out of her training bra, won a Pulitzer Prize? Terrible. Just terrible casting. What happened to women on the silver screen who had character and charisma? I keep thinking of Margot Kidder, the Lois Lane from the previous Superman movies. Now, she was Lois Lane, full of fire and wit, an instant screen presence, and most importantly, a fully grown woman.

In that vein, isn't Superman supposed to be a man? Super-MAN. Brandon Routh looks like a kid, too. Sure, he's the perfect All-American pretty boy that Superman has to be, but he needs about ten more years on his face before I can accept him as Superman. Christopher Reeve: Superman. Routh: Superboy. I'd write something about Routh's acting performance if I could remember anything about it. I think he had four lines in the entire picture.

And Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor seemed like a nice bit of casting going in, but coming out I could not have been more disappointed. He has no fun in the role, and his unrestrained sadism, which seems to be the only way he can play a character, just made this film feel dirty. My Gods, give me Gene Hackman any day. Give me someone who at least seems to be enjoying his work.

And speaking of dirty, why was Superman wearing a maroon cape? Okay, it wasn't truly maroon, but it wasn't red, either. It was dirty, like he'd been sleeping in the street for a couple of months. Why did Singer do that? Superman is supposed to have a red cape and red boots. He's not some fop staring at himself in the mirror, picking out more earthy tones. He's Superman! He wears a red cape, a bright red cape, with boots to match. Maybe I'm being nitpicky here, but if you can't get the costume right, you have no business making this picture. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Singer.

But the one big glaring problem with this picture is quite simple: it lacked fun. It bored me so much I almost fell asleep. I'm not kidding. I left the theater so depressed I had to watch Superman 2 on DVD so I would remember what a fun movie that was, how Reeve, Kidder, Hackman, Stamp and company had fun, played with their characters, developed them, made them come to life on the screen. None of the characters in Superman Returns tapped that spirit of fun, and because of that this movie was just a tedious, awful bore.

I've read a lot about how this movie was made pretending that Superman 3 and 4 never existed (which is fine by me. Those are truly bad films), and that Superman Returns sought to explore the themes of 1 and 2, to be a "spirtual successor" to those films. Well, Singer, you failed miserably at that, and as bad 3 and 4 were, I'd rather pretend Superman Returns doesn't exist.

Updates

2006-06-19T05:43:00.000-05:00

Happiness is watching Greenville shrink in my rearview mirror.

I'm very busy, folks. I'm very focused on doing well in my program, which involves a huge reading list and a hell of a lot of writing. I don't have the time to devote to the blog like I did when I was using it as a teaching tool.

Besides, even when I used this as a teaching tool it was too centered around me and my ideas. I'd prefer to get off of the catbird seat. No one is stopping you from posting your own ideas, linking your own articles.

I am kicking around the idea of opening the comments section to the general public, which might give it new life. Anyone got a problem with that?

And Amy, please forgive me for being so difficult to contact. With the move and the new town and school and starting a new program, my plate has been full. You can email me through my profile. I'll update my contact email there. Keep working on your project. It is outstanding, and I think it is an important story that needs to be told.

And that goes for the rest of you, too. Keep writing. Keep telling your stories. Writing is a beautiful thing that can become a way of life, a way of enriching yourselves and learning from your experiences. If there's one single thing I stand for, that is it. Write!

Where is everyone?

2006-06-11T00:51:00.000-05:00

Hey Everybody,
I thought that we were going to use this as a way to keep up with eachother?
What happened now I know that life is hectic but seriously we can all take ten minutes at least a week to post something
I need some intelligent conversation so come on put your thinking caps on and show me what u got!

The End, Part 2

2006-05-10T14:24:00.000-05:00

Cleaning out my office, taking my name card off the door, turning in my keys, the finality of it all is really more than I can think about. I don't like goodbyes. But, here I am. Finished. Done. Unemployed. Moving yet again.

I'm going to clear the blog roll of dead weight, so if you wish to remain a contributor here, I need to know ASAP, otherwise I will delete your membership and you will not be able to access the blog as a member. Daniel told me he wanted to stay on, but he is the only person I've heard from. Let me know in the comments what you want to do.

The End of the Line

2006-05-08T17:46:00.000-05:00

Gang, I've finished grading your projects and calculating final averages and all grades have been submitted. This is the end.

As far as getting together, I'll leave that to you. I'm open. Just let me know where to be.

The blog will stay active, and you are absolutely encouraged to use it. I will probably be using it less, especially while I'm moving, but I plan to use it frequently once I get settled in.

Send an email if you should you need to contact me.

I had a lot of fun this semester. You taught me at least as much as I taught you.

Convicted Mayor of Lynchburg, Va., Resigns

2006-05-06T18:46:00.000-05:00

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) - The mayor of Lynchburg resigned Wednesday, a day after a federal jury convicted him of raiding his church's charity to pay his debts with money donated by the Rev. Jerry Falwell and his son.
Carl B. Hutcherson Jr. was also found to have taken money from two disabled Social Security recipients for whom he received benefits. He was convicted of fraud, lying to federal and bank officials and obstruction of justice.
Hutcherson, 62, a Methodist minister, was flanked by his son and daughter at City Hall on Wednesday as he announced his resignation both as mayor and as a city councilman.
"As difficult as this is for me and my family, I respect the jury's verdict and I accept my own responsibility in these matters," he said.
Both the defense and prosecution described Hutcherson as being in financial straits when a gift from the Falwells to the church's charity was transferred to one of Hutcherson's accounts. Testimony showed he owed more than $80,000 in back taxes.
Vice Mayor Joan Foster will take over at least until June 30, when the newly elected council takes office. The mayor is elected by the city council.
Virginia United Methodist Church Bishop Charlene P. Kammerer said in a statement that Hutcherson's position as pastor of Trinity church is "being reviewed."
Hutcherson stepped down temporarily as pastor of the Lynchburg church following his indictment Dec. 1 on charges of fraud, lying to bank and federal officials and obstruction of justice.
No date has been set for his sentencing.

Class Dinner

2006-05-04T14:34:00.000-05:00

HELLO!!!!
If you are still interested in having a final get together to celebrate a great semester please let me know. My email is shortystorm@yahoo.com, and I have sent Wester an email requesting that he announce a day that will be good for him on Monday. I will not be in class on Monday, but by popular vote it seems we will eat Mexican. I hope that everyone will be in attendance to say our goodbyes and thank yous to the very soon Dr. Wester. Looking forward to hearing from you guys, please respond to this with any comments or suggestions for days or times okay...
Also please let me know ahead of time if you will be bringing someone so that we can call and warn the resturant, I really hate long waits.

Looking forward to seeing you all again, let me know what you want to do.
Leyna

Last Day

2006-05-01T12:50:00.000-05:00

Summer is almost Here

2006-04-29T16:19:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,
I know that summer is almost here, but I really hope that does not mean an end to our educated and heated debates.
I have really enjoyed the discussions and different points of view. So while you are on vacation look for something interesting to blog.
Or if you see something that is obviously propaganda, inform us. Wester has given us the chance to stay in touch and have educated, mature conversation. Please don't let the end of this class end this blog.

Wishing you all the best and let me know what's on your minds.
By the way what do you guys wanna do about Wester? Still Corona's? And Wester what day and time is good for you?
Let me know something and we will finish this semester out with a bang.

Something fun i meant to share the other day....

2006-04-28T06:24:00.000-05:00

So...i LOVE oprah! if i could be anyone...i would be oprah. the other day i was sitting down on my couch, watching oprah. in this particular show, she talked about extrodinary kids that were either unbelievably smart or did something outrageously amazing. she had on this one kid that i just thought was the coolest thing ever....he was this 10yr old boy who is CERTAIN that he is going to be president someday. the thing was...he didnt just say....i'm going to be president. he was more like....i am going to be president in blah and blah year and at that point in time a major issue that is going to be concerning my generation is social security and i think that thats going to be a huge problem coming up so i would like to solve that problem and just blah blah blah. but he was smart. like he knew what he wanted to do. and they showed him going around and telling about famous national monuments and landmarks like the white house and what not and how he can recite all of the presidents fowards and backwards and how he knows really fun facts about all of them like he mentioned something about how one of the presidents wore dresses up until the time he was 12 or something weird like that...im not really sure. but the point is that i think that even though adults look down on children as being immature and having growing minds and not knowing much, i also think that at the same time adults should take the time to listen to children because i think that sometimes adults get so wrapped up in the chaos of life that we often tend to miss things and i just think that it was really cool that this child already has such great ideas of what he wants to do and most children aren't quite like him but i just thought it was cool to see that. like what if he actually met our president now and they could exchange some words? haha i think that would be funny. but anyway i just thought it was cool and that i would share that with you guys.

Cool Homosexual Site

2006-04-28T06:14:00.000-05:00

Alright so I've been working on this damn paper and day after day I seem to find a new website that I can use. Well...some are obviously more helpful than others. (By the way...in case you don't know...my paper is on trying to presuade people to either let or at least agree with letting homosexuals have children) but anyway...I found this website that is kind of interesting...at least I find it interesting. It tells you what state things are legal in for different things involving homoesexuals. There's a list for the states that allow/don't allow homosexuals to adopt, marry, etc. I think the one link I found the most interesting was if you go down to the part that says "other countries" and click on "homosexual rights around the world," it will come up with a list of countries all over the world and whether or not they allow homosexuality and it's kinda cool if you actually read it just cuz I mean sometimes we think that our laws are bad, but in some of these countries it says that if they even find out that you're gay or lesbian you could end up in jail for up to 20 yrs and some say 3 yrs and some say 8 yrs and some say that if you live in their country and they find out that you're gay, they will kill you. So I've just been browsing around on this website and theres tons of little links to click on like voting records and what not. So I will quit talking about it and let you click on it if you're interested.

Attention Jessica

2006-04-27T18:02:00.000-05:00

I've linked this news in the title above. The headline: "Katrina Report Lambastes White house"

This is a must read for your project. I hope you check the blog tonight. You will find this information very useful.

Grab The Popcorn...

2006-04-26T13:12:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!
I was just writing to let everyone know about the video I was talking about today in class.
One of them is called 9/11: Loose Change (google it because there are several versions) and another one tha I just found out about is 9/11: In Plane Site.
9/11: Loose Change is about an hour and a half long. SOOO, grab the popcorn, put the kids to bed and prepare for an eye opening experience!

Recurring Themes

2006-04-24T19:13:00.000-05:00

I've noticed that religion and politics happen to be at the top of everyones favorite hit lists. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, for I hate phoniness just as much as the next guy. As far as religion goes, my belief is that even if you have never read the bible or believe in "God", you can still live your life well for the bible is nothing but a map of how to live productively. Who knows- heaven and hell might have been created so people would believe that there's gold at the end of the rainbow for those that need some incentive to live the way that they're supposed to. The way common sense tells us to live. If you're nice to people, most of the time they will be nice to you. Common sense. And politics is an issue that really gets peoples blood boiling. I've even witnessed a little of the "Wester temper" (I have no idea why I put that in quotes, it just felt right) when we spoke of John Kerry.
I get the feeling that our teacher is very passionate about his political views which is why I will end here. I'm only kidding- I'm ending here because I want to.

For Melissa (and the rest of you, too)

2006-04-24T16:40:00.000-05:00

Melissa, since we talked a little about this before class today, I figured I'd save you the time and money and just link the Rolling Stone article here. I think it will, at the very least, give you a better idea about why people dislike President Bush.

Relevant Commercial

2006-04-24T13:51:00.000-05:00

http://www.ucc.org/commercial.html

I saw this commercial today! I thought it was so funny! It fits our class so well! I think we should go to this church as a class and see if any of us get ejected out of our seats!

Less freedom: blame Bush, baby boomers

2006-04-21T22:52:00.000-05:00

This is a commentary from the LSU student newspaper. What do you notice about this piece?

Kentucky College Expells Student for Being Gay

2006-04-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

I think this article is of particular relevance to our class. I've linked it in the title, so check it out.

To summarize, a religious-affiliated college in Kentucky expelled a student after he admitted he was gay on his myspace.com page.

Here's the twist. The college just collected $10 million from the state of Kentucky to build a new pharmacy school. The argument is, since the state cannot discriminate against people, Kentucky has no business providing funding to a private school that openly discriminates.

This issue touches on a number of issues we've discussed, and it raises a number of questions. I'll leave it to you to ask them.

Workshop Day Pictures

2006-04-21T12:18:00.000-05:00

Deed or Breed?

2006-04-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

Ok guys. I need your help on this one. I saw a television show on Discovery entitled 'Dangerous Dogs,' and it made me start to think. This has been a topic that I have felt strongly about for sometime now. It has gotten pushed to the way side with all of these papers, tests, and exams comming up. Seeing this show made me realize again how much this issue irritated me.

As many of you know, I have a pit bull. He is the sweetest dog I have ever known. Yet, because he is a pit bull, people get scared when they see him, or even when I tell them what kind of dog he is. He was rescued by a friend of mine from a house, where he was left for two weeks with no food or water. You could count every single rib on his body. Despite all that he went through when he was six months old, he has learned how to be gentle, love, protect, and play. Not to fight!

On 'Dangerous Dogs,' Discovery channel presented arguments against certain 'bully breeds' of dogs, which include pit bulls, rottweilers, german shepards, and a few other ones that are almost extinct. The show presented the view that all of these dogs are dangerous, can snap at any moment, and no matter how much training you give them, they will always pick nature over nurture. The entire show they presented these dogs in a bad light. They only showed news articles on dog attacks, organized fighting, and the power behind their aggression. Pit bulls and some other breeds have lock jaws. They can clamp down on something and hold on to it forever. So they assume, and go on a few dog attacks, that the entire breeds are this way. How can a respected nation wide television station present an argument that is so one sided? Where are the stories about the dogs who protect little kids from wandering out of the yard (don't tell me that they don't because mine does), of ones who are too busy playing, loving, or running around to fight? Where are the stories of these dogs making good family dogs? Where are the stories about them loving you unconditionally?

Knowing what I know now, and having my own 'bully breed' dog, I can safely say that it is not in the breed of the dog to become mean, but that they are trained, raised, and tortured to become this way. If you leave any dog unattented for a long period of time it will become lonely, if you torture and beat them, they will become mean. If a person trains a dog to stay this way, to be vicious towards everyone, then it will. It is not the dog's fault. They just do what their master tells them.

Another thing that also triggered this post, was that I recently found out about California legislation* that was recently passed to euthanize all pit bulls in the state. How could one person decide what is right for the entire state. A good portion of the pets in California are 'bully breeds.' I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but all dogs are not mean. Alot of people have taught them and trained them to become vicious because of their strong muscles and foreful jaws. Just because some redneck decides that he wants a mean dog on a four foot chain to guard his trailer, does not mean that the entire breed is like that!

Their reputation has already been lost. I just hope that I can save a few.

So class. Help me out. What do you think?

* I couldn't find the actual bill website, so that link is to a pre-hearing before the actual vote.

Percentage of America that is Christian

2006-04-19T20:11:00.000-05:00

Amy called me out in class for saying that 85% of America is Christian. I was wrong. The statistics I saw that said 85% were Christian was a statistic showing the percentage during the 1990's. I couldn't find any statistics for the years 2005-2006. The Christian population has been declining over the years. I found two sites that state that state the Christian population for the year 2001. One is wikipedia, a questionable source that says the Christian population was 79.8% in 2001. The other statistic comes from the published in a study titled "Americans Struggle with Religions Role at Home and Abroad.",released on March 20, 2002, which says the Christian population was 82% in March of 2001.

http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

Wrapping it Up

2006-04-19T17:16:00.000-05:00

Gang, I feel it is time to shift gears, get focused on our final projects, and put the Wendy's discussion out to pasture. Use this space to add any final comments about this topic, especially about our discussion in class today.

Illegal Immigration

2006-04-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

I have a big problem with giving illegal immigrants amnesty. The biggest protestors of making illegal immigration a felony are people from Mexico who have come to the United States illegally. A few days ago on CNN, I heard someone say that in Mexico, crossing the border illegally is a felony. Illegal immigrants are not supposed to attend public occations. They do not have any rights, and will be arrested and sentenced to two years in prison if they are caught. To me, the irony lies in the fact that these people want foreigners locked up for two years for coming into their country, but feel that they have the right to take over our streets in protest and fly their flags in our schools. I think officers should be standing on every street corner where protests are taking place, and if someone doesn't have their id or green card, they should be sent back to where they came from. Has everyone forgotton what it felt like to watch three thousand people die on September 11th? If we want to make sure that doesn't happen again, we need to secure our borders and our ports, and seriously question who we allow into this country. Anyone with good intentions of coming into this country would not have a problem with that. Giving illegal immigrants is not just a matter of loosing jobs, it is a matter of security.

Is This Appropriate?

2006-04-16T14:42:00.000-05:00

First of all, Happy Easter, gang!

As I was driving down Haywood I noticed that instead of hyping cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets, the Wendy's was hyping Jesus Christ. I had my camera on me, so I took a few snapshots.

Personally, I don't understand why a business would choose to make this sort of statement, which is necessarily exclusionary to many people, and that seems counter to what a business is about, making money. Maybe in Greenville such a statement helps make money. I'm not sure, but I am interested in reading your thoughts about this.

I couldn't help but be amused by the fact that directly above the message are the icons of all the major credit cards. Sometimes, gang, I can't bear the ironies life dishes out.

Responses?

I'm Back

2006-04-15T11:06:00.000-05:00

Hey gang, back from a successful trip to the North. I got a lot accomplished while up there, including finding a place to live.

Leyna, I've scanned the blog, and I don't see where it has been censored. Could you give an example so I can check on it?

Censored

2006-04-15T00:06:00.000-05:00

I have logged in at approx 12:30am sat morning, to find everything pollitical and religious censored out of our comments. Its a sad day when we are denied our basic freedom of speech. It would be different if this blog were open to the public's comments but we are an English class, in a community college. A group of educated individuals with a Right to speak freely. I sincerely hope that the next time I log on to this site our entries are uncensored, besides a direct infrigement on our rights as Americans, since it was not said prior that it would be censored, this action is illegal. I saw no formal disclosures about censoring our topics or opinions due to pollitical or religious nature. I do hope that this is fixed soon, because frankly I read threw everything and now this blog is in shambles with so many things just erased I want to scream!! I want to know what my classmates are thinking, this is the most intelligent conversation that many of us get, and to censor it, well that is upsetting me.

Paul Broussard (Dec. 19, 1961- Oct. 14, 2004)

2006-04-14T19:57:00.000-05:00

Crystal and I have returned emotionally drained from a four day trip to Baldwin County, Alabama where we have sat in on the court proceedings for her brother who was killed in a horrific accident by a drunk driver. As most of you know it is extremely hard to get a murder conviction for drunk driving in South Carolina.
The state of Alabama charged him with murder due to the extreme nature of this case. The legal drinking limit in Alabama is .08. He, Marvin Franklin, had .258 in his system as well as Marijuana. The kicker of this story was unveiled to us in the court room when an EMS driver testified to going and helping Mr. Franklin out of the car. What hindered him from getting him out quicker was a distraction. This distraction was a DVD player with a porn movie playing in the front seat of the car. Yes, folks, you read right!!! The man was drunk, high and watching a porn movie while driving with only one headlight at dark for 8 miles down the wrong side of interstate 65 and hit Paul head on at 70 miles an hour or faster. The end result was satisfying with a count one murder conviction of GUILTY, count two DUI - GUILTY and count three conviction of driving on the wrong side of the road - GUILTY!!!! After three days of testimony and tears we drove home very melancholy but felt for once that justice was served.
I am ready for school again after getting this behind us!! Hug Crystal Monday! She certainly needs it!
Amy

Illegal Immigration

2006-04-12T23:06:00.000-05:00

Unless you live in a box you have heard about the twelve million people protesting a bill that would make illegal immigrants felons. They were even protesting in downtown Greenville.
Personally I don’t see the problem with just giving them amnesty. The weakest argument I hear against making illegals citizens is that immigrants are taking American jobs. People who use this argument say it like they would pour tar on a roof in the blazing sun for five dollars an hour. If congress was truly against illegal immigration they could stop it by raising the minimum wage to ten dollars an hour. Americans are willing to do the work illegals do, they just won’t be exploited the same way. Raising the minimum wage would stomp this so called “problem” out, but we all know that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Does anyone else see the huge irony of invading an entire country and killing thousands of innocent human lives with the intention of bringing freedom to the world, but we hesitate at to let millions of people start a better life and help make a contribution to our so called free nation.

I'am still kinda in the middle on this issue since both sides have very strong arguments. What do you guys think?

If you need sources open any newspaper.

Pen and Teller's B*ll S**t

2006-04-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

Bull S**t is the name of the show that comes on Showtime every Saturday and Sunday night. They disect topics and Propaganda like a frog in a high school science lab. The last epidsode was actually focusing on P.E.T.A. If you dont know what P.E.T.A. is then this is what you need to know, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. They are the ones that protest furs on famous people and put all kind of ads in famous magagazines about animals being used to test medications and other products. It is an extremist group to say the least. One thing that amazed me in the show this past week was PETA protests euthanizing animals and consistantly has animal rights people protesting at animal clinics, medical testing facilities, large schools, etc...
Funny thing is last year PETA claimed to have saved over 2000 animals, what they failed to tell the public is how they had over 1000 of those same animals put to sleep, and how of all the animals they saved only 738 actually survived. They also failed to mention in all their ads how in the past 60 years over 450 life saving vaccines have been created by the testing of animals. The show gives a lot more details in the hour long presentation than I can in this simple blog. But the facts still remain, and I wanted to inform you guys of this incredible show. I am hooked, please check it out, and tell me what you guys think about this information.
Check out these websights if you are interested in specifics.
www.peta.org
www.petakillsanimals.com

Finally...

2006-04-12T13:39:00.000-05:00

I have had the hardest time trying to become a contributor to this blog. I got to the website but I did so through http://compositionist.com. Well, evidently I was supposed to use the link that Mr. Wester sent. I figured this out after giving up and checking my e-mail where I found the invitation. I've been perusing all the articles that my classmates have written and it appears that this may be an interesting endeavor. I truly wish that I had something more valuable to contribute at this time but, alas, I don't. I just wanted to see the mechanisms at work. My next posting will be much more informative (I hope).

Sean

2006-04-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

Look guys this is in response to Amy's blog about drunk driving...
I was a General Manager at Little Caesar's right after my son was born. My assistant manager was this adorable Ashton Kutcher look alike named Sean. All the guys that worked for me went to school together and grew up together, I find that if you enjoy your work environment you do a better job. One Friday night all the boys (ages 16-19) were going to a Kegger. I told them to be safe and I would see them tommorow. The next day I got a call that my store wasnt open, Sean was scheduled to open it, apparently... Sean had been in a very serious car accident in which his best friend was killed. Because Sean was intoxicated and at the wheel he was charged with vehicular manslauter, amongst other things. If you could only have met these boys, they were sooooo great. Fun, Friendly, Respectful, Hard-Working, the type of guys that you want around you. But now Sean has to live with the death of his best childhood friend and it distroyed him. The parents were really cool considerring and begged the department to drop the charges, they went and visited with Sean and told him that they still love him as a son, but his friend and thier son is gone. Just know that what ever you do over spring break it can affect you for the rest of your life. Please change for the better not the worse. I love you all and do not want to see another young vibrant life affected so terribly. BE SAFE!

Spring Break and Final Papers

2006-04-08T23:49:00.000-05:00

Finally, fresher faces!
I will be leaving with Crystal for Alabama on Monday of Spring Break for the beginning of her brother's murder trial. He was killed by a drunk driver in October a year ago. We have no idea how long it will last. Maybe a day or two or weeks. We will just see. Hopefully we can get in a room with web access. My final paper is still being tweeked and hopefully it will be at a final stage when we return. My topic is Same-Sex marriage. My main problem is sentence structure and paragraphs. So when we get back in class whoever partners with me please show no mercy!
As far as Mr. Wester's new find on spring break starvation and such, I have been clueless. This was news to me as well.
Amy

Incommunicado

2006-04-08T17:35:00.000-05:00

Gang, starting Sunday I'll be incommunicado, away from my trusty computer, on the road, exploring an area that is totally new to me, and trying to take care of business. I leave the blog in your capable hands.

I've enjoyed every minute of this. I've been following the development of this blog closely, and I am very happy with what we have here. Let's keep at it. I know you're on break, but if you're around a computer, I hope you check out the blog and add to it as often as you can. Nothing would please me more than coming home and reading your posts.

I will see you after the break. Have fun.

Atheists are the most distrusted group in America.

2006-04-08T16:38:00.000-05:00

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (3/20/2006) -- "American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don’t believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology."

"From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry."

"Even though atheists are few in number, not formally organized and relatively hard to publicly identify, they are seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large portion of the American public. “Atheists, who account for about 3 percent of the U.S. population, offer a glaring exception to the rule of increasing social tolerance over the last 30 years,” says Penny Edgell, associate sociology professor and the study’s lead researcher."

Edgell also argues that today’s atheists play the role that Catholics, Jews and communists have played in the past—they offer a symbolic moral boundary to membership in American society. “It seems most Americans believe that diversity is fine, as long as every one shares a common ‘core’ of values that make them trustworthy—and in America, that ‘core’ has historically been religious,” says Edgell. Many of the study’s respondents associated atheism with an array of moral indiscretions ranging from criminal behavior to rampant materialism and cultural elitism.

"Edgell believes a fear of moral decline and resulting social disorder is behind the findings. “Americans believe they share more than rules and procedures with their fellow citizens—they share an understanding of right and wrong,” she said. “Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good.”

"The researchers also found acceptance or rejection of atheists is related not only to personal religiosity, but also to one’s exposure to diversity, education and political orientation—with more educated, East and West Coast Americans more accepting of atheists than their Midwestern counterparts.
The study is co-authored by assistant professor Joseph Gerteis and associate professor Doug Hartmann. It’s the first in a series of national studies conducted the American Mosaic Project, a three-year project funded by the Minneapolis-based David Edelstein Family Foundation that looks at race, religion and cultural diversity in the contemporary United States. The study will appear in the April issue of the American Sociological Review."

What do you guys think of this? What are your true HONEST opinions of Atheists? Most of you have said you don't have a problem with them but this says differently.

Assisted-Suicide

2006-04-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

I am happy to have figure out this blogging thing and join my classmates. As everyone know my project is on assisted suicide. This is what my Spring Break will consist of. I have heard most of my classmates opinions. Thanks. And as for those of you who have not given my your personal opinion please feel free to do so.
So far I have gone back to my skit, sources and information I have found since and have tried to start at least five times. I am having a problem of overload. I can't decide what information to focus on and what all I should cover. I was thinking personally that researching the laws, Biblical reasoning, freedoms of personal rights and values of each individual would be my high points. I would love to know what your thoughts are.

Freedom

2006-04-07T21:23:00.000-05:00

Hey Wester and Amy I will happily join your group!:)
I am glad that we have a chance and place to carry on educated conversation and pass along ideas outside of school. One hour is simply not enough for our class. I dont know where to start, all of the topics that have been posted are very interesting. Let me first say that I wrote a 25 page paper about why Bush needed to be impeached. Spent two months and did extensive research on the subject, but i recieved an F on the paper so I am staying away from pollitical issues at Greenville Tech. I think that I may have hit a sore spot with someone. What do you guys/ladies think about the Freedom of Speech we were discussing in class today. I think that Freedom is quickly becomming a thing of the past, and that before we know it the only freedom we will have is to pay taxes. Well let me know what you think.

Spring Break Challenge

2006-04-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

In my last post for today, I'd like to share something I found in the New York Times that might especially interest the women in our group. The Spring Break Challenge, as its called, is a group of female bloggers who are obsessed with body image, and they post about starving themselves, anorexia and bulimia. That brings up a plethora of issues that concern the pressure women feel to fit a certain mold.

From the article: "The group dieting that is relatively ad hoc among friends and sorority sisters takes a more organized form on the Internet, where spring break has become a popular topic on Web sites and message boards maintained by devotees of a controversial underground movement known as "pro-ana," or pro-anorexia, who sometimes identify themselves in public by wearing red bracelets. There are hundreds of pro-ana Web sites promoting and supporting the "anorexic lifestyle," despite aggressive efforts to shut them down by eating-disorder activists. In addition the pro-anas are also present on social network sites like MySpace.com, Xanga and Livejournal.com, where blog rings topics range as widely as emo music and parasailing."

I admit, this is new information for me. Are any of you ladies aware of this movement? Do you know anyone who wears the red bracelets? I'd be interested to read your comments about this.

In Fairness to Bush

2006-04-07T15:50:00.000-05:00

I was scanning the headlines, and I found an article about the leak we discussed yesterday. Mind you, this comes from the National Review, which is a conservative publication, and therefore probably friendly to President Bush. Like we discussed in class, you have to consider the source when you evaluate information. That said, the article makes some good points about executive power, about how the president can de-classify information at his discretion.

Also, this article from USA Today has some interesting information that should be a little more neutral in terms of bias, and it provides some good background about the leaks and why this is such a big story.

Our Final Projects

2006-04-07T14:04:00.000-05:00

Gang: Let's post about our final projects. In an original post (not in the comments section of this post) write a little about your project, what you are doing, what you've done so far, and what you need to do to finish it up.

What have you learned from doing the project? If you have any problems, post them, and let's try to solve them as a group.

On The Lighter Side

2006-04-07T06:18:00.000-05:00

What are you doing for Spring Break?

Impeach Without Apology!!

2006-04-06T18:51:00.000-05:00

Here standing on the verge of losing his job and facing maybe impeachment without any sign of remorse!
Are we really taken back by this information? Come on, how long have we fussed about this miserable excuse for a President?
What nerve to push so much power in the face of Americans. You know the old saying, "What you don't like about others you may find in yourself."
The war is specifically aimed at who? Saddam Hussein? Is that right? I think I have those facts straight. Impeach! Impeach!
Impeach! Here's a follow up to the previous blog. Check this out!
Amy

Impeach, Anyone?

2006-04-06T15:14:00.000-05:00

This could be explosive, and it could be the beginning of the end for President Bush. Apparently, Bush authorized his underlings to leak intelligence about Iraq to the press. Read this, and if it doesn't make you angry, we need to check your pulse in class on Friday. This is Nixonian-level corruption, maybe worse.

Here's the report's introductory paragraph: "President Bush authorized Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003 to permit Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., to leak to a reporter key portions of a classified prewar intelligence estimate on Iraq, according to Mr. Libby's grand jury testimony disclosed in court papers filed late Wednesday."

What's Next after 911?

2006-04-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

When looking ahead, I found this website! Scary, very scary! I'm not sure we are ready to handle 911 much less this information.
In digging around I found this site too.
So, whose going to make the next prediction?
Amy

Bone and Skulls

2006-04-05T22:23:00.000-05:00

Check this one out. Yale University has a secret society that our president and Senator John Kerry are elite members of. Found this very interesting. Thousands of sites! Here are the roster of initiates. So much info!!! Too little time!!

CRYSTAL

Best Homeland Security? Stay home and watch your kids!

2006-04-05T21:49:00.000-05:00

Now that I've figured this thing out, I do want to share the information I found today.
I saw this clip today when I arrived home. Since our discussions of 911, I found this bit of news not at all surprising. We are supporting the homeland how might you ask?
It is beyond me why we have a homeland security when we cannot protect our kids from the one's protecting us!!
I did not find this news at all surprising in light of our recent discussions in class!
Mr. Wester was right...this is addictive and fun!
Amy

The Compositionist

2006-04-05T21:38:00.000-05:00

I want to include this link for our 911 conspiracy theory discussion.
This news was very interesting to go through.
This was the best site for video and information from the BBC I could find.
As a class, I think this blogger will be a great tool for growing as writers and as a group. This was beyond a doubt the best class I had this semester.
Amy

Thoughts About How to Use This Blog

2006-04-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

Just for clarity, I want to put my thoughts out there about how I think this should work. Ideas are welcome, of course.

If you have a link to share, create a post and provide some commentary about that link. If you have a comment to make about someone's post, that is related to it, use the comments section. That way, we have a good blend of comments and original posts.

I want you all to know, I'm giddy about this blog, about putting our minds together. This is my idea of fun.

I know, I'm a hopeless geek.

Encouragement

2006-04-05T20:56:00.000-05:00

I encourage all of you to create posts. You can create hyperlinks in your post by using the hyperlink button at the top of the text editor. Look up there and notice the icon with the chain in it, click it, copy and paste your link, then we can click that link and be transported to that site instantly.

For example, if I want to link to, say, the Greenville News, I can simply highlight the text I want to link, and use the hyperlink button to link it.

And don't forget to title your posts (I can't tell you how many times I've written on a student's paper "Title Your Work").

While Waiting for Everyone to Join

2006-04-05T16:25:00.000-05:00

At this point we have five members with eight invitations out, so we are waiting for everyone to get on board. Those of you who have joined the blog, let's try out the comments section of this entry. Use the comments section to post some thoughts on this project, what you think about it, that kind of thing. Do you think this is a good idea? Why? Why not?

Welcome, and Introduction

2006-04-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog, noble writers. Let's begin the grand experiment.

This is a blog, short for Web Log. Blogs have many uses. Some writers use them as a sort of public journal in which they chronicle their thoughts and ideas, usually with a specific topic and audience in mind. Blogs can pull together a wide range of information. Political blogs like Atrios pull together articles from diverse news sources and connect them with hyperlinks. Blogs provide a space for commentary and thought, a place for people to come together and share ideas.

Blogs can help us make sense of the Internet and the vast amount of information available to us. I hope I illustrated this problem for you in the computer lab. With so much information out there, much of it contradictory and confusing, how does a person make heads or tails of it? How does a person know what to think?

Think about that, and think about how this medium could help us sort out our ideas, especially if we focus our collective energy on a specific topic.

Think about the possibilities for collaboration through writing.

Think about how this medium provides us with a real audience beyond the classroom.

Think about how addressing a real audience will influence your writing.

Think about how this will encourage you to synthesize information and think for yourself.

Okay, that's enough thinking. Now is the time for doing.

Please sign up as a member of the blog, as a contributor, and we will go from there, in subsequent posts.