Unfortunately, I didn't remember to take a picture until the job was started, but here is the before photo of the back of "the chair."

And here's "the chair" all done!

I do my own taxes -- with pencil and paper, no software. It's a math activity that I like enough to not feel the need to pay for. But overall, I hate the task. I can't stand seeing how much we pay, and sometimes have to pay. It isn't that I want to shirk paying my fair share. I'd never cheat to try to get money back or avoid paying. But seriously? I also cannot stand the convoluted paperwork. Really? I'm 100% a public sector person, have great respect for civil servants, but are you kidding me? I can just imagine the ridiculous process that produces these absurd calculations.

What hurt this year was that I'd planned Friday as "the day" but then I was too sick to even attempt getting started. So it waited until yesterday. I still didn't feel great, but I had no choice. I finished at 2:45 AM, and the mailman took the envelopes away at 9:45. Yay.

I can't really write this on fb as I have a few "friends" who are "on the system" types who also are fb bullies. It gives me no pleasure to contemplate that my $ goes into their pockets -- they are perfectly competent, even privileged people who are lazy or crazy or both, and just feel entitled to take. Anything I wrote would be interpreted as if I was either a militia type or a 1%-er. Then, I don't want to empower the other extreme, the sprinkling of anti-government types among my "friends" who would perceive me as a kindred spirit! LOL. There's a lot more nuance possible here at GBP.

The other distasteful thing about the annual task is that it takes time away from my to do list -- and the clock is ticking on end of semester.

Thank you gift from a boy in faith formation

Thursday night after I got home from campus, I came down with the worst stomach bug I've had in years. Ugh! The details are TMI, but let's say you can just rip yesterday's calendar page out. At this point, I am up to ginger ale and toast (one piece). Since I don't eat bread or drink soda, this took some doing!

The case of the missing chair: recently I moved into a new (much nicer) office. The prior occupant left behind a wooden side chair with tattered upholstery. The chairs in her new office are in better shape, and she said I could have it, or if I felt it was too forlorn, I should throw it away.

I liked the chair, despite the worn fabric, and decided I would keep it. When Bob visited to see my new space, he immediately said "that's a Gunlock chair." So I bought fabric, and hauled his cordless screwdriver to campus on Tuesday to begin the reupholster job.

I took off the back, but discovered the seat required a regular screwdriver, which wasn't in the case. I decided the fabric needed ironing anyway, so I'd have to finish on Thursday. Thursday morning I arrived with another screwdriver and an iron...and my chair was gone!

After looking around the department (lots of moves, painting, etc. taking place at present), I contacted the office that has responsibility for such tasks, and was referred to email elsewhere, which I did. No response. Suddenly our department coordinator had a bright idea...she found my chair in the tunnel (four stories below).

Now, I have some ideas...but who took my chair and why?

Studying social class in Toleration class. I assigned groups of students a class, and had them make posters.

Second to last faith formation class. The kids have spring fever -- lots of energy to say the least! Tonight, we studied the art print "Good Friday" by Maggi Hambling (1989) and started the culminating project: banners that will be displayed in the chirch for Easter. These are the samples we made. The kids have the same burlap panel, bamboo dowel / rope hanger, and burlap cross. Aside from those elements, they will have free choice of design and decorations: felt, foam mosaic squares, fabric markers, artificial flower petals, dried flower potpourri, and pictures of flowers from old calendars. Tonight we looked at many design ideas and worked on sketches, and then they cut out shapes and letters. Next week will involve about a case of Elmer's glue as they put it all together.

 Teddy cat went to a veterinary opthamologist this morning. He's had clousy eyes ever since we adopted him, but after his third eye ulcer episode a couple weeks ago, our vet Dr. Tina referred us to a specialist. It turns out he has corneal dystrophy, a condition that is fairly common in dogs (especially boston terriers, chihuahuas and doxies) but rare in cats. There is no cure for it, but hopefully the eye drops he'll be on for the rest of his life will prevent the ulcers from developing, or at least reduce the frequency.

His right eye was bad before he saw our regular vet 3 weeks ago. It cleared up with the ointment she gave us (as it always does) so he seemed 100% this morning (excapt for the usual cloudiness). But the specialist was able to see a small ulcer in his left eye, although he was showing no obvious symptons -- surprising, as I know they are very painful. It's degenerative (and probably hereditary), so his vision is likely to gradually decline (he can see fine now). If he lives to be very old (he's nearly 9 now, we've had him since he was 5), he may go blind. She put a temporary contact lens in his eye to protect it!

Something I like to assign occasionally in class are 2, 3 or 5 minute free writes. So while the students were scribbling last night, I thought I'd do it too. Here is what I wrote:

Before class I was going from the education building to campus center. Don't students understand keeping right? Well, they didn't act like they knew -- they practically knocked me down as they streamed through the open door, the one on their left but my right, in their rush to get to class. I didn't want to get jostled or worse, have my foot stepped on, so I waited there until it was clear, but it must have been at least a dozen students who ignored me, did not let me through and also did not make any effort to open the door on their right! I finally was able to continue, but I felt pretty glum, to tell you the truth.

But on my way back from the bookstore (where I was buying cards for all the April birthdays in my family), a young man came up to me and said, "Are you Professor Giuliani?" (I said yes, even though my name is spelled just a little different from Rudy's). He shook my hand and said he has signed up for my class in the fall. Made my day! (He had "A" written all over him.)

Spring break is over and the countdown to end of semester begins. In faith formation on Monday, we celebrated spring even though it doesn't feel like it out there! The lesson focused on The Parable of the Sower. The art print was "The Flower Seller" by Diego Rivera, the saint handout was about St. Fiacre (Patron Saint of Gardeners), we studied the world map to locate France and Mexico, read the parable and the handout, and planted tulip bulbs and pansies in the flower pots. Snack was apples with caramel dip. Only two classes left in AY '13-'14, hard to believe. When we told them, the kids were disappointed that it will be over so soon. Last two weeks will be our culminating project, stay tuned!

Being a faculty member is a "good gig" for me, as I like to work independently. But there are occasions when support from someone else is helpful. Such is the case with finding academic materials. It's possible to locate whatever is needed without turning to others, of course, and that's my preference most of the time. However, when it comes to textbooks, there are incentives for publishers to sell their books, and no shortage of sales reps who (allegedly) are eager to lend a hand.

Not true. I have never been contacted by (or found on my own) a competent book sales rep. It isn't that I never hear from any; I am contacted all the time. But no matter the publishing house, the rep invariably disappoints. Check off another today! Sigh. Maybe it is a crummy job and so the rep puts in little effort, I don't know. That's really no excuse, though. Update your linkedin and get back to work, OK? On my own once again I guess.

Added: This has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post, but I didn't feel like creating a new one. I used to be somewhat interested in world and national events. Somewhat, not a news junkie by any means. I think that might have been before 9/11 and turning 40, both of which changed me.  Anyway, I find myself fascinated by the missing jet mystery. I've written before about my talent for detective work here.

Today I entered a writing contest. That's something I haven't done in a long time. There will be a ton of entries, of course, and I don't expect to win. But (I tell myself) the payoff is in the writing, and that really is the truth. I expected to spend today grading essays, and instead I spent the day writing. I'm pleased I resisted my tendency to put every task associated with "earning my bread" high on my priority list, while promising to write once each line was crossed off. The problem is that I run out of steam, and writing has to wait another day, when new priorities surface and claim top positions.

I'm referring to "serious" writing (though at times it is humor), not what I do here most of the time. I manage to find time to write here (almost) whenever the desire strikes me. But serious writing is different, it isn't journaling. With serious writing, although it often comes to me in a burst, I craft every sentence, contemplate every word and study every comma. I listen to the voice to find just the right note.

"It's spring break after all," she said. Was that an excuse or a challenge? "Others are increasing their carbon footprints so they can lay on beaches." I deserve my guilty pleasure.

Tomorrow's faith formation theme is St. Patrick. We're going to study the art print St. Patrick by  Jan Tillemans (1955, stained glass window at Basilica of Our Lady of the Cape Shrine in Quebec), read about St. Patrick and watch a couple video clips, find Ireland and Britain on the map, make rosary beads and learn (some of) the rosary, and have shamrock sugar cookies for snack.

On March 13, several students from both classes emailed me in the morning, worried over road conditions. Although classes weren’t delayed or cancelled, the cold, icy & snowy conditions (and that St. Patrick’s Day break was looming) persuaded me that this was a perfect opportunity to use Collaborate.

In the afternoon class, what was on the agenda was handing out and explaining an assignment to prepare for a classroom activity on March 27, and small group meetings, where students work on presentations they will give on April 22. 10 (of 22) students logged on at 1:15, one appeared late in the class, and another emailed me later to say she'd tried to log on, but was unsuccessful. I did not hear from the other ten students. I used audio to explain expectations, and powerpoint to share the assignment (which is in PDF on blackboard as well). This took 15 minutes. Only one student used the mic while in the main room, the others used text chat. A couple added emoticons etc. to my powerpoint on the whiteboard.

I then sent them to breakout rooms. There are 5 groups in this class. Group 3 had full attendance (4 members), Groups 1, 4 and 5 had 2 members each (out of 4 or 5 members). Group 2 had no members present, except for the student who came very late. The group with full attendance had a lively conversation (with audio, video, white board) and they stayed until 2:30, when class is always over. One of the other groups, with two members, also stayed until 2:30. The remaining two groups stayed for a while, then exited.

For the 4:15 class, the syllabus has a one hour video, a half hour lecture, small group and all class discussion (it’s a 3 hour class). 10 students (of 26) logged on at 4:15 (several were there at 4, right after I finished setting up). One more came late. Two more emailed later to say they tried, but were not able to log on.

I knew I couldn’t show the video, but I asked them to watch it before next class (3/27). I still gave my ½ hour lecture and showed my powerpoint. The midterm was due last night, and after my remarks, a few students asked me questions about that assignment, using both audio and text chat. There are also 5 groups in this class. Every group was represented (one by one member, two by three members, two by two members) but I just divided them into two groups of five (the 11th student came too late) and had them develop discussion questions. When they came back to the main room, each group wrote their discussion question on the white board, and we had a discussion using audio and text chat.

One group developed a question about the delivery method, web conferencing and collaborate, one developed a question about last night’s material. It was outstanding! Very reflective and enriched. Class ended at about 6:30 and I think would have been willing to go until 7 (but my dogs were getting antsy and so was I).

In both classes, students here & there would suddenly vanish, then reappear, always reporting technical issues. One student in the 1:15 class was in the library, and sound had been disabled, so he could not hear my remarks, but he did use text chat when in the breakout room. I emailed the 4:15 students to warn them about the library computers, but after class received emails from two students using library computers that have sound enabled who could not log on. (No matter how many times I remind students to test things and contact the help desk, they invariably email me when it is too late.)

One student in the 4:15 class commented that his roommate was sitting on the bed, marveling at him participating in class, wishing he had this opportunity.

Attendance in both classes was much less than it would have been on campus, but there is always a lot of absence the Thursday before a break. I recorded both sessions and put the links in blackboard.

All in all, both classes were fairly successful. The design of the 4:15 class was probably more suited to this delivery, mostly because it is hard to make progress on the presentation assignment without at least 75% of the members. But I couldn’t just switch the agenda, as I had promised them this time for the project, and at least one of the groups was able to use it effectively.

I learned from the 4:15 class that it is quite possible to have a good all-class discussion this way. In fact, there may be fewer distractions than in the classroom, and as a result it was quite in-depth. There was no social pressure from the slackers for the speaker to “shut up.” Of course, these are self-selected groups of 10 – it is possible they are the strong students & if the others were shed from the roster the class would improve dramatically no matter how it is delivered.

A commonality I notice with both 10 year olds & college students is that they get up and leave the room for 5 minutes or so constantly. For the little kids, it is ostensibly to go to the bathroom, and they always ask first. For college students, I have no idea, but I suspect it is to check their phones. Why is it young people can't sit still for an hour without needing to pee or wash their hands or send a text?

Faith formation tonight will focus on St. Kateri. We're planning to look at the art print "Kateri Tekakwitha" by Robert Lentz, find Fonda on a NYS map, watch a slideshow of pictures Robert Schmidt took at the Auriesville Shrine the day of Kateri's canonization, read tha play "Lily of the Mohawks," make mosaic wood crosses, and have cornbread with maple syrup (made by my brother) for snack.

 Our samples

 St. Kateri

I went to a scholarship event yesterday in the science library, and came across the Great Dane Project.

I planned to write a post about journaling in public for the past 12 years. I thought I'd review my "most popular posts of all time" and craft something. But nothing jumped out at me, except "I wonder why these are the most popular?" So I didn't come up with anything.

After "baking in the sun" (or freezing in the snow), my comments about the Gully Brook Press experiment are that my participation and engagement in the online world has shifted. At first I read a lot of other personal blogs. I was never much of a commenter, and the 6-10 daily reads shifted over the years, from blogger-recommends in the early days to national A-listers in the middle years, and then to locally well known a few years ago. At present I read the personal blogs of others only occasionally.

I have spent very little time promoting Gully Brook Press over the years. I have not been interested in generating hits or links or fostering a commenter community. I have continued to write here, for myself and the others who visit, sometimes less, sometimes more, and I have never announced I was taking a hiatus, or taken one quietly. I have not changed the name, or very often, the look of the blog (and I have used blogger for all 12 years). The website design has changed three times, due to being forced to use different hosts (AOL to verizon to google).

Since 2009, when I started using facebook (I joined it a few years before, but didn't start using it until my 30-year high school reunion), I've spent more time in the social network, than at Gully Brook Press (both the blog and the website). I don't use facebook to promote GBP, but keep them separate.

It has served the purpose I intended in March 2002, which was to give me a place to post published works, and to write a journal. I wasn't sure whether I would abandon the journal quickly or eventually, as I have with every other journaling tool since I was big enough to pick up a pen. Well, I guess after 12 years you might say this has been the most successful of all those endeavors. It doesn't, and can never match Elwyn's diary in consistency, but it has been a rewarding effort for more than a decade. Bravo Gully Brook Press.

Today is the 12th anniversary of Gully Brook Press!

I can't believe it is this cold on the last day of February! There is no let up in sight, so March will be coming in like a lion. The cold is what's most memorable from this winter, but it looks like another snowstorm is on the horizon too. But Spring will surely come eventually!

Yesterday was Rosie's 2nd Gotcha Day.

Since I'm all about equal opportunity

Once again, I have had some pent-up things to post but just haven't gotten to it until today. In faith formation (where the kids have been awesome after the email about their behavior a couple weeks ago), I brought in the Bible I used when I was in catechism to show them. One boy looked at the battered little New Testament of the Jerusalem Bible and asked incredulously, "how old are you?" I laughed and said "I'm 52." "You're old!" he said. "Yes, I am old," I responded, "and believe me, you will get there someday. It seems like only yesterday I was your age." He won't understand this for many years, but maybe someday he will remember and it will resonate as the wisdom of elders often does.

I gave both my foundations classes a talking to about their use of electronics in the classroom, and that how apparent it is that they are not reading (the latter was mostly directed at the evening section). The evening section was perfect afterwards. In the day class I still had to call out a few students for nonstop texting, but on Thursday they shaped up.

We did an exercise called "the five most important events in American educational history" that I started using last semester, inspired by this website. The activity is similar to the new fad known as "flipping the classroom." Students individually do a scavenger hunt through this comprehensive online resource to find their five, then work in groups of 4-5 to come up with consensus lists that they write on the board and present to class. At the end I suggest events that might be missing. (Yesterday I added the Old Deluder Satan Act, the Morrill Act, the GI Bill.) Students are engaged by it and it works really well.

Twenty-one years have gone by since then, but they have had absolutely no effect upon my spiritual constitution; they have left not a single trace upon it; on the contrary, I seem to feel several years younger than I felt then. When a man reaches fifty, age seems to suddenly descend upon him like a black cloud. He feels immeasurably old—very much older than he is ever to feel again, I am sure. I doubt if any person ever crosses his fiftieth parallel without experiencing what I have just described. (Mark Twain, 1906)

There has never been a time in the past thirty-five years when my literary shipyard hadn’t two or more half-finished ships on the ways, neglected and baking in the sun; generally there have been three or four; at present there are five. This has an unbusiness-like look, but it was not purposeless, it was intentional. As long as a book would write itself I was a faithful and interested amanuensis, and my industry did not flag; but the minute that the book tried to shift to my head the labor of contriving its situations, inventing its adventures and conducting its conversations, I put it away and dropped it out of my mind. Then I examined my unfinished properties to see if among them there might not be one whose interest in itself had revived, through a couple of years’ restful idleness, and was ready to take me on again as amanuensis.

As I have mentioned recently, I am currently reading volume 2 of Mark Twain's autobiography. Every sentence is a gem. What an insightful way to capture the inspiration that fuels creativity: amanuensis.

 Gina Loves Mark Twain (2007)

I started this post last Tuesday, but didn't get back to it until eight days later. Snow, snow, snow absorbed a lot of time! But what was on my mind was the Mark Twain autobiography. It's a continuous source of joy. I was up to August 31, 1906 in volume 2 at that point.

I am just ticked by a couple of things I've read recently. First, he talks about writing as amanuensis. That the person is just holding the pen, and the words flow out; it isn't laborious at all. It is just transcription, the "writer" is just an effortless pass through. He believed when writing isn't like this, one must stop, let it brew, until the process naturally starts up again.

Next, he writes about going to Onteora for a visit. On October 9, 1906 he wrote:

Onteora was situated high up in the Catskill Mountains, in the [centre] of a far-reaching solitude. I do not mean that the region was wholly uninhabited; there were [farm-houses] here and there, at generous distances apart. Their occupants were descendants of ancestors who had built the houses in [Rip Van Winkle’s time], or earlier; and those ancestors [page 251] were not more primitive than were this posterity of theirs. The city people were as foreign and unfamiliar and strange to them as monkeys would have been, and they would have respected the monkeys as much as they respected these elegant [summer resorters]. The resorters were a puzzle to [them,] their ways were so strange and their interests so trivial. They drove the resorters over the mountain roads and listened in shamed surprise at their bursts of enthusiasm over the scenery. The farmers had had that scenery on exhibition from their mountain roosts all their lives, and had never noticed anything remarkable about it.

This article from the Chronicle made me think about how this money is being wasted in some cases. I am so thankful that this semester is the last one I will be teaching my Tuesday evening foundations class. It's a shame, really, as for many years it was my favorite section, but for the past couple of years, it has been nothing but trouble, and this semester is shaping up the same, sadly.

It isn't large (16) this spring, and I was hopeful that would make it better, but unfortunately that might make it worse! When there is a large enough proportion of students who are not engaged and put in little effort, there aren't enough average and serious students to dilute them, and it ruins the class.

Last night five students didn't show up, and I estimate that half of the students present had not done the reading. They were unresponsive, sat with their heads down, a couple texting on smartphones, others typing on laptops. I had an image of the prepared and participatory students harnessed and pulling a rope, hauling the millstones along. If it drives me crazy as the instructor, I can only imagine how the good students feel.

Are the slackers borrowing money for this? Are their parents giving them a free ride? Either way, they should not waste the money or time. Go get a job in retail for a few years, grow up and come back with some direction and work ethic.

Another rant. I've written before about the campus center dining situation being ruined after Aramark landed the contract in 2013. A few weeks ago I decided to give it another try, and was pleasantly surprised by a salad line (called something like "sticks & stems"). I discovered I could get a custom-made side salad for less than $3, or with avocado, less than $4.

So yesterday I ventured over there again. The line at Sticks & Stems was ridiculous, so I strolled (limped, lol) around to see if there was anything else appealing. Answer: No. The one place I tried was out of hummus. Is all students eat hot pretzels, subs, pizza, bagels and sushi?

I waited on the long Sticks & Stems line. Out of spinach. Wiped out of most other veggies, such as cucumbers. No blue cheese dressing. Salad wound up being half as much as last time I went, in other words not worth $4 or even $3. I will not be going again, I hope aramark improves or at least loses the contract next time it is up for bid.

Suction cups for the suncatchers came

A public service message brought to you by Rosie & Harry: "Boycott the Olympics."

I meant this to be "III" yesterday, but ran out of time. This is immoral, evil, disgusting, horrifying. I am boycotting not just the Olympics, but all thing Russian, forever. I will not stay in a business that is broadcasting the games, I will tell anyone who tries even the briefest mention of the Olympics to me of my outrage.

I. In faith formation last night, we focused on the Sign of the Cross. We read about its significance, studied the painting "Christ on the Cross" by Barthelemy d'Eyck (15th Century) and made these stained glass (actually plastic) suncatchers.
I was pleased to see this week and last (when we looked at "Four Corners of the World" by Pablo Picasso (1952-54) and read about St. Sebastian), they have learned something unexpected from being in class with us for 1.5 years. The minute they get a handout with graphics on it, even when the image is simply decoration and not part of the formal lesson, they immediately start analyzing the artwork with reactions about what they notice, how they feel, speculation about what the artist meant, and questions.

II. I've read a lot of Mark Twain's writing. I really mean a lot. Currently I am reading Volume 2 of his autobiography. It's such a treat when I stumble across an entry I haven't encountered before! But something is bothering me. Ever since I started to read a lot of his work, I've noticed that the "scholars," those folks who write the introductions and "make their bread"* from being experts, invariably assert that Susy was his favorite daughter. I always found this surprising. True, some people have favorites (although shouldn't) but most people do not, or if they did, they would certainly hide it.

 I had a hard time believing it could be true, but what did I know? At least that was my thinking. Now that I am into Volume 2, and encountering previously unpublished writings, I call BS. They have no clue what they are talking about. Unquestionably he was fond of his eldest daughter, why wouldn't he be? And of course she died as a young woman, which was a terrible blow. But I see not a shred of evidence to support the ridiculous claim of "favorite."

* thanks to Mr. Twain, he loved this phrase

When I heard about this, it made me cringe. Not to dispute that there are better paying jobs, and more opportunity in applied fields than in the humanities, but why is it necessary to single out one field to be the butt of a crude joke? He might just as well have retold the quip that has the tired punchline "do you want fries with that?" Art history majors and art historians -- and by extension, the entire discipline of art history -- are an easy target, I guess.

Just yesterday I was talking to students about what I describe here (the "no offense" woman, not the student with the question). I have also been remembering recently that in high school, teachers warned us EVERY DAY that we would never get jobs because the economy was so bad. They never said, study the practical thing, or told us why we should love their subjects. Instead, PhDs were driving taxicabs in NYC, so we were doomed. The economy and generally pessimistic mood of the late '70s reminds me much of today.

So I studied what I loved, and did not give a thought to how I'd apply it. I have never had a regret about my humanities / social science liberal arts degree in history. It has served me very well, in fact, in preparing me to pursue graduate study, in honing my research and writing skills, in sparking a lifelong love of the field. I have never been unemployed, so there.

Ha ha. After the prior post, I couldn't resist this link. I don't think I've ever seen a student doing this in my classes, but there's always a first time, I guess, so maybe this semester?

Sometimes a picture really is worth 1,000 words

Classes start tomorrow! I am sorry to have less time for my kindle and Mark Twain and Elwyn's diaries. But ya gotta do watchya gotta do...

I'm basically all ready for the semester to begin next week. And...I learned I will be teaching grad classes instead of one of my foundations sections starting in '14-'15. Yahoo! This means I may make it to 67 without getting burnt out.

I expected to write here quite a bit recently since it's winter break, but as it turns out, I have spent time doing other things instead, and now spring semester looms (my classes start January 23).

Yesterday little Rosie had four warts removed & her teeth cleaned. I was nervous, since she's old, and she had to fast just in case she needed to be knocked out, as one tooth may have needed to be pulled. But as it turned out, she didn't lose any teeth and everything was done with a local (for the warts) and a sedative. She was an angel! She was groggy and wobbly afterwards, but her teeth look like a young dog's! Today she is 100%.

This was last night.

I've been reading Empty Mansions. There are two authors and the writing style is a little choppy, but overall it's an interesting read. It's clear the writers developed deep admiration for the father of the main character, a self-made fabulously wealthy businessman who eventually became a senator. At one point they "diss" Mark Twain because he wrote a 1907 essay that blasted the senator. It was very clear they were almost personally offended by the criticism. I felt the same about what they wrote!

I didn't recall reading the 1907 essay, so I started looking for it. It appears in a DeVoto edited book, published in 1940. I don't own it (hard to believe), and it's not available in an ebook (I am never buying paper again). I was thinking it might be in the new autobiography, but I didn't remember it from the first volume. However, while searching I discovered the second volume was published in October 2013! How did I not know this? 

So I bought it...and put Empty Mansions aside. No surprise there!

Here is my sister's latest post, about what has also been consuming me: kindles and Elwyn's diary.

 Day time & night views. (My cell camera isn't the greatest.)

Grades.Are.Done!

Almost finished with grades! Tonight we are going to Advent Lessons and Carols at the Parish of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph in Rensselaer. Four choirs from Southern Rensselaer County (including ours) will be participating. Can't wait!

I've had my nose to the grindstone, and as a result can predict I will be finished with Fall grades well before the deadline. I did take a break Wednesday (to go the A Christmas Carol at Cap Rep), Sunday (to go to church, do laundry, remove homepage hijacker from the laptop, shovel snow -- winter has come early -- had our second storm today. Below zero temps last night), and Monday (for faith formation). 

We made batik (using Elmer's glue) and tie dye Sacred Heart Church logo tee-shirts. We planned to use Koolaid for the dye, but the prototypes we made were a disaster. We had cotton shirts, and Koolaid washes right out of natural fabrics. So we used a non-toxic dye made for kids instead. As preparation, the kids studied the painting "The Sacred Heart" (1954, Roy de Maistre).

It took two classes, and the shirts came out unbelievably good! Chalk it up to divine intervention, lol. Half the kids were absent the night we did the dye part, and Bob wants to tie dye again in January so the kids who were absent last week can make a shirt too. 

We handed the finished shirts out last night, studied "Nativity" by Elena Khmeleva, drew the nativity scene, and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas." Now we're on break until January 6.

This shirt most closely matches my "vision" for this project

After discovering no plagiarism since Spring 2012 (and congratulating myself that the "academic integrity awareness quiz" I designed that summer after that dreadful hearing episode was working like a charm), yesterday I found a shocking, and disheartening case. Disappointing not so much due to the guilty party -- a fairly weak student -- but because the stolen essay was written by a favorite, outstanding student from the past who I never would have suspected of being ethically challenged.

But I forged ahead, and finished all the essays even though documenting and reporting cheating takes a lot of time I don't have, thank you very much.

I forgot: the batik and tie dye shirts for faith formation came out awesome! Must be divine inspiration. The kids will be so proud, we will put on the finishing touches on Monday (and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. I'll post pictures soon.

Both my 96 year old uncle (his wife is my mother's sister) and my dissertation chair (age 82, had Alzheimer's for a couple years) died yesterday. So I am re-posting this youtube of the interview of my uncle I did in 2011 that my nephew recorded & edited. He stayed vital right until the end. A very well-lived life. Feeling melancholy but also blessed to have known these two men.

The only picture I took in my travels. Achilles is a huge GSD. Very lovable too. My friend adopted him in September.

I'll be traveling and so won't be around a computer for much of the day tomorrow -- and once I am, I won't be writing here. So to commemorate the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, I will link to this old post of mine, "Gym Teacher from H-ll."

I'm in OK shape as the end of semester approaches. But, I am sure to plunge myself into a backlog shortly, as I plan to go to Buffalo to visit my "best" friend from November 22-24, and then from Thanksgiving until December 1 we'll be in Samsonville with little opportunity for working. I have an overly ambitious list of things to do on the days I will be working (tomorrow, and Monday-Wednesday of next week).

Monday was strangely warm, but since then it's gotten quite cold. One benefit, the skateboard-riding students have vanished.

Evaluating midterms. It's a task I dislike, and so tend to procrastinate. But, I buckled down and I've made good progress. So far, they are OK overall, in the A- to C- range.

I've been struggling with this post, started a private journal post on the subject to vent, abandoned writing even that. This semester I have a larger number of students than usual who are struggling. I've referred a couple for academic support. Some are slackers, some are overwhelmed by various life issues. There are attendance problems, assignments that are weak, late, or missing entirely. A big presentation looms next week, and this is the time in the semester where most students are felling pressured.

I like all my classes a lot. There are always many wonderful students, even the struggling ones. This week was trying, though. My Tuesday evening class is often my favorite in any semester. This fall, it is a good group, especially participatory, and the atmosphere is relaxed. However, there are some struggling students, some needy students, and also some slackers. Three incidents happened during class -- all concerning strong students -- that really bothered me.

I won't elaborate more than this, as who knows who lands here, and it wouldn't be right for me to describe any of the students' actions specifically. Suffice to say this week tested me, caused me to dwell on it afterwards.

Then yesterday I found out that I got  a raise and change in status, and that went a long way toward making all right in my (professional) world. It was a much-needed boost. Funny how things work out.

As part of our focus on St. Francis of Assisi and animals, we are having a guest with a service dog visit class in two weeks. So last night we prepared, by reading the book "My Buddy, watching a couple short videos about service dogs, and making posters of "hero" dogs. This was our sample, crafted from photos of dogs we actually know:

Yesterday was my father's last day of radiation (for a slight re-growth of his brain tumor; this was not unexpected). Still, schlepping to Albany every weekday since September 23 takes a toll. We went to lunch at Sam's

when he had his first consultation at St. Peter's back in August. Sam's is closed Mondays, so yesterday we went to Lombardo's. You don't need three guesses to figure out what I had: Eggplant Parmesan. Both times. (Not that I have not had it many, many times in-between as well).

PS new shoes are AWESOME

Getting these new shoes today. So psyched!

Can it be that high schools really no longer have the full array of social cliques, as when I was in school?

I started this post on the 16th and it has been in draft ever since. I thought maybe I would draw instead, but haven't done that either. I think it has been a barrier to my writing anything else here...so I am moving on.

I am tired from the weekend, which was long and lovely. We are having a gorgeous fall and I'd like to spend more of it at home. But, "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride," I suppose!

It was a beautiful setting for a wedding reception.

Campus Pet Peeves. Fall 2013 Edition:

1) Today the din in the LC common area was so loud it about knocked me over. Worse, one young woman's irritating shriek-voice could be hears above it. Yes, yes, I know I am an active listener who can't abide noise, but I fantasized elbowing my way through the crowd (as if such a thing would be possible), taking her by the shoulders and say "you ever hear of 'inside' voice?"

2) Skateboards. Ban them from the podium, please. There seems to be more young men riding them every semester. A chill goes up my spine every time one whizzes past me. I have a vision of being knocked down, of my foot getting run over, of my left leg getting more injured, of my right leg joining my left's feebleness, of losing the ability to walk, or at the very least, acquiring an even worse limp. I know I sound like a bitter old lady who doesn't remember the joy of being young, but why can't the d-mn sk8ters just walk?

3) I can't stand Aramark, the new food contractor. Yes, I think it's fabulous that they are featuring some local foods and vendors, but the majority of choices are carbohydrate heavy. Maybe that's what students prefer, I don't know. Pretend to be "green" and "organic" and "healthy" while you scarf down a bagel and hot pretzel. Most upsetting to me, the fruit, yogurt, granola bar is gone! That was one of the things that made it worthwhile to limp over there.

I’m fortunate to be able to wear clothes to work that are pretty much always in the “business casual” arena. Besides that, my usual garb consists of tattered, roomy tee-shirts and shorts or sweat pants when I am home, or jeans and a “nicer” long-sleeved tee when I am out.

Trying to find clothing to wear to a “fancier” event is a chore. This is definitely complicated by my hatred for shopping. I buy nearly everything I wear online, from LL Bean or Hanes. I have some more formal clothes that I have worn a few times or bought for a special occasion and wore once. Yesterday I tried on numerous items in the closet in an effort to find something decent to wear. Studying my reflection in a few of the outfits reminded me of a hilarious Mimmie-ism: “Looks like a burlap sack of potatoes with a string tied around the middle.”

I finally came across a couple possibilities for a skirt, pants or blazer, but no shirt was right. So I entered the black hole of searching online. It was frustrating to say the least. It seems in younger days you can look good in nearly anything, but I don’t think clothing manufacturers are considering the middle-aged with some of these styles. I finally found what I hope will be a suitable shirt (on amazon!). I’ll know Wednesday whether to bring a hoe or a handbag with me as an accessory.

I'm sort of annoyed about my textbook this semester. The issues I have with the Create book have not been successfully resolved, despite the best efforts (or maybe that should be double talk) of the rep. In fact, I'm considering throwing in the towel, and going back to two books. A Sage representative has been "after" me, and I just might go with them for my second book.

Today was the last straw. I want a desk copy of the Create book that I can see on a tablet or smartphone. I want to see what students are buying, and I want to be able to read it on a device. I've asked several times and thus far have been unable to pry this from the publisher. So I installed Calibre and tried to convert the PDF proof into Kindle format. Guess what? The file is locked by DRM. Of course it is!

Collaborate in the classroom still eludes me this semester. I tried the camera at home, and got the same error message in Collaborate as on campus. So I tried it with other apps, and it worked fine.


I tried google, and discovered these two links:

http://support.blackboardcollaborate.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=8336&task=knowledge&questionID=2565

http://discussions.blackboard.com/forums/t/54633.aspx

I haven't been able to get the work around solution to work at home yet, as I don't get an update driver choice in device manager. I will stop trying to figure it out at home at this point, as I have spent too much time on this already and my regular lower-end webcam works just fine. That's what I use at home anyway.

I'm not sure why the widescreen worked fine over the summer in my class, maybe something to do with XP? Or the driver in the room? I still want to use the widescreen on presentation days (all mid-November) on campus. I doubt I will have time to install/test the work around in the classrooms in the 10 minutes between classes (or the machines will let me).

The response I received so far? "Use your home camera instead of the widescreen."

In the online class, the situation is brighter. Collaborate is perfect for the initial real-time group chats. And yesterday I canceled my evening class and recorded my lecture and slideshow using Collaborate at home for students to watch instead. Worked great!

Recently we went to the City Beer Hall. It's located in a building I've always loved. It once housed the telephone company and the interior wood panelling is gorgeous. Years ago it was a favorite fancy restaurant of ours. Since then it has been a few different bar/restaurants, none of them very good. In between it has been sadly vacant. Well, I'm delighted to report it is a good place again. Not fancy, but the food is delicious and different (and several choices are vegan or vegetarian), and for those into beer, the selection is wide. The wine list is short, but it has one of my NYS favorites (Salmon Run Chardonnay).

The latest error when I try to use my webcam with collaborate in the classroom. Sigh.

Collaborate is working well in the online class. I used it for the initial real-time chat with the first group instead of Blackboard chat. There were only two students attending, and they loved it. They even suggested having an all-class session. After my experience in the blended class this summer, I agree that would be something to pursue in the fully online class, but before requiring one or maybe two real-time all-class webinars, I would prefer the dates be published in the schedule, so students are committing when they register. Maybe I will pilot this during winter session. I usually only have 10-12 strong students enrolled. Spring will depend on how that goes.

Neither of the two students used the webcam, and I did not either. I used a mic and talked to them, and they typed questions for me in chat, and also interacted with each other using text chat. They planned to try using it for their four member group this week, without me. I will have to follow up with them to see how that went.

On campus had been more troublesome. The drivers were installed in my classrooms late last week, so I decided to test it on Tuesday. I had a packed agenda already, but since it was mostly a lecture class, I thought it might be good to have it recorded. Absent students or the online class could watch it. This was the day where I schlep a suitcase on wheels full of common school artifacts to class. That alone is hassle enough (as the LC level is not very accessible), but this email arrived shortly before class.

All in all, the class turned out good – I was “on” and students were on their best behavior, also very participatory and engaged with the objects and material. But the webcam didn’t work, I got an update Windows administrator log in prompt. I didn’t have time to waste on fooling with it, what with the Provost’s office & Economic Development videographer taping class.

In the evening class, I wasn’t optimistic that it would work, and it didn’t. The same Windows update prompt came up when I plugged in the webcam. A barrier to trying to troubleshoot in this class was that while I had spoken to them briefly about Collaborate on the first day, I hadn’t bothered to show it to them, because I already knew the drivers wouldn’t be there. Just me plugging in the webcam and pointing it at class made them apprehensive. The evening section this semester has more slightly older than traditional college-age students who work full time. They are very serious and a little anxious and overwhelmed. So I cut my losses, and told them the only time I would use it (assuming I can get it to work at all) is in November on their presentation day.

I contacted classroom tech support again, and they tested it this morning. The Windows update prompt came up, but apparently the webcam will still work (at least in Windows Movie Maker, which is how they tested it) after doing nothing but closing the pop-up. So I will try it in Collaborate next week.

Happy Birthday to me! But...52! How can that be? We're going to go on a dinner cruise on the Dutch Apple.

At 11:47 AM, I received the following email from the Provost's Office: "Some moments ago I tried to call each of you regarding a request from a videographer from the Empire State Development Corporation who is working with the Governor's office to get background scenes of campus life for a START-UP NY piece. They would like to take stock footage (video, no sound) in a variety of teaching situations sometime before 3 p.m. today. The Registrar has identified your class as a candidate for this purpose, and I wanted to try to contact you in advance to obtain your permission." 

My class started at 1:15 PM. My first thoughts were "thank God I wore decent clothes and my hair looks good today." (LOL.) The crew showed up a few minutes after class started. Students were on good behavior. I can't wait to see the footage.

Three weeks into the semester and I have a pretty good sense of my classes. In the online class, I tried using Collaborate for the initial group chat and I couldn't be more pleased. The evening section is a very serious and high calibre cohort so far. Many of the students are a little older than traditional college aged, and that's always a good thing. The day section has one group of very engaged students, but the jury is still out on the rest of class. Finally, Toleration seems as if it will be pretty good, although it's still early (it has only met twice due to last week's holiday).

Changing the book in foundations has been both a disappointment and a good challenge.A Disappointment because of all this, and also because I've had second thoughts about some of the chapters in the new book I chose. A good challenge because it has forced me to be creative and to make some long overdue changes in certain assignments.

Today Mimmie would have been 109. I don't think she'd mind a shameless plug for my book. Happy birthday Mimmie!

Today I will link to my post from the 10th anniversary.

We had a baptism at church on Sunday and I am still irritated. I wish our pastor would either announce at the beginning that non-Catholics shouldn't go to Communion, or better yet he would tell the parents to let their friends & relatives know what is appropriate behavior. This family was mostly from downstate & they were so rude. The kids who were with them got up constantly and had to be taken to the bathroom. That wasn't too bad, and I tried hard not to feel judgmental but it was not easy mostly due to the adults. One young woman sitting in front of us was quite zaftig and wearing a ridiculous revealing and unflattering dress. She & her boyfriend or husband and another couple spent the whole Mass talking, rolling their eyes, and snickering. They would not give us room to kneel, they did not shake our hands during the sign of peace, they exited loudly as a group before the final hymn, and before the priest & altar servers came down the aisle. They went to communion, cutting off the people in the pew ahead of them to get in line. I don't know if they were given a host because I'm sure they had no clue what to say to receive and when it was my turn, the priest was whispering something to the other eucharistic minister. They did not even clap when the baby was welcomed to the congregation! When we came outside they were standing there smoking. I know I should be happy that they came at all, but I wish they showed some respect. If they are going to act like a-holes, why did they bother to come? Just go directly to the party -- or be honest about your feelings and RSVP "no" entirely. I don't know how the priests tolerate it.

Speaking of tolerating, one lesson I took from the church nightmare is that I have to be sure to remind my toleration class about being respectful when they visit the sites for the Discomfort Zone assignment. I always do, and I think students take it to heart, but the baptism is reminding me. There has only been a problem once that I know of (when a guy took his girlfriend who wasn't in the class along with him to an Overeater's Anonomous meeting and he hadn't warned her to keep her mouth shut and just observe and she "outed" him). 

And...for something completely unrelated, this has not been a good year for my garden overall, but my pole beans are doing great!

We saw Ain't Them Bodies Saints on Saturday night. It was an interesting movie, thoughtful and well-acted. Don't see it when you are seeking an "upper," however. Before the movie, we went to New World and sampled their excellent eggplant "meatballs." They are in a competition for U.S. Food Next Top Product.

I got the new Margaret Atwood book and it was all I could do to resist reading it immediately this morning! But it's a beautiful day and I had to do "poop patrol" and weed whack first, so I forced myself.

Question: why do students miss some class requirement (such as several classes or an assignment) and then send me an email that says "I hope this won't impact my grade" ?

Since I've had two weeks of classes at this point, I written some feedback on the publishing tool / process I used (called Create) to make the required book.

1. Electronic version:

• I never received anything from the publisher, for either my Philosophy of Ed reader or Foundations reader, aside from a password-protected PDF "proof." I would have liked to have an electronic desk copy I could have tried on my droid
• The PDF does not allow me to copy/paste or print. I'd like to be able to do this when I am creating course materials, rather than having to type text myself, or scan/photocopy from the print book.
• The format of the ebook is for apple or android only. So while a Kindle fire works, a plain Kindle or Nook do not. Many students (& I) use plain Kindle (or Nook) -- it is hands-down the most popular & best ereader since it is not backlit.

2. Design:

• The print book for Foundations is large & cumbersome. I prefer a smaller size for thick books.
  
• The Table of Contents lists the readings as Chapter 1, 2, 3 etc. I would much prefer it if it kept the format of the original book.
• I'd also like an identifying divider page between the two books.
  

3. Cost etc.:

• The ereader from the publisher is a good value, but the print version from the bookstore is not.
  
• I am not sure that it is worthwhile for me to spend the time making a Create book, given the fact that the electronic version is not available for a kindle, and the print version is large & cumbersome, when I can direct students to purchase two off-the-shelf books instead, i.e., the full taking sides & studying education books from amazon in paper or kindle format, or as electronic apple/android versions from the publisher. 
• If I didn't feel bad about students spending $81 on the book (and the bookstore has a nasty returns policy), I would probably not use it again this spring. This assumes the bookstore gives them anything for it in buyback, but I have my doubts. As it is, I don't believe I will bother making updates so I can use it again in '14-'15.

For the second semester in a row, my afternoon class is in one of the small lecture centers. The windows that overlook the large fountain in the LC level have been covered with plywood and sheetrock for over a year. This semester the plywood is gone, but the work is not finished yet so the doors to the stairs in the courtyard are still blocked. I took this picture yesterday.

First week back on campus is a wrap. This was taken yesterday on the way to my afternoon class.  It's quite a shock to see so many people after my quiet summer! Two changes in student "style" noted: 1) Enormous Jansport backpacks are back in and 2) Huge black-framed eyeglasses are all the rage.

It was good to see these guys after my long day.

I settled on how to use Collaborate this Fall in all my classes. I recorded the welcome lecture for online class using it. The upside was that I can have the slideshow captured with the audio and video. Using my old record pad for audio uploaded to box.net required students to run the powerpoint & audio file separately/manually. The downside, the audio quality is not as good as with record pad, so I am undecided whether to record future lectures with it. I'm wondering if using a separate mic would help. I don't want to use my table mic because it will be awkward on video, and I think my headset would also be awkward. I have seen clip on USB mics, perhaps something to consider. Regardless, I am planning to try it for the first optional real time “office hours” chat I offer (9/9), rather than using the built-in blackboard chat tool, which I have never liked.

On campus, I decided that I would show it to them on the first day, and plan to use it to record their group presentations in November. Whether I will use it otherwise is TBD. I think if weather is bad later in the semester or something else crops up that would result in canceling class, I might try holding a collaborate session instead. I’ve also been considering using it to tamp down two behaviors I dislike, excessive absence and non-class related laptop / tablet / smart phone use in class. If students know they are expected to join class via Collaborate when they are absent, and log into it from their laptop (or tablet) when they have devices in class, that would be turning negatives into positives. I’m not sure of the logistics at this point, so it’s still just under consideration. Yesterday few (no?) Students had laptops and while smartphones were almost as common as ever (some students are careful on the first day), I saw few tablets.

In general, the two on campus foundations sections seem to be less familiar with technology than usual. That's not strictly true, I don’t really have a sense in the afternoon class, as much time was wasted (by me) with Collaborate in the beginning. (More on that later.) In the evening section, I asked about their experience with Blackboard, and significantly less than half were familiar with it. I think maybe I have a lot of transfer students, because how can that be? Are a lot of UA faculty not using web-enhanced approaches?

In the afternoon, I headed to my first class really early. I wanted to get the webcam set up and upload my powerpoint into Collaborate. Alas, things did not go exactly as planned. There are only 10 minutes between the prior class and mine. The instructor of that class went the whole time and had not erased the board, gathered up her crap or surrendered the console and exited yet. A couple students had things they immediately wanted to talk to me about such as permission numbers, or routinely leaving early to make the bus because his next class is downtown. The machine demanded a log on and password, and “Guest” didn’t work. I called Classroom Tech Support and it rang at least 20 times before they answered. The connection was not good, but I managed to hear that the machines were upgraded to Windows 7 and now require individual log on by every instructor. Was there an email alerting faculty to this change that I’ve neglected to read? Oh, probably, LOL. The only “change” email I noticed was gushing about all the new eateries in Campus Center. Bye-bye Tim Horton's!

I finally got Collaborate & my powerpoint running, but couldn’t get the webcam to work. It seems I needed administrator rights to accomplish this. Oh well. I muddled through the class, but afterwards was sure I’d confused the students. I didn’t remember to ask them whether they were familiar with blackboard or if they needed me to walk them through it, instead I spent too much time with Collaborate (not really working) and it probably seemed intimidating. Ha ha, they will probably go on Rate My Professor and report that I’m disorganized & “out there.” Is that better or worse than being “weird” (my all-time favorite Rate My Professor slam from one of my students).

I have been thinking about how the task force I was on last spring and various offices try to encourage innovative approaches to teaching, but bureaucratic processes and technical glitches get in the way. Today Classroom Tech Support said they would install the drivers for the webcam on all three classroom machines I’ll be using this semester. Yay.

My classes start tomorrow. Feeling a little blue today. The end of summer break is bittersweet and it is particularly so this year.