Professor J's Place

I just looked at the news to see this announcement on the BBC website. The title of the article: Edwards to Quit White House Race. Okay. I recently talked to a young (27 or so) friend of mine who said that he really got interested in the last two elections, and four years ago he had his heart broken, so he just didn't think he would care about politics quite as much anymore. I told him that my first presidential election was Jimmy Carter losing to Ronald Reagan. I told him that I had become accustomed to getting my heart broken on a regular basis. I told him that a true democrat was something like an Aggie: faithful in the midst of crushing and regular defeat. But the truth is, I still don't get it. John Edwards is handsome, intelligent, concerned about human beings, and he has a kick-ass wife. His ideas are progressive, and he (as is said about Sen. Obama) appeals to the better angels of our being. I know that sometimes he got a little heated, and I wasn't always nu

Germaine Greer, the author of The Female Eunuch , turned 69 today. While Ms. Greer is often the object of ridicule and hatred for her sometimes outrageous statements, she was an important feminist voice and continues to think and read and write about women's sexuality. I don't often agree with Greer, but she influenced my early feminism, and for that, I am grateful. besides, I have to love an aging feminist who likes her wine. There are too few of us. Here's a nice (but rather old) article on Greer in Salon .

Dateline: San Antonio I get on to the elevator this morning with a striking blond woman of, say, 35-50 years of age. We smile shyly. She makes eye contact and says--not, "what do you teach?" --or even, "lousy weather we're having, isn't it?" She says, "I am having the damnedest time getting used to my bifocals." Oh yeah. Conversation in the elevators has changed. I'm old.

Portraits are to daily faces As an evening west To a fine, pedantic sunshine In a satin vest.

Anastasia Beaverhausen asked her readers to add her new site to their blog rolls if they hadn't done so already. I read and obey. But while I was there, I realized that there are several blogs I read everyday that haven't made it to the blog roll. So, I've updated the roll. I may still need to add you--Let me know if you've been left out, will you? ALSO a student from my developmental writing class stayed after class until I got my things together and walked with me as far as the library building--JUST TO TALK! I am so happy. Happy, happy, happy. I shall dance and sing.

Well, Susan and I went to a local art group for their annual Artist of the Year celebration today. Artists who had won artist of the month were eligible to bring those paintings for judging. There were several nice paintings. Take into account the fact that the lighting was not especially good, so any work under glass had a glare, and take into account that the photographer is a bit cockeyed. Susan really liked this painting of a doll with a flower and shell. It didn't do much for me, but what do I know? This is a nice vase of sunflowers by a woman I know. I loved this jazzman. And this pleased me. There were others that didn't photograph well. What, these were well photographed? But this brings me to the highlight of the afternoon. The artist of the year at Coppini Gallery is. . . (drumroll, please): Yes, the lovely redhead is my Susan . And she won for her painting "Evening Comfort." I am very proud of her.

I was listening to the developer of this quiz on Talk of the Nation yesterday afternoon, and then I got the link from The Domestic Goddess. 85% Mike Gravel 83% Dennis Kucinich 73% John Edwards 69% Barack Obama 67% Chris Dodd 66% Joe Biden 64% Hillary Clinton 59% Bill Richardson 26% Rudy Giuliani 25% Ron Paul 23% John McCain 16% Mike Huckabee 16% Mitt Romney 16% Tom Tancredo 6% Fred Thompson 2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Well, my friends, I have survived two more days of developmental writing. What's more, so have most of my students. On Wednesday, I entered the class, sat down with them, and had a talk. I told them that I knew that none of them had voluntarily chosen to take developmental writing. And, I said that this was my only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday course, so I drive across town at six-thirty in the morning just to see them. "So," I said, "Let's try to have some fun in this class. Let's try to enjoy the process." I asked if any of them had any ideas for making the class more enjoyable. Silence. Then we listened to David Sedaris reading an essay about when he was an elf at Macy's. Silence. No smiles. So, I had them write. First they did some freewriting . Then I asked them to write about a time when they had a conflict with someone. I had them read this to the person sitting next to them. Then I had them write about the same conflict from the

Well, the first days of school have passed fairly well, with one notable exception: Developmental Writing. Our class was at 8:00 on Monday. When I walked in the room, there were seven of the fifteen enrolled students there. Not an auspicious start. A girl came in about fifteen minutes into the class; she was a fine addition. She sat and stared off toward the side of the classroom and occasionally made remarks to the person sitting next to her (followed by snickers--and not the delicious chocolate kind). The other kids were more polite, but it took dynamite to make them respond to anything. Of course, non of them had their books or paper to write upon. I did find that most of the students in the class had failed dev. writing last semester. With attitudes like that? I am shocked. Anyway, we need to get a handle on this--AND FAST. Ideas? Suggestions? I meet with them tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

I got this meme from Susan . You design the cover of your band's album using these links: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article title on the page is the name of your band. 2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album. 3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic. I believe I cheated. I used more than four words from the quote--and it was the quote I wanted to use rather than the last quote, and I used the second picture. Hey, it's my album cover, after all.

I've been working on syllabi, attending meetings, going to the dentist, and all sorts of fun stuff this week, so I've been away from the blogs. But I DID purchase Photoshop yesterday, so I'm looking forward to some fun! Anyway, here's a little something You Are a Cupcake Cute and fun, you never take life too seriously. People are constantly surprised by how delightful you are. What Dessert Are You Most Like?

Susan: "I wonder what the cat says." Karen: "I don't know." Susan: "I wonder what the pig says." Morgan: "The cat says meow, the pig says oink."

The lovely Anne, over at Almost Quintessence has asked a question about the pups. And since she doesn't have an email address listed on her profile (What's up with that, Anne?), I'll just inflict share my answer with all of my sweet readers. The beautiful dog pictured above is Alice. She is a Walker Coon Hound , or a Walker Fox Hound, or simply a Walker Hound. She does, indeed look like a beagle--on stilts. She bays like a beagle, too. She is a sweet, gentle girl, unless you happen to be a cat or a raccoon. Alice adopted me. Several years ago on a Thanksgiving afternoon, my mother and I took our dogs to a park on the south side of San Antonio. It is a great park with a big field where we would let the girls run while Mom and I walked the path surrounding it. Because the park is in an area just south of town and the neighborhood is wooded, there are several stray dogs running about. On our way back to the car, we saw this lovely animal standing in the middle of the road. Ma

Mary Alice over at From the Fronlines has given me this award for my post " Mothers and Daughters ." Thanks, Mary Alice! And, as always, I'd like to thank the little people

In response to my last post, many of you kind readers mentioned that I was good at bouncing back from adversity, landing on my feet, making lemonade, etc. While I like to take credit for emotional strength whenever possible, I would like to posit another possible scenario. At the beginning of 2007, my work was not making me happy. I took pride in it, and I loved my students, but I did not enjoy supervising other people, and my dean had made it clear she wanted change, but every change I suggested was shot down. I just did not feel I was getting the support I needed. And so, two days (TWO DAYS, dear readers) before my meeting with the dean, I went to a large box-shaped book store and purchased these two books. Did I know that the dean was going to let me go? Perhaps. I wasn't exactly surprised when she told me. But, as the result of many conversations with Susan , I have come up with some alternatives to that line of thought. Because I was unhappy, because I was thinking about diffe