Christian K. Anderson

Filling Your Life with New Tunes...

2012-02-12T11:29:00.004-05:00

I get stuck in ruts. Musical ruts. I listen to same stuff over and over. It's comfortable. I know what's coming, what's next.

Sometimes this serves a purpose. For example, when I was writing my dissertation I had certain playlists on my iPod that I would use as background inspiration. My favorite was the complete Led Zeppelin collection. What better way to pump yourself up than with "Black Dog," "The Ocean," and the "D'yer Mak'er"? Around the time "Kashmir" came on (my favorite Zeppelin song ever) I knew I had been cranking for a while.

Other favorite playlists included Talking Heads, Dave Matthews Band, and U2, and of course the Beatles. Perhaps I hoped listening to all these great lyricists would rub off on me.

So, treading the trodden trails of your old favorites is wonderful and all, but sometimes you need to break out and try some new music. A couple weeks ago I attended the UU Coffeehouse concert, not out of interest in the band (which I had never heard of), but as something to do on a Saturday night with the kids. Much to our delight, Storyhill, was, well, a delight. (My kids especially loved noting that one of the singers looks just like the dad of one of their friends.)

Then on another weekend I made another wonderful new discovery thanks to the UU Coffeehouse series, this one held at the Columbia Museum of Art: Andy Friedman. He's been on a continuous loop in my car for the past week. Oops, there's that rut again, but I can't get enough of his song, "Roll On, John Herald":

Same with "Idaho" and "Going Home." And the lyrics of "Down by the Willow" are pure poetry.

Then this morning a friend posted on Facebook a song I'd never heard of by an artist I'd never heard of accompanied by another (apparently famous) artist I'd also never heard of, commenting that she could listen to the song on repeat for hours. I have to admit, I agree.

It's always good to discover new music. It's always good to get out of those ruts.

Reboot

2012-01-31T14:28:00.007-05:00

Life needs a Control+Z option. But it doesn't exist. So I'll just apologize instead.

Sorry.

Life has been complicated lately. Very.

I can't hit Control+Z so I'll just hit reboot instead.

Onward.

Thank you!

2012-01-25T08:43:00.005-05:00

Having a foot in cast is a real pain in the, er, foot. And when it's your right foot? You know the one you need to press on the accelerator and brake? Well, then it really stinks.

Luckily, I have me some wonderful friends who carted me around when I couldn't drive here or there. So, this is just a little THANK YOU shout-out to those who helped me out over the past six weeks. I've tried to thank each individually, but thought I'd throw out a general GRACIAS as well. Now that I am semi-free (foot is in a boot, but I can take it off to drive) I hope I can return the many favors I received.

And, as a thank-you treat, here's a little taste from one of my favorite comedians. Maybe I should have everyone over for a Bacon Festival as a thank-you. ;-)

Changing Your Mind vs. Flip-Flopping

2012-01-03T14:20:00.007-05:00

This past Sunday morning on, er, Sunday Morning, commentator Luke Burbank defended Mitt Romney's flip-floppiness. He said that, Hey, it's cool; we all change our minds. You can see his Mitt apologetics here:

Yeah, true enough. We all change our minds about stuff. And what Luke gets absolutely right is that changing our mind is a good thing. I'm sure the first patient who got a house call from a doctor who said, "Hey, I've changed my mind about bleeding you with leeches" was pretty stoked. We can come up with a gazillion and half other such examples. Progress is about changing our minds based on the evidence.

The problem is that Mitt doesn't change his mind based on the evidence. He flip flops based on political expediency. He doesn't say, "Well, I've evaluated the evidence and I've changed my position on X because of the evidence." He looks at the political winds and sets his sail accordingly. He panders.

And he's either completely unaware that he does this or willfully ignorant of it. Did you see his interview with Faux News, the people who practically work for the GOP, where he denied over and over changing his stance on key issues? It was one of the most uncomfortable interviews I've ever seen. Let's let Jon Stewart break it down for us:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

There's a big difference between changing your mind based on evidence and pandering. That's why Mitt is a flip flopper. He wants you to stop him when you like what he's saying and will thus vote for him instead of him evaluating the evidence and arguments about a particular issue and making (and even changing) his mind on said issue.

So, Mitt, change your mind all you want. But at least own it. At least acknowledge why you're changing it.

Great Writers Write

2012-01-01T17:00:00.001-05:00

Great writers write. Every day. And that's what I plan to do in 2012.

Write.

A lot.

Here, there, and everywhere. Here's to a productive and energetic 2012!

Good-bye, 2011

2011-12-31T17:48:00.001-05:00

Dear 2011:

You're so over. And I'm glad cuz I'm so over you.

In fact, I wrote a few thoughts about you and then burned them.

Good-bye.

Sincerely,

Christian K. Anderson

Santa Conquers the Martians!

2011-12-17T16:59:00.007-05:00

Sometimes a movie is so Awesomely Bad you just have to share. That was the case with a matinee I experienced this afternoon with the kids. The Nickelodeon, the local art-house theatre here in Columbia, is showing the 1964 non-classic Santa Clause Conquers the Martians as a late-night event for the Mystery Science Theatre crowd. This movie is so bad its good. In fact, it has immortalized as one of the Worst Movies of All Time. They also did a matinee today for those who might not be able to do a late night show, or who wanted to be able to teach their children the way of the Awesomely Bad Movie.

I fit into both categories.

My seven-year old movie critic looked at me halfway through the movie and said, "Can we go now? This movie is dumb." That's when I had to violate movie theatre etiquette and talk to the kids and explain a bit more about what it means to enjoy an Awesomely Bad Movie. Then they got the joke and started laughing at how bad the movie was.

In this preview you can get a sense of how Awesomely Bad it is. The movie features Martians dressed in bad Halloween costumes who seek guidance from an ancient Martian sage who looks like Gandalf and is the same age as Yoda. Oh, and then they venture to earth to kidnap Santa, only to be confused by the bell-ringing Santa's on every street corner.

And the robot? Remind you of someone?

Happy holidays, y'all. From me, the kids, Santa, and the Martians he conquered.

People are People (Still)

2011-10-11T07:05:00.013-05:00

Today is National Coming Out Day. Someone you know and love—a friend or family member—may tell you, "I'm gay" or "I'm lesbian." How will you respond? Hopefully with a huge hug and a simple, "I love you."

Unfortunately, many who share this news don't receive this kind of reception. They don't feel they have a safe place to go. Last year for National Coming Out Day I wrote a post titled, "People are People." At the close of that post I asked:

So, is one blog post by one guy who calls himself an ally going to change the world? No, perhaps not. Do I need to do more to stand up for equal rights? Certainly. At the very least I wanted to use today as an opportunity to state where I stand.

To answer the first question about changing the world with one post, I certainly won't claim I did that. I didn't even manage to generate more than a grand total of one comment. But I did receive several email messages from people I know (from various corners of the country) thanking me for the post. I won't say who sent them, but I can say this: They were grateful to see the message posted, to know they had an ally, a safe place.

As for the second question, "Do I need to do more to stand up for equal rights?" I answered, "Certainly." And perhaps that was the biggest impact of writing the post. As I stated, I don't think that I've acted (and I certainly hope that I haven't) in a way that would make someone question my support of equal rights for all. And as I reflect again on my past life, I still stand by that assertion.

However, "doing no harm" is not the same as "doing good." I think over the past few years I've moved from quiet ally, to ally, and in the past year to advocate. And maybe writing that post last year was the catalyst to help move further along the continuum from just "doing no harm" to "doing good."

The day after I posted that blog, I attended a community film forum screening of "Born Again," at the Nickelodeon with a follow-up discussion with the filmmaker, Markie Hancock, who was raised in an evangelical home and came out as lesbian as she was studying at Princeton Theological Seminary. Later last year I attended a talk sponsored by the University of South Carolina Safe Zone featuring Harriet Hancock (no relation to the filmmaker) who spoke about her advocacy for the gay and lesbian community in Columbia since her son came out to her in 1980. Her story is an absolute inspiration and the community center for GLBT community center in Columbia is named for her and rightly so. I spoke at two events with Christine Johnson, executive director of SC Equality, including one for Openings SC, a support network for GLBT and allies.

And this spring I attended the Safe Zone Ally Training. I mentioned this to a friend, also a straight ally, who joked with me, "Oh, you need to go training to learn to be nice to gays?" Well, of course, he's right in a way. And while the training did not provide me with any transformative insights (which is to my friend's point, that I was already an ally, but I did learn something from it and it was very well done), it was more about showing and confirming my support. My "Ally" symbol hangs next to my office door. My office is tucked away in a corner of the third floor of Wardlaw College, but this post can be displayed anywhere.

Please understand I am not posting this to brag about my activities or anything of the sort. There are certainly many (many, many) others who do more (much, much more) than I do. I simply share it as a means to show my own journey of educating myself and where I stand as a result of that educational process.

I'll close with the same type of question with which I began: What will you do? Everyone is at a different point in his or her journey. If you are straight and don't feel you understand much about what it means to be gay, maybe all you can do at this point is commit to listen and learn without judgment. Maybe you want to read something or watch a film that helps you understand more. Maybe that's all you can do for now. Personally, I think that's great. Start where you are.

Last year I posted a video of Depeche Mode's "People are People." It's still worth a listen.

No Impact Man

2011-08-15T15:01:00.010-05:00

What effect do you have on the environment? Not "you" in some general sense, but you. Yeah, you. I'm talking to you.

That's what Colin Beavan asked himself some years ago. He was thinking of his next book project and thought he'd write something about how the rest of the world should get its act together and start being nicer to Mother Earth. And then one hot August day he came home and was hit in the face by a blast of cold air when he opened his apartment door, which had blowing all day without a living soul to need or enjoy it.

And just like that cold blast, it hit him. He was the problem. Not everyone else. OK, everyone else sucks too. But, he realized that his next book would be about him learning to be nicer to Mother Earth instead of lecturing everyone else on what they should do.

The result was a year-long quest to have "no impact" on the planet. A tall order for someone who lives in Manhattan. But he tackled it, slowly taking away modern conveniences that would leave a carbon footprint right down to eventually turning off the electricity in his apartment. He did this while married (and, yes, amazing he stayed married through this project) with a small child. He blogged about it as he went, assembled a documentary (well worth streaming on Netflix) about the experience, and then eventually published a book, "No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries he Makes about Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process."

This book was the selection of this year's "First-Year Reading Experience" at the University of South Carolina. Each summer new students receive a copy of a book at orientation and are asked to read it before arriving on campus in August. Then all new freshmen, I mean first-year students, meet at the Carolina Coliseum (about 5,000 strong this year) to hear a keynote speaker and then head off to discuss the book in small groups with a discussion leader.

I was asked to review the book last fall and give my assessment of how it would work for this annual program. This is what I wrote to the selection committee:

I think this book has tremendous opportunity for programming. I think the (fun) challenge will be to look beyond the obvious programming choices. Clearly, lots can be done around issues of the environment, climate change, sustainability, and so on. But lots of other things popped out at me.

What is the process of writing? I think this book is an excellent example of "learning by writing." The book reads almost like a diary -- a very engaging (and obviously edited) diary, but in the way he pulls us through the process of deciding to do the project, doing the project, and then discussing the impact of the process he is showing us his thought process. We see this as a process, not just a product. Indeed, he started it as a blog and then translated it into a book -- an example of how the new media interplay with traditional media.

Also, it is instructive to how we (whoever that "we" is -- popular writers, faculty, students) decide what to write about. Do we write about what we know or about what we are ignorant of? In his case, it was a bit of both. He writes clearly and humorously about the stuff he knows -- his family, NYC, the publishing business, etc. -- and reveals himself as a learner in other aspects, e.g., how much he thought he knew and what his blind spots were about the environment.

Then there's the issue of self-discovery. The book reminded me of some similar projects. One example is The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs' attempt to live the Bible literally for a year, adopting new biblical teachings as he went through the Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. If you're well versed in the Bible, which Jacobs wasn't, you know how ridiculous this is from the outset, even for a believer. (Another book by Jacobs, The Know-It-All, would be a good book to consider for a future year. It's a similar "learn as you go" kind of project.) There is also Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, where he experiments with an all-McDonald's diet for a month.

There are certainly other similar books and movies, but my point here is that these are all examples of a person taking the process of self-discovery to an almost absurd extreme. But in these extremes we can see some great kernels for discussion. No student at USC is likely to undertake a similarly Quixotic journey into learning about the environment, the Bible, or the effects of fast-food, but we can ask ourselves what is it that we are willing to do to discovery who we are? What we value? What we believe? What are we willing to change in our lives to make life better for ourselves and others? What are we willing to do once we discover our "values"?

I loved his honesty about this process. Because it was such an extreme case he wrestles with the inordinately mundane quotidian decisions we all make without a second thought such as what to use to blow our nose. He readily acknowledges his shortcomings in living up to his impossible standards.

I think these kinds of questions and issues are key parts of the book. Environmentalism is clearly the motif that drives the narrative, but in a way it's almost a MacGuffin.

I think first-year students will be able to read it and relate to it and it's the kind of book that can easily be recalled off the dorm room shelf for talking points at late night bull sessions.

Knowing that there would be a focus all year on sustainability at USC this year (indeed starting right at this morning's program with composting trash cans for apple cores and banana peels and with the FYRE staff handing out reusable to all participants as they left the Coliseum), I focused the aspects of book related to self-discovery through writing with my group of students. We reflected on Beavan's keynote address and the process he went through and what it meant to him as a learner and how he followed a passion despite doubts about how it would pay off. As in the past four years I've served as a facilitator with this program, I saw the whole range of freshmen attitudes, from "I'm too cool to be here" (and "I'm already a damn fined recycler anyway") to "I'm totally gonna apply what I learned here today."

The final question we asked was the question Beaven poses at the end of the book," So, what are you going to do?"

Well, as for me, when I got home tonight I realized the lawn was overdue for a haircut. Instead of revving up the gas mower, I pulled out the classic push mower and cut the grass old school.

Commencement!

2011-08-06T09:42:00.009-05:00

I love commencement. It's the day of graduating from stage of life to another, commencing a new life or a new stage of life. I've commenced a few times myself—from Nashua High School, from the University of Utah (twice, in fact), and from Penn State. But I've been to many more commencement exercises than just those.

Since becoming a faculty member at the University of South Carolina, I've found commencement to be one of my favorite events, and not just because I get to put on my cool robes. I attend the doctoral hooding ceremony at least once a year and usually more (the University holds them at the end of spring, summer, and fall semesters) and always attend the hooding ceremony for our master's students.

It takes on more meaning when one of my own doctoral students graduates, like Thashundray Robertson did today. Shun defended her dissertation earlier this summer titled, "Access to to Success: Truman, Obama, and the Evolution of Presidential Agendas for Community Colleges." It's wonderful to meet the student's family and friends who have been in the wings cheering them on and hear the words for the first time of, "Congratulations, Dr. Robertson!" And it's wonderful, of course, to hear your advisee say "Thank you" for your help in guiding their research.

However, it's really me that should thank the student. As my friend Marybeth Gasman pointed out in a recent post, the faculty mentor gets as much out of the relationship as the mentee. I know this is true for me. I learn a great deal—let's be blunt here, I learn a helluva lot—from my students.

And I think that's why I love going to commencement. It's a reminder of what being a part of the academy is all about: exploration, discovery, collaboration, celebration. It reminds me of all the support I got to get where I am. And it reminds me that we all need new commencements in our life; times to move on from one era of our life to another, to improve and even reinvent ourselves. It energizes me and gets me reset for the next semester to explore, discover, collaborate, and celebrate again...

A Week of Solitude: Exchanging the InterTubes for Inner Tubes

2011-07-31T21:52:00.017-05:00

Last week we took a family vacation, nothing unusual about that (well, somewhat unusual for us since we're not terribly great about taking vacations). But what was more unusual was that I took a vacation from the Internet. Upon arriving in the kitchy town of Helen, Georgia, where we rented a condo for a week, I turned off my iPhone, which meant no phone access, no Internet, and no camera. (I forgot my camera since I'm so used to using my iPhone to take snapshots and wanting to take a vacation from the InterTubes, I knew I wouldn't be able to just use it as a camera.)

I remembered reading an article last year in the New York Times about a group of professors who took a technology-free trip in Southern Utah. As the article explains: "It was a primitive trip with a sophisticated goal: to understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects."

I thought, why not try it myself? One of the goals of the professors' trip to was to understand how technology affects our attention. Anecdotally, I know this is a problem. I often have my laptop open while I'm watching TV, which means I've got limitless options to take my attention at my fingertips in addition to what's on the tube. Oh, and not to mention to take my attention from those other people in my house.

So, what did we do during that week? We floated down the river on inner tubes, went to the water slide, swam in the pool, paddled around the pond in boats, played in an Uno Tournament (which I won, thankyouverymuch), floated down the river again (tubing for the whole family was the grand prize of said Uno tournament), and such. Oh, and I read. One Hundred Years of Solitude was my book of choice. (Y, no, no lo leí en español. Lo siento. Sé que es heresía leer un clásico como este en inglés, pero estaba de vacaciones.) And I wrote a bit too, in my journal, that is. You know, with pen and paper. So old-fashioned.

Well, what are the results of my one week vacation of exchanging the InterTubes for Inner Tubes and Facebook for a Week of Solitude?

At first I actually found myself anxious. Who's emailing me? Calling me? What did I forget to finish up before I left? What if...? I wonder how so-and-so is doing? This is similar to what the article reports about how multitasking decreases our performance. Even "the expectation of e-mail seems to be taking up our working memory," according to the researchers.

Then it started to dissipate and I relaxed. I noticed I was more focused on the single thing I was doing, like floating down a slow-moving river in a yellow inner tube or getting into the lives of the Buendía family. Or what my family was up to or into.

The lack of a camera had an unanticipated effect. I tend to photograph everything. I love documenting what the kids are doing. I love to take pictures of scenery, especially landscapes (even though I haven't done much of it lately). But not having a camera during the week forced me, like not having email and Internet access, to focus on one thing: the activity at hand. I wasn't constantly worried about snapping a shot of the kids doing this or that or capturing a perfect sunset or mountain scene. I was able to just "be."

That's not to say that I plan to go camera-free in the future, but it was instructive of how I could become more focused on the moment and less focused on the Kodak Moment. I finally flipped my phone on as we drove out of town so I could at least take a picture of a display of lost flip-flops next to the river (posted above). It was too good to pass up. And the tubing company took pictures of you as you came to the conclusion of your floating adventure. I was happy to pay for some great shots they captured. I think this one pretty much sums up the week:

Sometimes I just wanna...

2011-04-14T08:54:00.004-05:00

Inaugural Ride

2011-01-09T18:38:00.015-05:00

What's the old saying? You never forget how to ride a bike.

Except when you do.

I used be quite a cyclist. As a teenager I rode every chance I got. I logged hundreds and hundreds of miles. I even did some local races. My dad was (and still is) a cyclist and we'd sometimes ride together. In college I turned more to mountain biking, but was still fairly avid. Then at some point I stopped. I'd occasionally dust off my old road bike for a short spin and I used my mountain bike as transportation, but I stopped being a "cyclist."

I finally decided that it's been long enough and I want to add "cyclist" back into the description of my life. I made this interest known since my equipment is severely out-of-date (or long-gone) and for my recent birthday I received all manner of items to help me get back into the swing of things from my family--shoes, gloves, shorts, and so on and an insanely generous contribution toward a new bike. Last weekend I found the perfect one. Today I took it for an inaugural ride to test it out along with the new accessories. It was about 30º outside so it was a short ride, but it was a start.

And here, courtesy of my mom's shoebox archive, are a few other key moments in my cycling history.

First trike (though I guess it technically has four wheels):

First bike:

First century (100 miles in a day):

Here's to a great year of cycling! Happy New Year!

Carpe Treeum

2010-12-02T18:39:00.005-05:00

I used to take a lot of pictures, especially of landscapes and particularly of trees. Ever since I came to USC as a professor I haven’t done much (or hardly any) photography. One of my favorite places on campus is the historic Horseshoe, which is right across the street from my office.

I keep saying that I’ll go take some photos of the tree-filled Horseshoe one day. That I’ll bring in my SLR and tripod and filters and make some nice images. And I never have. So, today while walking across the Horseshoe I just couldn’t resist snapping a few shots. I just had my iPhone with me so I didn't have much control -- no shutter speed or aperture control, no zoom, no filters. Nada. Just my legs to move me a bit closer or further away. Oh, and no high resolution results from my Nikon D70; just the single megapixel or so that the iPhone will yield.

But I decided to snap away anyway. The result was certainly not set of fantastic images that I can frame and hang in my office (which is one thing I want to do once I take what I hope to be some fantastic images). They're not postcard quality. They're just quick snapshots.

But, they're something and I loaded them up on my photo page so I can remind myself that I need to get back out there and do it again with the right tools. But, it's a start. It felt great to take some pictures again, even if it was with an extremely limited toolset and with just a few minutes of time as I traversed campus.

I tell my dissertation students all the time: If you don't feel like writing, write. Well, today I wrote. Just a bit. But, it's something.

Restoring my sanity...

2010-10-31T18:15:00.008-05:00

We came. We saw. We restored sanity. Our own, that is. We took a lot of pictures.

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a friend and the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear came up. He immediately said, "I'm going! I need to let off some steam." Sounded like just the prescription I needed too -- a road trip to go hang out with 250,000 of my closest friends. So we all went.

What was it like? Crowded. Very. Very, very. As in, very. I don't have claustrophobia, but I may have caught it at the rally. We kept trying to get within sight of the stage and large screens, but didn't quite succeed. Jon and Stephen were overly modest. They planned for a crowd of around 60,000, but estimates peg the rally attendance around 250,000 or as Jon Stewart declared, "ten million." Too bad his attempt to have everyone "count off" didn't quite work or we'd have an exact count. The crowd spilled off the National Mall in every direction for blocks and blocks. If you look at my photos, you can get a sense for just how crowded it was or you can see whole thing on C-SPAN.

The most entertaining part was the signs. I took pictures, lots and lots of them. People were quite clever with their signs.

I think what the whole thing boiled down to is this: It's a mad, mad, mad world. It's not just the Tea-Party types to blame. It's not all Glenn Beck's fault. It's not all Obama's fault. It's not even all my fault. It's everyone's fault. Our government has just become a damn mess. It's always been fractured, and was even designed to be that way, but lately the rhetoric seems to "go to 11."

In this environment it seems that that rational middle is missing. Maybe it's not. Maybe there is some quality compromise that goes on in Congress, but you'd never know it based on the way things are reported on Fox News or MSNBC. The other side is evil and to blame.

I think this event was about stepping back, taking a breath, and saying, "Can't we all just laugh a little?" It was cathartic.

The Washington Post aptly described the event:

The event proved a mass demonstration of noncommittal cleverness, quirk and irony. Through signage, some rally-goers competed to be the most topical ("One man's socialism is another man's uninformed buzzword"), the most off-topical ("I love pineapples") and the most meta ("I am holding a sign").
Many Mall visitors toted signs with arch witticisms such as those identifying the carrier as a member of the "Decaf Party," or warning people "Don't Tread on Snakes," instead of "Don't Tread on Me." Plenty of gear from Obama's inauguration was exhumed from closets and worn again, and many posters borrowed Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" design from 2008 - but the visage staring out was of Stewart, not Obama.
It wasn't a singular, coherent movement on display as much as a rollicking expanse of nano-movements. Recycling enthusiasts mingled with D.C. voting rights advocates, who bumped shoulders with fusion-power activists who stepped on the heels of 9/11 truthers. One sign implored, "Vote Lawyers Out," and another insisted, "Vote Popped Collars Out." Some in the crowd wanted the troops to come home; others wanted the troops to be able to gay-marry.
And then there were the signs about signs, like one held by visiting New Yorker Beth Seltzer: "Americans for . . . oh look! A puppy!"

"There's so many people out there who are easily distracted," said the 39-year-old doctor. "And there are people who are yelling and screaming and protesting and they don't even know what they're talking about."

As a Gamecock I might get in trouble for quoting this next part of the story, but I guess I need to apply some sanity even to learning something my rivals:

"I do vote," says Teddi Fishman, 46, the director of the Center for Academic Integrity in Clemson, S.C. "But more than entertainment or politics, I just think this is a release for everyone. We've had so much tension."

Who knows what America needs. Maybe it is just more cowbell.

People are People

2010-10-11T14:51:00.006-05:00

Today is National Coming Out Day. I don't know if putting one more blog post into cyberspace will make a difference or not, but it can't hurt. And if nothing else, I want to use today as a chance to make my position unequivocally clear: I support equal rights for all.

I don't think that I've acted (and I certainly hope that I haven't) in a way that would make someone question that position. What makes today seem all the more important is the recent spate of gay teens who have committed suicide, including Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University who was outed and harassed by his roommate. Each and every suicide is a tragedy, however, Tyler's case struck me because it happened on a college campus. I can't imagine the impact an event like this would have on me as a professor if this happened to one of my students.

Why does this kind of harassment happen? We fear that which we don't understand and we get an inflated sense of superiority when we feel we can dominate over another group. We find a group that is defenseless against weaponry and we dehumanize and enslave them; later, when they fight for equal rights, we beat them down. We don't understand those with mental disorders so we institutionalize them, putting them out of sight. Someone lacks certain abilities and we marginalize them. A person's love interest seems "unnatural" to us and we bully them.

The cruel mistreatment of people based on their complexion, mental state, or physical or mental abilities now seems foreign and totally inappropriate to most (hopefully all) of us. However, many still stand blithely by while those who are gay or lesbian are mistreated, marginalized, and even bullied.

No more. Many are speaking out. For example, more and more are "coming out" as allies. And because of the recent tragedies several celebrities have spoken out. I found Ellen's message particularly poignant.

So, is one blog post by one guy who calls himself an ally going to change the world? No, perhaps not. Do I need to do more to stand up for equal rights? Certainly. At the very least I wanted to use today as an opportunity to state where I stand.

As I thought about all this, I couldn't help but think of words from a certain song. Let's all sing along...

Write it down!

2010-09-21T06:39:00.005-05:00

Several weeks ago we held orientation for the new Ph.D. students in our program, talking them through the process of getting a Ph.D., from admission (done! check!) to that moment when they get to walk across the stage a few years down the road as newly donned "doctors."

What sets earning a Ph.D. apart from other degrees is the production of original research: the doctoral dissertation. You can earn a B.A. and most master's degrees, and even other types of doctorates (M.D., J.D.) without producing original research. Not so with the Ph.D.

This production of an original work turns out to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Ph.D. students -- and I'm not picking on my own students. It's something that Ph.D. students in all fields at all universities struggle with.

I suggested that, though the are just starting their programs of study, they start thinking about their dissertations now, not when they finish coursework or after taking their comprehensive exams.

I gave a few suggestions, one of which was to write down ideas they have for research topics. I held up a small composition notebook, 4.5 by 3.25 inches, and suggested that carrying around a notebook like one of these is a great way to be sure you don't lose a good idea. "You never know when that spontaneous thought in class might germinate into something else. But you don't want to forget it," I wisely counseled.

Well, Physician: Heal thyself.

This morning, while driving to campus, I had Michael Chabon's wonderful memoir, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, playing on CD. He (and it really was he reading his own book) said something about his writing process, about ideas, about how writing is his own "disorder."

Click!

Something clicked in my tiny brain. I remembered that just two nights ago, Sunday night to be exact, I had an idea. A marvelous one. This was the idea of ideas. It was going to be my own Einsteinian unified field theory of...something-or-other. This idea, this thought, was the seed that would grow into a book or article that would win me the Pulitzer Prize. Or the Nobel Prize. Or both!

I was already in bed and I remember looking at my nightstand for a piece of paper and a pen and finding neither. Only my recent New Yorker and a couple books for nighttime reading sat under the lamp.

I was tired. "This idea is so singularly ingenious that there is absolutely no way I could forget it," I assured myself. So instead of looking for a scrap of paper and a pen or pencil I went to sleep, dreaming of the future fame I would surely enjoy from my Awesomely Great Idea...

Happy Birthday, Hitch!

2010-08-13T09:47:00.003-05:00

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was born on Sunday, August 13, 1899; that makes today is his 111th birthday. And it happens to be Friday the 13th. How perfect is that? Pretty perfect, except not as perfect as the fact that his 100th birthday in 1999 was also on Friday the 13th. (He had quite a few his lifetime: 1909, 1915, 1920, 1926, 1937, 1943, 1948, 1954, 1965, 1971, and 1976. His next Friday the 13th birthday won't be until 2021.)

Some of my friends may already know of my Hitchcock obsession. And if you aren't one of those, let me fill you in: I'm obsessed with the Master of Suspense. Well, not as much as I used to be. I haven't had the time (or I should say I haven't made the time) for my Hitch obsession or, for that matter, my other hobbies such as photography. Just to give you a sense of my obsession: Over the course of a few years I collected every film by Alfred Hitchcock. I own a dozen or so books about him, including a couple biographies of him. One year I watched a "Hitch a week" for a year, watching, in order, every Hitchcock movie over the course of a year. It's convenient that there are 52 Hitchcock films. (Actually, there are a few more, as you'll see below. The one film missing from my collection is Waltzes from Vienna, which is only available as a bootleg, which is fine because it was one of Hitch's least favorite films.) I also love watching Hitchcock-inspired films. I know some people hang lots of movie posters in their homes; I have but one and it is one of the best movie posters of all time, Alfred Hitchock's Vertigo.

I haven't "played" with my Hitchcock collection in years. I have only rarely pulled a DVD off the shelf to watch, and then usually only one of my favorites, not one of his lesser known films. I haven't flipped through my Hitch books and my web bookmarks folder of Hitchcock-related web sites is quite dusty.

But for some reason I felt compelled to reacquaint myself with the Master of Suspense today. Maybe it's because his birthday fell on Friday the 13th. Maybe it's just that it's on a Friday. Or maybe it's because it fell on the Friday before we go back to school.

Whatever the case, I'm having a little Hitchfest tonight. Hitchcock was active for six decades, from the 1920s to the 1970s, from the Silent Era (he made the first British "talkie," Blackmail) to the modern era, from black and white to technicolor. He made films on both sides of the Atlantic. He experimented widely and introduced a great number of cinematic innovations. He even made one of the first movies in 3D, Dial "M" for Murder.

So, I've loaded up my six-disc DVD player with one film from each decade and I'll rev it up around 5 o'clock and we'll see how long we last. Whatever we don't finish tonight, we'll certainly watch tomorrow night.

Here's the line-up:

For the 1920s (and the Silent Era) I've chosen The Lodger (1927). Most people mistakenly believe this was his first film as a director. His first was Number 13 (there's that number again!), which was never finished and no footage survives. He directed The Pleasure Garden in Germany and then The Mountain Eagle (which also doesn't survive) before The Lodger. But many regard The Lodger as the first "Hitchcockian" film. It has so many of his trademark motifs: murder, suspicion, guilt, love, lust, the role of authority in society (especially as it relates to the police), the "Hitchcock blonde," and of course, his cameo. His other 1920s films include Downhill, Easy Virtue, The Ring, The Farmer's Wife, Champagne, The Manxman, all of which were silents and Blackmail, which he made as a silent and as a "talkie."

For the 1930s I'll watch The 39 Steps (1935) on my Criterion Collection DVD. This film helped solidify his reputation in England and to gain greater notice in the U.S. In a way, it can be said that North by Northwest (one of my all-time favorites) is a remake of sorts of The 39 Steps. The other films of the 1930s include Juno and the Paycock, Murder!, The Skin Game, Rich and Strange, Number Seventeen, Waltzes from Vienna, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young and Innocent, The Lady Vanishes, and Jamaica Inn.

Hitch moved to the United States in 1939 to work with David O. Selznick and started his American career off with a bang with academy-award winning Rebecca (1940). Hitchcock said on a few occasions that one of his personal favorites was Shadow of a Doubt (1943) so who am I to doubt the Master? He used Thorton Wilder (of "Our Town" fame) as a consultant on the film and it's easy to see his influence. The contrast of innocence and guilt are stark in this film. His other films from the 1940s are Foreign Correspondent, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Suspicion, Saboteur, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Notorious, The Paradine Case, Rope, and Under Capricorn.

How do you choose just one film from the 1950s? It's his single best decade though it's easy to argue that this great decade stretches from Suspicion in 1942 to the Birds in 1963. Between those two bookmarks there is hardly a bad film (Under Capricorn being a notable exception). The 1950s include some of his most famous films, and for good reason: Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train, I Confess, Dial M for Murder, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, and North by Northwest. I decided to go with Rear Window (1954), the first Hitchcock film I saw on the big screen when it was re-released in 1999.

His most famous film is probably Psycho (1960). What better Hitchcock film could there to be to watch late at night on Friday the 13th? Perhaps the Birds. It's a toss-up, but I'm going with Pyscho. He made three other films in the 60s: Marnie, Torn Curtain, and Topaz, none of which were very well received at the time.

Hitchcock returned to England to make his penultimate picture, Frenzy (1972). He also returned to top Hitchcockian form. His only other film of the 1970s is Family Plot.

You can learn more about his films on the Hithcock Wiki or IMDB.

So, there you have my Hitchcockian Friday the 13th Birthday Bash Plan. Stop by tonight if you want to join in the fun. Or go rent your favorite Hitchcock film to celebrate yourself. Happy Birthday, Hitch!

I had a lot to say...

2010-05-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

...but didn't say it. At least not here.

I haven't been much of blogger lately. I've had more than a few other things with which to keep myself occupied.

However, I was going to blog regularly while I was on my trip to the Dominican Republic. I did a good job the first night. I wrote out by hand some great notes the second and third day and then never got them online, and, well, that's that. I just never got back to it.

But, I find there is some value in this kind of informal writing. Writing is writing. And writing of any kind, whether in a journal, the back of a napkin, or on a blog, is good for a writer. So I may be back on here from time to time.

Dominican Dispatches - Day One

2010-03-04T23:55:00.004-05:00

I haven't scribbled on these digital pages for quite some time and even when I did during the last year, only sporadically. I thought I'd revive it for my trip to the Dominican Republic. I require my students to keep a journal of their impressions so I thought I'd do the same--and I might as well share it with those interested in reading them on this humble blog.

There is nothing quite like the excitement of taking a trip to a new destination. This excitement is even greater when traveling with a group of curious and energetic students. Today we traveled from Columbia, South Carolina to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where we arrived late tonight. The students are all in the master's program in Higher Education and Student Affairs at the University of South Carolina. We will be visiting with students, faculty, and administrators at several universities as well as officials from the Ministry of Education to learn more about Dominican higher education.

The origins of this trip are several. As a student I loved my study abroad experiences. My first was to the U.S.S.R. in the summer of 1988 while I was still in high school. This was a transformative experience for me, opening my eyes to a world I could only read about (and only partially, at that), but not fully understand. I immediately understood that there was no substitute for "being there." In high school it was my practice to get to know the international students; I was genuinely curious about their experiences in my school and country and about what life in theirs was like. I started studying Spanish in junior high and remember making friends with students from Latin America so I could practice my language skills. By the end of high school I was relatively fluent--and quite anxious to learn other languages. I did what I could to self-teach myself some Russian for my trip to the Soviet Union. During my senior year at Nashua High I worked at a hotel that employed a great number of Brazilians. Naturally, I took advantage of the opportunity to learn as much Portuguese as I could.

This curiosity about language and culture continued into college. I majored in Spanish and I had the opportunity to interrupt my studies for two years of service in Chile. I studied abroad again, this time in México for a term. When I earned my master's degree, focusing on higher education, the job I coveted was to be a study abroad advisor.

As a professor I've combined my interest in culture and language with my work in higher education. I was invited to give a keynote address at a conference in Santiago, Chile in 2007 and took advantage to do a some research while there. The following year I spent a week in Lima, Perú visiting four universities and studying student roles in governance and student protests. I presented papers at meetings of the Comparative and International Education Society based on the research from those two trips.

In 2008 a group from Taiwan visited USC and invited faculty to submit for a travel grant to study in Taiwan. I couldn't pass that up and was fortunate to get one of the grants and spent two weeks in Taipei and circumnavigating the entire island. The following year I went back to Taipei, leading our department's first study abroad group. This was a wonderful experience as I saw the influence the trip had on students--especially as I reminisced how it had been an influence on me 20 years earlier when I took my first trip to an exotic land.

I wish I had taken the time to share my experiences from these travels as I was living them. I can try to recreate them or remember them, but it's difficult to completely capture the wonder of a new experience years after it happens.

So, that brings us to the current trip. I see myself in some of the students in this class on Comparative and International Higher Education--curious and anxious to learn. Since January we have been meeting to learn about higher education around the world. One of the assignments I gave was to interview an international student about their experiences with higher education in their home country. The first time I taught this class (Fall 2008) was interesting and I think the students learned a lot, but this time was of course different as we know we would see these principles in action, up close and personal in another country.

So, little by little, we've prepared and built up for an intense ten days in the República Dominicana. And now we're here...or, as they would say: "Aquí estamos."

Fore! Gators in S.C. News

2009-10-09T08:21:00.004-05:00

Golf in South Carolina (which proclaims itself "First in Golf" because the Palmetto State claims to have more golf courses per capita than any other state and/or because they're just so damn good) made headlines today. I noticed these headlinees while catching up on the news over my eggs and bacon this morning.

Headline One from The State: "SC golfer loses arm in alligator attack"

Headline Two from USA Today: "Second homes: Golf, sun and sand for less in Myrtle Beach"

Let's hope the readers of Headline Two don't see Headline One. I don't mean to make light of this poor fellow. It made headlines because it's actually quite rare. Just ten minutes from my house is a lake with several gators. I helped with the fishing station at Cub Scout camp there and we just steered clear of them. Once a kid snagged one by accident (the gator gobbled the bobber) and we just cut the line. Generally, the gators leave you alone.

And to friends who want to come for some fun in the sun with me, I promise you we'll golf at alligator-free courses. Or I'll take advantage of South Carolina's generous gun sales policy (I'm sure a nice gator rifle could fit in my bag between my driver and three-wood) and if we're confronted with a gator, you can go home with some sweet alligator golf shoes.

The President is Coming to Class

2009-09-08T07:30:00.001-05:00

At the end of last week when I heard about all the drama about President Obama giving a speech to school children I felt compelled to say something. I wrote something up and asked my colleague Doyle Stevick if he wanted to join in. We submitted the op-ed below to The State newspaper. It didn't run, which wasn't entirely unexpected since we sent it in over Labor Day weekend. But since it's written, I thought we might as well toss it up on the Internet for a few people to read. (When we wrote it President Obama's remarks were not available, but they are now on the White House web site.)

***
Op-ed for The State Regarding President Obama's Speech to School Children
By Christian K. Anderson and Doyle Stevick

President Obama will deliver a live address this Tuesday for all school children in the United States in order to “urge students to take personal responsibility for their own education, to set goals, and to not only stay in school but make the most of it.” Some parents and conservatives are concerned that the speech may come from the Democratic politician rather than from the American president.

Given reasonable concerns about politicizing our schools, it is important to ask two questions: Is the subject important enough to justify such an event, while the country grapples with wars, foreclosures, unemployment, health care politics, and the like? And if so, is it worth the risk of politicizing schools to show such a speech in schools?

On the first question, the evidence seems to be clear: when children succeed in school, the outcomes for the student and for the country are tremendous. Students who earn a high school diploma are more likely to vote, to donate to charities, to volunteer and even to give blood. They live healthier lives. Drop-outs are at much higher risk of being sent to prison and of relying on public assistance; both outcomes impose huge costs on taxpayers.

A recent College Board study showed that dropouts 25 and older earn, on average, about $23,400 compared to $31,500 for a high school graduate. The positive effects of education are multiplied for those who attend and graduate from college. A college graduate averages nearly $51,000. Over a lifetime, this translates into hundreds of thousands of dollars for the individual, and their spending boosts the economy.

It is no wonder the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education argues in its recent study, “The Economic Return on Investment in South Carolina's Higher Education,” that South Carolina’s future depends on how well we are able to educate our children.

We have schools that lack resources, where children—white, black, Hispanic, foreign—may question our commitment to their education. If they have mixed feelings about their schools, they may also question whether learning really does offer a light at the end of the tunnel.

In this regard, President Obama’s journey is more important than his politics. Whatever we think of his policies, it was his education that enabled him to become president. The fact that he is president provides powerful testimony to the power of education in overcoming barriers. If the president’s message is about the power of education, then the message is a critical one for all of our children.

But will his speech be political instead of non-partisan? We believe that our leaders may disagree about how best to help schools and children, but that they all see our children as America’s future and understand education’s role in making that future bright. If they didn’t, President Bush would not have pushed for No Child Left Behind, and President Obama would not have dedicated so much of the Recovery Act funds for schools. For these reasons, we would be surprised if the president discredited himself by politicizing such a crucial opportunity to encourage children.

While we can’t know precisely what he will say, it seems that the potential benefits may outweigh the risks. The symbolism of a president choosing to emphasize education at a time when the nation faces so many challenges is a powerful message in and of itself. It demonstrates that we cannot lose sight of the long-term solutions even as we are faced with the crises of the day.

For educators, the speech is a welcome opportunity to discuss the role and importance of education. For families, it is a chance to talk with their children about why we send them to school for so many years at such great expense: most children have never thought much about it. And all parents, from liberal to conservative, have an opportunity to talk to their children about the content of his speech, and why it supports—or contradicts—our personal values.

The President’s speech cannot solve our state’s chronic dropout problem, but let us not forget the power of inspiring words. We landed men on the moon, pushed Civil Rights forward, and tore down the Berlin Wall in part due to the inspired words of national leaders.

If President Obama’s speech to children can inspire children to think more deeply about the value and purpose of education, it is time well spent.

Christian K. Anderson and E. Doyle Stevick are assistant professors of educational leadership and policies at the University of South Carolina. The opinions expressed are their own and do not represent those of the University.

No Tweeto*

2009-08-26T16:16:00.000-05:00

Facebook. Blogs. Email. Home phone. Cell phone. iPhone. Blackberry. Raspberry. Oh, yeah, and real life, in person conversations too.

Already too much to keep up with.

That is why I do not Tweet nor doth I Twitter.

*Spanish for "I do not Tweet"

My Long Absence

2009-06-25T07:16:00.003-05:00

I realize that I suddenly disappeared from this blog without explanation. You see, I've been serving as Mark Sanford's interpreter and Argentine travel guide. There just was no time to update my blog with those kinds of responsibilities.

I'll soon be back. ¡Hasta pronto!

Office Politics

2009-04-16T21:55:00.003-05:00

There is just too much apathy when it comes to office politics these days. Someone should really look into it. Maybe some of the great professors of political science and behavioral psychology can figure out how to solve this pressing problem.

BCS for Basketball

2009-03-15T18:52:00.001-05:00

Did I hear right? Is it true that the NCAA is so pleased with the wonderful BCS system for football that they are now doing it for basketball too? No more long, drawn out tournament—just a bunch of "bowl" games, with one of them serving as the national championship game. I guess today they'll be announcing these bowl games instead of the brackets.

I hope the rumor is true because March Madness is just too boring.

Spring Broke

2009-03-13T16:55:00.004-05:00

This week was "Spring Break" at the University of South Carolina, meaning there were no classes, but I knew I would still need to get ~~some~~ a lot of work done. So, as for "Spring Break," let's break it down:

Spring: This week was definitely spring-like with temperatures in the 70s here in Columbia, perfect for some bike rides and baseball.

~~Break~~ Broke: It wasn't really much of a break. But it should have been. I was beat at the start of the week. I should have gotten out for a round of golf, a movie, something fun. Instead, I tried to work but that didn't work very well. Then Jacob got sick on Wednesday, so I stayed home and Lauren's school was closed on Friday so I had a fun day with her (including lunch with Jacob--she loves pretending that she's already a Kindergartner). But I didn't get to mark much off of my to-do list.

I think we need to take the time to refresh the body and spirit and pay the price when we don't. I should have been more intentional and taken some time to clear my head, and then I would have likely been more productive the rest of the time.

Lesson learned (I hope).

Snow Falling on Palms, Part Deux

2009-03-02T08:09:00.006-05:00

What does this picture make you think of? "Snow Day"? I suppose, if you by "Snow Day" you mean clear blue skies, no snow, no ice, and moderate winter temperatures (34º at 8:00 a.m., predictions for temperatures up to 40º). Apparently, that's what Richland 2 School District considers a "Snow Day" (as did every other district in the Midlands). I love spending a day off with the kids, of course, and enjoyed when we had an actual snow day (complete with actual snow), but it's Monday and I only have about 10,000 things on my To Do List. (I didn't show the same palm tree as in the previous post because the only palm we have in our yard is very small and it would be hard to show the lovely skies above.)

Trying to make potato salad out of potatoes (dontcha like that better than lemons/lemonade?), I thought I'd look for ways to get out of the house. Let's go to the Richland County Library. Closed. How about the South Carolina State Museum? Closed. (But it's always closed on Mondays.) Columbia Museum of Art? (Again, closed on Mondays.) How about some quality swim time at the local YMCA? Bingo! And, luckily, the Y is only about two miles away so we can navigate the treacherously dry roads without too much problem. Whew.

This Post is Not Yet Rated

2009-02-22T19:30:00.004-05:00

In honor of tonight's Oscars, I thought I'd say something about the movies. You know, just in case you need something to read during one of those long commercial breaks or boring acceptance speeches.

The other day my friend posted this on his blog:

Proof the Rating System is Broken: Slumdog Millionaire, in which a boy overcomes adversity to try and connect with the love of his life--rated R. Taken--in which Liam Neeson promises to hunt down and murder the people who kidnapped his daughter (and then proceeds to do so)--rated PG13. Seriously people.

I have thought for a very long time that the Motion Pictures Association of America's ratings were, to put it mildly, stupid. I made a comment on that blog post and, since I had no intention of seeing Taken, figured I had said my peace. I didn't pay attention to the MPAA ratings before and wouldn't start worrying about them now.

But then we saw Taken last weekend. (Michelle thought it looked interesting.) It was pretty good as an action flick—who knew Liam Neeson could be so Jason-Bournesque?

The whole time I was watching it, I couldn't help think of the comparison quoted above. Having seen Slumdog Millionaire, I quite agree with Joel's assessment. That movie is tremendous. But I have an even better comparison: Frost/Nixon.

Here we go—Taken v. Frost/Nixon.

Taken is rated PG-13. The movie is about how a former CIA agent's daughter is kidnapped while vacationing in Paris. (That much you already know from the trailers; skip to the Frost/Nixon section if you don't want to know the rest of the plot because you're still planning to see it.) She is on the phone with Daddy Dearest (Liam Neeson) when she is abducted and he puts his considerable skills to work to track down the culprits so he can take out vengeance on them for not releasing his daughter. He also wants to get his daughter back. In the process he kills numerous people—shooting them from afar, up close, killing them with his hands, or with whatever is available. One killing is particularly brutal. He ~~tortures~~ uses enhanced interrogation techniques (electrocution) on a man and once he receives the information he needs (see, it works after all!), he turns the power on and walks away, leaving the man to fry to death. If the film depicts fewer than 50 murders, I'd be surprised. He shoots a friend's wife in the arm to coerce his now former friend to give him some information he needs, and says, "It's only a flesh wound."

Oh, and did I mention where his daughter is? She's been abducted so she can be sold as a sex-slave. She will bring an extra high price because she is a virgin. Her friend wasn't so lucky. She was chained to a bed after being drugged. She died from asphyxiating on her own vomit. And we got to see that up close. So, when Mr. Action CIA catches up to his daughter she (a high school age girl) is on display in a scanty bikini for men to bid on her. In the final scene she is held hostage by the sole survivor on a yacht (Mr. Former CIA has decimated everyone on board, leaving a trail of carnage) holds the daughter at knife point and Mr. Action Hero takes on last shot, taking him down with a bullet between the eyes.

Charming movie. Just the thing you'd like your 13-year old daughter to walk in and see with her friends.

Now, for Frost/Nixon. This movie is based on the true story of how David Frost interviewed Richard Nixon in 1977 on national television. These became the most watched interviews in TV history and, in the end, revealed a great deal about Nixon's motives and personality, especially with regard to Watergate.

Frank Langella, as Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States of America, says at one point in the movie, "Those motherfuckers!"

Yep. That's it.

That's why Frost/Nixon was rated R, which means you have to either be 17 or accompanied by an adult to see it. The MPAA's web site states that it is, "Rated R for some language." In addition to President Nixon's emphatic epithet, there might have been a few "shits," "damns," and "hells" (which are all allowed in PG-13 movies anyway). But guess what. Nixon was famously foul-mouthed. Moreover, this is how lots of people around him spoke. The language isn't gratuitous. There is no violence, no nudity, nothing. The raunchiest it gets is when Nixon leans over to Frost just before one of the taping sessions is about to begin and says, "Do any fornicating last night?" to take his interrogator off his game.

Why does this even matter? Frost/Nixon is the kind of movie that should be accessible to a wide audience. Maybe teens, hungry for an understanding of the past, would rush in to see it. OK, maybe not. But why cut off access to it for a few words that are not used gratuitously (and not even used that often)? Is there something to be learned from this movie? Are there parallels between Nixon's rationale for escalating the Vietnam War and Bush's rationale for the Iraq War? Are there similarities between Nixon and Bush in how they governed? Maybe, maybe not. But you can't even start the discussion if you can't see the film. At the very least, the film depicts an important part of American history.

In the documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, director Michael Tucker is interviewed (who made the documentary Gunner Palace about the Iraq War), and asks how we could even "rate" images from real life. From wars, for example, we get such horrific visuals as piles of bodies in Nazi Holocaust camps or a little girl running naked from her burned village in Vietnam. He asks, "Is that PG? Is that PG-13? Is it R? People needed to see that... You can't rate reality."

This Film is Not Yet Rated, by the way, does a great job of showing what a farce the MPAA is, how many double-standards it has, and how the ratings are not based on much more than a gut reaction by amateurs, hired to speak for the "average parent" (even though most of the raters' "kids" are adults). It is basically a censorship organization, under the thumb of the major studios.

So, if I were to rate these movies, I would give Taken a rating of NC-17. I really see no reason a kid under that age needs to see 50+ murders, a man electrocuted to death, a teenage girl die from choking on her own vomit, or another teenager sold as a sex-slave. And I would rate Frost/Nixon PG-13. Except for a very few choice words it's really a PG film.

That's assuming I would use the MPAA's ratings. But why would I used a broken system?

Urban Escapes

2009-02-20T11:28:00.010-05:00

Last night I needed a change of pace. I wanted to, finally, go see "Gran Torino." That didn't work out. Instead, I ended up watching the Jazz-Celtics game into the wee hours. Seeing the Jazz pull of a fantastic win in a close game was fun. That was a bit of a change of pace but still...

I felt the same this morning. So I tried something as simple as taking a different route to campus, taking the long way. Over breakfast I had read through the special pull-out section of the "State" newspaper on the new University of South Carolina baseball stadium, which officially opens tomorrow with the season opener against Duquesne. (They are crazy about USC baseball here.) I thought I'd drive by and see the new treasure. I drove past it on Blossom Street and couldn't turn into the access street so I continued over the bridge into the town of Cayce (a charming place I didn't know much about, even though it's just across the river from Columbia). I noticed a sign for "Riverwalk Park." What the heck, I thought, I'll check it out. I'm still relatively new and trying to figure my way around.

The park turned out to be a sight for sore eyes. Just the change of scenery I needed. (I happened to have my pocket camera and snapped a couple shots.) One of my favorite things about living in Salt Lake City was that the Great Outdoors are so close to the city. I'm discovering that the same is true here. Everyone told me that it's great to live just a couple hours from the coast (Myrtle Beach, Charleston, etc.) and a couple hours from the mountains of the Upstate.

But no one really told me about the treats right here in the city. Within just a few miles of our house are Clemson's Sandhill Center (with a lake, hiking trails, and a children's garden), Sesquicentennial Park (with a lake, hiking trails), and when we finally discovered the Riverbanks Zoo (one of the best I've been too) we discovered the second part of its name is "and Gardens" because it also has a bridge over the river to a wonderful set of gardens (with walking paths). Congaree National Park, the only one in South Carolina, is just outside the city.

So it was a treat to discover yet another such place right with water and hiking trails right here in Columbia. It turns out its connected to other parks and trails as part of the Three Rivers Greenway. I think I better pull out my mountain bike and get exploring one Saturday soon!

Columbia Follies: The Week in Review

2009-02-06T22:31:00.008-05:00

This has been quite the week for Columbia, South Carolina!

Let's get to it...

Michael Phelps. Maybe you've heard of him. He seemed to forget that people carry cameras around with them and decided to pass the peace pipe around while visiting the University of South Carolina in November. And now he may be charged by the Richland County Sheriff. A couple of friends emailed me to ask how I could allow this to happen under my watchful eye at USC. "Allow it to happen?" I'm just glad I wasn't photographed at the party (it happened on my birthday, after all)! OK, settle down—I have an alibi. I was in Florida at a conference when Mr. Phelps swam over to Gamecock Country.

Impending Snow Showers. A local weatherman at WIS-10 of Columbia said on his blog to expect a blizzard at the start of the week. We had some snow a couple weeks ago, but not this week. It caused quite a flurry in the community: everyone raided the stores for a Four Alarm French Toast Emergency (you know, eggs, bread, and milk). It was cold this week but the snow lasted for about 20 minutes on Wednesday.

While You're Looking to the Skies... A skydiving instructor made his final dive while taking a man on his first dive in Chester, South Carolina. Wow. What a story.

Speaking of Final Flights, Goodbye Spirit. Discount airline Spirit Airlines arrived to Columbia, South Carolina last spring. I flew on it twice, once to Lima, Perú (for $401!) in May and again with the family to Ft. Lauderdale (for $9 each way per ticket!) in September for a surprise get-away. Each flight was worse than one before. It was horrible but at least it was cheap. Now, they're taking their final flight from Columbia a year after arriving on their first.

Speaking of Finality. Steve Spurrier, head coach of the USC Gamecocks football team, promised a recruit that he could wear #2 when he came to USC. Only problem is that #2 was retired in 1987 to honor Sterling Sharpe. I would ask, "Hey, Steve, how would you like your Florida #11 to be unretired for someone else to wear?" but I already found the answer. (But, really, what's the point of "retiring" a number if, well, you're not going to leave it "retired"?)

Andy Card and the White House Dress Code. Today, Andy Card, University of South Carolina alumnus and former Chief of Staff for President Bush, got bent out of shape because President Obama (gasp!) takes his jacket off in the Oval Office. Personally, I would rather have a president who owns up to his mistakes who shows his shirtsleeves than a president who dresses up to send his nation to war on false pretenses. But that's just me.

Confederates Need to Be Remembered Too. Apparently, flying the Confederate Flag in front of the State House isn't enough. A bill under consideration in the General Assembly would require counties to give county employees Confederate Memorial Day off. (It was actually introduced by Robert Ford, a black Democrat from Charleston, as a means to "force South Carolinians to reflect on the state’s history.")

Speaking of Which. Katon Dawson, South Carolina GOP chairman, came in second place for national GOP chairman to Michael Steele, who happens to be African-American. Dawson had to resign from his country club in South Carolina to save face while running for the GOP national chairmanship. Why? That country club is still Whites-only. (Well, it just recently changed its policy.)

Almost Done. Of course, there's always fun stuff going on in the state capital of South Carolina, especially at the State House, as the State Newspaper editorialists like to point out. There's also the new motto for Columbia, "Famously Hot." (See what someone had to say about that—scroll down to "Fun with Slogans.")

A Final Note About Columbia, South Carolina. Have you noticed that I've mentioned Columbia, South Carolina, the Gamecocks, or other related local items of interest more than a few times? Well, I had to try a little experiment. You may have noticed the little map on this blog, which indicates where people are visiting from around the world. If you click on it you can find out what the most "locally relevant" and "popular" blogs are for Columbia, South Carolina. They use algorithms to determine which blogs qualify as for these two categories and assign a score. So, even though some may think I envy popular blogs, I don't. (Really, I don't; I'll talk about why I blog in a later post.) But I did think it would be fun to test the algorithm for "local relevance" by infusing this post with as much South Caroliniana as possible. We'll see if it works.

But even still, it was fun to have a look at the fun stuff going on in the Palmetto State, my new home state. I'm sure I could do the same with my former home states—the Granite State, the Keystone State, and the Beehive State—though somehow I think I might be able to have the most fun with the latter.

UPDATE (2/7/08 @ 8:20 a.m.): Apparently, this experiment hasn't worked so far. The "local relevance" algorithm ain't workin'! My score is "1." One? That means this post has practically nothing to do with Columbia, South Carolina. Hmmm...I'm not sure how many more times I could have insert the right keywords! A true (in the slang of the intertubes), "LOL" moment.

UPDATE (2/9/09 @ 8:31 a.m.): Status unchanged. This blog post still has practically nothing to say about Columbia! It was a fun little experiment. I still like the map showing where people are comin' in from for a quick read on this modest blog so many thanks to FEEDJIT for that.

Refreshing

2009-02-03T21:37:00.003-05:00

What's that old saying, "The Buck Stops Here"? That phrase disappeared from the Washington scene for a very long time (and not just the last eight years). Until now:

How's that for refreshing?

I could make some kind of comparison to President Obama's predecessor, or to his predecessor's predecessor by inserting video clips (or at least some snarky links) of them doing the opposite of what Pres. Obama does in the clip above. But what for? Let's just call it what it is: Refreshing.

Also, allow me to interrupt this refreshing moment to say that I have felt less inclined to snark-attack Pres. Bush since the November election. I was no fan of him as president and supported Obama's campaign. However, I must say that I give Bush four stars for his handling of the transition. He offered gracious congratulations to Obama after his victory, he had Mr. and Mrs. Obama to the White House within a week of the election, and he instructed his staff not only to avoid any monkey business with the transition, but to be serious about helping make the transition smooth as possible.

Bush also agreed to Obama's suggestion to have a luncheon for the living former presidents. And he stated, at that luncheon, that, "Whether we're Democrat or Republican, we all care deeply about this country. . . . All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual." So, while I may not consider Bush's presidency a success, I do not doubt his love of country. He clearly recognized that doing anything less than being as helpful as possible in the transition would not be in the best interest of the country, especially when so much is at stake right now. I think this gracious transition made the Inauguration events even more memorable and enjoyable to watch.

It's a whole new month...

2009-02-01T23:48:00.003-05:00

And I've got stuff to do. I'll blog a bit more here this month (and explain why) and talk about other writing I'm trying to do (personal and professional).

I realize this is a very short post. Just a (public) reminder to myself to get to it!

Happy February.

Snow Falling on Palms

2009-01-20T09:28:00.011-05:00

Public school was canceled today in the Midlands of South Carolina. As were morning classes at the University of South Carolina, meaning my course EDHE 730, "Evolution (History) of American Higher Education" was canceled. The images I've posted here would not be strange in any of the states I've lived in previously—Utah, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania (except that there no palm trees in any of those cold weather states). But it is strange to have snow in South Carolina. Snow on palm trees is definitely odd to see as you can see in the photo of snow on the young palm in our front yard.

Instead of "Snow Falling on Palms," I could have titled this post as "French Toast Day" because whenever there is going to be a "snow day" everyone runs to the store and busy milk, eggs, and bread causing grocers to ask, "Why is everyone making French Toast today?" Or I could call it "A Blessed Day" because here in South Carolina people (a cashier at the store, a waitress at the diner, et cetera) regularly wish you a "blessed day" and because having a snow day on Inauguration Day is indeed a blessing. I love teaching and regret having class canceled this morning but being able to spend the day at home watching the Inaugural events with my children is wonderful. Teaching history is one thing; watching it unfold is quite another. So, a snow day couldn't have come on a better day.

Having a "snow day" reminds me of when I moved to New Hampshire in high school. Being from Utah, I didn't think anything of it the first time it snowed. I would carpool with my friends Grant and Maya to school every day. When Grant picked me up he said, gleefully, "I bet it's going to be a snow day!" His gleefulness made me think he was joking. The mere dusting on the ground made me think he was joking. That New Hampshire is a snow state, and the birthplace of the American ski industry, also made me think he was joking.

But then, as we drove to Nashua Senior High School the announcement came over the radio and I knew he wasn't joking. "Whaaaat?" was my response. But closing school for snow—if the superintendant even dreamed of snow it seemed—was the modus operandi in New Hampshire. (My poor sister had so many snow days her junior year that she was in school practically until July making up these snow days.) So we went to IHOP for breakfast, which was overflowing with high school students. Apparently, it was safe enough to drive to IHOP but not to school! (I do not, however, begrudge school districts and the University here in the Palmetto State for cancelling classes. There simply isn't the capacity to deal with the snow here—and why would it, given that it snows about once every half-decade?)

Speaking of New Hampshire, on this inaugural day I am reminded that I had the privilege of voting for a U.S. president for the first time in that important primary state. I just happened to turn 18 on election day—November 8, 1988. It was a thrill for me as someone who had been interested in politics from an early age. The first time I worked on a campaign was when I was only 15 years old and volunteered on my Uncle Robert's run for the Utah state legislature. Now I live in another important primary state as South Carolina holds the first Southern primary. I did what I could, volunteering for Mr. Obama in the lead-up to the South Carolina Primary. And we took the kids to see Obama speak at an event on the eve of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in downtown Columbia last year, a week before the Primary. (Save your "oh, you liberal professors" comments for another time.)

So, I was excited to receive an invitation to the "Grits & Granite" Inaugural Ball, sponsored by Democratic Parties of New Hampshire and South Carolina. I was tempted to RSVP, drive up after class today (about eight hours to D.C. from Columbia), attend the ball, find a place to crash, and then drive back. I decided against it, in part because I would miss seeing all of the Inaugural events; in part because I wanted to see these events with my family; and, in part, because spending about 16 hours driving just to have a few hours at a ball seemed a bit out of kilter. As I watch the day's events unfold I now wish I were there, just to be part of it in some small way. But with snow falling on palms, that drive could easily extend beyond the normal time. Even still, how can you not wish you were there?

Well, whatever you call today—a Snow Day, a Blessed Day, Inagauration Day—it is certainly an amazing day.

The Mythical National Championship

2009-01-09T09:09:00.009-05:00

There's an animal so cool that you just want it to be real. The jackalope: half-rabbit, half-antelope. Wow, how cool would that be?

And how cool would it be to have a real college football championship? I offer my congratulations to the Florida Gators for winning the BCS National Championship. But I hate to report, it's a mythical one.

Why? We still have no idea who could have won the national championship had the top teams had been allowed to play it out. I have no doubt that Florida is a great team, a really great team, but I'm not convinced we know that they definitely belong in the top spot. Perhaps the BCS needs a new trophy; instead of a crystal football, a handsome jackalope atop the prize.

Some argue that it wouldn't work to have a college playoff and the other bowl games. These bowls would be “consolation” prizes to the playoff games, they argue. But don’t we already have that, but worse? Right now we have one championship game and 33 consolation games. Why not allow the top eight teams to play for the title while still allowing other teams have their postseason too.

What if they did this in other sports? What if the NFL simply chose the top two teams—through some mixture of computer programs and polls—to determine which teams would go to the Super Bowl? And then gave the other top teams “consolation bowls” to play in? Sound ridiculous? Of course it does.

If we did it that way, perhaps this year the pollsters/computers/jackalope-hunters could select the Steelers of Pittsburgh and the Eagles of Philadelphia and have the “Pennsylvania Super Bowl” and play it at Beaver Stadium, smack dab in the middle of the Commonwealth. Oh, wait, Governor Rendell has already suggested that a few years back.

So, why is it mythical? Bo Schembechler, former Michigan coach explained:

"You play to win the Big Ten championship, and if you win it and go to the Rose Bowl and win it, then you've had a great season. If they choose to vote you number one, then you're the national champion. But a national champion is a mythical national champion, and I think you guys ought to know that. It's mythical."

The BCS system was created to avoid the problem of a mythical or split championship, but it doesn’t. It doesn't make the national championship any less mythical because we still have no idea if the best team actually won.

Who has a claim on the title? The University of Utah Utes, of course. It's hard to argue with a perfect record, beating four ranked teams, capped by a trouncing of Alabama, a team that spent much of the season ranked No. 1.

Texas may have a case. They beat Oklahoma too and like Florida they only have one loss. But they barely beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. USC's claim, under the current system, is weak simply because they lost to Oregon State. That's only one loss too, except that Utah demolished Oregon State. So, USC is out.

But—and this is a big but—who can argue that USC couldn't beat any of the top teams? If you saw them demolish my other team, the Nittany Lions, you know that they could compete with any team in college football.

Our new Professor-in-Chief agrees: “If I’m Utah, if I’m USC, or if I’m Texas, I may still have some quibbles. And you’ve heard my pitch. That’s why we need a playoff.”

Why is this significant? The creation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association was due to the influence of a president and football. President Theodore Roosevelt felt that college football was too violent and needed to be reformed and regulated. He called college representatives to the White House to discuss the problem, which led to other meetings by college leaders, resulting in the formation of the NCAA in 1906. I’m sure President Obama will have other, more pressing concerns, so hosting a “BCS Summit” at the White House is unlikely any time soon. But having spoken out on this issue during the campaign and since, it seems likely that, given the opportunity, he will speak out on it again.

This was the perfect year to vote in a split championship. The AP voters should have followed the advice of John Feinstein and voted Utah No. 1 to help dismantle the absurd BCS system. But they didn't and delivered Utah their only "loss."

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham made the right decision to vote his Utes as No. 1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, even though it could lead to sanctions from fellow coaches. (They are obligated to vote for whoever wins the BCS championship. So, why have them vote? Why call it the “coaches’ poll”?)

So, in the end, we’re still guessing as to whether Florida is the best team in the land. Florida barely beat Alabama but Utah destroyed 'Bama. Could Florida, Texas, or Utah beat USC? What would a Texas/Florida game look like?

All hypothetical, of course. Which is why we need a playoff in the so-called FBS division of college football. Otherwise, the current champion is just a myth.

Determining the College Football National Champion...Been There. Done That.

2009-01-08T17:41:00.004-05:00

I'm sure tonight's Final BCS Game (called by some, "The BCS Championship Game") will be fun to watch. I'm sure Florida and Oklahoma fans are revved up and excited. And I'm sure I'll watch too.

But not to see a champion crowned. Been there. Done that.

Pat Bagley summarizes tonight's game quite nicely:

University of Utah Utes are National Champions!

2009-01-03T00:02:00.008-05:00

I declare the Utes national champions!

Care to disagree? Who, pray tell, beat them? When your record reads, "13-0" that means no one did. Not one team. Not Michigan in the Big House. Not No. 12 TCU. Not No. 14 Holy War Rival BYU.

And neither did the perennial powerhouse Alabama, the famous Crimson Tide, in the Sugar Bowl. This is the team that was ranked #1 almost all season—the team that nearly beat Florida for a spot in the final BCS game.

Who could have beaten Utah? Florida? Oklahoma? USC? Who knows? No one knows! No one thought—except hopeful Utahns (and later hopeful Utahns and apparently quite smart Vermonters)—that Utah could beat 'Bama. But they did. Big time. The game wasn't even close. Twenty-one unanswered points in the first quarter alone. They never lost the lead and won in dominating fashion with a final score of 31-17.

So, the BCS may not agree with me. The coaches may or may not agree, but we'll see. This year just screams for a playoff instead of the BCS and a series of rankings (now including my own!). Who can say the Utes don't have a legitimate claim on the title? How far would the Utes have gone in a playoff? To win the championship in the final game of the year? We'll never know...so, again:

I declare the Utes national champions!

Go Utes: Update to the Highly Scientific Poll

2008-12-30T19:09:00.003-05:00

Scientists continue to study the Utes and their chance to beat 'Bama in the Sugar Bowl. More data have been collected and now Vermonters have joined Beehivers in acknowledging that Utah will beat Alabama. I always knew Vermont was a smart state! Here's the latest:

Go Utes!

Peace on Earth

2008-12-22T07:01:00.003-05:00

In the spirit of the holidays I thought I'd share my favorite online video in case one of the four readers of this blog hasn't seen it.

The music is beautiful. The images are wonderful. And there is just something so hopeful about it. Simply great.

Happy Holidays (if you celebrate one). And Peace on Earth. We need it.

Go Utes?

2008-12-15T11:28:00.006-05:00

I almost, almost, had plans to go see the Utes play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. A ten-hour trip with a fellow Ute living here in the Palmetto State, but alas, it wasn't to be...

Others have asked me why I would want to go to all that effort just to see my team lose when I could see them lose for free at home. That rubbed me the wrong way, of course, until I came across some scientific proof that maybe there's not much hope. We ordered pizzas online from Domino's last weekend and after placing my order I was given the chance to indicate who I thought would win each of the BCS bowls. Then the magnificent InterTube showed me the results of this highly scientific poll (which I captured with a screen shot so I could further analyze the complex findings of the study):

So what kind of chance do the Utes have? A great scholar weighs in:

I hold out hope!

We've Got a First Amendment Too!

2008-12-12T11:33:00.004-05:00

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." So says the First Amendment of W.'s doormat, er, I mean the United States Constitution. We've recently had fun with the Second Amendment here in South Carolina. So, why not the First Amendment? What's next? Forced quartering of soldiers to see if we can find a way to mess with the Third Amendment too!

Whoever thunk up the idea of an independent judiciary branch deserves a prize. It was someone from that very branch that appears to have "saved" (ahem, sorry, couldn't resist) us Carolinians from having "I Believe" license plates available to drivers who really, really believe in driving. It's just a temporary injunction so stay tuned: we may get to believe while we drive after all.

Another Publius deserves a shout-out for the ideas he outlines in Federalist No. 10. That document seems to resonate more and more today as we battle over who has the right to do what. What does Madison say about factions?

The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.

I'm so, so, so tempted to pepper that quote with all kinds of snarky links (especially the words "improper or wicked project"). But it's almost too easy. Proverbial fish in a barrel. Perhaps a discussion for another day.

By the way, if I were to have music accompanying this blog post (which will never, ever happen), what would the song be? "Satan is my Motor" by Cake seems the most logical choice!

Comment Envy

2008-12-10T09:25:00.002-05:00

I didn't start this blog thinking it would be the greatest blog ever or that it would revolutionize the InterTubes. I wasn't expecting a flood of comments on each and every post. Nonetheless, you can't help but be a bit envious of this kind of comment production: Roger Ebert's recent post on his blog about Ben Stein's "documentary" (yes, it seems the the scare quotes are necessary) has generated, to date, 824 comments.

Eight hundred and fourteen people were interested enough to say something about his snarky, silly, fun post. The post is very provocative, which surely helps generate more comments. I've tried to be provocative from time to time, often to no avail. But, then, I don't have a Pulitzer Prize, a dozen books to my name, international fame as a critic, or (formerly) my own TV show. Some academics have garnered a good deal of attention for their blogs, such as Michael Bérubé, but the interest seems to be mostly within academic circles.

The "blog" phenomenon is only about a decade old, and it continues to mature. It is interesting that newspapers have started imitating blogs by allowing comments on their online editions. Now, instead of a handful of letters to the editor about a story, often published days or weeks later, you have immediate feedback on the story. Of course, not all of it is worth reading so there is a trade-off between thoughtful, edited, vetted letters and immediate shoot-from-the-hip comments. For example, a recent op-ed by Bill Ayers in the Gray Old Lady generated 618 comments but only five letters to the editor were published.

Inside Higher Ed, a new, exclusively online, news source about higher education has allowed comments on its news stories from the very start. It was founded by some former Chronicle of Higher Education editors. The Chronicle created some blogs, which generally generate few comments, but still does not allow comments on stories, instead relying on pithy letters-to-the-editor, like this one.

The jury is still out, I think, on whether we've achieved something even remotely approaching a Utopian form of democratic communication. Is this free-for-all comment-fest the "public sphere" the influential German philosopher-sociologist Jürgen Habermas envisioned in his 1962 book, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere? Or are we, in the words of Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, still "bowling alone," connected by electronically but not in any "real" way?

OK, I realize that's a heavy way to end this post. But I got stuff to—I've got some blogs to go comment on.

Utah and Boise State Play for National Title!

2008-12-08T19:16:00.004-05:00

The powers-that-be have decided that only undefeated teams can play for the national title. Had Ball State not lost in its conference, Ball State and Boise State would have played in the "B.S. Bowl" to see who would advance to play Utah, the higher ranked team.

OK, that headline and accompanying story are not true.

But these headlines are true:

Oklahoma Loses to Texas but still Advances to National Title Game

Texas Tech Goes 11-1, Beats 3 Ranked Teams; Will Not Play in a BCS Bowl

[Insert here your own ridiculous but true BCS headline]

The Bowl Championship Series is a joke. This year screams for a playoff. The reasons the power-that-be at the BCS give for not having are ridiculous and everyone knows it (even them, I suspect). How great would an eight game playoff be this year? Just look at the top eight teams:

1. Oklahoma 12-1
2. Florida 12-1
3. Texas 11-1
4. Alabama 12-1
5. USC 11-1
6. Utah 12-0
7. Texas Tech 11-1
8. Penn State 11-1

Do all of these teams have a legitimate claim that they could contend for the title? Of course! You can't tell me that No. 8 Penn State has less of a legitimate shot of being national champions, having lost one heartbreaker in the final seconds, than Southern Cal. who lost one upset game to Oregon State (who Utah and Penn State trounced). Everyone in the top eight, except Utah (editorial comment: GO UTES!), has a loss. The differences between the teams, in a statistical sense, is very slight.

So, let's put it on the field! A playoff would look something like this:

Oklahoma v. Penn State
Florida v. Texas Tech
Texas v. Utah
Alabama v. USC

My prediction? The "final four" would be Penn State v. Florida and Texas (I know, heresy to vote against my team) v. Alabama. National Champions? Penn State, of course! Joe Paterno gets dowsed by Gatorade and dies on the field after winning his final national championship. (Poetic, I know.)

But it's a purely an academic exercise. We'll never know.

End the BCS! Let them play!

Today in History

2008-12-05T09:04:00.002-05:00

On this date in 1933 Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment,* ending Prohibition. I just love that Utah, of all places, was the state that made scenes like this possible:

College students everywhere (except BYU, the most stone-cold sober campus for 11 years running) say, "Thank you, Utah."**

In other "Today in History" news related to higher education: the first scholastic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in 1776 (a very good year, I understand).

*And you thought you were going to learn about the history of the Constitution at that link!

** OK, settle down. I'm not advocating "Animal House" style alcoholism (or any other kind of alcoholism). Just having a little fun with the fact that my former pretty, great state had the ultimate ironic honor of rescinding Prohibition.

Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

2008-12-02T17:40:00.005-05:00

Cocky is in the Final Four. No, that is not a really bad title to a really bad porno film. The University of South Carolina mascot is in the Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge semifinals to determine which university has the "best" mascot.

Yes, our mascot's name is Cocky. Before you vote, make sure you get to know the candidates and (and I quote), "Go Deep with the Mascots." I've been here nearly 18 months and I still can't say our mascot's name without smirking. But at least he does some good, like helping kids. Just think, one day your kid can come home and say, "I got to play with Cocky today!" And you can "Cook with Cocky"--not once, but twice. (The second time is always better.) And, while this USC's mascot is Cocky, is it worth mentioning that the other USC's mascot is Tommy Trojan?

If this isn't the most ridiculous news item of the day, I dread knowing what is.

Go Cocks! Go Cocky!

Gun Holiday

2008-11-28T11:08:00.003-05:00

South Carolina today became the first state to have a "tax-free gun holiday" to celebrate the Second Amendment. One of the headlines in today's newspaper is "Gun bargains this weekend." Another headline reads, "Two injured in gunfire at SC Thanksgiving parade." There is no relation between headline No. 1 and No. 2. Move on, people. Nothing to see here.

At least we don't allow guns on campus here in South Carolina like they now must at my alma mater, the University of Utah. All I can say is "Yikes." (At least you have to be 21 to get a permit. That way if you get depressed and drunk and kill yourself, at least you were legally drunk. If you think I'm being snarky here, consider that more than 50% of suicides are committed with a gun. Also consider the emotional challenges that young college-age students experience. Add guns to that mix? Not a good idea.)

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." I guess not infringing on the right to have a well regulated armed militia means we need to give tax breaks to those who buy guns.

Rivalries Gone Wild

2008-11-26T08:23:00.006-05:00

Each year staffers at the University of Utah student newspaper "kidnap" and blindfold Cosmo the Cougar, the BYU mascot, and hide him somewhere on campus the week before the BYU/Utah football game, aka, the Holy War. They give clues each day as to his whereabouts until someone finds him.

In 1966 Sue Paterno, wife of Coach Joe Paterno (yes, he was coach way back then), and a girlfriend painted the Nittany Lion with orange paint to heat up the rivalry game with Syracuse University. The latex paint came off easily but the oil-based paint applied later by actual Orangemen had to be sandblasted off.

Which brings us to the South Carolina/Clemson rivalry. Each year USC students construct a giant Clemson Tiger and do this to their mascot:

So, what is it with all this abuse to cat mascots?

Make My Day

2008-11-24T05:39:00.006-05:00

Sometimes a single e-mail can make your whole day. A few months ago I got this one.

I 'm a second year ph.d student at School of Education from Beijing Normal University. I am extremely interested in your research. In fact, I want to conduct a comparative research on faculty senates between U.S. and China. After reading some chapters of your thesis on The creation of faculty senates in American higher education, you can't imagine how excited I was. Because it is one of the most in-depth studies I ever read.

Anyone who has written a dissertation knows that I don't need to explain why such an email would make your day. My dissertation didn't win any awards but it's nice to know that someone, anyone, read it! (And even enjoyed it, or said he did!)

The second "make my day" email came over the weekend:

...An important goal of our group [USC chapter of The Roosevelt Institution, a non-partisan nationwide student think tank] is to keep students politically informed and to allow them to begin participating in public policy-making. In order to reach this goal, we have created a class: Effecting Change Through Public Policy, which will be taught by Dr. Charles Finocchiaro. A preliminary copy of the syllabus is attached. …We plan to have 7 different faculty members speak on their area of expertise as it relates to current issues in public policy (Healthcare, Energy/Environment, National Security, etc.)….

We are contacting you in order to request that you participate as our visiting lecturer in the area of Education Policy… We simply ask that you attend a class (we are targeting Monday, March 16) and deliver a 45 minute to 1 hour lecture, followed by a brief Q&A, on your topic of interest. Furthermore, we ask that you provide at least 1 article related to your topic prior to your lecture. This article would provide students with the background necessary to better understand your topic and allow them to ask informed questions.

Part of being a professor is becoming some sort of "expert" on something. It's one thing to submit something and have it accepted. But it's another to be sought out to do something related to your work. I've been invited to give a couple of other talks this year and each time it's gratifying to think you actually know something that someone else might want to hear. (I put "expert" in scare quotes because I must admit I don't quite feel like an "expert.")

But in this case it is particularly gratifying to be sought out by students. It reminds me of the earliest Medieval universities, such as the University of Bologna (founded 1088), where students ran the show, electing the rector (who was a student!), picking the professors and creating the curriculum. Under their system the professor was beholden to the students for his pay, for permission to marry, or even to leave town for the weekend!

Did I become a professor just so I could wear the cool robes?

2008-11-21T21:27:00.002-05:00

Today was the investiture of Harris Pastides as the 28th president of the University of South Carolina. Or, in other words, another excuse for me to don my academic regalia. The ceremony had all the pomp and circumstance you might expect. I've had a few opportunities to wear this in the past year. When I officially graduated with the Ph.D. degree from Penn State in August 2007, of course, but also for University of South Carolina graduations as well. (A special thanks to Mom and Dad for the robes. What a graduation gift!)

At investitures or inaugurations other colleges are invited to send a representative. These representatives proceed into the room in the order of their founding. So, the representative from Harvard came first (1636), then William & Mary would have been next (1693) but they didn't have a representative, then Yale (1702), et cetera. Some colleges probably ask someone locally to represent them. The faculty, then the deans, the other administrative officers, the trustees, and then the president. There were speeches, including a great keynote from the dean of Yale School of Music (Pastides earned his Ph.D. at Yale), the official "charge" by the chairman of the trustees to the new president, the installation ceremony, a speech by Pastides himself, and so on.

But, to me, the ceremony is more than just the ceremony itself. Like the other times I've donned my regalia, I found that as much the event served me as a reminder of what it is that got me interested in pursuing this career. It renewed my energy for and commitment to what I hoped to accomplish as a professor. There's something wonderful about the collegiality of being amongst a group of people who have a similar passion. For example, I happened to get in line next to Walter Edgar, a prominent historian of the South and had a wonderful conversation as we waited to process into the Koger Center. Also, there's the "name that regalia" that faculty play as they see other professors' regalia.

For me, there's something about wearing the ancient robes, seeing the University Mace, the symbols, the pageantry, that makes you feel connected to the history and purposes of the university.

So, in the end, I still have to wonder if I became a professor just so I could put on the cool robes a few times a year...

Pastides Palooza, Pizza, and Peruvian Protesters

2008-11-21T10:19:00.009-05:00

Now, say that five times fast. If you master that, try: "Pedro Pérez Pereira, pobre pintor portugués, pinta preciosos paisajes por poca plata para poder pasear por París" or "Tres tristes tigres trigaban en un trigal." But I digress.

Today is the official investiture of Harris Pastides as the 28th president of the University of South Carolina. Instead of a fancy dinner with donors and politicians on the eve of his inauguration, he choose to hold a get-together with students with pizza and live music. "Pastides Palooza." Good idea. He also choose to use student government funds to pay for the event at a time when student governments funds for student groups are frozen due to university budget cuts. Perhaps not such a good idea, at least from the perceptions of students.

The symbolic power of the first decision is diluted by the symbolic power of the second, at least from the perspective of students. If the administration had simply footed the bill no one would have said much about.

Speaking of "saying much about it" there was a lot of scuttlebutt around campus about how students were going to protest Pastides Palooza. My students have graduate assistantships in student government and residence life and other such student affairs offices and they told me of the "possible protests." This came up in my class on "comparative and international higher education" on Tuesday after we talked about the role of students in university governance in Latin America.

I gave the history of the student voice in Latin American higher education and showed how, while some note/lament that it is on the decline, it is still alive. For example, in México students shut down la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (the largest university in the Americas) in 1999-2000 for nine months over tuition hikes. We watched two videos of protests by students in Perú. ("What was life like before YouTube, daddy?")

The first took place just before I went to Lima in May. The rector of la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (founded in 1551, it is considered the "dean of the Americas") agreed to a land-swap with the city of Lima so the city could build a bypass next to the University. This necessitated the tearing down of the wall around the campus perimeter. How did the students feel about this?

And then in August students from various universities joined together to protest against the government's unwillingness to enforce the "medio pasaje" laws that guarantee students the right to half-price bus fare. (Why is the important? Dorms are practically unheard of in Latin American universities; students often live far from campus.)

It's not hard to understand why San Marcos suspended classes today in light of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation being held in Lima. If students protest land swaps and bus fare with such tenacity, what might they have to say about the visit of Presidente Bush?

And the protests at the University of South Carolina?

A handful of students showed up holding posters.

Professor Bueller's Day Off

2008-11-20T07:20:00.000-05:00

They tell me that one of the biggest benefits of the professorial life is the "flexibility." A professor has a a great deal of latitude in organizing his or her work schedule. Other than showing up to class on time (or at least close to on time) and attending required meetings (e.g., departmental meetings, faculty senate meetings, the grand investiture of your new president, et cetera) you have a great deal of flexibility in organizing how you do your work. This is why we get the complaint of the "professor mowing his lawn at 3 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon." (By the way, why is it always "3 on a Tuesday afternoon"?) That professor may have worked last Saturday, been part of a panel the night before for International Education Week, or been up late grading papers. Oh, wait...that was my week.

I say "they tell me" because I have my big to-do list and just try to make progress on it as many hours as I can stay awake per week. I need to take a break and get some perspective more often.

So I did just that yesterday. After dropping the kids off, I headed to Books-a-Million and bought a book I've been waiting for, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and sat and read it (excellent so far, more on it later), then caught a movie ("Role Models"—some good "mind candy"), read some more, got in a little workout at the gym, and then was going to take the kids to see the women's basketball rivalry game—USC vs. Clemson but that didn't work out (which is OK because apparently it didn't work out for the players either). If it had been warmer I probably would have taken in a game of golf instead, something I have done exactly once since moving here fifteen months ago.

So, the question is whether yesterday's breather will fuel today's work. We'll see...

College Costs too Much? Don't Blame Me

2008-11-14T12:39:00.003-05:00

College is pricey. And the price will just keep going up. That much is for sure.

Unfortunately (for me anyway), professor salaries won't. Adjusted for inflation, college professors have, on average, received a .25% salary increase since 1986. In that same time period doctors have received a 34% raise, lawyers an 18% raise, and engineers a 5% raise. Again, professors have received a one fourth of one-percent raise, meaning they are not even keeping up with inflation.

In the public eye, faculty salaries seem to loom large as the reason tuition keeps going up, according to a recent story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. That may be due to the few high profile (e.g., certain "celebrity professor") cases that get reported in the media. However, for their long hours—professors work 55 hours per week on average—faculty generally don't make what you might expect.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) wonders why faculty salaries continue to lag. They ask, "Where are the priorities?" in their most recent report on the subject. But you might expect such a question from the group representing faculty interests.

As you might expect, faculty in certain disciplines make more than others. It's very simple: if that professor could ply his or her trade outside of academe and make more, he or she will make a higher salary as a professor than others. (These are disciplines you might expect: medicine, law, engineering, business. No, education is not one of them. Nor are most of the social sciences or humanities.) It also depends on where you teach: certain universities pay more than others. Again, no big surprise.

Please don't take this post as a "complaint." It's not. It's just fair warning that when you send your son or daughter off to college to not blame me for the bill! Of course, most professors didn't get into college teaching for the money. To us, we consider the price tag on our Ph.D.s to be "priceless."

Professor-in-Chief

2008-11-10T15:39:00.008-05:00

I figured that if I'm going to post something about President-elect Obama on my blog about "being a professor" it should be relevant. (The photo is of him delivering the commencement address at Wesleyan University in May, stepping in for Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had diagnosed with a brain tumor.) Professor Obama did teach for a time at the University of Chicago Law School, after all.

The last post generated lots of discussion, even if that's not reflected in the modest number of comments. I talked with friends and family members, from various political persuasions, about the election and the issues both in person and over e-mail. Good for us—all of us, that is. I hope others did too.

I haven't posted in more than a week but it's not for a lack of ideas, just a lack of time. If I could blog while driving that would have been great since I drove to Jacksonville (with a great stop to visit friends in Georgia, thanks Joel and Amelia!) for one conference, then to St. Petersburg for another, and then all the way back. Whew.

I had Al Gore to keep me company and I'd like to write about that (about his book specifically, not audio books generally, in case you were wondering). I'd like to write about the conferences I attended—that's kind of an interesting thing we professors do. I'd like to talk about taking my students to D.C. last month, especially in light of the recent election and the possible policy changes that may be in store for higher education (among many other areas). (Speaking of which, we met with Sen. Kennedy's aid for higher education policy.) And then there's the question about whether professors are liberal (again, in light of the election) and what that means for students. I could write about today's news that NASULGC (say that five times, fast) is changing its acronym to APLU, mostly so I could introduce the this little piece of historical trivia: the American Sociological Association used to be known as the American Sociological Society. (How many students would change their major to sociology just so they could go to the "ASS" conference?)

I could even write about the funny robes that Obama is wearing in the photos. There's just oh-so-many-things to write about...

Anyone out there interested in any of these topics? What about you, Professor-in-Chief?

A sensible (if not sexy) pre-Election Day idea

2008-11-01T16:32:00.012-05:00

You know who you support for president and why. You also probably know who you support in your state legislative race, for Congress, for county commission, and town dog-catcher. But do you know why your friends and family support their candidate?

I think a major problem we have in our country is a lack of understanding of the "other side." You either know that Barack Obama will renew our country to greatness or that John McCain will be the courageous leader our nation needs. At night you either watch Keith Olbermann or Sean Hannity, comfortable in knowing that "your guy" has it right and the "other guy" is nuts.

We want a leader who works in a "bipartisan" way. But we use that term as a catchphrase without practicing it ourselves. How many of us really understand "the other side"? Why does our neighbor or friend or family member support "their" side?

Here's a great idea I couldn't resist passing along. It's not a "sexy" idea but it is certainly a sensible one. Phil Noble in an op-ed in The State newspaper last week suggested the following:

I am encouraging everyone — Obama and McCain supporters — to find someone who thinks differently and bet a barbecue dinner on the election. It will be good for the country. It will be good for our state.

Now, to be clear, Noble is an Obama supporter. He is president of the South Carolina New Democrats and was heavily involved in Obama's S.C. campaign. But regardless of your political persuasion, Noble's suggestion makes all kind of sense. He continues:

Back to the Palmetto state and that bar-b-que dinner. Tough elections about big issues are part of what makes us special as South Carolinians and Americans. So, no matter who you support today, find someone that supports the other guy and bet them a bar-b-que dinner on the race. And, when it's all over and the winner is clear, enjoy your dinner, settle your bet, and then talk to your friend about the future and how we can make it better.

He's talking to his fellow South Carolinians but his advice applies no matter where you live, no matter how blue, red, or yellow your state is. I hope you will take his challenge. You certainly know someone who disagrees with your choice for president (or dog-catcher). We are so taken with the scintillating and the scandalous (that is, the "sexy") from the day's news that we no longer sit down to talk about the "sensible."

The nation will only emerge victorious (regardless of which candidate wins) if citizens like us are willing to engage with each other in meaningful, purposeful dialogue. It's becoming a lost art in this country. Can we reclaim it?

Stud

2008-11-01T08:52:00.007-05:00

If there were ever a writer to emulate, it would be Studs Terkel. The guy could write. Seriously write.

I say could write because I woke up to the sad news this morning that he died yesterday.

If you've never read a word by Studs—and there a lot of words to read—I would suggest starting with Working. Then take your pick. (He wrote his last book on death because he was "curious" about it.) Anyone who wishes to become a better writer could learn a lot from Studs and how he practiced his craft. More importantly, anyone who wishes to learn something about the "human condition" (something some professors aim to do), would do well to learn from him as well.

There are others who can tell you much more about him than I ever could. Like Roger Ebert, another great writer (and fellow Chicagoan). He's posted his own memories as well as an essay from last year, when Studs turned 95.

I remember a great interview that Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes a few years ago. I found a plethora of Studs Terkel clips but not the one I wanted. This short one gives you a sense of the man.

Thanks, Studs.

Happy Halloween on Campus

2008-10-31T05:39:00.006-05:00

Spooky things happen on campus. And I'm not just talking about unkempt undergrads trouncing across campus to make to their 9 o'clock class.

No, your campus may be haunted. At Penn State, legend had it that Old Botany (the oldest standing building at Penn State, built in 1887) is haunted by George Atherton widow's ghost. It only makes sense since that building looks right onto Atherton's grave. Yes, George Atherton is buried on campus. He was a beloved president who revived the flailing college in the late 19th century and also had an enormous impact on American higher education as an advocate for land-grant universities. (Those truly interested in his legacy should read this excellent book.) Mrs. Atherton is said to have been seen looking out from Old Botany onto George's grave.

At my undergraduate alma mater, the University of Utah, the ghost is named "Clem" and roams Fort Douglas (a military installation from the 1860's, which is now mostly part of the University), guarding the military museum.

We have our own ghosts here at the University South Carolina. We also have a beloved president buried on campus. (Does anyone know of another university where a president is buried on campus?) But that's not the spooky part.

The second oldest building on campus (built in 1809), on the historic Horseshoe is DeSaussure College, which like most of the buildings on the Horseshoe is now home to an academic department and student residences. However, during the Civil War it was used as a Union hospital. (This is why the college wasn't burned by General Sherman like the rest of Columbia.)

The ghost that is said to inhabit DeSaussure is a Civil War nurse. A common story is that she was the daughter of Confederates and poisoned Union soldiers with tainted wine. Only Northerners are said to encounter the ghost and she offers them a glass of wine.

So, beware as you pass through the old buildings on your campus this Halloween. You just never know who may be around the corner...

What do they know?

2008-10-29T14:36:00.002-05:00

A group of 76 scientists (mostly professors) have endorsed Barack Obama. Who cares! What the heck do a bunch of scientists know anyway?

Oh, did I mention those 76 individuals happen to be recipients of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, physics, or medicine?

Fall Break Revisited

2008-10-26T21:28:00.003-05:00

In my last post I sardonically asked, "Why a fall break?" In my class on "comparative and international higher education" I posed the same question. My students looked at my like I was insane. And they weren't just looking for an excuse to take a break. They seemed genuinely tired, ready for a change of pace.

I was being glib, for sure, because I fully recognize that we need to take a break now and then. But I still wonder why we feel we need so many breaks at colleges and universities. I think it might be the intensity of the educational enterprise. To be a student—and professors are merely students that have a license to get paid to study (the Ph.D. or other terminal degree)—is intense. It requires long hours, so long that sometimes you lose track of time and have to stumble out of the library at 2 a.m. But even more so than the hours is that you can't really "turn off" as a professor—you're always thinking about the next project, the next problem, the next class, and, oh yeah, the stack of essays on your desk that need to be graded. And while I'm sure lawyers, business managers, and others who have intense jobs would like these built-in breaks, perhaps the trade-off is the pay. Impecunious professors get long hours, punctuated by the occasional break. The others get better toys to play with on the weekend.

And, in terms of my fall break, it was quite nice. I took my parents on a historical tour of the Horseshoe (oops, I guess that's still kind of work!), Grandma and Grandpa visited Jacob's and Lauren's schools to read to their classes (to rave reviews from their classmates), we took a day trip to Charleston, and generally just relaxed. I took a follow-up quasi-fall break the following weekend, tacking a few days on the front end of my trip to D.C. to drive back to Dear Old State to talk to my Ph.D. advisor (thus the "quasi"), work on a paper with a friend (see, more "quasi"), and hang out with the old gang. We saw "W." (I give it a Gentleman's C+), watched Penn State finally beat Michigan (what a year—both of my alma maters beat Michigan!), and enjoyed the Tina Palin Show.

Oh, and I got to revisit the glory of fall in the North. (See Exhibit A, the photo above that I took in State College.)

Fall Break

2008-10-07T05:15:00.002-05:00

I think a common problem for professors is having more ideas than time. I've had good intentions to write more on this blog—and plenty of ideas of things to write about—but just haven't had/made the time. The University of South Carolina's Fall Break starts tomorrow so I'll use that as a valid excuse to again not post something for a bit.

Why a fall break? you ask. Good question. I guess for the symmetry of having spring break. And because having Thanksgiving off is surely not enough. (Not that I'm complaining. Nor are my students, for that matter.)

Fall Break means it's time for mid-terms (my U101 class gets theirs today), mini-vacations (my parents are coming in town to see the grandkids, oh, and us too), and catching up on work for some professors (but not this—see previous item). Tomorrow night we will attend a "Faculty Night" for "early career faculty" (those who are still new to the university), an event designed for new faculty to network and meet others on campus. Should be a nice way to kick off Fall Break...

The Freshman "Mindset"

2008-09-17T18:38:00.005-05:00

Last week I happened to teach my U101 class on 9/11. These students were in the 6th grade when it happened and I was curious what they remembered of it or how they reflected on it. I also wanted to give them a chance to talk about it if it was on their minds.

They remembered it vividly. They remembered everything about that day--at some of their middle schools they didn't know anything about it until they got home while at others they moved from class to class as usual but just watched CNN in each new classroom. I have three out-of-state students in the class; two from the New York City area (one from Long Island and another from New Jersey). Their experiences, not surprisingly, were quite different since it directly affected many of their friends and friends' families.

This causes me to think of the "mindset" of each new class of students. When Jacob, technically born "pre-9/11" but only by a matter of months, goes to college he and his cohort will naturally have no sense of a world before 9/11. My students, much to my surprise, actually could articulate some of the differences of a pre- and post-9/11 world.

Each year Beloit College releases a "Mindset List," which outlines what kinds of things would be unknown to the current crop of students. So, this year's freshmen, otherwise known as the "Class of 2012" (although many will take 5 or 6 years to graduate and a certain percentage won't graduate at all), will have never known any other host of the "Tonight Show" other than Jay Leno. Most of them were born in 1989 or 90. For those keeping score at home, that was my freshman year of college. (Yes, it's just thick with irony that I'm teaching freshmen who were born during my freshman year.)

Here's an abbreviated version of the Beloit list and their pithy (ahem) observations with a few of my sage (ahem) observations and/or links:

1. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego. (I still remember this being one of our first video games on our home computer when I was in high school. See #14 and #22.)
2. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles. ("Rock and roller cola wars...I can't take it anymore!")
3. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option. (So much quicker to blow that refund!)
4. Häagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts. (Ah, that was the source of the "Freshman 15"!)
5. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
6. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
7. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents. (Wrong league?)
8. Students have always been "Rocking the Vote.”
9. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
10. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” (Remember when this book was all the rage? I even saw Fulghum twice in person at speaking events. Once, he had such bad carpal tunnel that he was "signing" books with his thumb print.)
11. There have always been gay rabbis. (Oh, I thought that said gay "rabbits.")
12. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache. (Who cares?)
13. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
14. IBM has never made typewriters. (My freshman year I bought a typewriter for use in my room and a stack of "floppies" for when I could get to the lab to use a Mac Plus.)
15. There has always been Pearl Jam. (No pithy comment here. Just a "thanks" to Eddie Vedder and crew.)
16. Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border. (Good work, USA. It's worked great so far so I say, "Adelante! ¡Máz!")
17. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia. (Ah, memories of my trip to Leningrad in 1988...)
18. Caller ID has always been available on phones. (Apparently it was actually invented in Greece in 1969. Another great gift from Greece!)
19. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback. (Oh, Brett, what were you thinking?)
20. Soft drink refills have always been free.
21. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.” (Actually, Seinfeld, went off the air when today's freshmen were about 8 years old.)
22. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
23. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs. (I guess I missed a Muscovite Big Mac by about 18 months.)
24. Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited. (And you don't think this year's election matters?)
25. There have always been charter schools.

University 101

2008-09-03T10:16:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned previously, I'm teaching a course called "University 101" designed to help freshmen transition to the University of South Carolina. USC was actually a pioneer in creating this type of course. They declare that the course,

is designed to help first-year students adjust to the university, develop a better understanding of the learning process, and acquire essential academic success skills. The course provides a general orientation to the functions and resources of the university and also provides a support group for students transitioning to college by examining problems common to the first-year experience. Attaining an appropriate balance between personal freedom and social responsibility underlies all University 101 activities.

I decided to teach the course as an "overload" course (above my normal teaching load of two per semester) for two reasons. First, so that I would have the opportunity to teach undergraduate students (my department only has graduate programs) and, second, as a means to get to know the university better since I have only been here for a year. Professors tend to get to know their own department and college well but the rest of the university? Not so much.

The course has already helped me learn more about my university specifically and to rethink certain aspects of higher education generally. In part, this is why I started this blog--as a means to "think out loud" about some of these issues.

What else do I teach? This is a list of courses I have taught or am teaching currently:

EDHE 730: Evolution [History] of Higher Education in America
EDHE 736: Financial Aspects of Higher Education
EDHE 830: Organization, Administration, and Governance of Higher Education
EDHE 831: Internship in Higher Education and Student Affairs
EDHE 832: Campus Fiction
EDHE 832: Comparative and International Higher Education
EDLP 805: Advanced Educational Policy Analysis

If this seems like it add up to more than two per semester, it is because I taught during the summer. (By way of explanation: "EDHE" simply means "Higher Education" and "EDLP" stands for "Educational Leadership and Policies." The "832" designation is for "special topics" courses. The "campus fiction" course was definitely a "special topics" course while the "comparative and international" course will probably get its own number as part of the curriculum.) I'll talk about these courses in the future.

The purpose of "University 101" is to introduce students to university life and this blog is to discuss the same kinds of issues, particularly as they relate to being a professor. What curiosities or thoughts do you have about universities, university life, and what professors do? Let me know. I certainly don't have all the answers but your ideas will certainly lead to some interesting conversations in the future.

First-Year Reading Experience

2008-08-20T23:06:00.002-05:00

Many institutions across the country hold some kind event for freshmen where the students read a book over the summer and then have a chance to discuss it when they get on campus. Here at the University of South Carolina we have the First-Year Reading Experience, where students come together--all 4,000 or so of them--to hear a speaker and then break off into small groups to discuss the novel assigned for the summer. The purpose is to kick off the year with an "academic" experience, which sounds odd since it is a university after all but at most schools the first week or so is all about the "fun" aspects of college--and then the academic reality hits you in the face when you start going to class.

This year the book was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It is about an "academy" where students are actually clones that are "cared for" so they can donate their organs, not entirely unlike the movie "The Island."

It's not an easy read, especially at first when you're not really sure what's going on. In fact, when I received the book clear back in May I made it through about 40 pages before putting it down, saying I would try again later. Unfortunately I didn't get to "trying again later" until the week before the First-Year Reading Experience event was to take place! See, even (or should I say especially?) professors procrastinate!

On Monday morning all 4,000 freshmen and 200+ discussion leaders gathered in the Coliseum on campus to hear a talk by Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethicist from the University of Minnesota. (Ishiguro declined an invitation to speak.) Kahn related the novel to current ethical concerns in science, including the use of stem cells. He used the example of Molly Nash, a girl with a rare disease who could be helped only with the cells of a sibling. So her parents had another baby (but tested the embryonic cells first to make sure they would match) who could help her.

Kahn's fascinating talk made the discussion with my group of 17 students much easier since many of them admitted to not finishing the book (something I empathized with greatly). His comments made it clear that some of the issues in the book, while a bit far-fetched (we don't have any organ harvesting academies that I'm aware of), are still not as much "science fiction" as they might seem at first. I asked them if they had read similar books and we related the book to other novels such as Fahrenheit 451, Anthem, Animal Farm, Brave New World, and some films as well. There were also some direct relationships of the themes of the book to the freshman experience--the sense of discovery and the nature friendship, to name a couple.

The idea of the First-Year Reading Experience is a good one, I think, and the issues raised in the book are excellent for discussion (especially with the expert insights of someone like Professor Kahn). However, the book was perhaps a bit too much for unguided summer reading for students with other things on their minds at the time.

Move-in Day

2008-08-19T21:46:00.003-05:00

Last weekend students started moving into the dorms. Does that bring back memories? Faculty and staff had been invited to volunteer to help with move-in day on Saturday, especially for freshmen. So, I showed up for my two-hour shift and helped new college students. (I even got a nifty yellow "Move In Crew" t-shirt.)

I heard the same two questions with every student I helped move, mostly from the parents:

1. You're a professor and you're helping students move in? (Getting that question is probably part of why they want faculty to volunteer; it shows how caring we all are!)

2. How is she going to fit all this into this tiny room? (It is amazing how the magic works on fitting everything under the sun into such a teeny-tiny space!)

A few of the students I helped were the first in the their family to attend college. You could see the pride/fear/excitement/concern in mom and dad's face. Or maybe that look of concern on dad's face was just for realizing that he brought a not-so-mini-fridge that he now had to haul to the third floor of a building with no elevator.

And with all of the students you could see, even in the few minutes I was with them, that push and pull as the student tried to exert her independence while mom (mostly mom!) tried to hold on just a little longer--trying to organize where things should go, cleaning out drawers and under the bed.

Helping students move in was also a reminder of what dorm-life is like. I haven't been inside a traditional college dorm in many years and was instantly reminded of dorm rules (they were posted everywhere), the life of RAs and fun roommate problems. I remember moving in myself after my dad and I had driven across the country from New Hampshire to Utah, meeting my roommate for the first time, meeting my RA (what's an RA? I asked) and starting to negotiate life on my own.

The experiences of this professor...

2008-08-18T22:40:00.003-05:00

I've been in the professor business for a year now. In fact, it was one year ago today that I officially received my Ph.D. at Penn State, right at the same time that I was starting as a new gig as an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina. (Actually, I defended my dissertation in June, which signals the end of the Ph.D.-quest; but that's the kind of thing I can talk about here.)

I thought I might use this space to think out loud about what it is I do. Professors are supposed to teach, do research, and provide service. What does "Teaching, Research, and Service" really mean?

I happen to be teaching a course called "University 101" this fall; a course designed to help new students make the transition to university life. There are, of course, some parallels to becoming a new professor and even though I am in my "sophomore" year as a professor I think teaching this course might spur me to think about some interesting (at least to me) issues to talk about.

Maybe after trying out this blogging approach for a while people can stop asking, "What is it that you do?" (probably to be replaced with, "Seriously, that is what you do?").

So, let's see how this goes...