work

Writ3577 students & their projects

This semester Writ3577 (Rhetoric, Technology, and the Internet) students have created great projects that focus on helping others through volunteering and donations.

Group A

This group is collecting donations of CDs and DVDs to send to a local Minnesota National Guard troop stationed overseas.

OperationTroopDonation website

http://www.wix.com/operationtroopdonati/operationtroopdonation

UMN CD/DVD Drop boxes

Drop box set up now in office of Veteran Services in the Science Teaching and Student Services building.

Drop boxes at Coffman Union and St. Paul Student Center will be available March 28 – April 8th.

Group B

Postcards Anonymous and UMinnesotaNice

This group sends anonymous postcards to people who are doing good works throughout the world. Next week is Japan week (they are translating English to Japanese and mailing postcards to people in Japan) followed by Libya week (again, translated and sent to Libya). If you are interested in helping out, please let me know. Since this is an anonymous group, they have to give you permission to their site.

They have also set up a Twitter account for http://twitter.com/#!/UMinnesotaNice to send thanks yous, accolades, and appreciations to others, capitalizing on the idea of Minnesota Nice (and UMN).

Group C

This group has set up multiple sites to record, encourage, and initiate volunteerism at the U. They have participated in the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics and are participating in Meals on Wheels for National Volunteer Week. In addition, they want to know what others are doing to volunteer. They plan on taking pictures, interviewing volunteers, and posting the information to their sites.

Tumblr site: http://turnup-volumn.tumblr.com/

Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149449328449007

Twitter account: http://twitter.com/#!/TurnUpTheVolUMN

the final countdown


I burst into tears at Shadow’s house this morning, moments before I was supposed to take Willow to TaeKwonDo. I had been reading the blog of another PhD student, and had been scouring the Minnesota newspapers for places to live, and it was all too much.

“I don’t think I have a strong enough background to be in school with these people.” He says there’s a reason I was accepted into the program, and it’s because I do belong there.

“If I don’t sell my house, I”ll be living out of my car.” “I’m not even sure I can afford to move.” He tells me that things will work out financially (but seriously, if I don’t sell my house, I can’t afford the mortgage AND rent in Minnesota. I will be in serious trouble).

“I’m not sure I’m smart enough.” He tells me that there are few people who think they are smart enough and that we’ve talked about this sense of futility and feeling of being in over our heads and that while part of it may be coming from being from a more disadvantaged background, much of it is just a part of being a doctoral student.

“Maybe I’m too old for this. I’m a decade older than most of the PhD students.” And he reminds me that I’m not too old, that I’m the right age for me to be doing this at this time. That if I had attempted it 15, 10, or even 5 years ago, I wouldn’t have been ready — and that my area of research wouldn’t have meant as much, taken the shape it had, or been as important to me as it is.

He’s right.

But I’m still scared. And I think that’s really what it all boils down to. I’m scared. I’m moving 5000 miles away from my family (this has grown into something akin to a fish story in that the miles from northern Arizona to Minnesota have grown over time so that now Minnesota is really located somewhere around Great Britain).

I started crying in the car today because it was my last time to see Willow in a TaeKwonDo belt test until she goes for her black belt (I told her I will do my absolute best to get home for her black belt test).

This week, I began turning over work to others. I had to sit with my supervisor and discuss the turning over of my beloved faculty to someone else. These people who I really care about and whose courses really matter to me, I have to give over to someone else. Will anyone else care about them the same way I do? Will they know who to give a lot of latitude to and who needs a lot of hands-on care? Will they know who likes to joke and tease and who is very serious and down to business? Will they be able to give the same attention to these faculty members, and care about their courses as I do? And then I realize that it won’t be possible, but I shouldn’t worry about it. The faculty will be fine. They will be in good hands. My colleagues are good at what they do, even when we do it differently (and we are all very individual in how we approach our work).

Then I had to talk about turning over my web maintenance / editorial functions. I’ve been the department editor for all website / collateral / whatever else we’ve needed since I arrived in this department. The website content is my baby. I’ve nurtured it and raised it. The entire content of the FAQ system wasn’t around before I started creating it and then others jumped in and helped populate it. And while I’ve developed a pretty good style guide, the next person (who is more than capable and might even be a better editor than I am), won’t have the same style I do. And the position is being split into two: one editor, one person to convert it to web-enabled content. Both people are really good at what they do and I trust them to do well with it. But it’s still something I’ve really devoted so much time to and will miss doing.

I’m off to do something I’m passionate about. But saying goodbye to people and things I love is hard.

And scary.

prayer


My life is a series of meetings and trainings. I go from one to the other, rarely at my computer this week. I barely have time to breath before I run to the next one.

Yesterday I was working with a faculty member all morning, ran to do an errand, and then ended up at the local Catholic elementary school. I was giving a training on Literacy through Photography. It was an in-service training for a group of instructors at the school.

We had a lot of fun. I took in some cameras from work, we did some writings and some photography. We printed photographs and shared words that were written about the photographs. The teachers seemed to be having a good time and were really getting in to it. Some of them were really giving it a lot of thought and consideration.

Then the class ended. And they asked me if I wanted to join them in prayer.

I don’t talk about religion much here but I think it is safe to say that I am not a religious person. I have been baptized (in a stupid attempt to endear myself to a man, I got baptized in the church he attended even though I knew it wasn’t the right thing for me — but fervently wanted to believe it was). I don’t attend church. I don’t have any desire to attend church. My church is the church of the world, the trees flying overhead, the breeze flowing through the branches, the earth beneath my feet.

When I was asked if I would join them in prayer, I didn’t know what to say. I was the furthest from the door so I couldn’t really make a quick getaway (and that would have been rude).

So, I joined their circle, taking hands in my hands. I bowed my head, didn’t close my eyes, listened respectfully to the prayer, and didn’t say “amen” at the end (I also didn’t cross myself as they all did). The prayer was nice, actually. The principal of the school thanked me, wished me well in my future, and hoped that everyone would be able to use the knowledge I brought to the session. It was religious but not uncomfortably so (although, when my name was mentioned a few times, I’m sure I did squirm a bit).

I had fun, prayer notwithstanding. I enjoyed sharing my knowledge with others and giving them new tools to use in their classrooms. In the end, a few people told me they could definitely use this in their class. That was cool. I was glad to hear that the fun of writing and photography would be passed down to the next generation. And maybe it will inspire the next Ansel Adams.

–

My camera did arrive. It is beautiful. :-)

yahoo!


I know. I’m a slacker. I am the epitome of the Gen X generation. I work hard but then crash and no one sees me for a few days (if not longer).

Right now, I’m working hard. Really hard. Work is absolutely insane and I’m worn out. I can’t think of anything to write because my head is filled with too many things from work.

I apologize for that.

Also, I’ve had lunch with MBAguy. I think it might become a friendship (if he returns my email) but nothing more than that. I don’t think he’s interested in moving away for me to get my PhD and I’m not interested in the programs we have here. That is all very understandable. He has two little kids that live here. In addition, there just didn’t seem to be that spark. He seemed very reserved.

The good news is that I’m feeling more comfortable with this and not putting a lot of pressure on myself for these first dates. It’s just a meeting. Where it goes from there is anyone’s guess. I have a lunch date with teaguy tomorrow. He seems like a nice guy but I’m not sure if it is going to be more than that. Again, I just didn’t feel the spark. My brother wants me to meet one of the firefighters in his station. I told him I’d be happy to. He said I’m playing the field. Heh. Well, what is the saying? You gotta kiss a lotta frogs…

And the yahoo moment of the week? I ordered my new camera. I’m getting the Nikon D200. And not that I’m watching UPS avidly or anything but it is already in town and should be delivered today. OMIGOD!!!

I know. Silly, eh? But this is the camera I’ve been wanting for some time. And it’s the one thing I will buy for myself this year that I really, really want (besides my graduation trip to Spain/France/wherever I end up going). This is it. It’s my birthday/Solstice/whatever present to myself.

And I’m so excited (refrains from breaking out in song and dance).

If only I could have had it delivered here at work. *sigh*

distance


photo by me

OK. I’m going to admit something. Are you ready?

My solitude during the holiday season is not all the doing of my single-ness. I bring a lot of it on myself.

I know. You’re amazed, aren’t you?

Take, for instance, the departmental holiday party coming up next Friday. It’s a big potluck affair being held at my supervisor’s house. Employees are encouraged to bring their partners/spouses and kids.

And therein lies the problem.

I’m ok with it if it was just co-workers. I deal with them every day. I like them. I enjoy spending time with them. But then you throw in a bunch of other people who I don’t know, who I will see *maybe* once a year and a bunch of kids and I’m instantly in a zone where discomfort is overwhelming.

I’d rather just stay away than attend.

And then said supervisor announces in the staff meeting yesterday that I avoid these get-togethers (true) and that the staff should go out of their way to encourage me to attend.

Ahem.

Great. Now I’m on the spot (and embarrassed).

I told them I would be happy to IM them during the party, taking part virtually. We could even do virtual hugs if they were so inclined.

Someone asked me if I knew how to do a virtual hug. “Yes,” I replied (having given and received many over the years).

“I find that disturbing.”

Oh.

He was joking of course (I hope). But this just heightens my discomfort with people and not feeling really understood. And why would I want to immerse myself in a house with double the people who don’t get me?

I wouldn’t.

And won’t.

And will end up watching a good movie or something instead.

the way rumors start




photo by me

Erin came by my office before noon. “You wanna go to the bookstore with me to get the books for our 549 class?”

I’d already gotten one but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if the others were available plus it got me out of the office plus I like hanging out with Erin.

We head out. Thunder is pounding above us. The breeze is picking up slightly as we go to her truck. The clouds are amazing – heavy, dark things that threaten us. The air has a slight chill to it.

We get to the bookstore. Oh, yeah. It’s the week before classes when everyone is giving things away. Want a credit card – get a 12-pack of Coke. Oh, yeah. Rack up the debt of 18-year-olds. Vultures.

But I digress.

We go in search of our books. She gets the same one I already have. We look around for a few more things but don’t see anything.

We get to the truck just in time. Within moments of heading out, the rain comes pelting down upon us.

This wasn’t a typical monsoon. It was hard. It was fast. It felt different.

She pulls into the parking lot, finds a spot, and we realize that it’s now hailing.

We’re gonna wait it out.

We hang out, talking.

And the windows start to steam up.

Not just a little. I’m talking steamed windows equivalent to those in Titanic when Rose put a heart in the car’s window. Don’t remember that? It was steamy.

Heh.

I look over at her.

Uhhhh…this is great. The two single women in a truck with the windows steaming up.

She laughs. The two older women, she says.

I laugh.

Finally, the hail stops but it’s still raining. We make a run for it and a co-worker, Steph, yells out the window at us.

And all I can think is…

…caught.

Darn.

lights, camera, action!


photo by me

A few years ago, while in therapy, my therapist suggested all kinds of ways for me to come out of my shell.

You see, I had created this nice, safe little world where people did not get too close and I did not put myself out there so I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) be hurt. People scared me. People made me nervous.

In meetings, I would sit in the back of the room, trying to be as inobtrusive and invisible as possible. I would avoid outings like the plague.

My therapist asked me to start volunteering for things – to offer to do trainings at work, to be a group leader in a group I belonged to.

I wouldn’t. It scared me too much. I couldn’t do it.

Then I tried out for The Vagina Monologues and I got a part. I don’t know why I tried out but I did. However, I scared myself right out of it (and it was when I first got cancer and was having enough trouble coping with that, school, and whatever else was going on in my life). I bowed out. I couldn’t do it. Just thinking about standing up in front of others scared the heck out of me.

I wonder what my therapist would think of me now.

I took a job that requires that I train others. I have to stand up in front of groups and talk to them – actually talk to them.

Typically, the groups are no larger than 10 people. However, in the last few weeks, I’ve had sessions with 20+ people in them (twice). Yesterday, I presented to an auditorium full of people – students and parents. I was told that it was over 150 people.

Me in front of 150+ people.

Omigod.

I was shaking and I was nervous. But I did it. I knew what I was talking about. I was comfortable with the topic. I was comfortable with my knowledge of the topic.

I think she’d be proud of me – and maybe a little surprised, too.

the funniest things…


photo by me

I’ve been busier than heck at work this week. We’ve been hosting a conference for educators and I had to give some sessions, help with labs, be the photographer, and, when I could, attend sessions.

It was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. I’ve been coming home totally exhausted at the end of each night – with barely enough energy to post a photograph, let alone type something up.

A few things happened during the conference that really made me laugh or feel like the center of attention.

Yesterday, I gave a session on blogs. It’s a beginner’s look at what blogs are, what people use them for, a history, and some links. I quickly show the participants how to set up a blog in under 5 minutes using wordpress. We use wordpress because it is the easiest one to set up with privacy and is clean and nice…and I’m a huge supporter of opensource softwares and especially organizations that are really great at supporting social networking. WordPress is both of those things.

As I said previously, I’m a blogging cheerleader. While I don’t think blogs are the answer to everything, there are many things that they are useful for and they can really give classroom settings a different method of expression. That is exciting to me. Anything to get students involved and excited is a good thing.

After the session, I had quite a few people come up and tell me that they wanted to start blogs. Could they contact me later? Would I be willing to give them some pointers? Well, heck…OF COURSE! I’d love that!

Today, Brian Lamb and Alan Levine came to the conference to talk about social networking and social softwares. So you know I’m excited. This is the stuff I LOVE!

The first session, they started talking about del.icio.us. I love del.icio.us. I use it mostly for photoblogs but I really enjoy it. It’s a nice way to connect to others and to see what other people who enjoy the same things I do are looking at.

Then they start talking about flickr and how flickr uses fun APIs. I love flickr’s APIs. They introduced me to a new one, though, that I hadn’t looked at, flickrlilli. It’s cool. They type in Flagstaff and look for Interestingness…and what do they come up with? The image they decide to blog about? It just happens to be my image – and they didn’t even know! I was like…whoa! That’s mine! Big surprise!

At their next session, they are going through their pages and I saw an image that looked somewhat familiar. After the session, I went to the page with Erin and looked at it again. The photograph looked a lot like one of mine. We went to one of my blogs, where I use the image as a header, because I had lowered the brightness on it for a header and was surprised at how much it looked like my photo. I then went to my flickr stream to look at the original to see if it did match theirs. They do look very similar.

I can’t be certain it was mine. There was no attribution. However, I think they are very close. If it is, it’s cool to know it was used for this purpose. If it’s not mine, then it’s cool that someone took a photograph of a scene that is very much like the one I did.

update

I wrote to both Lamb and Levine to let them know how much I enjoyed the sessions and to ask about the photograph. Levine just replied:

Thank you so much for your message and being an engaged participant today…. AND you caught me red handed, I did snag your image and use it and glossed over the exact license in detail (made a modification of it. I am red-faced in embarassment, but it was late last night and I found it right away in flickrlilli.

If you are okay with my use of the image (which I should have asked for), thank you. And my next blog entry will acknowledge this (I believe in showing my warts, well most of them).

You did have gorgeous photos and now I can track them via flickr.

And he did exactly as he said he would. That is awesome. To me, that is what building communities is all about. You talk it out, you create dialogue, and you share things across time and space. Alan Levine is welcome to use my photography anytime – I’d just love to see what he does with it!

blogs & more blogs


photo by me

Work has been busier than heck and I think it’s only going to get worse before we all see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But…

We still find time to laugh and have fun.

I think that’s so important. We reallly enjoy one another’s company in this department.

I told someone, who is going to apply for a position in the department, that this is the best job I’ve ever had. Someone else who knew me at my previous position said that I’m glowing and when I talk about my job, I light up.

It’s because I like it. I really do.

Yeah, I groan about certain things (mostly the phones) but that’s just to relieve some of the stress of the day-to-day things we do.

Today, we had a conference for service professionals (that’s a job category that I happen to fall within). The theme was “High Tech in a High Touch World” (or something like that). We were asked to do presentations for other service professionals to help them understand more about the technical world.

Well, my expertise has become blogs (happily, I might add). I enjoy social software and social networking and having several blogs doesn’t hurt, either.

I was wearing a short little skirt today and I came out to do my presentation and said, “I’m the blog cheerleader.” Heh. That got some laughs.

Around 30 people showed up for this presentation. They seemed interested. They had great questions and seemed to want to know how to promote blogs personally and professionally. I was excited about it. I like that people are interested in doing what we do for fun.

I was nervous because I’m not super comfortable in front of people but I guess that doesn’t show. I was told that I’m talkative and happy and know how to get the groups interested. I was told that people really enjoy my sessions when I give them.

That’s nice to hear even when there is this big gulp factor going on inside of me and a part of me saying, “Don’t say anything stupid…don’t say anything stupid!”

Next week, we have another conference that is based on emerging technologies, pedagogies, assessments, and tools. I’ll be giving my blog training again – this time to people from all over the state.

I hope my status as blog cheerleader stands.