"an ounce of action...

...is worth a ton of theory." So said Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Here are some of the actions I've taken of late. First, the weekend:

-to fix my bike (or have someone fix it for me).---Not quite done yet.
-to clean my car--at least throw some of the shit away and clean my dashboard. --Yep. Not thoroughly, but I'd eat off the dashboard, which is saying a lot.
-run 5 miles--Yes!
-do one other workout (hike? bike? yoga? another run?)--Does ten minutes of pilates and stretching count?
-finish curtains,damnit! I just have to hem them, but ugh, hemming is such a drag. --Yes, done and hung!
-harvest bees' honey, but only if the weather cooperates (and it looks like it's supposed to rain, rain, rain.)--Rain, rain, rain, but I started getting prepped. Just have to pick up some supplies at the Home Depot.
-finish grading IB film reflections--Yes, done!
-catch up on sleep--Yes, except for last night...Daylight savings is a rough one.
-have friends over for potluck/movie/craft night tomorrow--Yes!
-read in bed--Not for long, but a wee bit.
-craft something--Yes!
-cook something--Made an amazing sweet potato curry with cinnamon and cardamom, shallots, green onions, cauliflower, rice, lemon juice, soy sauce, coconut milk, avacado, cilantro, and bean sprouts. Mmmm.
-pick up house (dust a bit, sweep a bit, straighten a bit)--Yes!

Not bad, not bad.


Here are this week's goals:


--Mail some cards out to some loved ones (hand made)
--run 8 miles.
--do stomach crunches every day.
--grade 5 lit. essays every day until they're done.
--help out a friend.
--continue crafting
--finish reading 2 books.
--Harvest honey (if possible. It looks to be cold and wet all week long)
--get bike fixed.


What are your goals for this week and beyond?

the 10 list and other goodies

A few moments of gratitude, reflection, inspiration, and goal setting are needed right now after an exhausting day. I helped facilitate two staff meetings today, which I find to be emotionally challenging. While I am comfortable standing up in front of students, I find it much more disconcerting to stand in front of colleagues. But it's over and the weekend has, as they say, landed.

Big things on the G-list this week! Here's what I am grateful for:

1. For starters, I think I can confirm that the tree in the back yard is indeed a tulip magnolia! I can see some of the upper buds turning pink and starting to bloom. This is one of my favorite trees in the spring time, which means that I now have a redbud, an apple, and a tulip magnolia! Hooray! Hoorah! Stay tuned for many photos, I am sure.
2. One of the miniature iris bulbs that I planted in January bloomed today! It seems crazy early for an iris to bloom, but there it was, beckoning me, as I walked from my car back inside this afternoon.
3. I have an entire weekend with very little planned (except for about 100 goals which I will write about momentarily).
4. That despite feeling like I was coming down with a cold, I did not get sick! Go garlic, cilantro, ginger, and elderberry extract!
5. Sun! Lots of wonderful sun this week!
6. That Brian spent an entire day working so hard on sanding our stairs, and he even started to stain them. So soon our stairs will be fixed up and looking new-old!
7. That we booked our caterer, and she's sweet and excited and really loves food and her job and our ideas about our wedding.
8. That spring break is only 2 weeks away.
9. That I got to go snow shoeing with my dear friend last weekend on Mt. Hood, and we got great exercise and had a blast together.
10. And I am grateful that there is so much love in my life.

What are you grateful for? I share this list, because by forcing myself to write it, I reflect on the positive aspects of my life, and I feel more at peace. I feel ten times more relaxed after having created that list than I did before I started it. It's almost a form of meditation.

And since I didn't write about my goals for this week, I want to share some projects and set some weekend goals for myself (some dull, some fun, some challenging):
-to fix my bike (or have someone fix it for me). "Can you do me a huge favor?"
-to clean my car--at least throw some of the shit away and clean my dashboard.
-run 5 miles
-do one other workout (hike? bike? yoga? another run?)
-finish curtains,damnit! I just have to hem them, but ugh, hemming is such a drag.
-harvest bees' honey, but only if the weather cooperates (and it looks like it's supposed to rain, rain, rain.)
-finish grading IB film reflections
-catch up on sleep
-have friends over for potluck/movie/craft night tomorrow
-read in bed
-craft something
-cook something
-pick up house (dust a bit, sweep a bit, straighten a bit)

Happy weekend!

the funniest thing I've seen all week

For those of you who are fans of Arrested Development and/or David Cross, I had to share this awesome homage to his character joining the "Blue Man Group." This reminds of my awesome, witty, crazy smart friend Judi telling us all about how hilarious this show is, particularly this character and this line, while breathlessly laughing so hard we could hardly follow what she was saying and just had to watch the whole series for ourselves!

This is from Lucky Jackson's awesome and inspiring blog 365 Lucky Days. Last week was themed Arrested Development and several characters have one of their funniest lines stitched along with their portriats, such as "Has anyone in this family even seen a chicken?" I love it!

F for Fail: an anecdote on how advanced education often fails students

I'm taking another class at PSU, my second in as many quarters. The first class was a great experience in many ways: our professor worked as a trusting guide and facilitator. This was a graduate level class and she presented us with a goal, with as much time and space as she could make room for, and as much guidance as she could to achieve that goal. This class frustrated many of my classmates: they felt that they did not understand what it was that she wanted and therefore were paralyzed to act; they wanted prescribed methods and outcomes. She wanted us to think for ourselves and to explore.

I thought that she was fantastic. She was asking us to think for ourselves. She wanted us to write introductions, glossaries, author biographies, and reviews of contemporary reviews for novels that had gone out of print or were virtually unknown. She didn't define what she meant by a glossary, but really, how hard is it to look at a few and then ask her some questions: should it be like this or should it be more like this? It was interesting how much these graduate-level students squirmed because they weren't being given a roadmap.

My second class is the converse. Tuesdays have become endless; I teach all day and then have class from 5:30 until 9 p.m. I come home tired and usually uninspired. This class takes away the opportunity and space for any form of creative processing or critical thought. It's a 400 and 500 level course on Hood Films of the 1990s: thus far, we've watched "Boyz n the Hood," "Menace II Society," "Fresh," and other films. I thought this class was going to be a fantastic opportunity to discuss issues with a diverse group of people (different races, ages, backgrounds) in a rather safe, open environment. Wrong.

There is no discussion. Instead, we show up to class and get our stamp--yes, a stamp--to prove that we are present. If we lost our "exposure sheet" that gets stamped, we have to meekly ask for a new one. If we are late to class for any reason, we do not get a stamp. We then watch the movie. We then get another stamp. We then have a break. At this point, after the second stamp, we can leave. After the break, we "discuss" the film. Really, what this means is we are asked questions and then the professor gives us his answer--apparently the only right answer--and berates us if we cannot refer to even the most minor character by his/her name, because WE NEED TO KNOW THEIR NAMES! We are spoon fed the characterization, the meaning of all symbols, the deeper meaning of the director's cinematic choices, and the themes. This is our reward for staying in class; answers to the test. We take notes. We go home. End of class.

Oh, and should we talk (ask your neighbor for a pencil or perhaps quietly point out that the person in front of us is on Facebook AGAIN!) at any point during which he requires a semblance of control of the room, even if it's when he's turning off the lights before the movie starts, he takes our exposure sheet and subtracts 5 points. Let me remind you, kind reader, that this is a 400 and 500 level class.

Let's talk about the grading. He literally said to us, on the first day, that grading and learning are disconnected. You can learn a lot and not get a good grade. Conversely, you can get a good grade and not learn shit, I assume. The class is worth 100 points. The exposure sheet is 40% or 40 points. The midterm is 30; the final is 30. The essays are ten points each. Here's how he grades the essays (this is awesome):

He assumes  you've earned 6 points on the essay. Yes, he automatically feels that the essay is worth a D. Isn't that kind? Then as he reads, he adds points or subtracts points. This is his wonderful, clear grading scale (that he told us about after he graded the midterm).

The other 20 points on the midterm and final (I assume) are based around mindless facts and trick questions checking to see if the ONE reading assignment per test was read and lecture notes were taken. Seriously, it's a fucking joke. Two points per the kinds of questions I ask my freshmen ONCE or TWICE a year when I give them pop quizzes to see if they actually read the assignment (and only give that often because they're worthless and meaningless and totally do not inspire anyone to read or care or think or learn). These stupid questions are worth 40% of our grade for the class. Our essays are only worth 20%.

Approximate value that this class is bringing to PSU: $90,000. $3000 of which is coming from my school district to pay for my coworker and me to be there. It's a seminar with 60 students.

As Seth and Amy from SNL used to say, "Really?! Really?!"

So what's the lesson here? Well, hmmm, maybe there isn't one. Except how NOT to treat my students and how NOT to run my classes. I challenge my juniors in the film class that I teach more than this guy challenges us. I know which professor I am going to model my own teaching after by providing my students opportunities for reactions, analysis, interpretation, exploration with scaffolding, clear expectations, and guidance. And I'm going to allow myself a moment of feeling validated by the fact that this offends me and that I am not the kind of teacher who values ultimate control, utilizes humiliation, and disallows actual thought as part of my practice.

Tend

Underneath the St. John's Bridge: Cathedral Park

Spring is on its way. The cherry blossoms have been in bloom now for a couple of weeks, we've received several dozen eggs from our chickens, and the bees have been busy collecting pollen. I am hoping to harvest honey next weekend. Today it was sunny, warm and spring-like after one of our colder weeks of the winter, including some snow.

Our baby trees in the snow

Friends of Trees gifted us with two new baby trees on our street-side lawn. We chose a red-bud tree, one of my favorites from living in Ithaca, NY, and a semi-dwarf janigold apple! We plan to return the favor by volunteering as tree inspectors this summer, strolling our neighborhood and checking on the health of the trees that they planted.

Speaking of trees, I am getting more and more excited by the little tree in our backyard. It has waxy green leaves and is not much to look at in the summer, but the buds on the tree are filling me with the hope that it's a tulip magnolia! If so, I will plan my yard around it, including moving our chicken coop so that it can grow and thrive. I'm not doing much with our yard this year, although I am prepping one of our first gardens and hope to plant some beets, beans, and maybe a few other rather simple veggies there.

Lucky Beans

Leno, our white cat, has been a challenge for us this winter. His teeth have been plaguing him, so in order to make sure that he eats, we need to make him smoothies: water and dry food, sometimes with a touch of canned food. He also needs to spend the majority of time outside as he's taken a shining to spraying in very inconvenient places (but really, is cat spray ever convenient?). He seems to prefer living outside when the weather's nice, but this week, with the cold weather, we had to make a nest in the downstairs bathroom for him. He seems to be okay with a warm place to curl up, a wee bit of affection, and a reliable soft meal. We've jokingly changed his name, thinking that maybe we cursed him by naming him after a song that goes, "Poor Leno," so now we call him Lucky Beans.

Elijah in a sunny spot on the stairs