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November 29, 2005
Ionian Schools
Today in class, I had my students break into small groups. Then I gave each group the same problem: You are on a spacehsip to Io, a moon of Jupiter, where you will be the first colonists. You have been put in charge of designing the Ionian School and have been given a blank slate to do so.
Here is the actual prompt:
Download file
Group work is always interesting for me. I hate dividing the students into groups myself; it feels like I am teaching third grade or something. Yet if I let the students divide themselves up, the same groups invariably get made. Often, there is a disturbing racial and/or gender homgeneity to the groups. I don't think that's because of any overt prejudice, but rather due to seating patterns and friendships. Still, it would be nice if my students sought out others who were different from them to compose groups, especially on a creative project like this one.
Homgeneous groups or no, the individual group discussions seemed to be going pretty well as I circulated. Students were coming up with some interesting and creative school arrangements, but I wonder how much they will stray from the traditional 9 month, 7 hour/day calendar, or how they will track (or detrack) students based on ability.
They will briefly present their school ideas to the Colony Leader (me) on Thursday. I'm thinking about making this project a more substantial part of my class next semester, so this pilot is important.
Posted by Nakia at 04:03 PM | Comments (6)
November 23, 2005
Christmas Shopping Help
This sounds very cool. Go Google!
I didn't see it on Froogle yet, but I didn't look very hard, either.
Posted by Nakia at 06:13 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2005
TV + Internet = The New Metaphysics
I have this observation, born out of my love for "Lost", spending way too much time on the internet, and my philosphical expertise (such as it is).
People spend way too much time obsessing over the details in a show like Lost because we are deeply, deeply uncomfortable with the idea of things having no meaning whatsoever.
Here's what happens: A new episode of "Lost" comes on. People watch it, TiVo it, then pour over it again and again, capturing screen shots, analyzing shadows, cross-referencing minor characters, trying to make anagrams out of main characters names, and generally dissecting everyting in minute detail. The internet facilitates this to the nth degree, allowing communities to spring up, theories to be debated, those screen shots to be posted, and allowing theories to be voiced, debated, and confirmed or denied (sometimes both at the same time).
The internet is key here for a number of reasons. First, it allows groups to form regardless of geographical or temporal proximity. If I wanted to talk, face to face, about Lost with others I'd have to find other people who'd seen it, then find time to talk about it. Both are hard for busy people. But the internet means I can talk about it at 3:00 AM if I want to, with anyone in the world with a modem. Second, the internet archives. Nothing is ever really forgotten; it just get's buried on the second or third page of the messageboard. I can pull the stuff up anytime if it furthers my theory or if I just need to remind myself of what was said.
The internet thus allows us to talk about something over and over, developing and voicing theory after theory about what happens in the show. As an example ("Lost" spoliers follow). . . . .
Two weeks ago, Shannon gets shot on the show, seemingly by Anna Lucia and the tail-section survivors as they make their way to the beach. I checked out one small section of the internet after this episode -- the Lost thread at ENWorld. Crazy crackpot theories were put forth -- Anna is right handed but a screen shot shows the gun in someone's left hand, the shot was a rifle shot, not a pistol shot, the wound was a stab wound, not a gun shot wound -- all desgined to show that what seemingly happened did not really happen, that we've all been duped by the show. All sorts of other theories are out there, about everything on the show -- the significance of the books characters read, the reason the tail section people were taken by The Others much faster, the fact that Jack wears white shirts, why Claire wants peanut butter so badly, etc. (Okay I made those last two up; at least I haven't seen theories related to those two aspects of the show).
My point is that people feel the need to make up an explanation for anything and everything on the show. Why do we do this? I think it's because we are uncomfotable with things having no meaning.
Philosophically speaking, what I am talking about are metanarratives -- stories about how the world Really Is. These stories give us assurance that everything has it's place and everything will work out. Religions give us metanarratives. The Enlightnement gave us the metanarrative of Reason. Metanarratives are comforting. They assure us that there is an Order and a Plan, that Things Have Purpose.
The later half of the 20th Century has seen the death of metanarratives, if you believe anything those postmodernists have to say. Those old stories don't give the assurance they once did. But we have new stories (like Lost) and new ways of talking about the stories (like the internet). So, we've transferred our desire for metanarratives onto these new stories. Sudddenly, everything has meaning. Everything is Significant, a Clue toward the Master Plan. We just have to figure out what it means. It's like reading tea leaves or divining the future from the entrails of your sacrifice, except not as messy in the living room.
We just can't accept the idea that some things, maybe all things, are meaningless in the overall scheme. I know that for a story to work, there has to be some scheme, some plan, some arc, but not EVERYTHING means something in that scheme. Maybe they just are there, maybe Sawyer was reading Watership Down because the writers/producers/set dresser liked the book, or just had a copy lying around. Or maybe it does have significance in the overall scheme of the show. The point is, you don't really know.
I guess I'm a Lost agnostic, then.
(note, everyhting I said here can equally apply to alomst anything with a hint of mystery in it in contemporary popualr entertainment. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire is a good example.
Posted by Nakia at 03:46 PM | Comments (6)
November 21, 2005
Two things this weekend
A good weekend for Sarah and I. We did some Christmas shopping Sunday. Ate some good pizza at The Graduate (a bar in Charlotte) on Saturday. I hung out with some Winthrop faculty at McHales after the Faculty Conference meeting on Friday afternoon.
We also saw Walk the Line Sunday afternoon. I finished A Feast for Crows this weekend as well.
I am a huge Johnny Cash fan, getting on board the Man in Black train with his rebrirth as mythic American troubaor at the hands of Rick Rubin and American records. On a philosophical level, I connect Cash with contradictions -- faith and violence, love and isolation, and a hope despite present darkness. On a personal level, I connect Cash with my grandfather. The later connection is though nothing concrete. I don't know if Pappy was ever a big fan, but Cash and Pappy are connected for me. They just seem like similar men -- hard at times, troubled at times, but with a deep capacity for love and caring.
Given my personal esteem for Cash and his music, I eagerly anticipated the biopic. The Shepard Farey posters were perfect. Phoenix seemed aptly cast. Even Reese Witherspoon (who bugs the crap out of me) seemed a good fit for June Carter.
I enjoyed the film. There were sublime moments, but a few misses as well. As a Johnny Cash movie, it was very good. As a music biopic, it falls somewhere behind Ray.
There were some great, great moments in the movie, mostly centered on Phoenix and his face. Cash's audition for Sam Phillips, where Phillips is about to throw Cash and the Tenessee Two out, turns into one of those sublime moments. At Phillips' urging, Cash breaks out an early version of "Folsom Prision Blues". Cash hesitantly begins, but during the course of the song, as the Two catch onto the song, you can see it all on Phoenix's face -- the beginning of a transition from reluctance to confidence, from an equipment salesman to a musician that would shape American music.
There are a few other moments like that -- "Cocaine Blues" at Folsom, Cash watching Elvis from backstage duuring an early tour, when Cash tells Carter of his brother's death at a lunch counter -- that push the film into greatness and cement Phoenix an Oscar nomination.
The missteps of the film I'll blame on the director. Cash was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things with his songs. Despite some "rock star" moments, like his battle with pills, Cash's story isn't a "Behind the Music" episode. Yet, the film feels the need to put Cash between the enemies of his father and first wife and the savior, June Carter. There has to be some "bad guys" for Hollywood. As a result, Vivian and Cash comes across as petulant and petty, while Roy comes accross as the Mean Father. While June is given more complexity, having her stand as the savior to Cash's demons of pills, wife, and father makes the story less complex and interesting than it really was. Cash married the wrong woman the first time and took a long time to work that out. That, combined with Cash's unearthly empathic and storytelling musical abilities, should be the crux of the story.
I also question why the climax of the film comes about as a result of a tractor and a lake. Why couldn't the film use Cash's real life moment of darkness, when he crawls into a cave to die as a result of his shame and addiction? I can even see that as an opening scene, with most of the film being told as flashback while Cash sits in the darkness?
The film doesn't hit every mark, but enough to make it enjoyable for this Cash fan. Still, I am more emotionally struck by the video for "Hurt" which I really can't watch without getting a lump in my throat.
Posted by Nakia at 11:16 AM | Comments (3)
November 17, 2005
Flights and Perches
All we have, all we are, are moments of conversation, of connection, interspersed with down times of habit, of blindness, where we fall into the rhythmic lull of the everyday grind. We come and go, ebb and flow, but the real moments of memory are when that stops, when we're jolted out of the rhythm of the everyday.
Flights and perches, James says.
Rhythm and the consummatory, says Dewey.
Our lives are these moments, held in connection. Touchstones of memory that define who we are, were, and want to be.
How do we find these moments? Can we make them? Can we create space for them to happen, to take us unawares?
We choose and hope. Stand and wait. Move and rest.
Flow like a river. Stand like a statue.
Zen and The Stranger. Buddha and Camus.
Finding moments. Making memories. Authentic perches. Life's unreachable accident.
It's harder to make or find those moments as we get older, I think. we get tired, used to a routine, comfortable. I'm not knocking it, because God knows I want comfort more times than not. And you can't have one without the other. No flights, no perches. No consummatory experience without the ordinary ebb and flow.
Growth comes easier for the young, perhaps as it should.
Posted by Nakia at 11:09 AM | Comments (2)
November 10, 2005
Lost
It's official. I am addicted to this show.
I saw the second and third episodes of the first season when they aired originally and thought "This looks REALLY cool, but there's no way I'm going to be able to watch it every week (it was up against West Wing), so I'll just wait for it on DVD." I started watching this season with the Season 1 recap, have kept up with this season, and am watching season 1 on DVD.
Best.Show.Evar.
For a spoiler filled discussion of last night's show, read on.
Okay, you know a show is good when you have dreams about it afterward and are seriously bummed out when a semi-minor character dies.
I said to Sarah during the show 'I hope Sawyer doesn't die." I don't like Sawyer, but think he serves a vital function on the show -- as the "bad guy" and foil to Jack. I didn't realize how bummed I would be that Shannon (apparently) died. Her flashback did a good job of developing sympathy for her and I like Said, so I was pretty unhappy when she got shot at the end.
How come I did not notice Jack walking in the background when Shannon comes to the hospital? Apparently, Jack does not save Shannon's dad so he can save the other woman in the accident.
Well, I guess I should say apparently shot. There is all this internet speculation and screen shots about how Anna was right handed but the gun is in the left hand (wait, Jack's left handed!) of someone in one scene. Or that maybe Shannon wasn't shot at all, but stabbed by an Other and then the person shot at the other, or even that the two groups didn't even meet yet since they were never shown together. Sometimes, I hate the internet regarding stuff like this. It gets a little silly.
Sarah and I were talking about the Apparitions (Walt to Shannon and Jack's dad to Jack. Maybe there are more but I have not finished Season 1 yet). In each case, the apparition appears to help someone work out some deep emoitional pain. In each case, the apparition also leads to the person dying. Jack falls off a cliff, but gets saved by Locke. Shannon gets shot after she gets Said to believe her about Walt and believe in her becuase of his love. I was toying with the idea that the Island is some sort of Purgatory where people have to work out their issues (I've heard this from somewhere else). When they work them out, they "die" on the island and are thus set free. This only really works with Shannon, I guess, so it's probably not the best idea.
I had this dream last night that "I" was on the island (in most of my dreams I'm never really me, just some person that has some of my thoughts and memories, but looks different and sometimes acts different. In this case I was Said but not), and we had found my mom's house. We were exploring my mom's old house and "Shannon" got lost underneath it. What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Posted by Nakia at 04:00 PM | Comments (4)
November 09, 2005
GM Thoughts
Last night, I had dinner with Scott Moore, whom I met via ENWorld. He was in town for some business and hung around so we could have dinner after I finished class. We ate at McHale's (which is becoming my new favorite bar in town, surpassing Lukes) and talked mostly about running role playing games.
Scott is a great GM, based on the one game I have played with him at a NC game day, his posts on ENWorld, and general reputation. He shared some advice which seemed very appropriate, given my upcoming one-shot game at the Library Game Night and the (hopefully) long term game that will follow. Much of what we talked about was gleaned from Robin Laws' book on game mastering, but Scott made some good additions to Robin Laws' advice. One of the best pieces was to plan an early ending to the campaign, a place where the group could stop after 8-10 sessions and say "yep, we did it." This, I thought, was a great bit of advice. With a new group, it guarantees a stopping point from which to reassess the game while still maintaining a story and a sense of accomplishment. With everyone being new, people are still getting used to each other, the GM, and the game world, so they can change things after the ending without messing up the overall story arc or party composition.
I had never really thought about a "campaign" lasting only 8-10 sessions, but Scott made a lot of sense. One of the problems with the last campaign I ran was a lack of definite endings for stories or adventures. There were very few points where the party could stop and say "we completed the adventure!". This led to some fatigue among players, I think. Everyone needs good stopping points and a sense of accomplishment.
Posted by Nakia at 11:15 AM | Comments (6)
November 08, 2005
I'm not dead yet!
It's been awhile since I've updated. That's not been for lack of things going on. Really, it's the opposite. I've been pretty focused on work and home life the past few weeks and it's paid off in terms of productivity and good things happening. The blog break has also given me time to think a little more about what the blog is supposed to do for me and for those that visit. I haven't come to any real conclusions on the later, but I do want to do some redesign and refocusing of the blog. That will probably have to wait for my Christmas break, as it will be a hectic few weeks until the semester ends. I only have seven actual class days left! Where did the semster go?
Come on in for at least a list of what's been happening:
-- Trip this past weekend to Charlottesville. I presented a paper, played some D&D, and ate way too much food.
-- Visting the Charlotte library's game day and volunteering to run a one-shot RPG session at the Charlotte library's next game day in November. Hopefulyly this will lead to a regular gaming group.
-- Going to Conway and taking my grandmother out for her birthday.
-- Beginning to develop a redesign for my 110 course. I'll probably apply for some grant money to help.
-- Dinner with several ENWorlders as they head through town.
-- Watching season 1 of Lost on DVD, along with other Netflix movies.
-- Figuring out when Sarah can go back to school.
-- Polishing off another paper for a conference presentation -- the last remaining work I'll do based on the grant project I worked on at UVA.
-- Continuing to brainstorm and refine some sort of personal organizational strategy based on the GTD method that works for me.
And, today I bought the new George R.R. Martin book!
Posted by Nakia at 11:49 AM | Comments (3)