While following a link one of my professors recommended, I slipped down the rabbit hole and this is what I found. It's a bizarre animated film about a font who goes on a killing spree. I think it's a great example of visual rhetoric that satirizes Hollywood films. Even if you get nothing else out of it, it's hilarious. It features a killer font. How strange is that?

So, I've been absent from this blog for some time now. Or, at least, I've been absent from the public spaces of this blog because of all the freaking site maintenance I've had to do. I've upgraded to the latest version of Drupal and had all kinds of issues with updating modules, etc. Before upgrading, I decided to switch to WordPress and after learning the interface, relearning php (because WP doesn't have the slick GUI that Drupal does), editing themes, reviewing plugins, and basically spending way too much time reading about ways to use WordPress and not enough time actually blogging, I've decided to come back to Drupal, my first CMS love. Oh how I wish I'd never left.

Attached is the mp3 recording of Chris Hedges' speech given at Rockford College commencement exercises in May 2003.

I have so many things to do and by no means should I be wasting my time watching let alone blogging about this but...it's just too ridiculous to go unmentioned.  The newest in lame reality shows is Armed and Famous.  It's five has-been (or never-been) stars who train and become members of the police force in Muncie, Indiana. This is truly the worst reality show I have ever seen.  It should win an award.

I have great hopes for this new year.  Last year started well.  I met the special man who would become my friend and partner and who shows me love unlike anything I've ever experienced.  It's truly a beautiful thing and is one of the things that reminds me of the goodness and joy in this world, a difficult task some days.  I had completed and defended my thesis by this time last year.  I was riding around with the top down, listening to music real loud.  It was a happy time.  The coninuation of the year, however, brought with it an ongoing series of trials and difficulties related to my health, school and my family.  This year I hope to draw from my blessings and minimize my difficulties or at least try to rework them to be productive aids towards self-growth.

For the past couple of weeks I've walked through the Stewart Center while on my way from teaching to my next caffeine dose.  (Today I took that route to avoid the cold for a few minutes)  And each time I walk through, I note the weary looking protesters and wonder a few things:  Have they been there for the entire time, without break, and if so, do they have the support of their professors?  What about the bathing issue?  How long can someone maintain a hunger strike without causing physiological damage?  And, perhaps most importantly, why does the administration refuse to discuss change?  Is this a we don't negotiate with terrorists thing?  Refusing to deal with sweatshops constitutes sound and ethical business practice.  Doesn't th

Why does it seem as though there's never enough time to do the things I need to do, much less the things that I want to do?  In between grading papers and writing them, I've been doing a spot of internet browsing of the shopping variety.  My mother wants a wishlist from me and I'm trying to oblige (as difficult as it is).  So, I've been surfing the indie shopping sites for interesting trinkets.  It worked out really well last year, so it seems sensible to go that route again, but what I'm finding is that my greatest wish is for more time-- time to make my own jewelry and knit my own lovely kitty creations and time to paint and play with various media, time to make my own nifty creations.  Unfortunately, in spite of all of my good intentions, it

A particularly good teaching day today. My students are working on multimedia presentations that must function as stand-alone documents. Most of them, unsurprisingly, have chosen to use PowerPoint. After discussing the readings for the day, I had intended to have each group comment on another group's project, using our online forum to download project drafts and submit review comments. I changed my mind. Somehow that idea seemed interminably boring and isolating. So, as an alternative to group peer review, we conducted a class-wide review of each project. This was made possible only because there are four groups and thus, four documents to examine and critique. It started out slowly (and actually, the idea developed from a question over font and background readability issues on one of the projects; I couldn't read it easily but to be fair I solicited the opinion of the group). Students were initially hesitant and in spite of my continued reassurance that pointing out areas for improvement should be seen as constructive and not critical (or for that matter personal), they spoke up hesitantly. At this time I was also aware that as facilitator I felt the need to summarize sets of comments and that my summary and commentary might be construed as overly critical or that it might make students feel singled out, albeit in a group. I was struggling to think of a way to make this work.

The end of this torturous semester--are we there yet? In spite of the fact that I have a wonderful and beautiful partner who I've been to visit in the Pacific Northwest, that I have climbed mountains and walked on beaches, that I have a fabulous, strength-training Mom, a beautiful best friend (who needs to email me...before I hunt her down)and in spite of all the other wonderful things in my life, I am pretty consistently miserable right now. I have an enormous workload and it seems impossible to keep up with all of it. I have had at least two (that I know of) email disasters within the past month and countless other "incidents," almost all of which have been related to graduate school. Oh, and did I mention, my cat peed in my suitcase when I returned from my last trip.

I would love to have enough time to reflect more fully on the readings that I am doing and the experiences that I am having.