Marking time
Today I showed a documentary from 1999, and although I took care to inform students of the video's age and explained why the documentary and its message are still important/relevant, a lot of the conversation revolved around how ANCIENT the music, styles and messages seemed. (Sigh) Part of this is the peril of teaching popular culture -- students actually relate better to texts from 50 years ago than 10 years ago.
But I'm trying to think of teaching less as entertainment than giving students ideas to think about (which aren't always shiny and up-to-the-moment). As
activeimagine astutely notes, humanities profs are under pressure to perform and entertain in addition to conveying knowledge, and maybe we should rethink that.
Increasingly I'm having to historicize the '90s for my classes, which makes me aware of how quickly time is passing. (Note how I'm evading the issue of the widening age gap between me and college kids.)
Hard to believe six years ago was Sept. 11. Like everyone I watched the news reports (post-tower collapse) and then went obediently to my morning graduate seminar, where we had a surreal discussion about the book "Barbie's Queer Accessories" (to date, one of my fave popular culture books, but a strange text to be describing that day). I think we were all in shock, and the familiarity of Barbie and academic discourse provided needed routine.
Today (er, between important professorial tasks) I had the pleasure of procrastinating with fruitless web searches and watched a bit of "The View" (feminized forum for liberal politics, now fascinating that Whoopi is among the four.) Susan Sarandon was a guest star and managed to invoke the goddess and support for gay marriage in her opening remarks. She also spoke out about the war's escalating costs (on American lives) and media distortion of her activism in articulate and non-polemical ways. I adore Susan Sarandon.
****
And now I'm in the library blogging when I should be source-hunting. I am desperately in need of accountability (to use a loaded term).
So tonight/tomorrow I vow to:
1 Review past writing to determine needed revisions (this is a step toward publishing)
2 Work on writing conference paper draft
3 Check out archives again
4 Review job materials and start writing applications
[I have meaningful/doable subgoals under these four headings.]
Will she manage to accomplish more tomorrow than today? (We're setting the bar low.) Tune in for the exciting conclusion ...
But I'm trying to think of teaching less as entertainment than giving students ideas to think about (which aren't always shiny and up-to-the-moment). As
activeimagine astutely notes, humanities profs are under pressure to perform and entertain in addition to conveying knowledge, and maybe we should rethink that.
Increasingly I'm having to historicize the '90s for my classes, which makes me aware of how quickly time is passing. (Note how I'm evading the issue of the widening age gap between me and college kids.)
Hard to believe six years ago was Sept. 11. Like everyone I watched the news reports (post-tower collapse) and then went obediently to my morning graduate seminar, where we had a surreal discussion about the book "Barbie's Queer Accessories" (to date, one of my fave popular culture books, but a strange text to be describing that day). I think we were all in shock, and the familiarity of Barbie and academic discourse provided needed routine.
Today (er, between important professorial tasks) I had the pleasure of procrastinating with fruitless web searches and watched a bit of "The View" (feminized forum for liberal politics, now fascinating that Whoopi is among the four.) Susan Sarandon was a guest star and managed to invoke the goddess and support for gay marriage in her opening remarks. She also spoke out about the war's escalating costs (on American lives) and media distortion of her activism in articulate and non-polemical ways. I adore Susan Sarandon.
****
And now I'm in the library blogging when I should be source-hunting. I am desperately in need of accountability (to use a loaded term).
So tonight/tomorrow I vow to:
1 Review past writing to determine needed revisions (this is a step toward publishing)
2 Work on writing conference paper draft
3 Check out archives again
4 Review job materials and start writing applications
[I have meaningful/doable subgoals under these four headings.]
Will she manage to accomplish more tomorrow than today? (We're setting the bar low.) Tune in for the exciting conclusion ...