I read this article today about blogging at the same time that I have a tab open on my computer to write for a feminist blog. I still maintain that blogging keeps me productive, as I'm thinking about my work in a lower-stakes environment than more formal places. Plus, I get a lot from my online interactions--even (especially?) those with people I've never actually met on Twitter or facebook, I've been able to ask for ideas and compare experiences in teaching and grad school. I've exchanged lesson plans and worksheets. I've solicited ideas for texts to teach. My University of Venus blog post got me a guest lecture spot in my department--a poorly attended one, but a good experience and a cv line nonetheless.
That my talk at school was so poorly attended (four people!) may highlight one aspect of online interaction I enjoy--there's an audience! There's interaction! As one of my disappointments with my current institution is the lack of face-to-face interaction, having people respond to hashtagged Twitter posts during First Year Comp Chats is nice. And on facebook, I've been able to "introduce" friends in different places to each other and interact with them all at the same time.
My other blog is dedicated to my reading list, and I find it a rewarding way to track my progress. Look at how many posts I made in December! Maybe I'll get through these lists! One day!
And I'm sure it's all ultimately vanity-driven, too, but it's good to have an outlet for my words words words.
Showing posts with label networking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label networking. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Friday, October 21, 2011
A better day
After my less-than-stellar experience presenting Wednesday, Thursday I started the day by having my teaching evaluated. (I might add that this was not automatic; I requested the evaluation. Since I've been at LSU, no one besides my students has seen me teach.) The new director of Women and Gender Studies sat in on my 10:40 section of Intro to WGS. Though I enjoy both of my sections, there are many more engaged, participatory students in my 10:40 class than there are in my noon one.
Class went so well. Tuesday I had handed out the final paper assignment, in which students will do a researched analysis of some sort of pop culture product; Thursday's reading was about gender construction in pop culture. In introducing the concept of the "male gaze," I showed a short clip of Ripley in her underwear in Alien, and contrasted that with the scene in Firefly where Captain Mal is completely naked. As I think the concept of the "male gaze" can be overused and a bit abstract, I was quite happy with how distinctly different the camera work is in these two different shots. Ripley's body is panned over slowly, or framed in a voyeuristic way, or the camera focuses on her crotch or her midriff. Mal is seen either from the waist up, or when we see his entire naked body, the camera is still, just including him as part of the shot. That he interacts with other people while naked takes away any vestiges of voyeurism the viewer might feel in checking out his clearly visible tattoo.
And, by yesterday afternoon, Dr. Bratton had sent me a glowing evaluation for my perusal and revision. The only revision I suggested was that, while I enjoyed reading her reference to "Dr. Miller," I'm not there yet.
I'm glad to have ended the week on a positive note. And I finished a book on both my independent study and gender exam lists today, and posted a write-up of it on bellatricksy, which is a nice feeling of accomplishment. I realized today, though, that I haven't plowed through my independent study list as much as I'd like to have, so that's definitely moved up on my priority list. Next up: Susan Bordo's Unbearable Weight--and the two presentations I'm making Tuesday. Happy weekend!
Class went so well. Tuesday I had handed out the final paper assignment, in which students will do a researched analysis of some sort of pop culture product; Thursday's reading was about gender construction in pop culture. In introducing the concept of the "male gaze," I showed a short clip of Ripley in her underwear in Alien, and contrasted that with the scene in Firefly where Captain Mal is completely naked. As I think the concept of the "male gaze" can be overused and a bit abstract, I was quite happy with how distinctly different the camera work is in these two different shots. Ripley's body is panned over slowly, or framed in a voyeuristic way, or the camera focuses on her crotch or her midriff. Mal is seen either from the waist up, or when we see his entire naked body, the camera is still, just including him as part of the shot. That he interacts with other people while naked takes away any vestiges of voyeurism the viewer might feel in checking out his clearly visible tattoo.
And, by yesterday afternoon, Dr. Bratton had sent me a glowing evaluation for my perusal and revision. The only revision I suggested was that, while I enjoyed reading her reference to "Dr. Miller," I'm not there yet.
I'm glad to have ended the week on a positive note. And I finished a book on both my independent study and gender exam lists today, and posted a write-up of it on bellatricksy, which is a nice feeling of accomplishment. I realized today, though, that I haven't plowed through my independent study list as much as I'd like to have, so that's definitely moved up on my priority list. Next up: Susan Bordo's Unbearable Weight--and the two presentations I'm making Tuesday. Happy weekend!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
It's a CV line, right?
So often, that's supposed to be the incentive to do things in graduate school. At this point, though, I have lots of things on my CV (I probably need to do some pruning, though I really hate to take the performance poetry off), so I'm trying really hard to focus on doing things that are genuinely beneficial.
Today should have been one of those things. After my column on plagiarism was published on Inside Higher Ed's website this summer, the department chair asked if I'd like to do a talk for the department about it. As there's no longer money to bring in speakers to the department, they try to draw on the resources within the department for informative talks; this would be another one of those. A couple of weeks ago, I attended a talk by a professor about the necessity for and the future of the humanities, which was well-attended, fascinating, and prompted a nice exchange during the session.
I put a lot of thought and practice into my talk today; the thought of presenting something department-wide was daunting. Alas, I needn't have worried: five people attended.
The professor who organized the event was quite apologetic and seemed rather pissed. There were two professors and three grad students present. I knew that several of my friends would be in a class which conflicted with the time--that professor, along with my own adviser, sent their regrets that couldn't attend. But only two professors on a Wednesday afternoon?
I admit that it's not surprising--people in this department (as well as the university in general) simply don't interact in the ways that they did at my last university. At orientation, grad students were told at the university-wide orientation for new GTAs that the university has a "culture of absence"--though they were talking about class attendance by students, I think that the description could just as likely apply more generally. A surprising (to me) number of grad students and professors live in New Orleans (an hour and a half away) and commute to LSU. Even those who live closer don't spend a lot of time on campus. One of the frustrations I faced last year was the discovery that for many professors, it's necessary to confirm that they'll actually be at their posted office hours, as unless they are expecting a student, they'll skip them.
More and more I appreciate and miss the much more community-oriented, collegial atmosphere at UT. More than anything I miss the reading groups, the established faculty/grad student groups which met regularly to discuss important works in various areas--critical theory, Americanist studies, 18th century lit. Attending the feminist studies reading group from the start of grad school was crucial to my success there--not only did I meet other students who shared my interest, but it was a low-stakes environment in which to meet and interact with faculty members.
Here, there are faculty writing groups, and I've been involved in a few informal reading groups, but it doesn't seem the two overlap. I've started a reading group in WGS here, and our first meeting we had one professor attend. It's a start. But this evening I'm feeling frustrated that there's not more interaction on campus--and this is probably exacerbated by my frustration at still feeling isolated, after a year, living here. It's quite difficult to have a social life as a graduate student if you enjoy neither bars nor drinking nor sports.
None of this is new, and it is certainly slowly improving. And today I did have an opportunity to give a presentation on a topic which is important to me, and got some good feedback from the people who were present. And Tuesday is yet another presentation, a dry run panel presentation sponsored by the EGSA which will give me an opportunity to try out my weird Flannery O'Connor paper that I'm presenting next weekend for the Flannery O'Connor panel at SAMLA. Even if five people attend that, I'll get a chance to practice and perhaps some feedback whether my pairing it with the Ministry song that samples dialogue from Wise Blood makes any sense whatsoever.
So, in the larger scheme of things, today was a blip. But still an annoying blip.
Today should have been one of those things. After my column on plagiarism was published on Inside Higher Ed's website this summer, the department chair asked if I'd like to do a talk for the department about it. As there's no longer money to bring in speakers to the department, they try to draw on the resources within the department for informative talks; this would be another one of those. A couple of weeks ago, I attended a talk by a professor about the necessity for and the future of the humanities, which was well-attended, fascinating, and prompted a nice exchange during the session.
I put a lot of thought and practice into my talk today; the thought of presenting something department-wide was daunting. Alas, I needn't have worried: five people attended.
The professor who organized the event was quite apologetic and seemed rather pissed. There were two professors and three grad students present. I knew that several of my friends would be in a class which conflicted with the time--that professor, along with my own adviser, sent their regrets that couldn't attend. But only two professors on a Wednesday afternoon?
I admit that it's not surprising--people in this department (as well as the university in general) simply don't interact in the ways that they did at my last university. At orientation, grad students were told at the university-wide orientation for new GTAs that the university has a "culture of absence"--though they were talking about class attendance by students, I think that the description could just as likely apply more generally. A surprising (to me) number of grad students and professors live in New Orleans (an hour and a half away) and commute to LSU. Even those who live closer don't spend a lot of time on campus. One of the frustrations I faced last year was the discovery that for many professors, it's necessary to confirm that they'll actually be at their posted office hours, as unless they are expecting a student, they'll skip them.
More and more I appreciate and miss the much more community-oriented, collegial atmosphere at UT. More than anything I miss the reading groups, the established faculty/grad student groups which met regularly to discuss important works in various areas--critical theory, Americanist studies, 18th century lit. Attending the feminist studies reading group from the start of grad school was crucial to my success there--not only did I meet other students who shared my interest, but it was a low-stakes environment in which to meet and interact with faculty members.
Here, there are faculty writing groups, and I've been involved in a few informal reading groups, but it doesn't seem the two overlap. I've started a reading group in WGS here, and our first meeting we had one professor attend. It's a start. But this evening I'm feeling frustrated that there's not more interaction on campus--and this is probably exacerbated by my frustration at still feeling isolated, after a year, living here. It's quite difficult to have a social life as a graduate student if you enjoy neither bars nor drinking nor sports.
None of this is new, and it is certainly slowly improving. And today I did have an opportunity to give a presentation on a topic which is important to me, and got some good feedback from the people who were present. And Tuesday is yet another presentation, a dry run panel presentation sponsored by the EGSA which will give me an opportunity to try out my weird Flannery O'Connor paper that I'm presenting next weekend for the Flannery O'Connor panel at SAMLA. Even if five people attend that, I'll get a chance to practice and perhaps some feedback whether my pairing it with the Ministry song that samples dialogue from Wise Blood makes any sense whatsoever.
So, in the larger scheme of things, today was a blip. But still an annoying blip.
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