This past week I visited my daughter in Chicago as she began her new career as a recent college graduate. We have never lived so far apart, and one of my motivations for going up there was to check up on my baby. Is she living in a safe neighborhood? How does she get to work? Is she eating right? What are her new friends like? She's in her early twenties, but I think to myself she wasn't quite yet a teenager ten years ago.
I'm entering another phase where I'm no longer a mother of a college student. I liked having a daughter who was a college student because I felt that I could identify with the students' parents in my classes. There now seems to be a loss in identification within the workplace and now a loss of a child who is now independently making her own way with her new found career. However, I am ecstatic of her accomplishments and her new job security. What more could a mother ask for?
With each phase of motherhood, new questions emerge as to my role as a mother. Now, I'm a mother of an independent daughter who doesn't need to call home for money. She has a boyfriend, so her love life is going well. I suppose that we need to figure out what my role will be together--what phases lie ahead for this different mother. She is fiercely independent by nature (not too different from her mother), so there needs to emerge an appreciation of her independence at many levels. It's an exciting time for both of us, but one that comes with a few unanswered questions.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Freire and African American lit panel today
I reread my chapter on Freire just now, and I really wish that I could assign myself the Revisiting a Research Project now that I've read it and experienced the African American Literature panel today.
Half of my students in the African American Literature panel presented today. The Asst. Dean of Students, Angela Walker, was in the audience at the end, but she was there for the Q&A session. All of these presenters stood in front of the room for the Q&A session. Many of these students will be future teachers, and she asked them some interesting questions about how they would take the literature they read in this class into their future classrooms. She also asked them how did these works personally affect them. This Asst. Dean happens to be African American and worked at a Historical Black College before she came here.
I thought about Freire's quote on page 82--"In the final analysis, what is expected of those who teach by speaking or writing, by being a testimony, is that they be rigorously coherent so as not to lose themselves in the enormous distance between what they do and say"
Her question really asked them to respond to this quote in a personal way. Their responses were sincere and personal, and I could see the distance closing in right before the audience's eyes. The literature wasn't out there for them, but it was inside of them as they explored through these discussions what impact African American literature might have in their daily lives as teachers and/or as citizens of the world. Through their discussions, they explored how such literature made them better human beings.
She kept asking them questions, and they kept exploring through these thoughtful responses as a community of presenters. I thought of this idea of essaying to be, and I was fascinated to see what was unfolding through these series of exchanges.
Freire has truly helped me and, I would like to believe these students, to essay to be by opening this class to a larger university community. I wish that I had the opportunity to thank him.
Half of my students in the African American Literature panel presented today. The Asst. Dean of Students, Angela Walker, was in the audience at the end, but she was there for the Q&A session. All of these presenters stood in front of the room for the Q&A session. Many of these students will be future teachers, and she asked them some interesting questions about how they would take the literature they read in this class into their future classrooms. She also asked them how did these works personally affect them. This Asst. Dean happens to be African American and worked at a Historical Black College before she came here.
I thought about Freire's quote on page 82--"In the final analysis, what is expected of those who teach by speaking or writing, by being a testimony, is that they be rigorously coherent so as not to lose themselves in the enormous distance between what they do and say"
Her question really asked them to respond to this quote in a personal way. Their responses were sincere and personal, and I could see the distance closing in right before the audience's eyes. The literature wasn't out there for them, but it was inside of them as they explored through these discussions what impact African American literature might have in their daily lives as teachers and/or as citizens of the world. Through their discussions, they explored how such literature made them better human beings.
She kept asking them questions, and they kept exploring through these thoughtful responses as a community of presenters. I thought of this idea of essaying to be, and I was fascinated to see what was unfolding through these series of exchanges.
Freire has truly helped me and, I would like to believe these students, to essay to be by opening this class to a larger university community. I wish that I had the opportunity to thank him.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Rejecting the Other
After reading Lynn Bloom's chapter, "Living to Tell the "Tale," I was struck by the words at the bottom of page 76.
'Break it off,' they hiss, their lukewarm Christianity at the boil when Martin, enroute to graduate study in Edinburgh, arrives as a prospective son-in-law. Treating him like vapor, my father speaks only to me throughout the entire visit."
How many time have I heard similar stories from students in interracial relationships or the rejection they've experienced as the "other" from in-laws or future in-laws.
I'm reading The Invisible Man right now in my African American Literature class, and I thought this line from the Prologue seemed to be resonate with what I'm reading in both classes.
"You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're apart of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful."
I ran into an African American former student from Corpus at the mall the other day. I remember he told me years ago in class that his Latina girlfriend's family rejected him. He always hugged me when he saw me, and he is one of the sweetest young men I know. Who could not like this young man who has high aspirations to return to a school he grew up in and be a role model. I met his girlfriend for the first time, and they are expecting a baby in June.
I read in on page 77 of "Living to Tell the Tale"
"'If you marry him'--"they proceed to prove their claim"-- 'we will have nothing to do with you, or your husband, or any children you may have'"
Married in 1958 and Martin and Lynn are still going strong--I hope my former student can also say this 50 years down the road, celebrate his biracial children and their dual cultures and live a visibly happy life in front of others so caught up in rejecting the construct of the negative "other" that tears families apart.
Dr. K.
'Break it off,' they hiss, their lukewarm Christianity at the boil when Martin, enroute to graduate study in Edinburgh, arrives as a prospective son-in-law. Treating him like vapor, my father speaks only to me throughout the entire visit."
How many time have I heard similar stories from students in interracial relationships or the rejection they've experienced as the "other" from in-laws or future in-laws.
I'm reading The Invisible Man right now in my African American Literature class, and I thought this line from the Prologue seemed to be resonate with what I'm reading in both classes.
"You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're apart of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful."
I ran into an African American former student from Corpus at the mall the other day. I remember he told me years ago in class that his Latina girlfriend's family rejected him. He always hugged me when he saw me, and he is one of the sweetest young men I know. Who could not like this young man who has high aspirations to return to a school he grew up in and be a role model. I met his girlfriend for the first time, and they are expecting a baby in June.
I read in on page 77 of "Living to Tell the Tale"
"'If you marry him'--"they proceed to prove their claim"-- 'we will have nothing to do with you, or your husband, or any children you may have'"
Married in 1958 and Martin and Lynn are still going strong--I hope my former student can also say this 50 years down the road, celebrate his biracial children and their dual cultures and live a visibly happy life in front of others so caught up in rejecting the construct of the negative "other" that tears families apart.
Dr. K.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Censored Blogs
One of my Cuban-American friends sent me a Yahoo news story http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_bloggers_1 about a famous Cuban blogger who is now under the watchful eye of the Cuban government and will be unable to attend a blogger conference . Her blogs are considered subversive. Apparently, in Cuba, bloggers are monitored by the government. Cuban bloggers who get a little carried away by describing aspects of their daily lives that might not show the government in a favorable light could be on the blogger chopping/censorship block.
I think about our loose guidelines in this class concerning what we blog about and then I think about our freedom to have the opportunity to have these loose guidelines. Castro’s henchmen/women are not looking over our shoulders. Although, I guess we really don’t know who is taking a peek at us every now and then.
I always imagined that if I lived in a country like Cuba, I would either be in jail, asked to leave the country, or find myself mysteriously disappearing one day or night without anyone’s knowledge. This is no place for someone who has egalitarian tendencies and questions authoritarian characters.
I imagine there might be an authoritarian teacher out there who carefully regulates what students can and cannot say in their blogs (an extensive list of do’s and don’ts). Over each semester, this extensive list would grow and grow until it reached a bureaucratic level that students had great difficulty in understanding and following. Students would barely type a word without fearing that some blog rule had been violated and heavy repercussions were just around the corner. Some administrators and bureaucrats were so impressed with this teacher’s extensive list of do’s and don’ts that they immediately standardized these rules and developed standardized blogging tests. The rest is history.
I think about our loose guidelines in this class concerning what we blog about and then I think about our freedom to have the opportunity to have these loose guidelines. Castro’s henchmen/women are not looking over our shoulders. Although, I guess we really don’t know who is taking a peek at us every now and then.
I always imagined that if I lived in a country like Cuba, I would either be in jail, asked to leave the country, or find myself mysteriously disappearing one day or night without anyone’s knowledge. This is no place for someone who has egalitarian tendencies and questions authoritarian characters.
I imagine there might be an authoritarian teacher out there who carefully regulates what students can and cannot say in their blogs (an extensive list of do’s and don’ts). Over each semester, this extensive list would grow and grow until it reached a bureaucratic level that students had great difficulty in understanding and following. Students would barely type a word without fearing that some blog rule had been violated and heavy repercussions were just around the corner. Some administrators and bureaucrats were so impressed with this teacher’s extensive list of do’s and don’ts that they immediately standardized these rules and developed standardized blogging tests. The rest is history.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Holiday sickness
I would first like to thank everyone who gave me support for my powerpoint presentation. One thing that I realized is that I needed to practice multiple times. I tended to get ahead of my slides.
Right now, I have this nasty cold, and so I'm going to do another short post. I need to find a medical study that proves how we're prone to getting sick during the holidays. I sometimes think my body says to me "It's alright to get sick now." Unfortunately, my parents drove all the way down from D.C, and now my body now tells me it's had enough. The fortunate news is that I have a number of helping hands. Lynn Bloom's account of how we, as academics, feel compelled to create this stiff upper lip and bear whatever pain comes our way doesn't seem to be the case with me. How are you feeling today "What do I know?" I freely admit that I feel lousy, and I shouldn't be blogging right now. My nose is stuffed up, my temperature is sitting around 100.1 degrees, and I want to be pampered. I have no stiff upper lip and neither did Montaigne who readily shared all his ailments with his readers and made no apologies. I feel better now that I've shared my "woe is me" post and a bit more honest.
Right now, I have this nasty cold, and so I'm going to do another short post. I need to find a medical study that proves how we're prone to getting sick during the holidays. I sometimes think my body says to me "It's alright to get sick now." Unfortunately, my parents drove all the way down from D.C, and now my body now tells me it's had enough. The fortunate news is that I have a number of helping hands. Lynn Bloom's account of how we, as academics, feel compelled to create this stiff upper lip and bear whatever pain comes our way doesn't seem to be the case with me. How are you feeling today "What do I know?" I freely admit that I feel lousy, and I shouldn't be blogging right now. My nose is stuffed up, my temperature is sitting around 100.1 degrees, and I want to be pampered. I have no stiff upper lip and neither did Montaigne who readily shared all his ailments with his readers and made no apologies. I feel better now that I've shared my "woe is me" post and a bit more honest.
Friday, November 21, 2008
My first conference presentation using power point
This will be a relatively short post, but I'll continue after my NCTE presentation tomorrow. After more than 15 years of presenting at conferences, I've decided to do a power point presentation. I feel as if I'm presenting for the first time. I have the power point jitters right now. I'm a writer, not a power pointing person. However, I feel the pressure to embrace technology just as I did with these blogs, webct, and wiki. Wish me luck tomorrow.
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