The Hitchhiking Adjunct

Freeway Flyer Blog: How Come Everyone’s Talkin’ Smack About Adjuncts?

2011-09-11T10:07:00.000-04:00

I have a request for the great wide Internet. Please stop talking about me as if I’m some partially-crippled frenzied zombie. I am not an invalid. I am not incompetent. I am not ready to self-destruct. Maybe I should blame myself for using the Google Alerts for letting me know when the Internet is talking about “adjuncts.” I just know that I read a lot of negative press about adjuncts from full-timers, administration, other part-timers, and culture at large. Sure, there’s the token appreciation from all the segments, but whether discussing us in positive terms or negative, the basis of the discussions is not necessarily something this Freeway Flyer finds useful.

For the rest, check out AdjunctNation.

MIA In Summer

2011-08-03T00:03:00.001-04:00

So for those that have noticed--or most likely, haven't noticed till I actually made note of it; I haven't been as up-to-date with my blog as I have been in the past. Summer has been good to me in many ways--giving me some much needed down time from teaching the crazy course load that I usually handle, but still rather taxing in the intellectual department.

I've been working on several writings for various publications including articles for book publications, entries for encyclopedias and other reference type material. So my mind has been focused in part on audiobooks, monsters, and comics (or some mix thereof--though truth be told, we know my mind is often on these subjects even when not writing about them). In addition, I have been teaching a few summer courses (take what I can get--and in this case, it's a nice catch: American Literature I, World Literature I, and The Horror Story). To add more fuel to the fire, I have also been working on personal projects including gardening, fitness, big-picture career direction (which could actually happen in the next month or next few years), and trying to find space to come back to my fiction writing or at least non-academic writing, which I miss dearly.

Thus the upkeep of the blog has fallen by the wayside while I've juggled there other demands. However, I have a series of posts percolating in my mind and hope to get a few out throughout August and put myself on some sort of regular schedule like I have with other facets of my life and hopefully, maintain it so that you (whoever "you" are) will potentially enjoy something to read from me once in a while.

That's all for now--but stay tuned!

Freeway Flyer Blog: Taking Classes At The Last Minute: The Freeway Flyer Forte

2011-06-13T10:43:00.002-04:00

Some friends often knock me for constantly checking my email, but the habit isn’t born of bad manners; it’s a necessity for Freeway Flyers. Opportunity knocks via every email. Most recently, that fact was reinforced when I received an email from a department chair looking to staff a course at the lat minute—last minute as in the email was sent out mid-Monday and the class started Tuesday evening. Sound familiar fellow Freeway Flyers? If I weren’t so obsessive about checking my email, I might missed the opportunity. As a freeway flyer, we live and thrive by making sure we’re connected.

Read the rest at Adjunct Nation.

Not All Vehicles (or Degrees) Are the Same

2011-05-25T09:00:00.002-04:00

In the last post, I discussed the ways that college education is like a car. In extending this analogy, I also want to talk about elements of the vehicle (degree) that again, not all students really consider.

Vehicles can indicate a great many things about a person. Some of these things might be true and some may not; and often, the car-owner’s opportunity to explain choices comes when being asked. The person driving a new Porsche might be perceived as financially stable and potentially successful while the one driving a beat-up shitbox be poor or a slob. The person driving the hybrid might be understood as an environmentalist or an elitist. Driving a big-truck and tailgating people could be understood as aggressive and anti-social behavior or someone in a rush. The clichés and stereotypes are endless; we all know them.

A person’s degree (and the transcript, resume, etc) are going to be interpreted in many different ways, often well-before the person has a chance to defend it by a prospective employer, admissions office, etc. That is, the degree and work in college comes with its own sense of assumptions and thoughts. Many of which are inaccurate, but may still hold up. For instance, a B average at an elite Ivy League school is going to be understood differently than a “B” average as a state school or community college.

So we come to the problem at hand. Not all degrees are equal. Not all will open doors. But that’s not the only problem. Each year, the college degree becomes LESS valuable in our economy. With 1.5 million people graduating annually with a college degree, which means the market value of a degree is substantially less. Meanwhile, of course, the price of college continues to go up.

We’re putting more money into college while the same time our education is becoming less valuable and all the while, the particular schools we go to are weighted differently. It’s enough to send one fleeing from college and seeking alternatives and bypassing it altogether. But if that isn’t enough to send you fleeing from the college scene (and I hope it’s not), then the question is, what can one do to improve the odds? How do I as a student, distinguish myself above and beyond the 1.5 million others I will graduate and the millions others already with degrees.

My thoughts on this are purely from personal experiences (my own, my friends, my family, former and present students etc).

1. Engage with every class.
    Some classes are required; some are choices depending on the degree. But make it a point to take as much from each class as possible. After all, you are paying with your time and money, get as much from the course as possible whether it is directly related to your life or not.

2. Do the work.
    Half-assing your way through college is clearly possible. Many people do it in various capacities (and who am I kidding; I did my fair share of that in college). But doing the work and doing it to its full capacity will provide you with a range of skills (such as planning and attention to detail beyond whatever the specific skills the assignment is working).

3. Learn why you are doing the work you’re doing.
    Why are certain courses required? Why does the instructor require or expect certain things from you? These things are often found the school’s publications (such as student guides, syllabi, etc) and you should take the time to understand WHY; it provides you with a clearer purpose.

4. Ask questions.
Whether your instructors like it or not, it is important to and your right to question the work and its purpose. In fact, if it’s not clear why you are doing certain work, you should ask. If you don’t have a clear connection, then it’s even harder to be motivated to actually do it. So ask for clarifications about why you’re doing what you’re doing.

5. Reflect at the end of the semester.
    Most semesters, you have been studying several different subjects for a significant amount of time. You’ve taken in a lot of information and (hopefully) gained a good amount of skills in a very short time. At the end of the semester (or a week or two after finals; before you sell your books back), take a few hours and review what you’ve learned and studied that semester. The purpose is two fold. The first is a method of congratulations; observing everything you’ve accomplished. The other is to reinforce what you’ve learned and reinforce the different connections your brain has formed over the last few months.

6. Take advantages of school opportunities (events, lectures, presentations, etc).
    Don’t’ treat school as a place to take classes and go back to your life. There are ample opportunities and things to experience on campus; much of which you are paying for with your tuition and fees anyways and might as well take advantage of regardless. Plays, lectures, presentations, parties, and the like are available almost any day of the week on a campus. Keep your ears and eyes open to such opportunities and go to them. They’re often free; sometimes include free food; and can be both fun and educating—not a bad way to spend an evening.

7.   Get involved in group organizations and clubs.
    Like #6, this one is important because it gets you in more contact with your peers and others within your college. Also, it allows you to explore an interest. Most schools have myriad groups and clubs and there’s always something you can support, participate or attend that will benefit yourself and your college community.

8. Make connections with instructors.
    They’re human (most of them are, I swear!). They don’t want to see you as automatons and it’s in your interest that you make yourself a human being in their eyes. Not just for the course, but beyond. Building strong connections with all your instructors will result not only in a pool of people for you to get recommendations from but it also widens your professional network. There have been several times where past instructors have been the key to getting new jobs or exploring new opportunities for me and many others. But most importantly, instructors teach because they enjoy the classroom dynamic and they like to know their students; it makes the experience for both instructor and student more valuable.

9. Make it a point to meet people within your field and beyond your field.
    Like #8, meeting people within your field at the school and beyond is in your best interest to keep up with and get ahead in your field. Learn to meet and interact with the faculty in your field but also don’t hesitate to engage others in fields that are not yours, particularly if it is something you are interested in, but not necessarily directly studying. The fact is just because you are going for Degree in Subject X, does not guarantee you will get a job in Subject X and having contacts in Subject Y or W (both of which may be similar to Subject X) may prove useful in the long run.

10. Pace yourself.
    Everyone wants to get done sooner than later. Students pile up lots of classes each semester and push to get it all done and over with. Unfortunately, this tends to invoke the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The student who believes they can get through it all, often takes 6 or so courses and ends up scrambling the first 2 months of the semester; doing poorly in all courses. Finally, the student drops 1-2 of the courses (adding another W to their transcript), just in time to manage only doing marginally decent in the remaining classes. Don’t rush your education; go at a pace that allows you to do well in your work. Otherwise, you’re wasting time (in all those classes you withdraw from) and money (the books, extra commuting, re-taking the courses).

As I said, these aren’t sure-fire ways to distinguish yourself, but they certainly help and turn your education more into just a degree; but something meaningful to you as a person.

Of Cars and Education; Things I Wish I Realized In College

2011-05-22T15:48:00.000-04:00

A college education is like a car. We own and use cars for a variety of reasons including (but not limited to):
1. Travelling more efficiently (essentially reclaiming time)
2. Getting to new places (Not entirely the same as reclaiming time—and that will make sense below).
3. It is a requirement of where we live/work (Living in certain suburbs, it does become a practical requirement and some jobs do require or provide a vehicle).
4. Cruising about to enjoy the sights (That is, merely enjoying the act of driving and what it offers).

Before any of that can happen though, one needs a license, first. The license is a great achievement; it indicates some sense of competency in driving (This is the same with a high school diploma or GED certificate.). It doesn’t imply you will automatically get a car or that you will be a masterful driver; but merely that the state has deemed you knowledgeable to drive a vehicle (The student has proven a certain level of competency but it doesn’t guarantee the opportunity to get a college education).

However, just like when people get behind the wheel, not all drivers are equal (Not all students start off at the same place). Some are great drivers; some are not. Some need to pay extreme attention to all details of driving; others manage to consistently text and drive at the same time (Some people do well without trying; others don’t and need to devote even more time than the average student). While some of this is within the driver’s control, a significant amount isn’t. The driver will be influenced by how much time he or she had in training (Students—and often parents—who have put more time and energy into their education are more likely to have initially better results). Her or his skills will be in part powered by how much her socio-economic forces helped her or him to be prepared for the driving environment (Students’ background can affect how prepared they are for college as well as how much actual time and resources they can dedicate to the endeavor). Of course, there’s also a lot that is beyond the driver’s control. The good driver is still subject to and influenced by a variety of structural forces such as police enforcement, roadway signage and lights, traffic flow, etc, and chance such as other negligent drivers, weather, car problems, etc (Even good students are going to be impacted by tuition hikes, mistakes made by school administrators, or faculty, schedule conflicts, etc) . And finally, the driver is responsible for a variety of technical, bureaucratic, and financial upkeep in order to keep driving which includes renewing licenses, registering vehicles, filling the gas tank, getting/performing oil changes and other car maintenance, regular inspections, car insurance and the like (Students too need to consistently register, acquire books, check in with advisors, etc).

So let’s look at the reasons for getting a car (or college education.

1. Travelling more efficiently (essentially reclaiming time)
   Drivers often own a car because it saves time; it frees them to do more things they want to do without using public transportation, their own legs, or other (perceived) slower modes of transporation. However, a certain investment of time and money is needed in order to acquire the car that includes the aforementioned license, researching and purchasing a car, registering it, and the various financial and technical upkeep. For some, this means having to work even more and cancelling out some of the reclaimed time.

   Students often look at college as an investment to improve their financial situation. That is, this investment of work and effort should result in a larger return for their work.   Getting better paid means they can afford more things and or work less (get more out of less work is essentially reclaiming time). But students don’t often realize that this is an investment; which entails time, money, and risk. There is no guarantee that education will result in improved financial opportunities (more on this later).

2. Getting to new places.
   Though this is similar to the above, it’s not exactly the same. The above is generalized; a car will make coming and going to any place quicker. But here, there is often a specific direction, destination, or opportunities afforded to car-owners. The car will allow one to go to drive in theaters, do a road trip, pick up hitchhikers, actually drive-through a drive through (granted, not all of these are glorious and exciting, but the idea is that the car opens up new places to you; even new associations such as AAA). This could also be understood as car-culture and its possibilities.

   Similarly, students often approach their degree in these clear terms. A teaching degree will allow me to teach; a business degree will open up positions in business. But a degree, will also open up different opportunities and access a potentially different culture with its own set of expectations, restrictions, and prospects. Again, the degree here is a potential door-opener, but not a guarantee. A teaching degree won’t guarantee a teaching job will appear (or that you will be the most qualified applicant). The degree opens up a student’s choices, but that doesn’t mean the opportunities will necessarily be there (or their degree alone will provide for them).

3. It is a requirement of where we live/work (Living in certain suburbs, it does become a practical requirement and some jobs do require or provide a vehicle).
   Some jobs require vehicles. Often pizza delivery jobs require the person to have a car. Taxi-cab drivers need a car (whether their own or companies). In many suburbs, living without a vehicle is extremely difficult to the point of impossibility. In this case, the car (or whatever vehicle) becomes central in order to properly perform the job. Without it, the person is rendered useless or at least severely unqualified.

   Here again, the degree as a requirement to work can be seen within the nursing field and engineering. Equally, some jobs require the degree within a certain amount of time of work; such as teachers being required to get their Master’s Degree within a few years of starting their job (if they don’t outright require it before they start teaching).

4. Cruising about to enjoy the sights (That is, merely enjoying the act of driving and what it offers).
   Some people love to drive. Put them in a car and they’ll go. They’ll enjoy just the act of driving; in a car, moving about the roads; feeling the beautiful machinery at work under their fingertips; enjoying the breeze of movement. To them, the mere act of driving is rewarding and pleasurable.

   At this level, these are students who appreciate the intellectual challenges and elements that college has to offer. They see the apparatus (car/college) as means of stimulation and engagement with their own inner world. For some, they are life-long learners and simply appreciate the ways in which college can play a role in that view. For others, they learn within college what it means to be engaged with intellectually and realize how rewarding it can be.

   Granted, many see this last one as one that’s afforded to those who have the leisure and resources to merely focus on the act of self-enlightenment. That is, within it, there are hints of classism. I’m not entirely sure I believe that, or rather, it doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, I would encourage students to always keep this measure at the back of their heads as they move through their education. In the end, college is important and is hopefully useful in the first three ways, but can (and should) also be a time in which the student as a person develops and grows; learning not only about the world around them, but his or herself as well.

Freeway Flyers & Unions Don’t Always Go Hand-in-Hand

2011-05-17T21:03:00.000-04:00

Of late, I’m feeling like Jurgis; the protagonist of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Of course, my situation (as of right now) is not as dire, but the sentiment and issues still seem to be percolating.

The concern over adjunct faculty and their place within higher education has certainly gotten attention over the last two months. While the Boston Globe dedicates a full article, The Nation certainly talks about (or at least around) the subject. Meanwhile both The Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed continue to make mention of and discuss some of the concerns of the ever-growing adjunct faculty nation in Academe. Meanwhile, adjunct faculty are voicing their own outright opposition to the status quo in hopes of creating a solidarity movement across campuses and secure rights for adjunct faculty who are largely left in some rather Kafkaesque situations.

To read the full article, check it out here at Adjunct Nation.

Have You Heard About My Sordid Affair?

2011-05-11T13:25:00.000-04:00

“That’s cheating.” I hear it all the time, but I’m not listening. And so what if it is? I’m Rhett Butler and “I don’t give a damn.” I’ve carried on with this illustrious affair for more than half my life now. In fact, it’s been highly profitable and entertained me for thousands of hours. It was a curiosity thing at first. I simply flirted and fooled around. But somewhere along the lines, it turned into something more; it got serious. I never construed it as “cheating” because I believed this relationship afforded me something that I couldn’t get elsewhere at certain times and places in my life. Quite honestly, it was a harmless endeavor that hurt no one directly and while it did on occasion cost me some money to add some gadgets to the mix, it worked out best for everyone in the end.

I’m talking of my love for audiobooks of course. Those hard-to-pinpoint products that some insist on as “it's not reading” while others swear (including Stephen King) by it. While it is aurally-oriented instead of visually oriented, the fact remains, processing the story still takes place and is influenced by a range of factors within the text (such as font size/type, book format—paperback, hardcover, etc—pictures, layout, chapter header designs, etc) all of which color (sometimes literally) what we experience in reading. Similarly with listening incurs a range of factors from the narrator to the sound quality to the format (CDs, cassettes, MP3s, etc) that influences how one hears. But at the end, both have experienced the story. That becomes the central piece here. The idea behind reading is to experience the story and in both cases, that occurs. Of course, the argument is that a reader analyzes it better than the listener, but that’s only because we have been more trained to be cautious and aware of reading nuances. A well-verse listener could also making all sorts of insights about a piece he/she listened to (in fact, currently working on an article for a book, doing just that). (Note: By and large, I’m talking here about unabridged audiobooks which translates the text word for word—mostly: usually, it skips footnotes, maps, and other supplemental material). Ok—that part of this rant is over.

So what moves me with audiobooks? Many consider them a snore-fest or feel they “can’t get into them.” Of course, their experience usually consists of listening to one and deciding to be done with it. Rather silly. If that were the case with reading, very few readers would exist. The fact is, just like we can “see” well before we can read, we also can hear, well before we can listen. For many, listening to audiobooks should be a gradual process in which they figure out a few different things about their listening preferences.

1. Place: If you sit down to listen to an audiobook in your living room with nothing else; you most likely fall asleep. This ISN’T because the narrator is boring. This has to do with the fact that in a quiet space with someone reading to you without any other stimuli, is a natural invitation to sleep (after all, for many of us our parents read us stories for bed and even if they didn’t, the idea of a voice in a peaceful environment probably has some correlations to our existence in the womb). Not all places will work for people but some of the most popular include while doing chores, commuting (by car, legs, or public transportation), or even while waiting in line or running errands like grocery shopping. For many, like myself, the goal is to use audiobooks when my body (but not necessarily my mind) need to be engaged.

2. Genres. Not everyone likes every genre and more importantly, genre interest does not always cross forms. People who like to read science-fiction may abhor science-fiction films. People who enjoy chick-lit maybe be repulsed by the “chick flick”. Realize that you’ll enjoy certain genres in one form that you might not elsewhere.

3. Narrative format. Some people love single-voice narrators, others like multiple narrators within a production, and still some prefer male over female narrators. These too can sway your interest for the book and it takes some time, trial, and error to determine what you like.

4. Audio format. If I can’t get it in (or put it into) MP3, I’m immediately not a fan of it. The reason is because for me, it’s easier. Given how much I listen, I would rather have a CD with 700 MBs of MP3 audiobooks (about 30 hours) instead of an audio CD (with a measly 80 minutes) and we won’t even talk about how many hours my mp3 player has.

There are other facets for gaining audio-literacy but maybe that’s for another post. Hopefully, it is sufficient enough for people to realize and ponder their listening-literacy. I want to get back to why I love audiobooks. See, many people confuse listening to audiobooks for being lazy. But many of the audiobook addicts I know, it has nothing to do with this. The fact is, I listen to audiobooks because I love stories. Many of my friends have heard me say this and it’s still true (thousands of audiobooks later). I don’t listen because I hate reading. I listen, because I could spend EVERY WAKING MOMENT of my life reading all the books in the world, and by the time I died, I still wouldn’t have gotten to half of the books that I’ve wanted to cover. So, audiobooks allow me an excellent avenue to get exposure to that much more knowledge and more stories. In doing so, it has also introduced me to a great many narrators whom I’ve gotten to interview or just admire from afar, including Scott Brick, Stefan Rudnicki, Alan Sklar, Barbara Rosenblat, Grover Gardner, Simon Jones, Phil Gigante, Jim Dale, and William Dufris, among many others.

It’s also worth noting that there are hundreds of thousands of audiobooks available. It used to be hard to acquire them but nowadays, between extensive library networks, digital download sites such as audible.com and iTunes, communal efforts (like the great folks at Librivox) and other resources (legal or pirated), provide for an abundance of listening for anything you’re interested in.

Freeway Flyer Blog: Scheduling Classes and Learning to Cry on the Inside

2011-04-22T20:40:00.000-04:00

“I’m sorry, I can’t teach that class.” Now, I say this in a calm and mature tone. But in my head, I’m screaming, kicking, and pouting like the five-year-old I know. I really am. Recently, I was offered the chance to teach a course at a college I hadn’t taught at yet. It was not the standard introductory course many adjuncts are stuck with after full-time faculty choose the crème-de-la-crème; it was one within my specialty.

For the rest of this blog, check out this Adjunct Nation.

Sound Judgment: An Audies Judge Reflects

2011-04-17T10:47:00.000-04:00

My sidebar write up in Library Journal about being a judge for the Audies.

While many of my teen peers were making mixtapes, I was popping audiobooks like potato chips. In 2003, during my first official audiobook-reviewing stint, for the now-defunct AudiobookCafe.com, the managing editor there invited me to apply to become a judge for the Audies. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.

Having now judged the competition every year since—in categories including adaptation, audio drama, sf, classics, and humor—I have seen firsthand the effect that the growth of the audiobook industry has had on judging criteria and procedure as well as the ways in which it has shaped the nature of the competition overall.

For the full article, visit Library Journal.

Behind the Mike: Simon Jones

2011-04-16T14:53:00.000-04:00

My interview with Simon Jones in Library Journal:

With over 30 years of film, radio, television, and theater experience, Simon Jones (www.simonjonesinfo.com) has moved many an audience with his clear, distinct, British-accented voice and often deadpan delivery. An audiobook narrator since 1986, he has recorded over 60 titles, many of them Audie Award nominees and one—Mitch Cullin’s A Slight Trick of the Mind (HighBridge Audio, 2005)—a winner of that award. Among his most recent recordings are Daniel Ariely’s The Upside of Irrationality (HarperAudio) and Robert Harris’s Conspirata (S. & S. Audio), both released in 2010.

Eaton: What have been your favorite audios to record to date?
Jones: Jonathan Stroud’s “Bartimaeus” books: The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye, Ptolemy’s Gate, and [the prequel to that trilogy,] The Ring of Solomon (Listening Library, 2004–10). I have really enjoyed relishing the role of Bartimaeus, evil demon extraordinaire. Stroud has created a fascinating alternative world where magic and the spirit world have real and corrupting power. The books are also funny as hell (or wherever Bartimaeus lives when not being tormented by his masters).

To read more, check out Library Journal for the full interview.

Freeway Flyer Blog: Digitalizing the Freeway Flyer

2011-04-06T22:56:00.000-04:00

Recently, I listened to the audiobook of Chris Anderson’s “Free: The Future of Radical Price” for free. The premise is that behind the digital revolution is the mass amplification of cheap goods and services to be offered will increase and what people will get is the most basic model; if they want a more specialized version, they will have to pay. Anderson expands upon this in a variety of ways, but that’s the gist. This has me thinking about the uses and benefits of digital freebies as it relates to the classroom and the Freeway Flyer.

Too read more, check out the full post here!

Books for Social Credit: How GoodReads Made Me Increase My Book Reading

2011-03-24T17:19:00.001-04:00

So for those that do not know or have not figured out, I’m a big fan of books. No, I’m not a full out bookslut nor would I call myself a bookwhore and I’ve worked extremely hard not to be a book-hoarder. Yes, I have lots of books. In fact, I recently treated myself to two ginormous bookshelves for them (see below). Two 7 feet tall by 4-feet wide bookshelves from The Mill Store. Worth every cent! So in the end, I’m a big fan of books and have accumulated a good amount.

Whenever I’m about to criticize someone’s collection of hub-cabs, pez-caps, etc, I look to my shelves and say; am I really any different? Sure, I can make the argument that my books have “knowledge” and “stories” and have taught me a great many things. But often, that is the case with any collector. I could argue that I only keep the “really important ones”; which is amusing since I have hundreds (I’m afraid to actually count and discover that number might even be closer to 1000 than I want to realize). Many of the collectors I know have a story, or something to say about each item they have; just as I can explain or justify my books.

Inevitably, for many of us, collecting can have a certain “credit” within our circles and beyond. The comic fan with the entire run of Uncanny X-Men all the way backs to Uncanny X-Men #1 holds also a certain amount of cultural capital within comic-collectors and straight-up comic fan circles. I’ve recently realized (or maybe acknowledge and accepted) that even with my book-reading/collecting, I too buy into the cultural capital of books.

My realization has been there in parts, but hit me full blast in the last few months, when I acquired the new bookshelves. I took a “before” and “after” picture of them and uploaded them to my Facebook account. Why? For approval of course; to let friends (particularly the bookish types) drool and appreciate what I had recently acquired and filled to capacity. This got me thinking about what other ways I pimp out my books for cultural capital. Of course, I realized that my Goodreads account (and the fact that I link it to both my Facebook and my blog) was another example.

Goodreads.com and other similar sites (like Shelfari) are fantastic social networking sites focused on reading and book culture. You can connect with friends, authors, reading groups, and other fans of your favorite authors/books. Their greatest tool is that they allow you to keep track of books that you’ve read; essentially, a virtual library. This can be great to keep track of all that you’ve read as well as interesting to see what your friends have read and where your tastes overlap.

It’s also addicting. Egad! Seeing how many books you have read and then desiring to make that number go up is worse than the friend count on Facebook that people fall prey to. Finish a book, add it to the list and bam! That’s one more accomplishment. I recently surpassed the 2000 mark and yes, I did a little happy dance (in my head). However, besides gaining bragging rights among your more nerdtastic friends, it does serve the purpose of helping you track exactly how much you are reading (and a bigger picture of the type of material you are reading) over a period of time. For instance, at the time of this blog posting, I have read approximately 70 books since January 1, 2011. (To clarify, that’s a significant mixture of books, audiobooks, and graphic novels. I am not that quick of a reader!). I find that important; largely because it lets me know how much precedence other fields of entertainment and learning are eating up my time and if I should do something about it.

Undoubtedly, a site like GoodReads has made me want to read more because there is something in being to tangibly connect exactly how much I have read over the years. It also proves a great tool at the end of the semester when I can skim through and great a really solid bibliography of recommended readings for my students or anyone for that matter interested in any of the things I teach or talk about.

(And also, let’s not kid ourselves; in writing this, I realize I am further pimping out my books and reading appetite as cultural capital)

QUESTIONS

What objects, material goods, information, knowledge, etc do you use for cultural capital? How do you communicate it to those you want to know?

Where do books rank personally within your own culture(s)? What weight do you give to books or book readers? Why?

How do you establish your own cultural capital among friends, acquaintances, fellow fans, family, or co-workers?

Freeway Flyer Blog: Synchronizing Technology, Classrooms, and Material

2011-03-20T07:21:00.000-04:00

Frequent Flyer adjuncts can feel like their life consists of repeatedly having to bring the mountain to the people. Synchronizing information, technology, material, and communication across multiple schools can be next to impossible since most schools have no interest in doing so, thus Frequent Flyers are left to their own devices for maximizing their resources to reduce the amount of redundancy in their world. But in the digital age, adjuncting can be much easier.

Copier technology has become a god-send and all those copies I used to have labor to make (fighting off other faculty tooth and nail for the copier) and lug about from campus to campus are bygone days. Many of the new copies allow you to scan to email. They operate as mass scanners in which you can turn those handouts into PDFs and put them online. Nowadays, I hand out the syllabus at the beginning of the semester and all other material can be gotten online.

Get the rest of the article at: Adjunct Nation's Freeway Flyer.

The Blog Year In Review

2011-03-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s been a year since I started this blog; so go me for beating the odds and being among the blogs to actually survive beyond the 6 months. I’m also congratulating myself on managing to be somewhat reliable and post a few a month (most months) and manage about 60 blogs in the first year—that’s just over 1 a week. I’m hoping to improve that in the next year, but who knows. And ultimately, I shouldn’t be too proud of that since a reasonable portion of those posts were repostings of things published elsewhere.

So how has blogging been for me? Fun, frustrating and rewarding.

Fun. I’ve been enjoying having a forum to put together semi-coherent thoughts and put them out into the world for people to read. I’ve always enjoyed writing and this gives me a means of writing about things that grab my attention and feel I can talk about with some level of intelligence. When I get into a post that I’m thinking about, I find myself smiling and rather enjoying myself.

Frustrating. There’s sooooo much to write about. My links folder filled with article links and topic ideas is like 30+ pages long and keeps growing. I would love to spend a week straight just writing as many as possible and then just release them on a regular basis. It’s also frustrating because it does slip my mind with my other responsibilities and then I feel like I’m disappointing my blog. I’ll log in—and it will still be there like a faithful dog but I project the long face and sad eyes saying, “Why have you abandoned me for so long? Don’t you love me?” Ok, maybe not that dramatic, but there’s still a sense of guilt.

Rewarding. I’ve had friends, family, students, and random strangers comment on the blog, or to me directly that they enjoy reading it and appreciate what I’m doing. It’s also rewarding because it has definitely spurred my writing and gotten me back into working on some other writing projects that I hope I will at some point be capable of talking about here (or even pimping out the products of said work).

Ok, I’ve made it a year. So what’s the next goal? Any recommendations the readers out there? I think I want to write more and I’m pretty sure that’s feasible with the changes in my forthcoming schedule, but what else? I am also hoping to do some more writing on audiobooks. In fact, I had planned to do a good deal of that, but it never came up in my posts.

If you have some thoughts of what you’d like to see…or hell, you’d like to write something on here, either add to the comments here or send me an email.

Here’s to a year!

Some of My Moments of Popular Culture

2011-03-06T06:49:00.000-05:00

We’re all aware of them (and I say that at the end of the week when Charlie Sheen has for all intents and purposes gone off the deep end; who knows by the time you’re reading this, he may be an uber-celebrity or you may be asking “Isn’t that like saying Britney’s gone crazy or Lindsey’s got arrest?”—it’s a bit ubiquitous). For many of us—sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly—we experience these moments of popular culture “history-in-the-making” that we in some part internalize or feel to be a part of us. We mourn the passing of a celebrity, attend a major film on opening night, attend ritual event that grants us access into a particular event, or are witness/participant to some other event. Some of these events become over amplified through media outlets while others stay upon the fringe but still captivate fans. Ultimately, these moments are part of our individual narratives, yet also shared with many others. These moments are as numerous and diverse as there are staked interests and entertainments.

Certainly in my 31+ years, there have been ample deaths: Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix, Princess Di, Michael Jackson, Gianni Versace, and Walter Kronkite to name a few (And yes, Wikipedia has this one covered). However, in my own popular cultured life, these weren’t as prominent. The first real celebrity death to hit me was John Candy. His death hit home for me since I grew up deeply enjoying his movies (memorized significant portions of both Spaceballs and The Great Outdoors). His death meant that this giant gentle of a man would no longer bring smiles to my face as he had for much of the 1980s and 1990s. Chris Farrelly hit me in a similar way too. The most recent celebrity to leave an impact was Gary Coleman whom I enjoyed a good deal during the 1980s in Diff’rent Strokes. Besides Coleman’s illness and the fact that he had become a punching bag for lame-jokes about child-actors, it just struck me that Coleman was a part of my childhood range of familiar faces that separate me from those who grew up in the 1990s or even those who grew up in the 1970s; they each had their own range of contemporary characters to access.

Another major event for me was getting to see an advance showing of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Now, regardless of how people feel about it now, in 1999; the anticipation was palpable. After all, in the previous years, Lucas had stoked our fires with re-release of the videos shortly after he re-released them in the theaters with added scenes. As an avid Star Wars fan who had watched his videos to the point of wearing out the video cassettes and up to that point had read all the books that had been written (15 or so) taking place in the Star Wars universe, this was epic. Though I passed on dressing up to attend, it certainly crossed my mind.

Napster was also a major popular culture event for me. We’re still feeling the effects of it today. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, downloading music en masse as Napster allowed us to was pretty fantastic. But it was also a collective group from certain ages and places. College students were a major part of it (in part thanks to colleges with their T-1000 connections). We gained access to mountains of music and could combine and manipulate the music in whatever way we wanted. I used to spend hours creating my mixed tapes; now it took minutes to download and a very short time to compose. I also was one of the earlier people to have an “mp3 player”, well before there was an iPod. It had 16 megabytes (and my second one had 32MB) and could contain 5-8 songs depending on what I put on there. But there was an excitement of discussion about Napster and other programs (my favorite was Audiogalaxy Satellite) and what would happen to them with Napster in court. There was a frenzy to download with abandon before it ended. In fact, nerd that I was, I was downloading more audiobooks than music by that point since others got it in their head to make mp3 audiobooks available.

And there was of course the “Death of Superman” in the 1990s. Of course, he wasn’t really dead; it was a complete marketing tool, but that didn’t stop me and a good deal of fellow comic fans from buying the issue in its poly-urethane baggy (2 copies: 1 to open; 1 to keep because it was gonna be worth something—like 10% more than what you paid for it, ha!). That talk about his death, who was going to replace him (there were at least 4 contenders), and being the one “in the know” at the school when others were interested because it had been announced on the news. It was indeed momentous for someone like me where my knowledge and experience made me a resource for others (granted, I didn’t actually read Superman or any DC Comics at the time, but that only meant I directed discussions to the comics I thought were cool). Thus, my interest in it became the means of how others perceived me which became my badge or sense of empower and pushed me deeper into comics.

These moments of popular culture can form or at least influence us, propel us in interesting directions or even create an outward appearance that we are part of a particular group or knowledgeable about a certain arena of popular culture (hence why I get to teach courses on monsters and comics).

QUESTIONS:

What about you and your moments of pop culture? What events have you witnessed that left an impact on you and how? In answering look for moments that others haven’t talked about as well as choose moments that you actually had a stake in—don’t’ just name them to name them. What moments have moved you? A series ending? A particular sporting event? Your generational equivalent to Woodstock (if such could actually be realized)?

Of Names and Covers

2011-02-26T06:31:00.001-05:00

So many of you know, I’m vegetarian; which may make what I’m about to do seem kind of strange, but bear with me. Of late, I was reviewing the audio version of the book, The Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Change the World by Kathy Freston. It is a book about, well, veganism. I will try (unsuccessfully, no doubt) to avoid commenting on the book’s content; that is a post (actually several posts—see, there I go again) for another time. My focus right now is simply on the cover and its presentation.

I'm having trouble swallowing this cover. Or rather, I'm feeling messages coming from this cover are problematic.

The iconography of the cover is problematic. Here is a blonde-hair, green-eyed fashionable woman serving me (the presumable purchaser of the book), aq beautiful, but largely hard to decipher play of food. She's clearly in a kitchen or some room connected to the kitchen. Taken together, here is our way to "lose weight, get healthy, change the world"; keep one of these domestic goddesses on hand as needed. Ok, that is being a little snyde.

The frustration comes from the idea that this book cover as presented seems problematic. By presenting a an iconic fixture of American culture (a domestically-placed and conventially attractive woman serving up food; to be read as harmless or nonthreatening), the publishers want to entice and not scare away people; invite them in to exploring the content. I could get behind that (though again, not with the overused staple of a nonthreatening domesticated woman at hand).

However, it's the name change that also feels irksome. Getting concerned about changing the name from Vegan or Veganist seems pedantic and petty. Sure, I could get behind that too; but I'm not sold that the name change taken in connection with the visual presentation doesn't speak to larger problem. By using "veganist" instead of vegan, it distinguishes itself from Vegans. It says, "This is what a veganist looks like." The underlying implication: we all know what vegans look like and we view that derogatorily (a point even Freston mentions in her book in explaining why she's a "veganist"), so we'll avoid them. In doing so, Freston (and the publishers), help perpetuate vegans as a cultural-negative stereotype. All the while, Freston depends on their ideas, their work,and their arguments to convince the reader that they too should be "veganists."

This repackaging of veganism is an attempt to make its practices more popular and accessible to people, but at the expense of people who are already predisposed to veganism's tenets. This certainly isn’t the first time something like this has happened, I’m just curious to see how vegans will react to this book or whether it will have a further effect on the representations of vegans in popular culture.

I think there is something to be said about some of the ways veganism is used by certain vegans with a holier-than-thou attitude. However, I don’t think Freston within the book with her syrupy prose and Glenn Beck-like treatment of science, religion, and “research” is much better. She doesn’t come across as and absolutist per se (see video below for an amusing example) but she trades in fanaticism for misrepresentation…of not just her cover, but her content as well.

Freeway Flyer Blog: Semester Success Story

2011-02-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

It began with my Contemporary Affairs teacher in high school. He was a copier. His classroom and office were fire-hazards filled with 3-4 foot tall stacks of photocopied articles that he would share with his students. In all of his classes, no one would escape a minimum of 5 handouts a class (there was no textbook; just handouts). By the end of the year, I had hundreds of interesting articles. But let’s face it, that approach is not sustainable and time consuming. But with that in mind, last spring, I started up a blog that I would use for teaching.

For the rest of this article, check out: Adjunct Nation's Freeway Flyer.

Interview With Cartoonist Genius: Larry Gonick

2011-01-19T10:33:00.001-05:00

To some, Larry Gonick is a cartoon genius in all senses of the phrase; for others, he's more like a cartoon madman. In 2009, Gonick published his fifth volume in the Cartoon History series, thereby spending some 1400+ pages depicting the history of humanity in comics. He has been kind enough to grant me an interview for this blog.

LANCE EATON: You spent some 30+ years composing the Cartoon History series? How does it feel to be “done” with it? Are you done with it?

LARRY GONICK: Yes, I'm done with it. When I finished, I felt great! Proud! Master-of-the-Universe Powerful! Then a few months went by, and I began to feel as if the organizing principle of my life had disappeared. Vacuum at the center. I kept asking myself, "if this was a lifetime project, is my life over?" Then those feelings faded. Now I just get up in the morning and go to work. I still do feel happy to have finished what I started, though.

EATON: What were the most challenges elements of composing the Cartoon History series?   What sections/chapters/events might you re-evaluate or re-do if given the chance?

GONICK: You ask short questions with long answers! Right now the most important revision would be to the human evolution section, Book 1, Volume 2. So much more is known now than when I wrote it, especially the details (gathered from DNA evidence) about the earliest migrations of homo sapiens out of Africa.

Another issue, and would be an expansion, not a re-do, is to explore more fully the "peripheral" regions of the world. Sweden, Korea, etc. When the Korean translation came out, every email I had from Korean readers complained about the lack of Korean history. At first I tried to explain that my idea of world history didn't mean the history of everywhere in the world, but rather a large story that was mainly about interactions, and peripheral places didn't have as many interactions. Since no one seemed receptive to hearing this, I quit bothering.

As it is, I could have and should have added more in the very last installment about several places, which are now more thoroughly integrated into a globalized world.

Another one would be to re-ink Book 1, Vol 7, with a brush, rather than a pen. All the rest of the series was done w/ a brush.

EATON:    What kind of issues around production/publishing in terms of content/censorship, book-length, and other behind the scene concerns did you run up against?

GONICK: None. The length and structure were self-imposed. I wanted the discipline to make sure I finished. As I say, I could have used about 35-50 more pages in Modern World Part 2.

EATON:    What are your own critiques of your work?

GONICK: By and large, I like the writing better than the drawing. Just putting together all the information was so time-consuming that I always felt I didn't have as much time for the art as I would have liked. This problem felt less acute as I went on, especially in the last two books, when I had established something like a regular "visual vocabulary" on which I could draw, but I felt it acutely in the first two—except for the dinosaurs, which I drew lovingly. I think I've always liked dinosaurs better than people. Is that a critique?

EATON: Besides the dinosaurs (and finishing), what did you find most rewarding about doing the Cartoon History series?

GONICK: They stay in print!!!!!

EATON:    One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about your books is that they had a good blending of historical theory, criticism of the history discipline, and humor to produce a series of books that don’t just provide a straightforward history provide a meaningful approach to thinking and learning about history. Can you speak to this at all?

GONICK: As Ike Turner once said (in "It's Gonna Work Out Fine"), That was my plan from the very beginning. Voiceover a fairly straightforward narrative. Commentary from people "on the ground." A certain amount of historiography (i.e., poking fun at historians), mostly in the footnotes.

The footnotes, by the way, are the main vehicle for explicit commentary in the authorial voice. The idea came to me from a book my father picked up from a used bookstall in San Francisco when I was in high school. The book, called "Almanac for 39ers," was a well-produced guidebook/calendar for the 1939 World's Fair. It had historical items listed day by day, but also included independent footnotes on various topics, and these were fun.

I first used footnotes in a Sunday comic strip, coincidentally titled "Yankee Almanack," a history of colonial Massachusetts I did for the Boston Globe. As you probably know, Sunday strips have to have a flexible format, with some independent panels that can be discarded to convert a half-page to a one-third-page. There's a standard way to do this, but it didn't work for me; the footnotes, though, had the same effect.

EATON:    What have you found most surprisingly about the reception of your comic guides and A Cartoon History of the Universe/Modern World series the most?

GONICK: Surprising? I don't know... For some reason, I have a big following in Indonesia. That's a puzzle. Otherwise... frankly... I've always wondered a little why the series doesn't sell about 10 times what it has, but at least it all stays in print, so I can't complain.

EATON:    What kind of discussions have you had with historians about your work?

GONICK: Almost none at all, strangely enough. Sometimes I wonder if historians don't take their subject too seriously. I've had far more interaction with scientists.

EATON:    In talking of the series popularity, what was your reaction when you discovered it being used on college campuses?

GONICK: Relief that professors and students were "getting it." The main thing, from my point of view, about classroom use is that I know that the stuff works. I operate pretty much in isolation, writing the comics to suit myself. The fact that teachers actually find them useful is extremely gratifying. It also absolves me from any whiff of the implication that these are some kind of Cliff's Notes, easy summaries. I like to think there's enough originality, effective story-telling, and interpretation to make the Cartoon Histories stand on their own.

EATON:    Is there a “Comic Guide” that you wouldn’t write but would like to see out there?

GONICK: That I *wouldn't* write? I hope to write the ones that I would like to see out there!

EATON:    Do you feel the field of nonfiction/informational comics has changed since you first started? If so, how?

GONICK: Now it exists. Before, it was pretty much confined to "industrials." At least in the United States. The pioneer non-fiction humorist/cartoonist was Rius in Mexico. I started after seeing his work.

EATON:    Can we expect an “omnibus edition” Cartoon History of the Universe with all 1450 or so pages?

GONICK: Probably not, at least not soon. There have been three different publishers, for complicated reason, so we'd have to find someone willing to do a three-way or four-way negotiation to make it happen.

EATON:   So you’ve covered the history of the world, what’s your next project? Comic or otherwise?

GONICK: I'm finishing up The Cartoon Guide to Calculus. After that, I hope to do at least one more math book. There's a novel percolating in the back of my brain. And (hint, hint) if there's anyone out there who wants to animate the Cartoon History of the Universe, LET'S TALK!

For more information and updates on Larry Gonick, check out his website!

Adjunct Nation Post: Student Emails Can Drive You Crazy

2011-01-04T12:13:00.000-05:00

“yo prof what’s homework for today —me” (typical email received 10 minutes before class at least five times per semester from different students)

Email is the great communication tool and the giant headache for the Freeway Flyer. More so than other adjuncts, we end up with having to juggle email at multiple schools and have more students, on average, to respond to. Keeping it all together requires a little bit of organization ahead of time to maximize your time spent throughout the semester. I’ve developed several strategies for coping and they include the obvious: clear communication and redundancy/repetition.

When it comes to email, I insist on students...

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE at AdjunctNation.com

Supporting the Adjunct Addiction

2010-12-29T07:45:00.001-05:00

I don’t want to call it an addiction; because honestly, I can walk away whenever I want. But I realized that to support my predilection for adjuncting full time, I’ve assembled a range of jobs that help me keep doing what I enjoy. In other words, I have jobs that help support my full-time job. Granted, I’m not in the stuck in the situation of those full-time Wal-Mart employees who still qualify discounted state-funded healthcare, but I do find that in order to keep everything flowing smoothly, I hold onto several other jobs and am constantly keeping an eye on potential jobs to fill the gaps (for both current teaching and non-teaching gigs). But really, I can walk away whenever I want.

In total, I am employed by 10 places (5 colleges; 1 residential program, 4 publications). Over several years, I’ve synergized my various skills, interests, and goals so that my jobs overlap or help one another. For instance, some of my writing includes reviewing audiobooks. The reviews themselves aren’t necessarily taxing but listening to 6-12 hour audiobooks could be. Therefore, I often listen while commuting to the various colleges I teach at or when doing chores around the house and usually cover 2-3 audiobooks a week. I work overnight at the residential program 2 nights a week, which may sound crazy, but the situation allows me to grade papers, prep and correspond with students via email since I have to stay awake and keep myself entertained for some 7 hours. Ok, I can be a little sleep deprived at times, but I can still perfectly function and nobody notices…mostly.

External jobs can offer a variety of things that can help and support your primary goals as a full-time adjunct. They can provide you with benefits; the overnight job gives me my health insurance. They can provide one with more diverse experience to further expand one’s CV and other opportunities. Along those lines, they also provide “real world” experience to temper one’s pedagogical experience. They can serve as financial padding when the course load is a bit too light.   They can provide a larger network of people including potential guest lecturers to bring into the classroom. They can be a much needed source of relief and distraction from the demands of adjuncting.    So frankly, it’s better that I keep doing what I’m doing. I’m better that way.

The key is to blend interests, opportunities for double-dipping, and maximizing unused time to make it all fit.   In the short run, one may have to take a few jobs that were less desirable, stressful, and taxing, but in taking the long view, one can strategically shift into those positions that not only help to support the full-time adjuncting, but also, can be enjoyable in their own right. That’s right; I make it look easy and enjoyable so that no one knows about my predilection.

Interview with Gareth Hinds

2010-12-21T19:53:00.001-05:00

I encountered Gareth Hinds several years back when I first started doing graphic novel reviews. A graphic rendition of King Lear by Hinds came across my desk and I rather enjoyed it. Shortly thereafter, I learned that Hinds was a local artist in the greater Boston area. At the time, I was creating a roundtable discussion of several people involved in the comics industry for an even at North Shore Community College and his name instantly popped into mind. Since then, Hinds has gone on to publish Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice as well as most recently, a wonderful graphic adaptation of The Odyssey. He has been kind enough to be interviewed for this blog.

EATON: So you’ve done Beowulf, King Lear, Merchant of Venice and now The Odyssey. What pulls you to do the classics? What do you feel you can add to them by putting them in comic form?

HINDS: This question could cover a lot of ground, but let's just say that I want to work with the best writers around, and in my opinion those are Shakespeare, Homer, and the anonymous composer of Beowulf. The major benefit of turning them into graphic novels is that they become more exciting to young people (as well as anyone who feels the originals are too long, dense, or difficult).

EATON: What are the major challenges in adapting classic literature into comics?

HINDS: They tend to be long. They don't lend themselves very well to being broken into short chunks of dialog (which is usually better than long chunks in terms of story flow in the comics medium.) They are very sophisticated, and if you dumb them down to fit in the world of standard superhero fare,... well, then they're dumb. This is the mistake I see made most often.

EATON: Conceptually, what challenges did you find with The Odyssey? Technically, what challenges did you find with The Odyssey? What editorial decisions needed to be made with adapting The Odyssey?

HINDS: I'm going to answer these three all together, because the distinctions between them are a bit blurry.

Because the Odyssey is so long, I had to think about how I was going to shorten it. There were certain sections that lent themselves well to compression, such as the Land of the Dead, and the period after Odysseus' return when he's scoping out the situation and telling people a lot of elaborate lies about who he is and where he's from. Also there was the question of which translation to use, and how to edit down the dialog. After looking at that for a while, I decided that I needed to re-write everything in order to get it short enough, and that let me more or less dodge the translation issue.

I feel that each book I do demands its own visual style, so the next challenge was figuring out a style that captured the feel of this time and place, the ancient Mediterranean, that made it feel real -- that I could do quickly, since it's such a long book. I tried quite a few things, and ultimately the simple pencil and watercolor direction was the one which worked best. There were also technical details to work out with my designer at Candlewick, such as the width of the margins and gutters, the type face, how to make the sound effects integrated but editable,and so on.

Once I was into the actual execution of the book, there were challenges with specific scenes. I try to be very faithful to the original source material, but when you are going from one medium to another, you really are translating, and sometimes details have to change in order to achieve the same overall effect. Especially with the more emotionally-charged moments, it can be difficult to convey the thoughts and feelings of the characters without using thought bubbles or third-person narration (devices which I don't particularly like, especially when I'm trying to maintain a classical feeling). Some scenes that especially gave me trouble: the recognition scenes with Argos and Eurycleia, the Land of the Dead, Odysseus and Penelope's night together after their reunion, and the very end (which is quite abrupt in the original).

EATON: One thing I’ve grown to enjoy about your work is the coloring and color schemes used throughout different sections of the book. Can you speak to the coloring choices?

HINDS: The jumping-off point is whatever I think is realistic for the scene -- firelight, sunrise, bright noonday sun, and so on. Then I will adjust it based on the mood I'm looking for. So the Cyclops' firelit cave becomes an angry bright orange, while Odysseus' firelit palace at night, when he's in disguise talking to Penelope, is more subdued and mysterious. Also the watercolor has its own ideas sometimes!

In this book especially, I do a lot of day-night transitions to show how time is passing, especially in the traveling sequences.

EATON: Do you do any kind of research when adapting a classic? Do you read academic material or anything along those lines for further insight?

HINDS: I don't read much critical material about the work I'm adapting, because that stuff is usually pretty dense and boring, and I prefer to stick to my own impressions of the work. I do quite a lot of visual and contextual research on the period, especially things like architecture, clothing, weapons, furniture, etc. Basically I want to get a solid feeling for how everything would look realistically. Then I may depart from that historically accurate vision a little (or a lot) -- perhaps by simplifying it, stylizing it, making it more grandiose or more fantastic, or perhaps even changing the setting completely -- but doing so with a confidence that I know what I'm departing from, and I'm making those choices consciously and for a reason.

EATON: What is your favorite part of the Odyssey? (Both in terms of the story and in terms of the work that you did)

HINDS: In the original story my favorite part is when Odysseus' dog Argos recognizes him. Ultimately I'm very happy with the way I was able to (I think) preserve the power of that scene, although it was also the scene I wrestled with the most. The scenes that really just came together easily and beautifully were the ones where Odysseus is out on the sea alone, sailing, swimming, being shipwrecked, etc.

EATON: What is your next project?

HINDS: I've just finished up a book for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, called Gifts from the Gods, that is a kind of hybrid between a picture book and a graphic novel. The text is by Lise Lunge-Larsen, and it's about Greek and Roman mythology, so in subject it's very much in keeping with The Odyssey, but it's also very novel for me in terms of working with a new format, publisher, editor,... and a living writer!

For more information, please check out Gareth Hind's website and his blog.

Interview with Matthew Smith and Randy Duncan

2010-11-22T11:42:00.004-05:00

In this interview, I chat with Matt Smith and Randy Duncan, the co-authors of The Power of Comics; a resourceful text that explores comics through a variety of lenses and serves as a great source for stepping into the field of comic studies.

Lance Eaton: What was the genesis for the book?

Matt Smith: I'd written two textbooks before, one an introduction to general communication studies and the other for computer-mediated communication, and realized when I had the chance to teach my first comics course that there was nothing of the ilk in the field of comics arts studies. After cobbling together readings from various sources in that first iteration, I wanted to see a book that addressed the field and worked up a proposal. As fate would have it, I met Randy Duncan at Comic-Con International that summer and we began talking about chapters he had already written for just such a book. Our visions for what this text should look like overlapped by 80%. All we had to do was negotiate the remaining discrepancies and we were off and running.

Randy Duncan: I had been teaching comics as Communication for a number of years, and each year I expanded my handouts until, by the time I met Matt, some of them were “chapters”. I even used Microsoft Publisher to format them with sidebars and inset boxes. Matt and I took the longest of those pseudo-chapters and reworked it into a sample chapter for our proposal.

Eaton: How long did it take from conception to publication?

Smith: I began working on the book in late 2005, met Randy in the summer of 2006, and saw final publication in 2009, so it was a four-year process all told.

Duncan: Luckily we each got a sabbatical during the final year of the process. I’m sure it would have taken us longer if we had not had those months of concentrated effort.

Eaton: How did the collaboration work between the two of you?

Smith: Initially we divided up the chapters and each drafted the text. We then wrote over one another and/or took chapters from one another. I think one of the things that I enjoy most about working with Randy is that we are good about critiquing one another and accepting those critiques to get better writing out of the exchange.

Duncan: We have somewhat different writing styles, but once we had edited and contributed new material to one another’s chapters it became a very blended style. Someone would have to know one of us pretty well to be able to hear Matt’s or my particular voice in the work.

Eaton: What were some of the challenges in putting together the text?

Smith:The hardest thing was securing image permissions. There are a lot of great images in The Power of Comics, but some of them took a long time to secure. And some we wanted to include, we couldn't get the copyright holders to let go without exorbitant fees. It seems like we spent the better part of a year just on images alone.

Duncan: Matt is being very generous when he says “we”. He did 98 percent of the work on securing permissions. When I did pitch in it was for the fun stuff, like phone calls to Harvey Pekar, Scott McCloud, and Bob Jackson (the photographer who took the famous Ruby shooting Oswald photo). For me, the most challenging part of the process was staying within our contracted word limit for the book. There was so many difficult choices about what to leave out.

Eaton: What chapters/information/elements didn’t make it into the book that you wish did?

Duncan: We each wrote a history chapter and both of us felt like we were leaving out way more than we were including. We just didn’t have room to say enough about Sheldon Mayer, Pop Hollinger, Denis Kitchen and scores of other people who made significant contributions to the development of comics in America.

Chapters 6 and 7 were written last and there was not much word count left of our contracted limit, so those chapters had to be very sparse. Our deadline for delivering the book was also rapidly approaching. Because we did not have room for the richness of explanation we would have liked, we relied quite a bit on visual examples.

Smith: We had some additional creator profiles that we had to cut because of space. A lot of those emigrated to our website, though, www.powerofcomics.com for people to reference if they want.

Eaton: What do you feel were the major works that contributed to your book? (For instance, it’s clear that Chapter 10 (Superhero Genre) was influenced in large part by Coogan’s book, Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre, what about other chapters?

Duncan: Most people in comics studies know that Pete Coogan and I are good friends; we co-founded the Comics Arts Conference back in 1992. However, even if neither of us knew Pete his book would still have been the major influence on the superhero chapter; it’s a great book. Pete has planted his flag on the superhero concept and established himself as the foremost expert on the topic.

Matt and I both loved Gerard Jones’ Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, and I’m sure it influenced our take on comic book history.

Bill Schelly’s work on the history of comics fandom was a great resource for Chapter 8 (The Comic Book Readers).

The comics theory of Eisner, Harvey, and McCloud are evident in our approach to comics form, but even though he might not be mentioned as often, Thierry Groensteen’s ideas helped shape Chapters 6 and 7. Of course, we ended up taking a somewhat simpler approach to the concepts, but grappling with The System of Comics certainly stimulated our thinking about comics form.

Smith: Certainly you'll find Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics referenced and Bob Harvey's Comics The Art of the Comic Book in chapters 6 and 7. However, we worked to incorporate a lot of journal articles from multiple disciplines to flesh out a perspective on comics. There's a good deal of interdisciplinary ground covered in the book.

Eaton: How do you feel about how the book has been received?

Matt: Most all of the reviews have been very positive and supportive of the project. We want to encourage anyone teaching a course in comics arts studies to take a look at it and see if it could help provide some grounding for their course.

Duncan: It’s great to hear from our colleagues that they think we did a good job of covering concepts creating useful exercises, but it has been just as gratifying to hear people say they enjoyed reading the book.

Eaton: What additional thoughts/considerations would you have for people (students) who read this book?

Duncan: One of the dangers of a textbook is that it can suck all the fun out of something because you are suddenly putting this thing that people love into the context of something that has to be studied. We really hope we avoided that pitfall, and that our own love of comics infuses the book.

Smith: I want to see comics arts studies mature in the way that Film Studies has in terms of academic (if not wider cultural) repute. The introduction of several key journals is helping that process, our courses are as well, and I hope that in its own way the very existence of The Power of Comics contributes to that process.

Eaton: What new projects are you and Randy working on (on your own or together)?

Smith: We are editing Critical Approaches to Comics and Graphic Novels: Theories and Methods for Routledge. This book will be out in 2011 and features contributions from 20+ scholars in our field, each of whom explains a method for analyzing comics or comics culture and then provides a short application of it. For example, Randy's chapter introduces how to do formalist criticism of a comics story and then demonstrates that using Asterios Polyp. The book will features several luminaries in the field, including an introduction from Henry Jenkins.

Duncan: We are both contributing essays to the scholarly anthology Understanding Superman: The Evolving Contexts of a Pop Culture Icon. That should be out toward the end of next year. I'm also working on a couple of comics -related journal articles, and an article about Pop Hollinger, one of the first comic book dealers, for Alter Ego magazine.

Randy Duncan has a Ph.D. in Communication from Louisiana State University. He has taught at Henderson State University since 1987. He teaches a course in Comics as Communication. He is co-author (with Matthew J. Smith) of The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture, a college-level textbook on comic books and graphic novels (Continuum Books 2009). Dr. Duncan is co-founder of the Comics Arts Conference, which celebrated its 18th anniversary in 2010. He also serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Comic Art and the Board of Directors of the Institute for Comics Studies. Along with Matthew J. Smith he is co-editing the forthcoming Critical Approaches to Comics and Graphic Novels: Theories and Methods (Routledge 2011).

Matthew J. Smith is an associate professor of communication at Wittenberg University. He is co-author of The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture (Continuum, 2009) and former president of the Ohio Communication Association. In 2009, Wittenberg’s Alumni Association recognized him with its Distinguished Teaching Award. Each summer he leads the Field Study at Comic-Con during San Diego's Comic-Con International. Students interested in studying the intersection of fan culture and marketing are invited to check out the program.

Freeway Flyer: Dead Time: Making The Most of It

2010-11-16T10:32:00.000-05:00

The following is an excerpt from another blog I run on AdjunctNation.com:

While time management is a challenge for everyone, for Frequent Flyers, it’s particularly vexing as we dart from campus-to-campus, classroom-to-classroom, leaving trails of ungraded (or graded) papers in our wakes. There are two major types of “dead time” that I contend with, and I suspect you do, as well.

The Commute: Whether on foot, bike, bus, or car, an awful lot of our time is consumed with transporting ourselves. Some days, I hit three different campuses in three different cities (and sometimes three different counties). This balancing act of classes and commuting is central to the formula we create in deciding our course loads at the various schools each semester. But commuting can swallow up a good deal of vital time. So how to maximize that time?

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Interview With George A. Walker

2010-11-13T08:41:00.000-05:00

As I grew increasingly interested in comics, I also became aware of a whole other form of visual storytelling: woodcut novels. I found the works of Frans Masereel, Lynn Ward, and others to be beautifully steeped with powerful storytelling through images (highly influenced by German Expressionism) and impressively deep with what they communicated. George Walker helped me gain a further appreciation of this particular form in publishing Graphic Witness, which not only had 4 great works of these assembled but also had a fantastic essay that further elaborated on the history and craft of woodcut novels. Herein is an interview with George Walker about his work on Graphic Witness as well as the recently crafted and published, The Book of Hours, his own woodcut novel.

Lance Eaton: How did you get into woodcut novels?

George Walker: The inspiration for the woodcut novel was the Belgian artist, Frans Masereel. I first came across his work at an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario in the 1980s. I started collecting his work shortly after that. Surprisingly his books (with wood engravings printed directly from his blocks) were very reasonably priced. The publisher Kurt Wolff made a wonderful series of his wordless novels in the 1920s with introductions by such eminent figures such as Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann.

Eaton: About how many woodcut novels were published in the 20th century?

Walker: I would defer this question to my colleague David Berona who speaks to this in his book, Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels. The problem is of course definition of the term woodcut novels. For example the book Destiny by Otto Nuckel was engraved on lead because of a shortage of wood but the technique he uses stems from his experience as a wood engraver. I would want to include him in this number but some would argue otherwise.

Eaton: What generated the creation of Graphic Witness?

Walker: Based on my personal collection of wordless novels by Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, Giacomo Patri, Laurence Hyde and others I contacted a number of publishers about reprinting these works and providing a contemporary context for their influence on comics, printmaking and film. Firefly Books was very receptive to the idea. Most of the rights holders were very enthusiastic about seeing their relatives’ work in print again. My wife and I made the journey to Ottawa to meet with famous spy novelist Anthony Hyde to request permission to reprint his father’s work Southern Cross. Over tea Mr. Hyde showed us his father’s engraving tools and original sketches and prints as we sat in awe at the marvelous collection preserved with such care and love. Mr. Hyde granted us permission to reprint his father’s book and we are grateful to him for his generosity. We were happy to connect David Berona (who has become a friend of ours) with Mr. Hyde for permission to reprint Southern Cross for his very fine Drawn and Quarterly edition.

Eaton: What was the decision process for the particular selections in Graphic Witness?

Walker: All the books in Graphic Witness are from my own library. As far as choosing, it really came down to which books I could secure a letter from the family (or the rights holder) to grant permission to reproduce the whole book as the artist published it. The other factor is that all these wordless narratives are relief printed from wood or linoleum blocks. David Berona had already negotiated reprints with Dover for some of the Masereel work and the Redstone Press had done a reprint of Passionate Journey in the 1980s, so I wanted to select work that was no longer in print. Masereel’s work Die Passion appeared in 1918 and I felt that it marked the beginning of this form of narrative story. Hyde is Canadian like I am but also his work speaks to a contemporary issue that is still potent: destructive power of the nuclear bomb. All the books have in common relief printing as the process of making the images, and thematically, concern for social issues and the struggle for control of our own lives.

Eaton: Do you distinguish between woodcut novels and comics? What would that be?

Walker: Yes, they are different narrative formats of sequential art! The woodcut novel is a direct descendant of the block books and the religious woodcut narratives of the 15th century. Jacobus di Theramos’ work The Early History of Man (1484) is a good example of this block narrative style. I suppose comics could hold this same lineage and that the cave paintings found in France are a type of pre-history wordless narrative too. Comics however are a popular mass media format that has a separate history and narrative problem. The woodcut novel has closer relationship to art history evolving from German Expressionism and its interest with an emotive response to human suffering and the sociological concerns of culture. Graphic novels and woodcut narratives share a kinship with each other through the province of visual culture, but they are separate media both in process and presentation.

Eaton: Why did you decide to do your own woodcut novel?

Walker: I have been planning to do one for years but was struggling with other projects that kept interrupting my focus. The events of 9-11 changed all that for me when I realized that the cultural paradigm had shifted and that I had to document the event. Writing about it was not sufficient for me to explain the complexities and symbolic shifts in our cultural climate. Words have many limitations that images do not have, especially when it comes to capturing the subtle all-encompassing shift in the grand narrative of western culture.

Eaton: What challenges did you face in pitching the idea to publishers?

Walker: The popularity of graphic novels and the sales figures for that market segment helped to convince the publisher that the book would have a chance of fair sales return for the investment.

Eaton: Technically, what challenges did you find with The Book of Hours?

Walker: During the technical making and preparation of the blocks (over 100 of them) each block had to be exactly .918” high to work on my Vandercook SP15 proof press (as in all letterpress projects). The next challenge was preparing each block’s surface on which to draw the reversed image. This required a careful sanding and then a series of fine polishing on a dead flat stone surface. I then engrave using the tools of the silversmith on the endgrain of Canadian maple. (for more detail see my book, The Woodcut Artists’ Handbook) Of course if I made a mistake in the engraving process I could not easily correct it. Everything all along had to be checked in a mirror, as the drawing on the block would be reversed again once it was printed. The press can be a tricky machine and I would spend hours tweaking the paper, ink and impression to pull the best possible proof. It’s not at all like making a comic, although both start with sketching the printmaking involved in the woodcut novel takes the artist on a tactile journey through the process of reversals and presswork to finished image. The wood engraved narrative is more an assembly of visual signifiers arranged one block at a time without the problems, limitations and cultural baggage sometimes precipitated by words.

Eaton: Conceptually, what challenges did you find with The Book of Hours?

Walker: Constructing a narrative that flowed through a sequence of people and places yet told a larger story of place and time was difficult. I had to play with the sequencing and pace relating to the events that led up to 9-11. One of the things that helped me was to follow the detailed weather reports from New York City for the day before and the day of September 11th.

Eaton: Unlike the selections in Graphic Witness, The Book of Hours is a decentered narrative, focused around an event with characters moving in and out; why did you choose that route?

Walker: It is a deliberate narrative of the everyday. It is the mundane routines of our everyday lives that are centered on the immediate concerns of sleep, food, work and travel that consume us. Those World Trade Center employees and visitors are the people I wanted to honour. The media provides us with a bias news and entertainment that leaves us narcotized to the devastation that lurks behind our cultural façade. I chose this route to point to the end of the post modernist narrative and the dawn of a new historical period that questions our understanding of the words ‘everyday’,‘security’ and ‘terrorist’.

Eaton: How do you feel that your woodcut novel manages to convey this?

Walker: This is a good question and I am not sure that my piece conveys it fully. But I believe that our sense of security, the idea of ‘the terrorist’ in society and our notion of ‘everyday’ — meaning the comings and goings and what we expect to find in our everyday movements and engagement with those around us, has changed fundamentally in our society. After 9-11 we no longer think we are safe from terror and our feeling of trust in the world has changed. The ‘other’ in our community who is not like us —is suspicious to our constructs and notion of safe and acceptable. Our idea of borders and community has changed and our privacy and belief in government systems, news media and truth has changed. The question as to why the USA attacked Iraq when the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center were from Saudi Arabia has never been fully answered. If the answer is greed, oil and corporate values over government agency, then we are certainly moving into a different world order in my opinion.

Eaton: There are several pages where the character seems to be looking at the reader; can you speak to your goal with this? (In particular and probably the most intense reading experience in the book is Pg 99, after the previous 2 pages had the same person looking downward and then on Pg 99; directly at the reader).

Walker: The goal is to engage the reader in the silent dialogue including them in the story as if they were present at the event. The device of having the subject look out at the reader derives from concepts in art theory and the writings of many existentialists and phenomenologists who have explored the concept of the "Gaze". Foucault and Derrida explored this idea in power relations and its context to creating meaning beyond the frame of the picture (in this case the book is the frame). It is a strong signifier that draws the reader into the story as the viewer is more engaged when the subject (the wood engraving) addresses them directly. The reader then must interpret the ‘look’ they are receiving and attempt to decode its meaning. We will never know if we the readers are being scrutinized, analyzed or just observed by the signifier which offers only their symbolic facial expression as a sign of what may be the dialogue between the invisible viewer (you) and the image.

Eaton: Was 99 Panels a deliberate choice or coincidental?

Walker: I have played with numerology throughout my book. 99 engravings was intentional and so are the time signatures. If you add the numbers together in the time displays they add to 9 or 11. It’s an intentional symbolic tome with deliberate hidden meanings.

Eaton: And new projects on the horizon?

Walker: I am working on a wordless narrative now titled, The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson.
For more information about George Walker & The Book Of Hours, check out his website.

Overinflated Claim: Now Is The Beginning of Widespread Hyper-Linked Interconnected Traceable History…P.S. Thanks F.B.!

2010-11-06T03:08:00.000-04:00

Facebook, for all our praise, fears, neurosis, and hookups that we can attribute to it, continues to be a compelling intersection of culture, identity, technology, and history. On my mind today is one of the latest features that Facebook unloaded: A history of your account activity. I found out about it when listening on the radio and the crux of the discussion was “fear Facebook, they now allow you access to your entire history.” Nothing like old media trying to scare us from new media; next they’ll be telling us it’s bad for our eyes and will lead to juvenile delinquency…ooops, they already do.

Upon hearing about this new feature, I went to Facebook and checked it out. Under account settings, there is now an option “Download your information.” Clicking through allows to make the choice to keep your history and download it. I went forward and selected to download it. However, since it can take some time to accumulate, you don’t download it from Facebook, but through a link sent to your email. So, forth I went and downloaded the file, which was 300 megabytes (not a light load by any means). It’s broken down into pages such as messages, friends, notes, wall, etc along with folders with photos and videos. It’s all really fascinating, though with material going as far back at 2006.

But this has me reflecting again on the nature of preservation and records in the digital age. While certainly so much can be wiped out very easily, there are also many more copies available. Before the printing press, if a person destroyed a book, that may be the only copy of that book around and thus, the knowledge the book contained could be lost. This is the case in the burnings of the Library of Alexandria. In the mechanized age of the 19th and 20th century, destroying books did not have nearly as caustic repercussions (though, we have inevitably lost some books; not many by contrast). But in the digital age, where bits are easily replicable instantaneously (simple copy & paste), much throughout the Internet can be (and is being) preserve. The most classic example is The Way Back Machine at the Internet Archive where you can few what websites looked like for each year they have been in existence (and sometimes, you can see month to month or day to day changes).

What is intriguing about Facebook is not just that it contains a person’s history, usage of the site and other information, but from a historical perspective, if gives us much more. After all, Facebook isn’t just one person writing/posting for his or her own pleasure. Instead, it’s an intricate web of connections and back and forth discussion among a range of people—entire conversations occur on people’s “wall” in their absence. As I’ve said before, a “Facebook profile” has a mixed authorship between the company, Facebook, the person whose profile it is, and the person’s friends; they all come together on the profile to make it what it is. And now, that can be seen in the large scope of things.

This has the potential to pack a powerful amount of tracking/exploring of how social networks and interactions develop, work, and evolve. In tracking this, it not only allows us to better understand the sociological and psychological elements but also to actually have a (albeit limited) accounting of a person’s life. After all, for active users, Facebook is essentially an interactive journal revealing a variety of things about their choices, preferences, actions, interests, etc that might not generally come out in any kind of standard record keeping. From “Likes” to “Fans” to “Tags” to all the other kind of information provided about each person, it allows for a plethora of things to research.

But most importantly in this possibility is that access to a large group of people (non-elite, in particular) with this range of information is unprecedented and extremely useful. Gathering this kind of information has usually required soliciting individuals in expensive/expansive research projects. But imagine if at some point, Facebook made this information accessible to sociologists, anthropologists, and historians (among other researchers). It could generate a great deal of research. (Granted, this also scares the bejeepus out of us because it implies our personal information would be out there. However, that could simply be fixed by replacing names with numbers to avoid individual divulgence; or have a rule of name reveals could not happen until 10 years after a person’s death or some other means of keeping individual anonymity).

The floodwaters of social dynamics (or social dynamics in an online environment) could give significant insight into understanding humanity as well as potential ideas about the past or how the individual experiences and discusses historical events (take your pick of events in the last 6 years).

QUESTIONS
What is some of the information that could be weaned from one’s profile that could be used for the historical record?

What specific ways could the profile history give insight into larger cultural/historical events?

How much can we rely on what is being said as “truth”? Definitely, people lie (and they have lied throughout history) but are there things that we can consider more reliable as truthful than others (that is, just like with primary sources, there are some things that we feel are more reliable/dependable to believe than others; so what are those more believable things in a Facebook profile)?

Letter to the Editor in Boston Globe

2010-10-26T05:20:00.000-04:00

Intolerance can be lethal

October 26, 2010

Self-hatred, self-abuse, and suicide attempts stimulated by bullying and widespread cultural disdain are issues that have existed for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth long before the media’s attention to the recent tragic suicides. I know. I work as a counselor with this population at Waltham House, a program of the Home for Little Wanderers, and one of the nation’s only residential group homes for GLBT youth. Ostracized teens come to us looking for help. Fear and isolation are just a few of the issues they face.

Read the rest of my letter to the editor in the Boston Globe, here.

Freeway Flyer: Full-Time Adjuncts—The Spinster Aunts of Academe

2010-10-21T07:05:00.000-04:00

The following is an excerpt from another blog I run on AdjunctNation.com:

The question has all the hallmarks of: “When are you going to settle down and have kids?” It implies that I’m not legitimate, or that my personal goals should be what the person projects for me. The question is this: “When are you going to get a tenure-line position?” Apparently, full-time/part-time adjuncts are the unmarried spinster aunts of Academe—looked upon with a degree of pity and always with the lurking suspicion: “How come she can’t snag a hubby?”

Here’s my truth: I have very little interest in a tenure-line college gig. As I’ve continued to develop my craft, expanded the range of courses taught, and have had a good deal of conversations with colleagues at the five colleges and universities that I teach at, I’ve finally become convinced that I am, indeed, exactly where someone with my ambitions and academic qualifications should be.

A tenure-line job is just not what I want.

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Interview in Library Journal: Stefan Rudnicki

2010-10-21T07:01:00.001-04:00

Behind the Mike Q&A with Stefan Rudnicki, October 15, 2010

LJ reviewer Lance Eaton, who last interviewed Barbara Rosenblat (LJ 5/1/10), talks to the Audie Award winner

By Lance Eaton Oct 15, 2010

In the past 16 years, Stefan Rudnicki has produced, directed, and narrated over 2000 audiobooks, several of them Grammy and Audie Award winners. His deep, gravelly voice can be heard across a wide range of genres, though he is perhaps best known for his narration of sf titles. His latest recordings include Harry Sidebottom’s King of Kings (Oct. 1) and I.J. Singer’s The Brothers Ashkenazi (Oct. 19), both from Blackstone Audio.

How do you prepare for narrating a new book?
Because I average a book a week, there’s obviously no time to read every word prior to recording. In fact, I’ve found that on those occasions where I have studied the text fully, a kind of spontaneity is lost. [So] over the years I’ve developed a method of scanning a book for a few key types of data.

For the full interview, click through to the full interview at Library Journal!

Top 7 Films That Creeped the Hell Outta Me

2010-10-03T07:42:00.000-04:00

We’re obviously into “Halloween” season as Boston.com has provided a photo-slide show of the “Top 50 Scary Movies,” a completely arbitrary list that looks to entertain rather than distill a clear and accurate depiction of the best 50 scary movies. While the creators of this show have collected an interesting assortment, it’s just that; a quirky but largely irrelevant collection. They follow it up with the 20 Best Zombie Movies ever made. I’ve watched some 90+ zombie films in my life…trust me, there’s only about 20 good ones (and that’s stretching it) despite the hundreds that have been made. But the folks on the Horror Listserv (a must for anyone who likes to talk details about horror films) are apt to rip it apart and deliver some 100 more films even better than what Boston.com has.

The most striking and surprising on their scary movies but upon second thought, most agreeable, was Willy Wonka (The original; not the remake). Gene Wilder doing his eccentricity to the fullest; a bunch of Umpa-Lumpas with bad orange fake-n-bake skin tanning, and little children getting their EC Comics-derived “just desserts” and you definitely have something that is rather haunting and dastardly. However, by contrast, the list also included Open Water, a film that hovers in my (completely arbitrary) top 5 worst films ever list.

But we all like lists, so I’ve compiled the Top 7 Films That Creeped the Hell Outta Me. I chose 7, not because it was an especially evil number or to be different; but mostly because it’s 7:00AM and I’ve been up all night. These were all the films my diminished brain could conjure. Bare with me! (And spoilers for sure).

The Thing (1984)
The concept is haunting and I certainly appreciate its attempt to be authentic to John Campbell’s “Who Goes There.” For me, there are just those scenes when the alien lets loose in unexpected ways that threw me for a whirlwind (and this is a film I didn’t see until my late 20s). I remember my eyes bulging when they go to deliver a second charge from the defibulator to the guy on the table and his chest opens up to chew off the guy’s hands. Equally striking and nerve-grinding, the thud-thud of the soundtrack that apparently is there throughout the entire film but sometimes just played very very low.

Saw 5 (2008)
I’ve been squeamish with the torture-porn run of the Saw films but I believe it is #5 where the last 2 survivors have to push their hands into a saw-blade. Yeah, I writhed in my seat; distorted my face, and fidgeted profusely…and kept watching. But even now as I type and recall it, I keep shaking and making faces.

The Exorcist (1973)

A film I didn’t see until its theatrical re-release special 20th anniversary in 2000 or so. Overall, it was a pretty haunting and disturbing film, but ways in which evil played out on the young girl was impressively freaky. Of course, I think I slipped into the realm of the unreal and stopped remembering it was a film when Regan began to stab herself repeatedly with the crucifix, screaming that “Jesus wants to fuck you.” I know for a fact that I was completely disturbed and way more scared than my date. Probably why there was never a second date.

Blair Witch Project (1999)
The inability to actually see something clearly is a central part of my dreaming life. My dreams consist of all sorts of crazy shit going on (half the time at least) and me being completely incapable of opening my eyes or control them in any significant degree; so I’m continually battling and trying to see things and make sense of them; with increasing fear that bad things are going on (I’m driving into traffic, the killer is right behind me; I’ve arrived somewhere in the buff, but can’t see that I’m totally naked). Yeah, Blair Witch Project pretty much turned that into an on-screen experience for me.

Mother’s Day (1980)
It was just a strange and freaky movie to begin with. Two hillybilly brothers, living with their decrepit old mother; it was like Deliverance meets Psycho. Most horrific for me was the ending in which after the mother makes a return when the girl believes she has escaped. When I came back to it years late, and I realized the sexual violence involved; it made it horrific in a whole other sense. And they’re making a remake; I should be surprised.

American Psycho (2000)

I’ve seen this film no less than 10 times. And every time I watch it, I get to the end and can’t decide whether I really like it or really hate it. It’s filled with some of the most bizarre scenes and uncanny moments. I’ve since read the book and that doesn’t help me any better. I love Christian Bale because he can be a charming Newsis, a swinging Nazi-Youth member, Batman, and a complete and utter psychopath. His power to play charming, dominant, and axe-wielding executive is not to be missed, disturbing as it is.

I'm Not Scared (2003)
This Italian film was pivotal for me. It was the film that showed me, you could create pitched moments of fear, without gore, without violence, but with a well-developed and delivered plot. I’ve talked about the book by Niccolo Ammaniti elsewhere on here. The film did keep me anxious and uncertain and worried for the two boys and its use of the countryside works well to exhibit a childhood wonderland of exploration but also the danger and “edge of the civilization” that develops in the second half of the film.

QUESTIONS
What are other favorite horrorific movies do people have located in the dark recesses of their minds? What stands out as a powerfully scary film (or film moment) for you?

The College Education: Effort Invested

2010-09-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Many students approach their college education with a whole range of mixed feelings. There's the excitement of a new level of learning along with more freedom and socializing. Others see it as one more roadblock until they can finally "do something" with their lives (though, that do something usually is some variation on the "make money; buy things" scheme.

But the American Enterprise Institute recently published a study revealing that while students may be getting excited about college; they aren't necessarily getting prepared for college. That is, they may have the right levels of intelligence for college, but they are not scheduling significant time for college.

Since the 1960s, there has been a significant drop in studying and work that students put into their education. What used to be upwards of 25-30 hours a week of work is now drifting down to 15 hours of work for school. In fact, many students are amazed/disturbed to discover that for college, their proportion of work outside the class to inside the class should be something like 2:1 or 3:1. Meaning for every 1 hour the student spends in the class, they should be spending 2-3 hours of work outside the class. If the class meets 3 hours a week; that's 6-9 hours of work...just for 1 class. Therefore, if you are a full time student (12-16 credits a semester), that should turn into an additional 24-48 hours of school work; that is, you should be working at being a student, full time.

Time and again, students find this outrageous and are not happy with instructors (like myself) who aim for this level of work. They argue that they have jobs to work; social obligations to make; or even that this class has nothing to do with their lives and therefore, should not have to put so much time and effort into it. I understand their plight for I too had many of the same demands when I was in college. But I still put in the work...mostly.

More importantly, the drop indicates several things that students should be keeping in mind as they continue their college education.

1. If this study is correct; then the implication is that the quality of college is going down. That is, no study has yielded results (as far as I know) that student intelligence across the board has gone up in the last 50 years (some studies say it has gone down; but I'm inclined to disbelieve those for a variety of reasons: possibly for another post sometime). If intelligence isn't going up, but the amount of work the student is doing (and expected to do) is decreasing, then that would mean the overall quality of the education is lacking.

2. This decrease goes hand-in-hand with the business-approach to school philosophy which views students into consumers and looks to offer them better and better deals. That is, they lower their demands (price or time investment) to get more customers. They push students into full time programs that they can do in shorter times; they provide options like summer classes or accelerated classes which any instructor knows, that a decent amount of things must be tossed out the window due to the condensed time. For instance, how much reading can you genuinely assign for a literature course during a 6 week program and actually expect the students to do? (After all, students purposely save summer courses for classes they don’t like; so they don’t have to do as much). But it also gets tricky here. Because on one level, schools, particular community colleges and state universities should aim to make themselves accessible to as many people as possible through schedules, money, time demands, etc. But does that mean demanding less work of them because they have full-time lives? That's a slippery slope to be treading and many schools don't do well with this. They promise and push students through degrees as fast as possible, therein lowering the students' full quality education and as well as threatening the integrity of their own reputation and college degrees as a whole.

3. Thus, the proliferation of people with degrees has also resulted in the overall devaluing of the college diploma. In the 1960s, a college diploma was almost a guarantee of success. Today, it doesn't guarantee much and often, the pay vs the investment doesn't yield much to be desired.

4. Students need to be more than just average. They need to stand out. They stand out by investing time in their education and doing well in all classes. Incidentally, this also means that the student gets the most out their education; since after all, they are paying to learn and that requires efforts on both sides of the desk. Again, student’s don’t often think or reflect on the fact that if they get through a course by the skin of their teeth and are just glad “it’s done!” but have nothing to say for the course except some luke-warm grade; they really did just waste their time and money.

Given the demands that we fill out lives with, it’s undoubtedly hard for students to fully realize how much time they should dedicate to their education. In this day and age, of instant gratification, a semester seems like forever (nevermind 4 years). Consistently putting in the time and effort to the full array of courses (even the ones you don’t like) seems awfully draconian. And yet, one has to contend with what they are looking to get out of their education. While just being in college opens up students’ opportunities and possibilities, it’s the effort (and the process of understanding how they work and why they work on the subjects that they do), that can make the significant difference.

Author on My Radar: Steven Niles

2010-09-18T07:35:00.000-04:00

Since the demise of E.C. Comics, horror comics in the US have always been something in the background; left untouched, unacknowledged, or held tenuously at arms’ length by the publishers. Sure there was Eerie, Creepie, Dracula Lives and a slew of others that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s; along with works such as Deadworld and the like (In fact, horror comics can be found throughout comics consistently since the late 1940s as showed by The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics edited by Peter Normanton). Despite this, when I think about horror comics today; Steven Niles seems to be a major modern voice on the horror-comic landscape. There are others and in fact, I think it’s hard to divorce him from his regular collaborator, Ben Templesmith (an Author on My Radar for a later date) and Robert Kirkman (yet another one for a later date; I should probably get cracking on these things!). However, I think Niles as a horror comic writer has helped the genre become more solid, marketable, and at times, more mature or sophisticated by rebuilding classic motifs (freakshows, mad scientists, vampires, and walking dead) with interesting twists and a strong use of modern day realistic settings and character approaches/reactions. It shows that he’s well read in the genre, and can pay tribute to his predecessors.

His ability to work with the genre conventions, particularly reoccurring characters (vampires, other undead, mad-scientists, demon gods, etc) and make them real on their own while also providing also sorts of nods and winks to readers familiar with the characters. His graphic novel, Wake the Dead includes a college-age scientist named Victor, determined to reanimate a corpse with his friends' help...even if it means his friends become a central part of his work.

My first encounter with Steve Niles' work as Remains; which remains by far, my favorite of his writings. The story is the classic Zombie-apocalypse, we're all waiting to come true some day. But Niles seeing the emerging trend within modern zombie films, pits not just humans against humans but zombies against zombies. The story contains the slow-shambling mindless zombie, made famous with George A. Romero's films as well as the fast-paced, high octane and over-achieving zombie, seen in more contemporary films like 28 Days Later (of which he also does a comic of) and the Dawn of the Dead remake. At the time, I was doing research on zombie films, so of course, it was love at first bite...ahem, sight.

His most famous series that people are most likely familiar with is 30 Days of Night, a story about a group a vampires taking over a town in Barrow, Alaska since it is emerged in darkness for 30 days. The original mini-series has spawned (ironically) numerous sequel mini-series since its release and of course, a movie. The concept is unique and certainly, Niles tells a compelling story, but that’s not what made it a success. For readers of the series, the movie felt shallow and lacking by and large because it wasn’t just story (Niles) but presentation (Templesmith) that made it such a dark, compelling, and horrifying experience. Templesmith’s art made the book.

He moves back and forth among highly original materials into clearly intertextual pieces and pieces existing in specific continuities. For instance, Aleister Arcane explores a horror TV show host who is put out to retirement but enacts a vicious revenge on the town reminiscent of the Pied Piper but also invoking the nostalgia of monster-movie marathons on television of the middle to late 20th century. By contrast, he also worked on several series that blended noir and horror such as Criminal Macabre and Dead, She Said. He’s also worked on series related to 28 Days Later, Night of the Living Dead, and Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythology.

Niles has had minimum exposure in the major publishers DC & Marvel. He has written regularly for a few series in DC (including Simon Dark), but nothing major. His work has increasingly been published Image Comics and IDW Publishing (the latter being a major icon of horror-publishing within comics). I don’t tend to think this is a “failing” as some would presume but it make senses given his desire to get real deep into the dark realms of the human psyche. It’s not exactly where Marvel and DC really like to explore as directly as people like Niles do. They do horror; but not often to the degree that Niles takes it.

The Orphan, Or Lessons on How Films Code Our Fears

2010-09-06T06:09:00.002-04:00

Recently, I sat down to watch “The Orphan” and while in many ways it is a movie that is all together forgettable; it did stick in my mind for the next day or two. Initially, I didn’t know why. I wasn’t giving it a close viewing and wanted to watch it, if only to have in hovering somewhere in my mental library should I ever need it. But by the next day, I found myself returning to think about the film and what it seemed to offer up.
The basic plot of the film is that a family adopts a young sweet-appearing girl from an orphanage who eventually turns out to be evil, trying to kill the family, among others. Basic horror fare, no doubt. But there were particulars that spoke to the cultural anxieties and battlegrounds. In particular, this film is loaded with a meanings that suggest and reinforce the fear/anxiety/disgust with the place of young girls in our culture. Keep in mind, there are lots of spoilers from here on in.

The most evident and complex is the orphan herself, Esther. Esther is an orphan, supposedly from an orphanage from Eastern Europe. However, when the mother searches for this orphanage; they have no record of Esther. Lesson 1: By the fact that Esther has no actual origin, she is becomes an “every-girl”; no origin, but existing.
Eventually, the mother discovers that Esther actually belonged to a mental institute because she had some strange and rare illness that caused her to not age. Lesson 2: Girls are mentally-deranged women trapped in young girls’ bodies.

As Esther’s truer nature reveals itself to the mother, she tries to do everything she can to stop the child but it becomes completely evident, she has no control over Esther. Lesson 3: Parents let their children run wild and are essentially powerless to stop them. While her mother is powerless, Esther plays the innocent and sweet child to her adopted father. Lesson 4: These girls wrap men around their fingers from the time they embody “Daddy’s little girl” up through “adulthood.” And eventually, Esther dawns her mother’s dress, puts on make-up, and attempts to seduce her adopted father. Lesson 5: Girls have a “Daddy complex” and hypersexualized beings who seduce of older men.
When she can’t get what she wants, she targets the person and either kills them outright or threatens them into silence; through fear and intimidation. Lesson 6: Girls have mean streak about them that is sociopathic.
Beyond Esther, we see other elements that also explain or hint at what’s wrong with our culture. Both the mother and father are presented as having significant faults. The mother had a stillborn baby and is a recovering alcoholic and the father had an extramarital affair (elements of both are blamed on each other). Lesson 7: The reason girls are bad is bad parents. Reinforcing this point is that the parents are impotent; unable to produce a “healthy” baby. They are not capable of producing a good child (this also taps into Lesson 3 since their impotence translates into lacking the power to control Esther).
By contrast, the good daughter in this film is Max, the deaf child is friendly yet passive who tries to befriend and please everyone. Lesson 8: Girls are meant to be pleasant and seen; not heard.
Even the brother, Daniel plays his cultural role; interested in video games and fitting in with his friends, he resists accepting Esther into the family out of jealousy, and publically humiliates her at school. He starts to piece things together about Esther, but is too late and undone by Esther. Lesson 9: The boys of today (men of tomorrow) are slackers and can’t even handle women.
When taken to the “professional,” a therapist, Esther is considered to be absolutely normal with nothing wrong with her. Lesson 10: Therapeutic approaches to children is clearly part of the problem.
In the climax of the battle, Esther and the mother battle on the ice pond, the same site that we learn she previously failed at performing her maternal duties in protecting Max when she was drunk. The battle ends by the mother declaring to Esther that, “I am not your fucking mother!” and kicking her hard enough in the face that her neck snaps and she sinks into the hole in the ice. Lesson 11: Some kids real do deserve to be beaten/killed.
And that’s just a preliminary reading; there’s a lot more I could connect and develop if I looked at it further (but given the vitriolic content; I’d rather not). Granted the above is not a perfect or completely developed analysis, but the elements are there to piece together something that could be further developed.

QUESTIONS

What other themes or elements of The Orphan did you pick up on if you saw it?

What other films attempt to demonize youth in such manners? How do they go about doing it?

Where else in culture do we see the coding of children as bad/evil/monstrous?

Economies and Superheroes: Or Why Spider-Man Might Be a Socialist

2010-09-04T06:02:00.000-04:00

This entry from Christopher Robichaud at Big Questions Online represents some of the major discussions that academics and others have when considering what superhero narratives have to give us. Spider-Man, like other characters, is prime material for philosophical debate and indeed, colleagues of mine, Rob Weiner and Alec Hosterman have postulated characters such as these exist in a hyper-realistic state.

Robichaud contemplates what is the best choice for Peter Parker to make. Imbued with super-human powers, Parker must decide what will affect the greatest amount of "good" for society: to be Spider-Man or to be himself, student/scientist/dorky boyfriend to Mary Jane. It's a circular conversation the character has had with himself time and again over the years and really, a central element to his character.

For those unfamiliar, Spider-Man is really formed in the center of the moral quandary so many of us face at some point: Use my potential or waste it. Shortly after Parker gains his spider-like abilities, he enters into wrestling; he wins a match but the manager stiffs him on the pay. When the money is stolen by a criminal, Peter Parker does nothing. The same criminal during his escape goes on to kill his Uncle Ben (the man who delivers the classic line to Peter Parker, "With great power, comes great responsibility"). And with Ben's murder, Peter Parker beomes Spider-Man.

There are other means of looking at Parker's quandary as well. Parker becoming a wrestler could be seen as him acting as a self-interested capitalist. He's specialized in something particular and seeks to use that to his economic advantage. When the money is stolen, and he doesn't act, it is in part, revenge on the manager, but it's also a clear act of non-motivation; the "not my problem" syndrome. That is, to some degree, Parker up to this point, is a mercenary, pimping out his powers for his direct benefit. But Ben's death turns him into an altruist; risking his life and limb (and others) to protect humankind without evident gain. He's not directly gaining from his efforts and continually negatively affected by it through his lost of loved ones (Gwen Stacy) and the repeated threats towards his family. In fact, he's putting his energy and resources into something that has no direct benefit, but rather benefits society at large. He protects strangers he and provides an overall sense of safety in New York. That’s right; that red he wears pegs Spider-Man as a socialist!

When we talk about characters like Spider-Man and others, who have been writ large across our cultural landscape, we realize that they tap into a great deal of our cultural discussion. We consumer them in a many great different forms: comics, video games, movies, cartoons, as cereal (literal consumption), on underwear and a myriad other ways. They provide a means of representing inner-battles in larger-than-life ways.

By contrast, we have the Tony Stark/Iron Man dialogue. In this discussion, Stark as capitalist continues to benefit financially from the technology he develops for his Iron Man suit. In this serpentine loop, Iron Man is Stark's body guard; so Stark pays Iron Man (himself) in essence with money gained by the technology, which Stark also uses upon himself (as Iron Man). Thus, Iron Man becomes more improved and so does Stark’s business interests. He becomes the embodiment of perpetuated self-interest. Every win as Iron Man brings Stark profits by proxy since it continues to show off the technology.

QUESTIONS

What other super-heroes offer insights into this discussion? There’s much to be said about superheroes and their explicit ideology; but what about their implicit ideology? By their approach to being superheroes what kind of dialogues about the nature, use, and abuse of power do we see represented?

The Case Against Dracula: Circumstantial Evidence and the Novel

2010-08-27T06:52:00.000-04:00

I'm a moderate fan of literary-alternative stories. The stories that retell a story that's been told before. The most recent and well-known version of this is Gregory Maguire's Wicked (now a series, containing 3 books), which tells the story of the Wizard of Oz, through the eyes of the Wicked Witch. In doing so, Maguire, makes the Witch, the misunderstood and tragic character while the others are bad or questionable people. The most literary of these attempts to re-visit a past story is most likely John Gardner's Grendel; the retelling of the epic poem, Beowulf, through the monster's eyes. Indeed, the act has been described as post-modern by some; reinvent the narrative to favor the villain and there might be some truth in that; and yet, we have other long-ago texts that do this same thing, including Virgil’s The Aeneid, and Milton’s Paradise Lost. We are enamored with a shift in perspective and the ways an author will tease out a new narrative from the original material.

A retold tale is much like a sequel, a mash-up, a fan-fiction, an adaptation, etc in that it allows us to reengage with a particular narrative we enjoyed. It can give us “more” of the story or just bring us back to those moments we so thoroughly enjoyed. But often, the retold tale tries to re-imagine the story in a way that is oppositional to the original text, decentering the hero/protagonist in favor of other a lesser character(s), antagonist or villain.

This brings me to Dracula. Given the deep and lasting influence of Dracula as “the vampire” and the instantaneous connection we all make when we hear Dracula or vampire separately, (although, that could be currently usurped—at least of the time being with Edward Cullen), a person could argue that all vampire stories are retold stories of Dracula. While vampire tales do exist before him (Poldoris The Vampyre; Rymer’s Varney the Vampire, and of course, that sexy vixen Carmilla, by Joseph LeFanu—who was inspirational ground zero for Stoker’s Dracula), it seems the weight of each vampire story is held up against Dracula. Defined in relation or against the Count’s definition. Thus, Edward Cullen maintains the tall and dark alienated persona associated with Dracula, but does not given into his bloodlust (mostly) and attempts to coexist with humans instead of snack on them.

However, I’m more interested in discussing the most interesting pieces out there that attempt to re-interpret what Stoker has written. There are four that come to mind, though I’m sure there are dozens more out there. With these four, they perform some interesting re-interpretative feats.

Renfield: A Tale of Madness by Gary Reed and Galen Showman (1995)
I mentioned this, mostly because I found it really enjoyable and a great example of getting more out of the story. This graphic novel retells the story of Dracula, through the eyes of Renfield, who is my favorite character in the book (Mostly because I read this graphic novel before my first thorough reading of Dracula).

The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen (1975)
This book serves as the starting point of a series by Saberhagen about Dracula with him living throughout the 20th century encountering all the changes and differences it brings and eventually coming face to face with the Harkers’ children. In fact, the story starts with Dracula confronting the Harkers’ grandchildren and providing them with cassette tapes that record the story from his perspective. He recounts how his acts were misconstrued—either accidentally or purposely by the protagonists as well as his loving relationship with Mina.

Dracula, the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt (2009)
This is a “sequel” written in part by the great grand-nephew of Stoker, which attempts to give it some legitimacy. The story picks up a generation later, when Quincy Harker is attempting to achieve his dream as an actor and stumbles upon Bram Stoker who has written a book called “Dracula” that’s all about his parents. Dracula, again reemerges as a misnunderstood figure, trying to find true evil creature, the vampire, Elizabeth Bathory who is the embodiment of evil vampires (while Dracula is the epitome of “good”). This version also has battles and scenes that are evocative of a modern-day superhero narrative and unlike other versions, chooses not to tell itself in the epistolary manner that the original and other texts tend to utilize.

Dracula, My Love by Syrie James (2010)
Here again, Dracula’s story is retold by Mina; who in addition to aspiring wife of Harker, also is seeking her own origin (being an orphan), and having inner battles about being appropriate in Victorian culture. Her falling in love with Dracula comes from a series of interactions that she chose not to write in her journal that she submitted for the events, but kept to herself.

Within the pieces discussed above and many other pieces, we find that there are several elements that are continually reconsidered and negotiated due to plot holes, cultural privileging, and reflection on interpretations of the text.

Mina’s Relationship With Dracula
There’s lots of room for interpretation on this one; after all, when Mina is caught in the bed with Dracula and Jonathan is out cold; one has trouble believing her innocence. Typically, it is cast as a love affair.

What Happened on the Demeter
This interesting tidbit provides lots of food for thought. Both James and Saberhagen argue that it was indeed a mad man who did it and not Dracula. Saberhagen has Dracula admit that he was actually stuck within his coffin, unable to escape, while Syrie points out that it would not be useful for Dracula to kill everyone on board and risk losing his precious cargo of boxes of native earth.

Overreliance on Van Helsing and his Knowledge
I think this is the most intriguing element. If the 19th century privileged knowledgeable people (except when there was a fear of them learning too much or “the wrong things” a la Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll), then the 2nd half of the 20th century has been to challenge, undermine, and be highly suspicious of privileged authorities such as doctors. And given that Van Helsing is an authority on nearly everything (he has several different degrees and everyone seems to roll over and play dead for him), Dracula the Undead, Dracula, My Love, and The Dracula Tape all open up this line of questioning. How does Van Helsing know what he knows?

Lucy’s Death
Intriguing because, taken with the bit above about Van Helsing, Lucy’s death falls at his feet. Since blood types aren’t established till after the publication of the book, many writers are quick to attack Van Helsing for injecting Lucy with no less than 4 people’s blood in a very short period, not knowing their blood type and thereby, quite possibly being the true cause of her death.

Dracula’s Death
Obviously, if Dracula is then considered the protagonist, he is spared his death since it is evident that Van Helsing doesn’t know what he is talking about. Dracula’s death turns out to only be temporarily or even faked.

So going way back to the top, I did name this post as the “The Case Against Dracula” and I’m actually getting to my point here. What these writers do is pin together various narratives based upon the shortcomings of Stoker’s writings and this is where it gets interesting. The goal of an author is to lead the reader through a narrative, but at times, the narrator, to create mystery, suspense, curiosity, etc, will not take the most direct route. In fact, to do so, undoes the darker nature of many stories or transitions the suspense into gore. It gives away too much; too easy. Thus, the author tries to let the reader connect events. In the case of Dracula, not only is the reader supposed to connect facts and understand what’s going on; but Stoker has his characters doing the same thing. After all, the book is a collection of journal entries, newspaper articles, and letters that become a central part of the story at one point.

Therefore, Dracula has both intentional gray areas and actual mistakes by the author. A good example of an intentional gray area are the events on the Demeter. No firsthand account comes forward to say that Dracula drank his way through the crew, but by the fact that it’s included in the collection of writings for the protagonists’ case, leads us to believe that it is. As for actual mistakes, there are several inconsistencies within Stoker’s writings about the nature of the vampire.

The circumstantial evidence when properly aligned, leads us to believe Dracula is the anti-Christ as Stoker implies through his characters. However, if Dracula were put on trial, what actual evidence would there be against him? The baby in the bag? Harker never sees the baby; only hears noise; and so Saberhagen calls it a piglet. His actions on the Demeter, again, are never proven. His murdering of Lucy? Of Renfield? Still no dice. It’s interesting that there are college courses and written works other there that look to apply the standards of the law against the facts in a piece of literature (whether an actual courtroom scene, a mystery, or something other debatable element within a story). In some ways, that’s what the writer does when he/she first starts to explore the idea of re-telling a tale.

QUESTIONS
What are other stories (besides the ones mentioned) that attempt to reinterpret the text? (Don’t just name them, actually discuss them if you have firsthand knowledge).

Are there examples of stories where the reinterpretation surpasses (in some capacity) the original?

What other gaps are there in Dracula? What other alternative Dracula texts are there?

Why would an author tackle a story that’s already been told?

Spreading the Word: Intolerance?

2010-08-01T05:24:00.000-04:00

This article sparks some rather interesting albeit for many challenging issues. At its center is a study that finds devout religious people to be more likely to have more prejudice views of different minorities. Some of the explanation stems from the fact that as a group such as monotheistic believers fixates on their religion/superior being as the sole one, they often slip into a dualistic mentality of followers and nonbelievers, with the nonbelievers inferior or wrong. The article goes into a great more detail and is worth checking out.

Articles like these can be hard to digest, process, or accept. Some may read it and feel that “well, I’m religious and that’s not me, so it must be wrong.” But it’s not quite that simple. So often when we read something that paints something we highly regard in a negative light, we are instantly resistant. Our barriers are quickly drawn up and quite hard to pull down. To that, I would say, that some of that might actually also have relevance to what the article is trying to get at with regards to challenging our fundamental or traditional beliefs as well.

Though it’s easy to either blindly accept or reject what the article has to say about some kind of pre-programmed bias, I think it’s more useful to step back and ask several different questions about what inherent biases you might be operating under or influenced by.

Do I do that? And this might be the hardest one of all since it requires a degree of inflection, self-awareness, and honesty that many of us have trouble attaining or maintaining. If you answer is an immediate and resolute “no” without thinking, reflecting, or running over in your head the various times you’ve had negative encounters with any person of any type, I think you might be not really digging as deep as such a question asks. Getting outside our heads is an impossible task, but also a good exercise to better understand one another. In this case, looking at how you act towards not just specific minorities, but particular social situations; such as the waitress who is slow with your order or gets it wrong, or the person at the coffee shop getting you the latest fashionable coffee drink, or the person doing your nails, or the person in the beat-down car in front of you, not moving as fast as you’d like them. We often say these are situational circumstances that tick and tweak our negative response, but how much quicker are you to be triggered when the person doing it is part of some “Other” group to which you don’t identify, know about, or feel hostile to?

Another question to ask is what the culture at large (or my particular sub-culture) has to say about something. In this case, I’ve included the two videos below. One is of Pat Robertson blaming the major earthquake that struck Haiti in winter of 2010 on Haitians making a pact with the Devil and suffering the consequences. The other is Jerry Falwell and Robertson again, discussing the destruction on September 11, 2001 to be the fault of feminists, gays, and other people of “alternative lifestyles.” In both, the rhetoric of the minority as being dubious and troubling is pretty loud. Both illustrate in some way; how cultures shape and influence, direct us to “right” and “wrong” answers.

It’s also useful to try to make analogies or comparisons with other situations of that may not always be equal in comparison, but help you to frame where your biases fit. I often step back from any situation where I feel that a person is not doing the “right thing” and ask myself, if I am sure that I’m angry/frustrated/annoyed at the proper thing. So let’s take the case of the coffee. If I’ve gone into a store and ordered it. If the order is taking a long time; and I get annoyed, I may find myself feeling negative toward the server. But I step back and ask, am I always angry waiting this long? Is it because of how I’m interpreting his actions? Do I feel that she isn’t being nice enough (and yes, I intentionally switch the gender-pronouns to show what else might be having an effect in the situation)? Is it because I’m tired? Running late? If I’m running late, then I’m much more aware and conscious of time, than this person may be and their lack of expedient delivery of my coffee might not be a slight towards me, but it can be hard not to think of it as.

All of this brings us back to the problematic “Other” (Problematic in the sense that we find problem with the “Other”—not that the “Other” is inherently problematic of its own accord). The one who is not me and whom I have trouble identifying and connecting with. Within history, these differences have been the source of anger, resentment, violence, destruction, but we still are challenged by and fearful of outsiders of many different sorts. The general answer to why there’s such problems around the “Other is just that we fear strangers, but I think articles like this help us to better understand why and how we fear others.

THOUGHTS?

Letter to the Editor in Boston Globe

2010-07-29T06:21:00.000-04:00

Toys are used to foster affection for McDonald's

JOANNA WEISS’S discussion on Happy Meals (“Happy Meals and Old Spice guy,’’ Op-ed, July 25), advertising, and parenting has some great insights, but misses one major element. While the ads are an important factor, the problem with Happy Meals is the toy itself. That’s not just an advertisement, it provides repeated engagement with the company (or more important, the unhealthy food) for the child and the parent, too. The toy is a focal point for imaginative play, reemergence in favorite stories, and a tactile object for a developing set of hands — all of which is branded with the McDonald’s logo in the child’s mind and thus creates a strong positive relationship between the child and the product (the unhealthy food, not the actual toy).

This seduction through association focused on children has been increasingly problematic, which is why other countries regulate advertisements directed toward children. Sure we can argue about parenting, educating the youth, etc., but these messages are mere drops in the bucket compared with all the other messages children get from such companies; hence why infants and toddlers can identify company logos before they can read.

Lance Eaton
Peabody

Moral Quandaries...from Outer Space

2010-07-24T07:03:00.000-04:00

This post from the NY Times posits some interesting (albeit not entirely new) ideas on the concept of human and potential-alien encounters. The author, Robert Wright is drawing upon a quote of Stephen Hawking, the work of Peter Singer, and his own (which he promotes just below "too much" but it did evoke a scene from "The Critic" for me). The discussion also seems to come in a year following two rather influential and powerful films impressed audiences throughout the world. The first is District 9, directed by Neil Blomkamp. Though the film was not as widespread, it was certainly well-received (made over $100 million) and had a compelling and intriguing premise about the types of aliens we might expect to encounter when they come here. By contrast, there was Avatar, which of course, became the highest grossing film ever (until another film beats it…probably by James Cameron…probably in about 10 years). Again, here we see an interaction between human and sentient alien life and the troubles of humans to be something other than what they’ve tended to be (though the disregard of non-sentient life in this film is also telling).

One element of the discussion is the debate about history: Have we actually learned from it? What are we to expect in the future when we encounter alien life or alien life encounters us?

If we encounter alien life, the first question that will challenge many of us is "what constitutes alien life?" We may say that it seems obvious but for many, "alien life" will not mean much if it's single-celled organisms. Many would not blink in acknowledging or bothering with deeper ponderings about these life-forms. After all, the majority of us don't recognize them here, unless they're in our way. The underlying assumption about "alien life" is that it's sentient. Although even then, we would do well to consider in some ways the Prime Directive from Star Trek. Although in this case, I don't mean it in regards to prevent sharing of technology but rather, to prevent interfering with their natural evolutionary growth.

Actually, I take that back. That's a question that I don't even know how to come at it. Do we interfere with any life that we can't actually communicate? What gives us the right? What's our larger goal in this?

Like Wright, this may sound like one big mind game, but it may someday have sincere consequences and speak to the kind of "Earthling" we will potentially be as we explore the universe.

This question of what will life look like comes to me from two different angles. The first is insightful and challenging documentary, Earthlings where its opening sequence explains, that though humans assume (and so much of science fiction proves me right here) that "Earthlings" refers to humans; it actually refers to all life forms from Earth; and that's a lot of life forms. Who will the aliens choose to engage with, should they come here first? That also reminds me of the moment in Ishmael by Daniel Quinn when Ishmael points out that the first primordial creature to crawl out of the water, probably thought of himself as the big-cheese (or big fish?) because he was at the height of the evolutionary chain and in hindsight; he's not. That is, as the current self-proclaimed head of the herd, we too think certain things are self-evident--like humans will be the species aliens choose to contact. We base that on "civilization"; our ability to alter the physical earth to suit our needs.

But what if the aliens have other criteria? What if they are looking for the most populous? Then they might consider ants, plankton or beetles. As JBS Haldane once quipped, “The Creator would appear as endowed with a passion for stars, on the one hand, and for beetles on the other…” Or maybe, the aliens will look to plankton. These are all what we consider lower-intelligent creatures but we presume that
1. Aliens are looking for intelligence.
2. That humans are intelligent in the ways that are important to aliens.
3. That the interaction/contact is how we perceive interactions on a human level; they might different significantly).

There’s lot of concern around how humans will act; regardless of the alien life we encounter. On an individual level, we look at one another and hold one’s history as a means of understanding their present and future. We are obsessed with each other’s history. Whether it’s a job history when applying for a new job, your relationship history explained to a new partner, or a criminal history when it comes time to sentencing, we look at a person’s past as a barometer for future interactions. So when it comes time to weigh in on the chances of positive human encounters with other life, we have to consider how the dominant human cultures have encountered other human cultures and even nonhuman cultures. After all, if the alien species doesn’t have a recognizable face (meaning something we can register and process as a face), we’re apt to have trouble with accepting it on some level since our facial-recognition mechanisms are part of what allows for empathy.

Why do I say “dominant human cultures” instead of just human cultures? It tends to reason that the dominant human cultures at a given time may also be the more likely to be sending forth people to other parts of the universe (although even then “dominant” might need some tweaking since it implies an all-arena dominance whereas we’re recognizing some countries/cultures dominate in certain ways: militarily, religiously/spiritually, scientifically, financially, etc. There’s often overlap, but it doesn’t always mean one has dominance in all ways.

It’s a curious idea for sure; not expecting to have answers, just more questions.

QUESTIONS

For history students; what are some examples of more positive first encounters between different human cultures? What about positive encounters between human/nonhuman species?

In what concrete ways have we learned from the past that might help us in positive future relationships with alien species (sentient or not)?

For my popular culture and monster students, what sense do you make out of all the alien-human movies, comics, books that have come forth in the last century? How do you think they engage/help us with dealing with the potential encountering of alien life? Do they help and in what possible ways?

YouTube Killed The Television Gods

2010-07-05T07:19:00.000-04:00

2010 marks a major shift in viewing trends among Americans that will most likely grow worldwide by the end of the 2010s to be a more dominant market share of leisure time. Apparently, 2010 marked the first year that more people prized their Internet over their television. Beyond a doubt, I'm in this camp. My television hasn't been hooked up to cable in over a year and I don't miss it a bit. I watch movies from Netflix and the library on the television; or now that Netflix has expanded its services; I can watch their "Watch Instantly" selection on my television through the use of my Wii.

So why the shift? Convenience is an obvious answer. Why situate my life around the TV to catch the programs I want; when I can call them up at will online. Sure, there are devices (VCRs in the old days; Tivo nowadays) that can do this, but in both cases they require additional contraptions, costs, and programming.

But another answer that speaks volumes about what's going on, comes from Clay Shirky's Cognitive Surplus. The 3 Stooges video below taken from YouTube (side note: my favorite 3 Stooges skit of all time; I remember almost crying in hysterical laughter the first time I saw it), is not the same 3 Stooges video that I've seen at least 3-4 times on the 3 Stooges Marathon held annually on New Year’s Eve (and no--there's no commenting on that facet of my life).

Ok, let's take the obvious difference; the quality in this instance is by far less than what you would see on television. Ok. TV: 1. Internet: 0. Yet, the quality has the potential to improve or on other sites be better than somebody's home recording; so not all is lost. The other difference is convenience. Inevitably, people reading this watched (if they watched it) the clip at very different times with variations of hours, days, months, possibly years. That's definitely a point for Internet. To add to that, if you watch it to the end or are watching it on the YouTube site; when you get to the end, you get like-minded and relevant recommendations; something that rarely occurs on TV. I get to the end of a show, and besides an onslaught of commercials, I'm hit with a show or range of shows that have no consequential relation to what I just saw.

But one of the cooler things to come out of video sites is the level of interactivity. I can share them directly and indirectly. I can email the link to a friend; whereas I would have to call a friend to tell them to turn on the TV "right now." OR I can post them to various social networking sites as part of my social history for current and future connections to enjoy and appreciate (or groan as the case may be). I can (as I did here) embed them into my blog and other areas and in doing so, have some control over the size, border, and other material. I can bookmark it for continued enjoyment. But the most interesting is that I can comment on it. I can have a dialogue with others who have viewed this. This makes viewing much less a singular event and more of a social event or also an engaging event. Just like when friends sit around to watch a movie (maybe a la MST3K style), the comments section of these videos allow for a asynchronous discussion that is sometimes irrelevant but can also impart answers and information people are wondering about with regards to the video.

To come back to my name-dropping of Clay Shirky, whom I've used in other posts, I think this is why the Internet is gaining ground; convenience + meaning making/engagement. TV for many has been a one-way relationship that though enjoyable still limiting and unfulfilling in many regards. After all, many of us sit down to watch TV to "tune out" of the world. To put our minds on hold which just doesn't sound like actual contentedness, but distraction. This offers the option of engagement which for some can mean substantially more.

So what does this mean for culture at large? The fact that it's risen so fast also speaks to an improvement of access for many people which can be attributed to the cheapening of electronics from cellphones to laptops. The convenience, engagement, and yes, the cost factor, all play an important role in influencing such trends. There’s also the interesting dynamic that so many people are becoming more engaged with their entertainment and one wonders what media engagement/entertainment will look like in the future.

QUESTIONS
In what ways have your entertainment consumption changed over the last 10 years? Do you find yourself participating in blogs, chats, comment features, Facebook debates with relation to your entertainment? What does this do for meaning-making and significance of the entertainment being discussed?

What are other levels of engagement and meaning-making that are found throughout the Internet with regards to our entertainment? How do we bridge gaps between ourselves, that which we enjoy, and other people?

Do Not Click Go

2010-07-03T05:59:00.001-04:00

L aura Miller over at Salon.com has highlighted an interesting debate within the online writing community and that is where to put your links; within the text or at the end. It’s an interesting debate with some discussion about the benefits and drawbacks for both the reader and the writer. Without a doubt to a student, this may seem like one of those obtuse discussions that intellectuals get immersed in that seem to matter little. And I suppose there’s some truth to that. But given that we look to the Internet more and more for our news, information, research, etc, it’s a needed discussion. It’s also a discussion that has had infinite traction within that old dinosaur medium: print.

In composition courses and hopefully elsewhere, students are told about the importance of citing, the reasons for citing, and the ways to cite. I certainly emphasize its importance in my courses. For some, it’s important that you cite in a specific format: APA, MLA, Chicago Style etc. Some fields require a specific formatting style and others are more flexible. Often, I’m more concerned with making sure you make clear indication of a source, and less concerned with the particular format (though some would have trouble with this stance too).

But with this discussion of intext or end-text citations is pretty familiar to myself and others who have found themselves knee deep in research. The article is comparatively arguing the old debate of footnotes vs. endnotes. Some citation formats dictate the use of one or the other. I can even remember one of my mentors in grad school having this discussion and favoring footnotes because there was a sense of instant gratification and less interruption than flipping to the back the chapter or book. I fall into the same camp in this regard. The other important insight that she bestowed upon the class was to emphasize that such things as footnotes and endnotes are a place for sources to be listed, but also a way of extending the dialogue. They can act as a dialogic commentary of additional information between writer and reader. Again, I can hear the students groaning in response to this, but think of it akin to the director’s commentary on the DVD or even those deleted scenes—that’s what we’re talking about when it comes to footnotes and citations. It’s say, “But wait! There’s more!”

So while I’m sure different sites and writers will make a stance about one or the other, the more interesting element is that this is in part an extension of issues that already challenge print media.

A Scanlating Darkly

2010-07-03T05:11:00.001-04:00

Much like other industries, the comics world has been trying to crackdown on illegal digital copies of its work; with varying success. More recently, Japanese and American publishers of manga have joined forces to create a coalition against some of the major agregators of what are commonly referred to "scanlations." Unlike American comics, "scanlations" are scanned comics with added translations (often added by the person who is scanning or a community of manga readers/translators). These have become popular enough (or the fear is that they will be) that the publishers are trying to crackdown on published and copyrighted works; particularly those that are in the process of being translated (or have been) and published in the US.

The discussion here isn't going to focus on the rights and wrongs of acquiring/offering digital content or profiting off things that aren't technically yours to begin with. Rather, I think this situation is an interesting example of users laying claim to their cultural product and making it meet their own needs. Similar to viewers writing into a TV show or even, people taking up fan-fiction; this seems to be a fan-based initiative that while is dubious because of the questions around digital content still exhibits a fan culture striving to provide more cultural capital for its participants.

The more interesting element--at least for this examination--is a subculture that is trying to meet a demand that the markets are not meeting. That is the scanlators themselves have come into existence because the market itself was lacking. For a long time, translating was a tedious and cumbersome process that took time, money, and education. And due to the temporal issues of the publishing industry, companies in the US, were slow to release material in relation to the demand. Besides the issue of translating, there’s formatting (early manga in the US and even some current manga is publish in standard Western format which requires performing a new lay-out), marketing, and the mere fact that most publishers are limited to release a certain amount of books each month (that is, due to staffing, resources, avenues of release, and financial abilities of the readership, a company is restricted to somewhere between 6 to 20 or so books a month). Compared to how much manga has been published and continues to be published monthly in Japan, publishers have only released a mere fraction of it and most of it, only what is perceived as commercially viable.

But the scanlators provided a much desirous opportunity for manga readers whom in my observations, tend to be voracious readers. In fact, I see the trading and high consumption often associated with American comics in the 1930s-1950s, manifest in manga readers today. It makes sense too since like those comics of yesteryear were not seen as “commodities” as they are perceived by many today, but rather, desired to be read. Additionally, given that they are bound, there are more resilient and lend themselves to be, um, well, lent.

The scanlators in some ways remind me of the idea of around cognitive surplus that in years past might have been under-utilized before the Internet age or generated into other creative endeavors like fanzines. They are using a variety of skills and resources afforded to them and building an international community focusing on their particular hobby; and though the legal issues and concerns and issues around that are still being sorted out, the means of active engagement seems rather impressive. It shows that these people have not only an active role in their interest, but in proliferating that interest and helping others learn about it.

QUESTIONS
Where else do we seen groups like the scanlators bridging the gap between production and consumption of a particular interest/hobby/activity/etc?

Besides financial, what other concerns might people have about individuals (read: nonprofessionals) performing this kind of work? Is there something about it (or the arguments against doing it) that suggest other perceive threats by groups like the scanlators?

When we look at a finished “product” such as a scanlated manga series; whose is it? The original artist/author? The scanlator? The reader?

Author on My Radar: Peter Kuper

2010-06-18T05:36:00.000-04:00

Peter Kuper’s on my mind today (the visual imagery of that line is crushing-hahaha). Like I do with many authors, artists, creators, etc, I stumbled upon him a few different times before realizing it was the same person and then proceeded to swallow up as much as I could and find out more about him.

The first time I encountered him was with the publication of Give It Up and other stories, which was a series of comic adaptations of Kafka’s work. Later on, I would read his adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (before going on to read that actual book) and that I was reminded of Kuper recently when reading The Jungle while at the same time a friend had recently purchased a comic adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial (not by Kuper, but the overlapping moments converged into one of those universal conflagrations that demand action be done or else the universe will implode: see Star Trek—any Star Trek—I’m sure it will make sense).

Thus, with my interest sparked in Kuper, I proceeded to check out some of his other works. Two struck my fancy in particular. Speechless was a collection of work done over Kuper’s life exhibiting his range of works, overall ability and depth. What becomes striking from the onset that one might not immediately intuit from his other works (though in hindsight, it makes sense) is that degree to which Kuper’s work is political. He creates some powerfully singular images as well as sequential work that speaks volumes (and of course, is also “speechless” for certain reasons). After I was hit by Speechless (or struck speechless, perhaps), I opened up Sticks and Stones; a silent comic (also speechless; a good deal of Kuper’s work does aim for minimal text) about a stone king who directs his people into a resource war and destruction of the stick people. Of course, the story can work on many levels and be enjoyed by both adult and child with the ideas that it communicates.

In many cases, Kuper’s art with its heavy use of thick lines and angles feels particularly expressionistic and influenced by the wordless novels of Frans Masereel, Lynn Ward and the like. But he has his unique style to it, rounding out edges, creating squat and stubby characters. There’s also the color; which is a generally dark motif with a brooding element that can make his work feel (appropriately) oppressive. It’s through the heavy lines, stout images, and overwhelming images that makes his work successful in bearing the weight of his message on his readers. It’s not carrying the albatross around the neck nor a chip on the shoulder; it’s carry the weight of the world that Kuper’s pieces seem to impart on the reader.

What I find amusing within myself with regards to Kuper is he is probably someone I wouldn’t have read some ten years ago. I don’t want to go into some speel about “refined tastes” and what not to posit that I’m such a better aficionado today than previously. Too many others have gone that route. Yet, I can appreciate the growth and development that comes with being an avid reader of material. I’m happy that I’ve been able to widen—not necessarily “improve”—my tastes so that I can thoroughly enjoy Kuper and follow it up with the latest trade from Robert Kirkman’s Invincible series (which is exactly what I did with Sticks and Stones!).

Check out what Kuper’s up to and where he’s been. He’s definitely an author I intend to keep reading.

Vacation of the Mind Part 5: The Most Stimulating Airplane Ride Ever

2010-06-12T04:42:00.000-04:00

As the trip came to a close, I became fixated on my next endeavor: prepping for a class on Love and Erotica. To get to teach the class was pretty exciting; but I also had to think about solid and interesting material to use for the class that could effectively communicate the complex thought for a younger audience (read: first year students). Like a variety of courses I teach (like comics and cultural diversity), it has the possibility of going drastically wrong. So my mind reeled with ideas but being away, I had little material to directly depend upon.

So I did what seems to be the best course of action to start the train of thought; I asked for recommendations from friends and colleagues on Facebook. And got some good ones. One, in particular, was Anais Nin. I had heard (vaguely) of her but never explored her much; but then a few people highly recommended her. I figured I had a good few leads for when I returned home. But low and behold, on my second to last day, I happened upon a second hand store where The Delta of Venus by Anais Nin (in English—not Dutch) was staring me in the face. It was a foregone conclusion that it was coming home with.

Fast-forward forty-eight hours. I had finished The Jungle and decided I would start in on Nin’s book. It’s a collection of erotic short stories that were largely composed during the 1940s as commissions from a benefactor who was highly desirous of such writing. I had some idea of this but I don’t think I was quite prepared for the stories that followed. After all, my literary vacation had taken me from a rural village in Italy to juvenile detention center in New York, to fantastical worlds of Lilluput and Brobdingnag to the early 20th century slums of Chicago; quite the diverse landscape. But The Delta of Venus led me into more than a dozen bedrooms (and others places) for scintillating (and I love how that’s pronounced “SIN-tulating) sex that often bordered or walked boldly into the perverse.

And no, I’m no prude. I’ve logged a hundred of hours listening to Susie Bright’s podcast; have several other erotica book (mostly Best American Erotica, also edited by Susie Bright) and other accouterments to illustrate that sexual discussion and expression are not something I shy from. Yet, there I sat in the airport and on the plane with my ears reddening with the heat of the story.

That was the interesting part. Nin writes most of these stories with irony that uses caricatures or mocks erotica and those vested in it; and yet, despite knowing and seeing this, her work can still function well as erotica. Not all stories were equal and some stories were surprising in what occurred (sometimes even offensive to many people), but the overall collection is pretty enjoyable and impressive.

What sticks out most in my mind with it was just the looks from men and women alike, reading a book whose title and author are outstripped in size on the front and back cover with “EROTICA.” It made for amusing responses, double glances, and curious staring by others in the airport and on plane.

It's interesting that with the overabundance of pornography out there in cyberland that erotica still manages to have be fairly popular enough for some publishers to release a decent amount of books annually. Cleiss Press is one of the more well-established publishers for erotica and Sounds Publishing also has several lines of stories for aural consumption. There is something to be said of the mind and it's role in all things sexual. So much of the research and anecdotal evidence suggests that it is indeed the real "sex organ." Hence why Viagra and other such drugs only seem to work if the person is aroused.

On Borrowed Tales

2010-06-11T01:07:00.001-04:00

I should posit that I haven’t actually read Kill Shakespeare yet. I’ve checked out comic’s website and read this post in the Globe and Mail. I will most likely read it in the future and provide an addendum either reiterating my dubiousness or reiterating the fact that I’m an idiot (or both—quite likely). The series like a mixture of fan fiction, intertexuality, meta-fiction, tempered with perverse comments in iambic pentameter and epic action. That does actually sound like Shakespeare.

But I’m dubious about a venture that sets out from the beginning to compare itself to the Lord of the Rings and other highly epic and influential material. I also found the comment that if Shakespeare was alive today, he’s be doing comics. Those comments seem to undermine the ability to think creatively and perform some amazing linguistic and psychological feats with characters that represented Shakespeare. I’m not positing that Shakespeare is the end-all be-all, but he did some amazing feats, and his work has left an indelible mark on the modern world, regardless if that’s what he intended (favorite Isaac Asimov story!). The comments by the creators sound more like bravado before actually providing substance.

The series would not be the first to rework and evolve a previous body of literary works. There have been numerous efforts within comics to craft intelligent and compelling stories that creatively appropriate textual (and sometimes cinematic works: consider the range of licensing titles that Dark Horse holds from film, video games, etc).

Probably the three most famous series that playfully manipulate previously established “literature” include Sandman, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, and Fables. Of the three, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman does it least directly and consistently; but directly invokes many different tales, mythologies, and even has Shakespeare as an reoccurring character. Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentleman focuses almost solely on novels of the 1800s and early 1900s (including the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, HG Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, and others). Additionally, Moore’s series for all intents and purposes seems to be a limited self-contained series. Fables on the other hand is an every-expanding and evolving narrative from Bill Willingham (Note: I am totally ga-ga over this series). Fables does some amazing things as it builds off the characters’ original motivations and plots and weave it into a larger tapestry of world events. Sandman takes the ideas from other literature and crafts them into an intriguing mythology of the universe while Moore craftily interweaves believable but different manifestations of the characters from more than a dozen worlds. Willingham uses the stories as a starting point or rather the character origin, but then launches them into new and challenging events.

Zenescope Entertainment has been building a series of ongoing narratives based upon fairy tales and children stories that work with them in different ways, but seem to fixate on the sex and violence element to a blatant degree. It can certainly be enjoyable to some people and yet by comparison to how Willingham deals with such characters, it does feel cheap. Granted, Moore has gone the route of sex with his Lost Girls series and yet, the approach there seems to be different than the short skirts and bounding cleavage as suggested by the Beyond Wonderland image.

Getting back to Shakespeare; it gets harder with something like his plays because they do have specific lines and plot elements. Granted, some of these have been presented/interpretated differently; and many of Shakespeare’s plays were adapted from previous stories and plays. One can retool fairy tales since they exist in a nether-region. Yes, we have them written down, but for most of their existence, they were passed down by word of mouth. Thus, deviations or creative manipulations from the canon is part of the norm. Even with Moore’s work deals with more dubious characters since the 19th century seemed to be pushing more towards less clearer villains and heroes (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mina Harker, and the Invisible Man are great examples here). By contrast, launching tragic characters (many of whom we know to die within their story) across time and space for a quest for a mighty quill doesn’t seem to live up to the material it is borrowing from.

Creating and interweaving narrative with a previous existing text is certainly fun. I’ve talked elsewhere here about pieces like Wicked, The Dracula Tape, Grendel, etc. But some can be a bit too much gimmick and not enough gumption. This seems to be the case with the new onslaught of titles that insert (even more?) ridiculous events into older stories (mash up stories). Originally triggered by Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The more successful ones seem to pay homage to the original while also looking to tell powerful and compelling stories. In this regard, Sandman, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Fables seem to the more impressive pieces. It will be interesting to see where Kill Shakespeare fits in.

QUESTIONS
What’s appeals to readers about mash-up novels, or texts that build off a previous mythology/narrative/collection of works?

Some argue that this is uncreative or lacking substance? Agree? Disagree? Why?

What do these kind of works suggest about the nature of story telling? Why can we deduce from their ability to leap different media and form?

The Sequel, Remake, Redux Edition

2010-06-10T05:34:00.000-04:00

So often I hear a great many people complain about “Sequel-Mania” or the number of remakes being made of movies that aren’t even old (at least to the person making the statement). Even the Washington Post wasted ink on the subject ; believing it is detrimental to the creative world. The elitism can be heard in a great many of these arguments. People just don’t have fresh ideas and aren’t as creative as they “used to be.”

Bahhh. I don’t buy it. In fact, I remember watching the first X-Men movie when it came out and I knew that I only enjoyed it as much as I did because I knew there would be sequels. If X-Men 1 was all there would be, I would have been deeply disappointed.

As Thomas Foster reminds us, there is only 1 story it and keeps getting retold time and time again. So the fact that sequels are abundant is not entirely surprising. More importantly though, I think the Washington Times and others miss the point. Yes, studios and even publishers look to launch series and a strong influence is the financial benefits. Yet, such arguments undermine the fact that the audience wants more. No matter how much we enjoy a story, we look forward to the next installment. We want to know what happens next. We can accept “happily ever after,” but we never seem to want to put it to rest. And this is nothing new! This is why L. Frank Baum wrote so many books about Oz; why Sir Conan Arthur Doyle had to bring back Sherlock Holmes; it’s why the Illiad followed the Odyssey which was later followed by the Orestia and then the Aeneid. We are drawn towards serial storytelling and some films (not nearly all by any means) can offer that.

It’s also why we see so many alternative tales; stories about previously written stories told through the eyes of different characters or retold in new ways. We get The Dracula Tape as Fred Saberhagen’s attempt to recast Dracula as a good guy. Gardner’s Grendel providing the contemplative monster due to be killed by Beowulf. Tad Williams delivered Caliban’s Hour to show us what The Tempest looked like through the monster’s eyes. Wicked gets to the heart of the Wicked Witch’s dilemma in the Oz books. That’s the tip of the iceberg. We also have authors who have written sequels to older books such as Stephen Baxter’s The Time Ships as the sequel for HG Wells' The Time Machine or Dacre Stoker’s sequel, Dracula the Undead to his great grand-uncle’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We love continuum; getting to know characters and finding out where they go from there. This explains the extensive publishing of Star Wars books, Twilight, Spenser, and Inspector Poirot.

This desire for recapitulating our characters into new settings is also at the cornerstone of the remake industry. Indeed, remakes are very akin to those twice-told tales through different viewpoints; only it’s the director’s different viewpoint instead of the character’s. We’re always curious to see what will be the new way the old information is re-presented. I’ll admit I can be pretty harsh in this regard; I’m still doubtful about seeing the recent remake of Nightmare on Elm Street. After all, I grew up watching Freddy Krueger (now paging Dr. Freud!), for anyone but Robert Englund to be Freddy is sacrilegious. But the remake is a solid deal for creators and viewers alike. Creators work with what is likely to be a guaranteed money-maker (in addition to the film, merchandise will be substantial for most remakes—I’m sure this Halloween, they’ll be more Freddys’ out than there have been in a while). But also, because of the insular audience, directors/writers have an opportunity to be playful, provocative, think out of the box about what they want to do with it. It’s kind of like getting a replacement car that is the same make and model but can be customized very differently.

One of the more successful and appealing examples reworking a text is the 2007 CGI Beowulf. Now, while many see this as an abysmal film (which was me at first), I came to appreciate the dynamic influence and development that created this film. There’s this intriguing mixture of influence that produces the film and to lack this knowledge, often means you miss out on its significance.

Background: Beowulf was an ancient epic poem written sometime in the later half of the 1st millennium. In modern times, Beowulf was often criticized for its overabundance of monsters in its 3-act poem. Along comes J.R.R. Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings fame—though before he wrote that) who delivers a speech call "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" The speech revolutionizes how the monsters and the entire text is understood within modern literary circles.

JRR Tolkien - Beowulf, The Monsters and the Critics

Given his extensive knowledge of Beowulf, it becomes clear that Tolkien is indeed influenced by Beowulf, invoking some of the battle with the Dragon into his book, The Hobbit. Fast forward to the late 20th century. Neil Gaiman, English creator/writer of fantasy has inevitably been influenced by both Beowulf and Tolkien. Gaiman is given to write the script for the CGI version of Beowulf and sure enough, he plays around with the plot in different ways, but at key times in the film, actually evokes Tolkien’s influence. But not his fantasy influence, but his influence on the importance of monsters in Beowulf.

There are two key scenes where this plays out. The first scene is after Beowulf has (to his belief) killed Grendel. Grendel’s mother attacks Herot Hall and thus, Beowulf is told he must slay the mother. His response is: “How many monsters must I slay? Grendels mother, father, Grendes uncle? Must I hack down a whole family tree of demons?” The second scene occurs in the final third of the film when they flashforward 50 years when Beowulf and his army are fighting the Frisians. One of them tries to attack him but is subdued. Beowulf responds with “You want your name in The Song of Beowulf? You think it sould end with me killed by some Frisian raider with no name?.” These two quotes taken together serve as the lynchpins of Tolkien’s discussion on the nature of Beowulf and its relevance. The first being that once Beowulf fights a monster, he must continue fighting monsters for the epic to work. The second, reinforcing the first in that, the “Song of Beowulf” would not be a song if in the final act he is slayed by some no-name warrior. It needs to be a monster.

The other added influence here is that the presentation of Grendel (and you’ll have to watch this in full to get it) is highly invocative of Smeagol/Gollum from the Lord of the Rings films.

So what does all this mean? The easy answer: a whole lot of nothing. The more relevant answer is that retelling tales is not a simple act of getting more money or people being lazy. It’s a creative process in itself that can be influenced in a variety of ways that are just are curious and creative; often paying homage or evolving from the original source material but also adjusting and responding to the times in which the newer version is being delivered to.

QUESTIONS:

What are some of the ways sequels, remakes, new-vantage point stories that successfully develop/adapt/retell their story?

What other reasons are there for these reconfigurations/sequels? What else are we drawn to with regards to sequential storytelling?

What are other some great examples of the mixing influential pieces that have gone in to making a particular sequel/remake?

How do we evaluate the creativity of an author/creator who has utilized a previous text into an different-point of view piece or sequel? Examples?

Enlightened Evil...Definitely Maybe

2010-06-09T06:09:00.000-04:00

6 Enlightened Ideas Brought to You by Evil Empires is an interesting entry from Cracked.com. It reveals as the title indicates compelling ideas that we generally appreciate in the modern world from some rather unlikely sources. Thus from Nazis we get anti-smoking campaigns, childhood education from the Aztecs, egalitarian society from the Mongols and the Soviets, cultural diversity from the Akkadians, and essential elements of modern government from the Persians.

But one paragraph I think is particular striking here: " We put this on the list at great risk to our future political careers. You really can't say anything good about the Nazis without it getting taken out of context in a campaign ad, and obviously pointing out that, say, Hitler's soldiers were well-groomed doesn't excuse their many, many, many atrocities.”

Indeed, it’s quite hard to say positive things about a people whom we use as our epitome of “evil.” You quickly draw the comparison of being a “Nazi” yourself. However, I think the core of the site’s post is clearly revoking this idea. To avoid any doubt, let me first say. Yes, the Nazis and other groups talked about committed horrible acts. I’m not refuting that in the least.

Yet, that’s not the point of the post. Reducing any of those groups into a strict category of “evil” misses what the post has to offer or rather exposes the issue that humans tend to categorize everything into “good” (could also be read in evolutionary terms as “nonthreat”) and “evil” (“threat”). The Nazis are a great example. In hindsight, we see them as evil. In fact, they are the monsters we tout out every so often for our different stories whether it’s Indiana Jones fighting them, Edward Norton aspiring to be one of them, or Nazi Zombies (the movie Dead Snow and also present in mini-games in the Call of Duty video game series).

In doing so, we’ve emphasized their monstrosity and ignore their humanity. We think of them as a class of monsters that did horrific acts that invalidate their humanity. When we discuss the Holocaust and other events surrounding World War II, in common talk, we say “Nazis.” Not Germans; Nazis. And yet, they didn’t rise up out of nowhere and become a force for the world to reckon with. They were first humans and gained support from the people they ruled over. That is, their message (scary as it is to believe) spoke to the people. And ordinary people were needed to ultimately run the smokestacks of Auschwitz. Some books have looked at and considered this at some length including Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning and Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.

People—not inhuman monsters known as Nazis—were committed to the cause and that’s hard to swallow for many because if “ordinary men” can commit these acts and people consider themselves “ordinary” that means those people are not too far removed from these same evil acts. Of course, there is truth to this; after all, the Holocaust was supposed to be the last genocide, yet the 20th and now 21st century is speckled with additional genocides.

But we’re not comfortable equating ourselves with such evil (I already have enough trouble looking at my face in the mirror-hahaha); thus we think of them as a separate category and have trouble finding anything about them redeeming (for it will just remind us of their and our common humanity). Thus this post reminds gets to the heart of the issue in that, we cannot completely remove all human elements from such groups that we have seen as inhuman. While it is easier to see Nazi Germany or the Mongol Empire as completely evil, it denies the complex course of events that allowed them to become the power they did or what the ways in which they may have influenced us (beyond serving as a negative role model for much of history).

QUESTIONS:

What are some other examples of deriving positive results from what are seen as negative/evil/malicious groups/societies/civilizations?

Do we have examples of civilizations/groups that were once considered "evil" and now are considered less so (or even "good")? Or the reverse (civilizations that were considered "good" and now considered either "less good" or "bad/evil"?)?

What does it mean anyways when we discuss groups/societies/people/cultures/nations in such terms as "good" and "evil"? What kind of context are we talking about? Should we be suspect of such contexts?

The Complex Gooing Muck We Call Culture

2010-06-09T04:05:00.001-04:00

Michael Kimmelman offers some rather interesting insights into the every elusive and shape-shifting idea of culture. Of course, the definition of “culture” is

“the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time c : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization d : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic

the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media; also : a product of such cultivation.” (Taken from Merriam Webster).

And Wikipedia has a rather lengthy entry on the subject as well.

What I find interesting with Kimmelman is that he starts off discussing France and moves into the larger landscape of culture and globalization’s role in cultural development but also emphasizes the fluidity/flexibility of culture. He’s quick to point out (rightly so) that just because certain cultural products are appropriated by others, it’s wrong to assume they mean the same thing.

This can be seen in many different places and one of the most curious is the case of 3 Dev Adam, a Turkish film from the 1970s. The plot is standard melodramatic fare, but the characters are appropriated from US and Mexican culture (Captain America, Spider-Man, and Santo). With Spider-Man cast as the villain, the creators have taken some other piece of popular culture and reoriented it to their liking which would seems to be standard fare within global cultural exchange. After all, cultural food appropriation has been a main habit of humans as soon as one culture encountered another. One of their first questions when encountering a new group most likely being, “What have you got to eat?”

With 3 Dev Adam, the fact that they’ve recreated Spiderman and decided to toss in Santo can seem strange to us; 30+ years removed and also, having no basis for associating the two Marvel superheroes and the wrestler (who happened to be a real living person as opposed to the two fictional characters). But that matters little at least in Turkey in the 1970s where the film was made.

Equally, intriguing are the series of videos on YouTube featuring a re-dubbed Hitler speech from a film (from what I gathered, it was taken from Der Untergang (2004) ). Here, too, is something that is mixed and matched with regards to global culture. The title and the visual cues tell us it’s Hitler at an important meeting during World War II. As a German film, it’s not immediately accessible to most English-speaking people (and in particular, Americans). It’s only with the use of subtitles (thereby manipulating the film in some way—adding to it) that it can more clearly communicate its message. But these films decide to play with the added material. Indeed, the video is spliced in numerous ways, often using the same clip but adding different subtitles. In this one, Hitler is devastated about not being cast as The Joker in Nolan’s The Dark Knight but others deal with just as outlandish topics. Again, people are using cultural products in rather compelling and inventive ways.

The key here is to realize that this is not new. For as long as cultures have interacted, they have adapted, appropriated, and re-constructed the cultural products and practices of others.

QUESTIONS:

What are some other modern ways and examples of cultural appropriation and reinvention taking place?

What are some past examples of cultures, societies, groups, etc using the ideas of another to further their own?

What do these incidents (past and present) suggest about our larger conception of “culture,” particularly with regard to the above definition?

Letter to the Editor in Salem News

2010-06-07T05:50:00.000-04:00

June 7, 2010
Letter: College degree losing value in consumer-dominated economy

To the editor:

Neil Barry's June 4 letter to the editor ("Education can be a liability for some job-seekers") hits and misses with regards to the perception of education within our country.

The U.S. has a history of anti-intellectualism. There's some precedence for fearing the intellectual class; after all for most of history the "smartest" were also the "richest" and went hand in hand with the nobility and religious institutions; exploiting and manipulating the masses for millennia.

Fear of intellectuals is also something the Right strongly courts in many of its messages, particularly with leftist leaders (labeling John Kerry as "French" could be read as his being intellectual or non-masculine).

Equally relevant, we've switched in large part from a producing economy to a service and consumer economy. Consumers more and more want their purchases fast and "their way," while companies have acquiesced offering increasing means of purchasing with less direct interaction with salespeople via online shopping, ATMs, self-checkout aisles, etc.

We don't need experienced and learned people; companies continually water down jobs so that they entail a few clicks of a button — anyone can do it.

And yet, a bachelor's degree doesn't go nearly as far as it did 40 years ago. More students than even before are getting their bachelor's so supply-and-demand economics decrees that bachelor's degrees as a whole become less valuable. Master's degrees (particularly MBAs) will follow similar trends.

In this economy, a bachelor's degree opens very few doors. Getting a job that reflects the student's financial and temporal investment is as rare as the four-leaf clover.

Higher education itself is challenged as colleges battle to provide challenging and well-rounded curriculums that meet the expectations of the workforce while also competing in a "customer is always right" world, which academically plays out with students finding not necessarily the most engaging (and therefore productive) program, but the easiest or cheapest.

Vacation of the Mind Part 4: Fearful Insights

2010-06-07T01:50:00.002-04:00

The next book for me to enjoy during my vacation is the only nonfiction book in the lot. I’m a big fan of nonfiction of course, but I think mostly for this trip, I was looking to step into other people’s shoes. Not “escape” as we so often refer to the act, but more just enjoy the new vision other authors’ worlds gave me. However, I did happen to listen to one compelling nonfiction audiobook on my mp3 player that has left me with a better critical angle to approach informational sources (or maybe just refreshed my already developed sense?).

The book, The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner is a rather interesting look at how our sense of fear is so often misguided. We get distracted, mixed messages, or not sufficient information to judge something as a legitimate threat while at the same time, rarely take a step back to view the broader context for something we deem a threat. As Gardner says, our “gut” (or instinct—which in itself is antiquated since it was developed for the world of serious and deadly threats of the wilderness; not what is by far an extremely less threatening modern world) is constantly flummoxed by the information it receives and doesn’t often give “mind” (or abstract thought—the latest developed piece of equipment humankind has been working with and therefore, the least removed from our emergency response question) a chance to impose order before reacting. We are continually reacting to perceived threats that aren’t real and this happens in large part due to a feedback (and amplifying) loop within society among officials, media, and the public.

The book in large part brought me back to two of my favorite, influential and thought-provoking books that I read a while back: Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media by Michael Parenti and The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner. What Gardner, Parenti, and Glassner do so well is help the reader to deconstruct the numerous messages and pressures directed at a person (usually through mass media, culture/society, or government). Additionally, they remind the reader that even the most positive-seeming groups (a cancer-research advocacy group, for instance) is still most likely going to manipulate the message (and in doing so, evoke our fear) for the largest effect; to motivate the receiver (the person reading/viewing/listening to the message). Playing on the emotions can in itself be problematic since there is a continually diluting effect the more a message is used. The starving child of the 1980s “Feed the Children” campaign is less effective now than it was then. A good example is the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s ad campaign of animals suffering the hazards of our plastic pollution. Human’s extensive pollution of the earth is indeed horrific, but in the video below, by putting it to Queens’ “Who Wants To Live Forever,” it becomes too much. That is, the languid melody preys on emotions even further than is necessary.

The commercial is playing on our heart-strings and demanding we act now by using emotional content without much factual content . It provides no substance for us to contextualize what we’re seeing. Exactly how many animals of all the animals living in the world right now die by plastic? What are other devastating means that animals die by human hands (and this question is one of comparison: After all, if ten times more animals die by human design—say for the purpose of human consumption; then animal death by plastic seems irrelevant) Their need to manipulate instead of inform also speaks to other issues of humankind with regards to planning, changing, and conscientiousness, but alas, they must compete for our heart-strings as much as others who want our attention (and the potential revenue that comes with that). It’s asking us to react; not to think.

Like the others, Gardner’s prose pushes the reader to step back and ask critical questions of the information and challenge the often blatant and underlying assumptions. It’s worth everyone’s time to take a look at this as it provides compelling insight and means of addressing the things that each one of us fear or just are wary of.

Vacation of the Mind Part 3: The Not So Stellar Bunch

2010-06-06T07:32:00.003-04:00

The next three books to have engaged me during my trip were enjoyable but nearly as profound for me. I didn’t feel as moved or compelled with these but I could still appreciate the pleasure of slipping into and getting lost in the story; seeing the world as the author created it and the characters were sent careening along.

What’s interesting about this lot is that two of them were audiobooks and the third was a graphic novel, “readings” that some are still suspect of. The merits of either form will be addressed at length (and most likely ad naseum) in future. However, their form shouldn’t be indicative of lesser engagement; after all, some of my favorite narratives are best experienced for me in audio form (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy read by Douglas Adams himself) and my GoodReads library is fill with at least 1/3 of graphic novel titles (and another 1/3 is of course, books that I’ve listened to).

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers had its merits for depicting the real-world liminality and faulty-logical approaches to the criminal justice system; particularly as it is applied to minors. It also balanced simplicity with complexity well. The story’s shell embodied a simple short course of events that the main character, Reese experiences. He’s given an option to become part of a work-release program. He meets a disgruntled and bigoted man, the develop a sincere and deep relationship, and Reese learns about himself and his life by listening to this older man. Meanwhile, his situation in the detention center (named “Progress” of course) is deteriorating especially after two cops show up to bully him into taking a plea for crimes he had no responsibility for. Reese’s story in the larger picture is not an intense life or death situations nor the stuff of mainstream drama; after all, by our cultural standards, young black male in cuffs seems standard fair, (Note: that’s our cultural perception/projection, not my actual view).

Yet, that’s where Myers slides in some rather interesting complexity. Through Reese’s eyes we get to glimpse that there are many roads that are closed off to a young man of fourteen. His most important goal by the story’s end is to work hard so that he can help pay for his young and bright nine-year old sister when she gets to college; believing that his chance is gone. There are many moments when Reese has to come to terms with his options or lack thereof and while Myers is at times a little to heavy handed with these decrees and condemnations of modern society, they are nonetheless poignant.

By contrast, Pete Nelson’s I Thought You Were Dead feels less impressive. It mixes a bit of Seinfeld with a bit of self-help and a dash of every none-alpha male sweet-loving, smart, insecure guy cliché. Paul is wishy-washy, whiny, and rather drab all around. He’s divorced; he engages in deep philosophical debates with his dog; and he enjoys drinking with his friends. Of course, his life becomes troubling when his father suffers a debilitating stroke and an onslaught of family stresses begin to fracture; including his relationship with his most recent girlfriend. The issues feel genuine enough, but the final “breakthrough” events just feel flat.

And yet, there were things I dug about Paul and kept me reading. I understood (and related) to many of his concerns about his life and the doubt, double-questioning, and resistance he met with certain personal obstacles whether it be family, love relations, or self-image. Nelson did well with teasing out the issues that many men don’t often sufficiently address or feel inadequate about who use poor coping skills with until some day, they breakdown; either in a mid-life crisis or something more troubling.

And of course, the least likely of them all, was Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth Volume 1: Out of the Woods. The story focuses on a boy named Gus who has lived in a forest with his parents for his entire life, believing that to go out of the woods would be dangerous (and I did enjoy this irony that the woods is the place of safety and to leave is to invoke horrible events). Gus is one of the few children who have been born since some apocalyptic event and has been imbued with antlers and other animal hybrid features. After his father’s death, he finds himself being hunted but quickly rescued by an old gruff man who promises to take him to a place of protection for children like himself. Scared and uncertain, Gus follows and steps into the rest of the world.

It’s pretty standard post-apocalyptic fair thus far with at least one good (albeit somewhat predictable twist), but as I’ve said before, Lemire still has the power to tell a good comic story through drawing. He does extremely well with subtle panels that often need re-viewing and facial experiences that convey a surprising range of emotion despite often being fully detailed. In large part because of these tools, it makes reading his piece rather delightful because it draws out the story in ways that many artists/authors can’t always do. The facial expressions are ones you can set your eyes to and slowly study for meaning.

As said, I wasn’t in love with this stack, but it did provide enjoyable fodder for my vacation. None of them left me feeling moved, but not every book will. But any book worth its paper will do what these books do; connect with me; flesh out some piece of the world or myself (although, divorcing those two probably is a mistake in some sense).

Access Unprecedented

2010-06-05T00:34:00.001-04:00

The term “awesome” comes to mind (in its original use; not the TMNT/surfer lingo) when I think about the Internet Archive. In fact, I often have to set a time limit for myself when I visit this site. Like Wikipedia, one can get lost following the hyperlinks from one source to another or just doing search after search to see what the site has to offer.

The premise of the site is twofold. The first is to catalogue the entire internet, day after day, month after month and take a snapshot of all the sites (or as many as possible). They turn this into a virtual archive of the world wide web. That in itself is an immense project, and one that is a boon for people curious to look at the history of the Internet or just doing research of one sort another. At current count, it has some 150 billion (that is 150,000,000,000) sites catalogued. For instance, one can look at Boston.com’s site and see how it looked back in October 20, 1996:

Or what it looked like on September 11, 2001:

There’ also August 25, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans:

That is pretty useful, but the other major premise the site works on is an extension of Project Guttenberg, a site that looked to provide all public domain writing available online (and continues to do so). Public domain works are created works (art, books, film, etc) that are no longer held in copyright by the owner/creator. Depending on the product and the different laws (and loopholes), copyrights may eventually dissolve and the works are then open to free use by the public at large without paying cost to anyone. For instance, if I started a publishing company of “classics,” I could publish a great deal of old material and never pay anyone for it, since they are public domain works. In fact, a reasonable amount of publishers at one time or another (including audiobook publishers and even comic publishers) have used public domain works to help establish and legitimize themselves before being financially secure enough to acquire copyrighted material.

The Internet Archive has built upon this model but has gone even further as it now includes in addition to text, moving images (film, TV shows, news, commercials, home video, and other moving images), to sound (live music, radio programs, old time radio, audiobooks, podcasts, etc) and even programs. It’s a an unprecendented resource of material. One could scour it for years and continue to find interesting material (especially since it is continually updated). They have been highly active over the last few years and extended their projects and goals in interesting directions.

It’s worth noting that there are some remarkable finds here including George R. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and the original 1910 version of Frankenstein by Thomas Edison. But one can also find Abbott and Costello’s famous and hilarious radio broadcast of “Who’s on First”. And for the more literary, there are The Complete Letters of Mark Twain. Cliché as it is, the site does offer something of interest to everybody. Do a few searches with keywords of interest and you’ll be quickly sucked in.

The newest offshoot of this project has been Librivox. This site has created a massive library of audio material read by volunteers to create a free online database of audiobooks in the public domain. The way the site works is that volunteers find public domain works and record their reading of them. Obviously, some are not on par with the audiobooks from publishers or radio drama, but it’s impressive how good a great deal of them are and how, regardless of amazing recording tools, these members have helped contribute to such a massive project. People can perform simple searches of the site to find relevant material and all of it is available for download in MP3s at 128KBS (CD quality roughly). Of course you can just wander aimlessly through the catalogue as well. They have a variety of selections including a series of lumped-together science fiction short stories http://librivox.org/short-science-fiction-collection-034/. But there’s quite the range including the 911 Commission Report, Rinkitink of Oz by L. Frank Baum, Zadig by Voltaire, The Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, and The Prince by Nicolo Machiabelli.

QUESTIONS

Take a look around, what are some of the interesting things you dug up on Archive.org? In looking over something, what did you find that was interesting or useful about it? What was problematic in terms of using the site or the material found there?

Authors on My Radar (AMR): Jeff Lemire

2010-06-04T05:54:00.000-04:00

This is part of a new series of posts in which I will discuss certain creators that I find intriguing, interesting, and relevant or just want to talk about. The series will be called “AMR” for “authors on my radar,” since I like the acronym better than CMR (creators on my radar).

On my radar right now is Jeff Lemire. He’s’ a comic creator who I’m leaning to put on my “Must Read” list of comic creators (which includes Steve Niles, Robert Kirkman, and Bill Willingham). I first came across his work in Essex County: Tales From The Farm. I thought it was an enjoyable and moving tale about a young boy lost to the world. Lemire went off my radar for a while until 2 months ago when I picked up The Essex County Complete which included additional volumes. It had been over a year since I read the first volume, so I read through the whole thing and I was flabbergasted.
Lemire has a powerfully subtle way of telling stories, light on text, simple in art, but profound in effect. The Complete Essex County traces the relationships among several families and generations within the rural community. Fathers and sons, brothers, lovers, and other kin battle their inner demons, the confinements of rural life, and one another to try to make sense of life. It’s quite strong stuff and Lemire dishes it out with simple but powerful art, using silence are powerfully as sound throughout his work.

What I notice best about Lemire’s work is that he’s so interested in awkward relationships. Relationships between people (often youth with an older and at least within the social world of the story, more suspect character). In many ways, this allows for the quiet awkward tension that permeates his work and is quite perfected in The Complete Essex County.

This evening, I sat down to read The Nobody, Lemire’s own take on or rather, extension of HG Well’s The Invisible Man. Besides providing a plausible continuation of the story, Lemire also manages to tell a story that is poignant and doesn’t require a working knowledge of The Invisible Man. Again, he’s selective and impressive with his moments he chooses for his panels. The story mimics comics in a way in that it provides a clear story, but allows reader to draw conclusions (perform "closure" as Scott McCloud would say) about different plot strands within the story. It doesn't beat readers over the head with every plot element, but does provide guidance for reader to follow along.

His most recent (and apparently ongoing) series, Sweet Tooth (which will be covered in another post in the Vacation of the Mind posts), reinforces this and is certainly enjoyable; different with the others herein, in that it jumps into the full color scale whereas The Nobody was limited in color range.

I look forward to Lemire’s future work; he seems to be the kind of comic artist that uses the form exceedingly well to tell deep stories and unlike other artists, he balances text and image impressively.

Vacation of the Mind Part 2: Classics; Probably for a Reason

2010-06-04T05:21:00.000-04:00

In my last entry, I discussed the first of seven books I happened to read on my recent vacation. In this entry, I’ll discuss the next two books I read (can’t promise the other entries will be in chronological order of reading, but hey, who’s to say there needs to be some sense of order).

Many people recognize the name Jonathan Swift and some of us probably suffered through his “A Modest Proposal” at one point in our education. I say “suffer” mostly in jest because I know that’s what I did when I first came across him; mostly because he was mandatory reading and my engagement with reading was quite different then. I go back now and can certainly appreciate “A Modest Proposal” (and one can even find an a free reading at Librivox). So when Gulliver’s Travels came into my hands, I decided I should read it and found it rewarding. Here’s a book written just under 300 years ago and I was impressed how accessible it truly is. It’s not a fantastic story by any means; after all, there’s very little dialogue and some chapters can be rather drab, but on the whole, I could appreciate Swift’s criticism of humanity and society.

Gulliver’s Travel is the account of a ship doctor and his four escapades into uncharted lands, each with their own unique attributes that Gulliver records. In the land of Lilliput, Gulliver is a giant among small 6-inch humans while in the land of Brobdingnag, he is as small to the natives as the Lilliputians were to him. He visits the floating island of Laputa and finishes his travels in the land of Houyhnhnms, an intelligent and utopian race of horses who eventually banish him from their society. On its face value, it’s an enjoyable story as readers learn about the different societies and how they exist, their customs, government, rituals, and beliefs. Of course, Swift wrote this as a political satire of the modern world of the early 1700s and the different European states. And a good version of this book will inform of you things that today’s common reader might not intuitively know as Swift’s contemporaries might. Still, it’s an enjoyable read because his discussions of ethnocentrism and cultural elitism still permeate in our world today. Every society fosters some belief that theirs is the superior way of life.

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was the next book I picked up and it hit me hard. I understood the influence of this book (to get some sense of it, check out this), but I never realized it would hit me emotionally. Now, those who have read it may not agree and some have seen the story as more of a propaganda piece against the more problematic issues of unfettered capitalism (that is, a pro-socialism diatribe) than an actual novel, but I think that does a disservice to what makes the book as impactful as it has been. The story begins with the marriage of Jurgis and Ona and traces their experience immigrating to the United States. They eventually end up in the meat-slaughtering district of Chicago where the entire family seeks survival in a brutal world of employment in unsafe working conditions, surplus population, and ruthless employers. Jurgis’s descent from poor but seemingly livable rural life in Lithuania to wanton criminal is heartbreaking at times. The once proud and powerful Jurgis represents the great American ideal (he continually invokes the idea of working harder to attain his financial “freedom”) clashing with the stark reality of life in the late 19th and early 20th century for millions of Americans.

Knowing the larger truth of working conditions to which Sinclair spoke, made Jurgis’s plight more powerful. Jurgis may never existed but inevitably many have walked similar paths and still do. Inevitably, there were parts of this book that I had trouble digesting (pun, intended).

Peter Kuper does a good and stark comic version of it, that if read deliberately can evoke many of the emotions found in the book; though I don’t think it does the book full justice since so much of Jurgis’s plight is vested in a combination of Sinclair’s vivid descriptions of the squalid living conditions, brutal work environments, and emotional desperation of his characters.

Both books fall into that category of classics that everyone knows but few have ever actually read. If asked, I could have said a few things about both books right off the top of my head without having ever read them. Their influence permeates through world culture. Swift’s critical approach to the world is still well felt in shows such as King of Hill while Sinclair’s book sparked a variety of changes and regulation within different industries while also being invoked time and again wherever exploited workers have dealt with repressive conditions. But more importantly for my reading enjoyment, they were both books that once I got into the rhythm of, found myself enveloped in and enjoyed.

QUESTIONS
What “classics” have you read that make it self-evident by story’s end why they became “classic?” That is, what books have you finished and felt like, “Now, I understand why it’s a classic”?

What “classics” have you made it to the end of and feel like it didn’t fulfill your expectation of “classic”? (My experience with this is Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; I’ve read it 3-4 times and I still don’t know what all the fuss is about).

Vacation of the Mind Part 1

2010-06-04T04:15:00.001-04:00

During a recent trip to the Netherlands, in addition to seeing a great many sights and enjoying the company of my host, his friends, and others I interacted with over the two weeks I was there, I also had a large chunk of free time that I could devote to reading. Upon reflection, I’ve realized I was sucked into the delicious vortex of mental stimulation that I so often crave but can never seem to devote myself fully to.

It was a delightful reminder of the power of reading. I love all forms of storytelling from books to comics to televisual to video games; however, this trip brought me back to my summers of lifeguarding empty pools (nevermind that they were 5 feet deep in the deep end!) where I pretty much read endlessly for months. I think my best record for one summer (marked by open pool season as from Memorial Day to Labor Day), I read some 42 books. Those days are long gone at least in terms of the range of demands on my time preventing me from reading that much, but I was still amazed how easily I slipped back into the groove. Unlike that summer of books, where they mostly fell into science-fiction and fantasy (a mixture of classic and dismal material), this mixture of seven books ran the gamut from young adult to erotica to political satire to nonfiction and all of them registered something in me.

I never travel without a few physical books and several loaded up on my mp3 player, but that never stops me from buying more when I’m away…I’m a booklover; my apartment is one match away from an alternative level in hell than any mentioned in Dante’s Inferno. So of course, the first thing I bought when I was out of the country was another book. I have the film, I’m Not Scared because I believe it’s an excellent example of a thriller that doesn’t use excessive violence or weak gimmicks to affect viewers but relies a compelling plot, interesting viewpoint, and strong development to keep viewings engaged until the very end. When I saw the book at the airport, I couldn’t resist purchasing it, despite my general policy to not buy “new” books, but get them used. But it ultimately launched my reading frenzy, and for that, I’m grateful.

While it was interesting to note how accurate the film worked with regards to the book, Niccolo Ammaniti’s I’m Not Scared follows a young boy, Michele Amitrano and his life in a small rural Italian home. Told through Michele’s eyes, the story creates a credible experience of dealing with a limiting childhood in terms of material goods and actual friends. He has little choice but to play with his younger sister and the few children in the village and though he never says it, he’s clearly frustrated by it. When Michele discovers a young boy of equal size and age locked in a underground room connected to an abandoned house, the story takes a dark turn that brims with suspense coupled with curiosity. Both reader and Michele wonder who this boy is and while some of Michele’s conclusions are obviously wrong, we as the reader can understand why or how a 9-year-old’s imagination can make such connections. And that’s what drives the story; Ammaniti’s skill comes from recreating the world through Michele’s eyes; a pair of eyes that doesn’t believe in monsters…except when he does. He’s been hardened by both life and the older children of the village but that no less makes him susceptible to his vivid imagination. In many ways, this book reminds me of Stephen King’s novella, The Body (also fairly well adapted into the movie, Stand By Me) in that there’s an earnestness with which the author reminds the reader of life in before adulthood, but unlike The Body, it’s not a “coming of age story.”

(Just note about the trailer; it is clearly overdramatic and certainly doesn’t represent the film in a clearly accurate manner. While there is an intensity to the film (and text, even), it’s clear the trailer is trying to forge the film into classic “American thriller” and I think the beauty of this film (all the way till the end) is that it isn’t the standard film.)
In the end, what made this powerful for me was that Ammaniti’s prose did bring me into Michele’s world, but it was the fact that Michele’s world in some ways was no different from my own childhood—filled with nonexistent (but existing) monsters and frights and the occasional real danger (though none in hindsight compare to Michele’s, no matter how much I would have suggested at the time).

W(hat) W(ould) W(ertham) D(o)? The emergence of Comic Institutions

2010-05-20T15:57:00.000-04:00

For those who grew up middle of the 20th century, Wertham is a name for some that sends cold chills down their spines in a way that the horror tales never could. While zombies, vampires, and ghouls excited young imaginations; Wertham looked to censor such ideas. He played a pivotal role in the demise of comic sales in the 1950s (as did television; but so the story goes, Wertham seemed to be a harbinger of a different sort). Two good examinations of these events are covered in the documentary Tales from the Crypt Volume 1 and David Hadju’s The Ten-Cent Plague and since this is the internet age, even accessing the transcript to the Senate Subcommittee hearings with Gaines, Wertham and the whole lot can be accessed. To see the length of his publications, this site offers up a good deal and for those interested in a copy of Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent, contact me. The summation of who Wertham is and what he did can also be found here for those who haven’t read the aforementioned book or seen the documentary. But it’s interesting to note that not everyone is a clear critic of the cultural critic that is Wertham. Some have had some interesting things to say, including Julian Darious in his essay, The End of Seduction (unfortunately, the essay is no longer accessible online; which is why I was incredibly lucky to save as a PDF!)

But here we are over 50 years later and comic books continue to thrive and take up a decent spot in popular culture. But I think what Wertham only marginally go to towards the end of his life with regards to his examination on Fanzine culture is that this elements of popular culture do have something to offer. More importantly, like other avenues of study and culture, they are becoming more legitimate forms, not just through mass exposure, but through serious inquiry and exploration. Much has been written about the various academic approaches to comics, whether it's the college-level class (which some of you who are reading this are in), or the academic articles and books (of which I have added to in some small way) or the academic conferences (again, been there, done that, have a t-shirt actually--and no, it's not my Batman t-shirt either). These have been covered at length throughout the net, but lesser so is the rise in institutions--particularly, nonprofit institutions, that are present to encourage the study, exploration, and usage of comics. Most recently, two organizations have launched with overlapping intentions. The Institute for Comic Studies is a nonprofit organization who looks to support in a variety of ways the further study and examination as comics while Reading With Pictures is an organization attempting to raise awareness of comics at education tools either directly connected with reading or any applicable field of knowledge. Both are run by some of the well-known people in the field of comic studies and they clearly illustrate (pun intended) the desire to push comics beyond their most recent (and most replicated) conversation (which many within comic studies hear repeatedly) about comics not just being for kids.

The rise of such institutions indicates a clear shift and hopefully larger trend wherein cultural objects can be better understood for their potential merit and not their worst or at least less-reputable examples. These aren't the only nonprofit organizations dealing with comics but I tend to think these show a clear shift from previous examples such as Prism Comics, which is a fantastic group that looks to promote GLBT theme comics. Kids Love Comics is another solid organization that looks to increase awareness and tap the potential of kids to enjoy comics. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund comes to mind. This organization raises funds and provides legal advice to a variety of people within the comic industry from artists to comic book store owners whose First Amendment rights are wrongly assaulted. These organizations are mainly concerned with increasing awareness (and protection) and encouraging certain populations to pick up the comics and appreciate their value. The later organizations seem to take the value for granted or rather are looking to enhance our overall value of comics by supporting research.

Destruction, Death, and Mayhem, Has Never Been This Social

2010-05-18T05:05:00.002-04:00

I find this particular post at CollegeHumor.com quite amusing and impressive. It's one of those jokes that also has some great insight and reveals ways of delivering information in unique and different formats. I imagine that this kind of work would actually make it easier for students of the "Facebook" generation to visualize (and eventually conceptualize) the events and the stakes of World War II. Now that may sound silly; how could it invoke the stakes of World War II; after all, one is considered the most significant event of the last hundred years and the other is World War II. Ooops, I mean, the other is Facebook. But in truth, Facebook does have a much more clear and central role in people's lives in the early 21st century than WWII does. And before the eyes rolls and people start saying "Well, that says a lot about the people of the early 21st century," realize that we are compelled by things that are dynamic and can be engaged with; World War II, by and large, is static or at least the means of bestowing its information and significance are static in the education system. Books; documentaries, oral histories; and for those like myself, graphic novels. There is some interaction there but not compared to what one does with Facebook.

I've posed this question to my students before. Who is the creator of your facebook profile? Some look at me with a crazy look that hints at my intelligence or "hip" factor (and I realize by using the word "hip" significantly deterioriates any "hip"ness I might have) and they answer "I do." More critical students may say, "Facebook does." But very few remember realize that it's not just "Facebook, Inc" or "Me" but also our "Friends" that create our page. We send links, poke, comment, have contact through applications, recommend friends and a variety of other tools of interaction that builds our profile and our "community." So, the interaction and communal building does make Facebook more relevant to our lives; we want to see how people react and build upon what we’ve done. (After all, we often post stuff—links, pics, videos, etc, with the hope that people will respond).

Therefore, something like the WWII on Facebook is an ingenious and intriguing way to parley such information. In fact, I’m considering pushing students to re-create such similar historical (or even literary like the Romeo & Juliet on Facebook). It uses students’ interest and pushes them to think more creatively about their forms of communication and social networks. What's most interesting is that it takes sophisticate thought not only to create; but to understand. Many of the jokes stem from both a knowledge of Facebook and of WWII, so if you're laughing, there's a chance you're understanding both.

QUESTIONS

What are other examples of this out there on the Internet that use different things like online social networks to convey complex historical events, literary concepts, or even complex narratives? In discussing or posting some, please explain in some detail how and what the author(s) are doing in their work and how it relates to this discussion.

How accurate is the WWII post (and have some evidence or clear means of proving your statements in this regard)?

What might be (or exist) some critical responses to this?

Beyond the Class; Or What I Hope They Take From My Course

2010-05-15T03:26:00.000-04:00

Regardless of the topic, there's much I wish for my students to take from my course and it's in reflecting through my own instructors that I realized where these urges originate. I have had a great deal of fantastic instructors, mentors, and colleagues (some of whom were instructors and mentors at one point) that have taught me so many things beyond the specific content of their course and so many of those lessons I hope in some way to instill with my students in whatever way I can (and preferably relevant to course material). Here are some of those that come to mind.

Be active; not passive with life: It's the "Carpe Diem" approach that remains so present in my mind from my sophomore year of high school when Mr. Marshall showed us Dead Poet's Society. Life moves quickly and there is so much one can do with it. Don't waste it. Like I say in a great deal of my courses; if you have made it to the college, you have surpassed the education and opportunities of billions of people on this Earth--do something with those opportunities. You should be challenged and engaged with life; not idyl. There's much to this world waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. Maybe a better way of stating this is to be conscious of your life and what you're doing with it.

Words matter: Whether you're deciding how to word a criticism towards your friend ("That sweater doesn't suit you" = That sweater is damn ugly!) or how you word your final essay; how you say it is as important as what you say. We are shaped by language and that can be problematic in many ways, but the important lesson is to remember that words have meaning and subtley. Be conscious

Education is more than a grade: If high school was about passing; college should be about growing. The classes in which I learned the most were the ones that I sometimes did the worse in or had the most to learn. The grade for obvious reasons is important; but the focus should be on the process and consideration of learning (and deliberating on whether you are open to learning or just getting a degree; the difference could be between succeeding in both internal and external ways or barely making it).

Help is not a bad thing. We learn at different rates; we need different approaches to learning; asking/receiving help is a good way of attaining those things we are having trouble getting. Don't sacrifice help for pride, fear, or some other thought that claims help is a bad thing. No one makes it without some form of help.

An extension of that is that failure is a significant part of the learning process. We often learn best from our failures. Whether that is getting a question wrong in class discussion, doing poorly on a quiz, or failing a course. Failure can be good learning process if you take the time to consider how/why things went wrong and pay close attention to where you (or the situation itself) may have gone astray. If we all quit the first time, we fell off our bikes, no one would learn how to ride a bike.

Meeting the bare minimum is not way to go through life. Some students make the comment, "I just want to pass this course." Regardless of the course, the bare minimum of passing seems problematic for several different reasons. The first is that, this is your education--you pay for it with money and time (time in the class; homework; commuting to the school, etc). Do you want to approach your education as "Just enough to pass"? Equally problematic is that, while a bachelor degree is important to your overall work potential; more and more, they are not signficant enough to open that many doors. Competition for jobs gets increasingly tougher and fair grades simply won't cut it. You need to be committed to college; not just there to get through it.

Have direction in life, but realize you're using map and final destination will often need updating. This one's simple. Make plans, but be prepared for them to change. The plan will help you focus; being prepared for change will allow you to adapt more easily. The world is changing at a rapid pace in a variety of ways; it will not always act in the way you expect.

Whatever the course; there is some redeeming and relevant to take from it. If I responded to students who said "I hate history" with "I hate students who hate history," needless to say, I would see massive flight from my class if not some panic-striken faces. I don't (and other faculty don't) expect love of our subject matter, but often you are there as part of a larger purpose (such as a Bachelor's Degree) and therefore, this course you're in is part of that and has something to offer. Often a student's reluctance (I hate subject X. I can't do subject Y) are the biggest obstacle to doing well in the course--not the course itself.

Reflect; often and thoroughly. If you can't articulate "Why" you like something; then you might want to take a step back. We're told so often of what we're supposed to be, to enjoy, to like, to aim for. But if we can't find substantial reasons for why, then we're not acting of our own volition but are being directed by others and usually those "others" don't have our interest in mind (P.S. "Because others are doing it" is not a valid reason either).

Every choice we make is political. Springing from the one above, realize that so much of what we do is part of a large world system in which we are connected in thousands of ways to people all over the world. As people who live on the high end of the economic scale (and if your in college; that most usually true), our choices with regards to clothing, food, material goods, cellphone providers, marriage, childrearing, etc all have political ramifications that ripple throughout the world. This can be exhausting and many would rather stick their head in the sand, but it's learning this and being a more conscious decision maker that may make the difference between our own success and demise.

It's not about knowing the answers; it's about asking the right questions. I tend to be of the camp that the more I learn; the less I know. However, conversely, I get better at asking the right questions and unravelling the messages behind the message. So much of life is about decoding the signs and realizing the signs are rarely fixed; therefore, so long as you continue to question, challenge, press forward, you're in a better situation than just assuming you "know" it.

College is more than just class. If your thought of school is simply going to classes and getting a degree; you're missing out on half your education. The various programs, groups, clubs, activities, events, etc at the school are there for you to benefit from in both direct and indirect ways. If you don't leave college without expanding your professional network by some 50+ people, you've wasted a good deal of your time. Going to college is engaging in a variety of events and meeting people (besides dates for Friday night--as important as those are).

Talk to your instructors; soon and often. We're not mind readers and more often than not, we're actually real people with genuine interests and concern for our students.

El Fin De Semester

2010-05-15T02:51:00.001-04:00

There are some things that come bittersweet; no matter how many times you experience them. For me, that is the end of the semester. Each semester, we start off in a slow shuffle as students and instructor figure out the rhythms of each other and decide if to stick it through and finish this dance or part ways somewhere along the way (sometimes willingly and sometimes reluctantly). But somewhere after midterms (and in particular in the Spring, after Spring Break), we shift gears are find ourselves hurtling towards the end of the semester; want it to "be over with" and finally have time to breath. Instructors feel it too. Remember that when your semester ends by taking or passing in that final; the instructor switches from wrapping up the class into an overdrive marathon of grading finals and calculating grades with often very short turnover to submit grades.

It's a flustering time and many instructors like myself run through their minds to figure out if they've covered all they could possibly cover; did they communicate everything as effective as possible; are ready for the onslaught of papers, and often, how to communicate those things that any teacher feels the need to communicate to their students regardless of the course (and this is totally projection here, but I'll take that risk--See other post).

But it can be sad. In many classes, the rhythm has been established, the growth in students is palpable, and you even seen genuine interest in the topic (something that can be hard with some courses like World History). And within the last 4-5 classes; that too starts to fall apart since students begin preparations for departure. They use up their absences; they skip homework readings; their impatience shows. In fact, it's much like the last five minutes of any class; those students wanting the most quickest departure start packing their things away including their notebooks, pens, etc (Yes, it's obvious from the instructor's side; and not in a good way).

Students sometimes are so quick to look to the end of the semester that they miss the course in a great many ways. They are thinking about the ride home from the movie theater rather than engaging in the climax of the film. I only hope their fixation on the ride home isn't so strong that in leaving the theater, they realize they have to revisit the movie at a later date having little recall or proof that they actually processed what they took part in.

The semester comes to an end in a jumbling mix of trying to prepare students for the final assignment which may or may not be cumulative and addressing the final pleas of students whose grades teeter in directions they would rather not see them go.

It's amazing how quickly it ends. In a given semester, we spend 40+ hours together; engaged in class discussion, corresponding through email; circulating comments through papers and revisions and then it's over. Some of my students I never see again. Others, I randomly run into and yet, others stick around. They take other courses with me (those lil sadomasochists!); they correspond with me via email; or drop by my class or office at some point. Moments many instructors enjoy greatly.

And yet, I too breathe a sigh of relief at semester's end. It's been a race for myself as well. However, I also feel a sense of vindication in that I have completed another semester of (hopefully) successful dialogue about things that I feel (somewhat) knowledgeable of and can help impart that upon my students.

I guess it's evident that this comes at the end of another semester; one I feel that went rather well overall. Hence the pleasure and reluctance.

Behind the Mike: Barbara Rosenblat

2010-05-10T08:35:00.000-04:00

LJ audio reviewer Lance Eaton, who has previously interviewed narrators Alan Sklar (LJ 3/1/09) and Scott Brick (LJ 10/15/09), talks to the multiple Audie Award winner

By Lance Eaton -- Library Journal, 5/1/2010

Actress/singer Barbara Rosenblat, described by one audio reviewer as "a boundless vocal changeling" (LJ 2/15/06), is an enthusiastic narrator whose performances continue to impress listeners. She's won six Audie Awards to date—more than any other female narrator—and was nominated for several more this year. Her reading of Miep Gies's Anne Frank Remembered (Springwater: Oasis Audio) was anLJ Best Audio of 2009. Among her latest recordings are Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog (HighBridge Audio, Mar.) and Elizabeth Peters's A River in the Sky (Recorded Bks./HarperAudio, Apr.).

You've recorded over 400 audiobooks. What appeals to you about the medium?

It's the most wonderful, intimate, primal medium out there, which is why radio is still successful.

What do you mean by "primal"?

[Think of the experience of] being read to as a child. Those soothing voices that you learn to rely on for comfort, information, protection, and for being a part of something greater than yourself; that all translates into good audio.

Which has been your favorite book or series to narrate?

Why don't you ask me who my favorite child is! I've done it all over the years, in so many genres—great and fabulous pieces. Because I enjoy the process so much, each new project offers a different set of challenges.

For Zadie Smith's thoughtful essay collection Changing My Mind(Recorded Bks./Penguin Audio, 2009), for example, I had to channel her voice and intent in this extraordinary array of discussions about Nabokov, Obama, movie reviews, David Foster Wallace. Each new book…brings me that challenge, which I embrace most of all.

How do you prepare for that challenge?

I watch TV, go to the movies, listen to the radio. I need to hear all the voices, terminology, and conversations that are out there, swallow up as much information as I can [in order to] bring my A game [to the studio].

Anything else?

I try getting in touch with the author, to make a connection between myself as the recording artist and what the author's intent is, and I work at really absorbing the book, page after page.

[But] even once I've figured out my whole audio landscape and [think I] know what's going to happen, I get into the studio…that silent place with the machine recording, and another kind of magic kicks in that introduces [unexpected] little changes as I go.

What's currently on your agenda?

I just finished recording Neta Jackson's Where Do I Go? (Recorded Bks., May 19)—it's pulp fiction-Christian-chick lit. [Soon], I'll begin recording Eudora Welty's short stories for Audible and then will fly to L.A. to do [some] live audio drama. Then it's the Audies in May and the National Audio Theatre Festivals in June. And I shall get some sailing in along the way, I hope.

Any message to your many fans?

I am so thankful to all who write to www.barbararosenblat.com and weigh in with their thoughts on my work. I might even consider Twitter, if I can figure it out!

Letter to the Editor in Salem News

2010-05-10T08:33:00.001-04:00

May 10, 2010

Letter: Don't blame school for kids' misbehavior

To the editor:

Regarding the Friday, May 7, letter headlined "Crackdown needed at Higgins Middle School":

John Haight's concern about cyberbullying is well felt, but his blame seems misdirected. While the school represents the focus and source for cyberbullying to take place; a good deal of it takes place at home or really anywhere with cell phones. Removing cell phones from school may be an option, but it's a Band-Aid solution.

Also, schools have no grounds for forbidding online profiles; that's a parent's concern and rightly so.

It's clear Haight is troubled by the lack of communication — though it's often hard to decide what is a clear matter of cyberbulling and, more importantly, since these are minors, who gets told what. Publishing their names as far as I know is illegal, since they are minors.

As for his reference to drugs in school; well, that's no surprise. Drugs were there when I went to Higgins back in 1991. We know how well the "War on Drugs" worked in my generation's youth.

I'm also not quite sure how "teachers are failing" with regards to cyberbullying. Should they be trolling their students' Facebook profiles and taking notes? Should they be scrolling through students' text messages on their cell phones?

Haight is correct; solutions are needed. But misdiagnosing the problem and simply scapegoating the school doesn't help to explain why our kids have such an incessant need and desire to harass, bully and ruin others kids' lives. That's what we need to be looking at; until we figure out and address those larger structural problems, nothing the schools can do will be able to stick.

LANCE EATON

Peabody

Playing to The Story

2010-05-08T03:55:00.000-04:00

Humans by and large love to play. We have a fondness to play with those things that interest us, particularly from narratives that grab our attention. So much of my childhood was spent playing away with large epic battles among my G. I. Joes (which at one point were numerous enough, especially with the different vehicles) to fill a standard laundry basket). We enjoy playing an active part in our story making but also just to gain access to “more” of our stories and characters. Thus, we’re quick to see the movie of the comic we love or the book we’ve read faster than anything assigned in school. It gives a deep sense of enjoyment with our particular interest. And let’s not forget as Spaceballs reminds us, that from the producer’s end, there’s something to be had from capitalizing on this desire:

But Spaceballs also show us there’s something more than just merchandizing to be had. Or rather it provides keen insight as to what merchandizing allows its consumers to do:

The act of taking control and using one’s interest for new and divergent ways from the original text is of course, the cornerstone to many elements of fan culture in the world today. Initiating with fan-fiction (and eventually slash fiction), it grew into a range of elements including cosplay, fan videos, and the like. Taking control or redirecting the standard narrative has been the topic of study for many within popular culture since it clearly indicates that the relationship between creator and audience is not as one-directional as many assume it to be.

The Batman Comic Generator site is a good example. The site allows visitors to plug words into particular speech balloons within a specific Batman comic. Originally, it was the singular comic seen below, but the site has expanded to 3 and who knows, by the time you read this, it might be 10. Even if this site were to shut down; there are many others like it out there on the web.

The compelling thing about this site is to see what other people have done. Just like the newspapers that draw a comic panel or provide a picture and let readers compete for the best comment, so too does this site drive its appeal from seeing what people will say. But, it’s not just any joke that will do here. The jokes have to fall into the context of Batman smacking Robin and many of previous ones will try to invoke the classic Batman and Robin gay scenario or work from fan-based knowledge to create the best laughter. Those unfamiliar with Batman may have trouble fully appreciating the range of jokes being offered.

Now, this might not be taking full control of the comic as I mentioned with the G I Joes and other types of toys/tools, but many a time have I seen the generator used and the produced picture as someone’s Facebook profile picture or in some other relative context.

QUESTIONS:

What are some of the things we get from playing/engaging with material that is evocative of a particular narrative or interest? Why play baseball on the Wii? Why create a Star Wars fan-film? Does the world need another Harry Potter fan-fiction?

With regards to the Batman comic generator, why does Batman and Robin work so well for this? Would it be as interesting were it another comic duo?

Who is the “creator” of the comic produced? How is authorship shared/renegotiated?

The Hitchhiking Adjunct

Freeway Flyer Blog: How Come Everyone’s Talkin’ Smack About Adjuncts?

MIA In Summer

Freeway Flyer Blog: Taking Classes At The Last Minute: The Freeway Flyer Forte

Not All Vehicles (or Degrees) Are the Same

Of Cars and Education; Things I Wish I Realized In College

Freeway Flyers & Unions Don’t Always Go Hand-in-Hand

Have You Heard About My Sordid Affair?

Recommended Reading - 2011

Freeway Flyer Blog: Scheduling Classes and Learning to Cry on the Inside

Sound Judgment: An Audies Judge Reflects

Behind the Mike: Simon Jones

Freeway Flyer Blog: Digitalizing the Freeway Flyer

Books for Social Credit: How GoodReads Made Me Increase My Book Reading

Freeway Flyer Blog: Synchronizing Technology, Classrooms, and Material

The Blog Year In Review

Some of My Moments of Popular Culture

Of Names and Covers

Freeway Flyer Blog: Semester Success Story

Interview With Cartoonist Genius: Larry Gonick

Adjunct Nation Post: Student Emails Can Drive You Crazy

Supporting the Adjunct Addiction

Interview with Gareth Hinds

Interview with Matthew Smith and Randy Duncan

Freeway Flyer: Dead Time: Making The Most of It

Interview With George A. Walker

Overinflated Claim: Now Is The Beginning of Widespread Hyper-Linked Interconnected Traceable History…P.S. Thanks F.B.!

Letter to the Editor in Boston Globe

Intolerance can be lethal

Freeway Flyer: Full-Time Adjuncts—The Spinster Aunts of Academe

Interview in Library Journal: Stefan Rudnicki

Behind the Mike Q&A with Stefan Rudnicki, October 15, 2010

Top 7 Films That Creeped the Hell Outta Me

The College Education: Effort Invested

Author on My Radar: Steven Niles

The Orphan, Or Lessons on How Films Code Our Fears

Economies and Superheroes: Or Why Spider-Man Might Be a Socialist

The Case Against Dracula: Circumstantial Evidence and the Novel

Spreading the Word: Intolerance?

Letter to the Editor in Boston Globe

Toys are used to foster affection for McDonald's

Moral Quandaries...from Outer Space

YouTube Killed The Television Gods

Do Not Click Go

A Scanlating Darkly

Author on My Radar: Peter Kuper

Vacation of the Mind Part 5: The Most Stimulating Airplane Ride Ever

On Borrowed Tales

The Sequel, Remake, Redux Edition

Enlightened Evil...Definitely Maybe

The Complex Gooing Muck We Call Culture

Letter to the Editor in Salem News

Vacation of the Mind Part 4: Fearful Insights

Vacation of the Mind Part 3: The Not So Stellar Bunch

Access Unprecedented

Authors on My Radar (AMR): Jeff Lemire

Vacation of the Mind Part 2: Classics; Probably for a Reason

Vacation of the Mind Part 1

W(hat) W(ould) W(ertham) D(o)? The emergence of Comic Institutions

Destruction, Death, and Mayhem, Has Never Been This Social

Beyond the Class; Or What I Hope They Take From My Course

El Fin De Semester

Behind the Mike: Barbara Rosenblat

LJ audio reviewer Lance Eaton, who has previously interviewed narrators Alan Sklar (LJ 3/1/09) and Scott Brick (LJ 10/15/09), talks to the multiple Audie Award winner

By Lance Eaton -- Library Journal, 5/1/2010

Letter to the Editor in Salem News

Letter: Don't blame school for kids' misbehavior

Playing to The Story