Wharton, Willamette, and Whimsy: A Brief Account of Mastering English Literature at OSU

More of the chapter

2009-06-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

What makes Selden’s acts of consumption most troubling is the underlying fact that he does, in his own way, love both nature and Lily. While he is not the only character consuming Lily, his element of adoration reveals the simple truth that a glorification of women and nature is not ultimately in the best interests of anyone. While the reader may easily be repulsed by characters like Gus Trenor, who overtly desires sexual consumption, and Bertha Dorset who uses people to her advantage and then disposes of them, it is easy to be wooed by Selden perhaps because his romantic ideals are so deeply entrenched in western thought. Nevertheless his “love of nature” is toxic because it is a love based on unattainable ideals, incomplete comprehension and sulking inaction.

His passivity is part of his literary type. Like many bachelor characters, Selden is represented as a spectator. Early in the novel, Wharton establishes a pattern of visual consumption and private contemplation which remain fundamental to Selden throughout . Wharton begins the novel with Selden being “refreshed” by the sight of Lily Bart in Grand Central Station. She writes:

It was a Monday in early September, and he was returning to his work from a hurried dip into the country; but what was Miss Bart doing in town at that season? If she had appeared to be catching a train, he might have inferred that he had come on her in the act of transition between one and another of the country-houses which disputed her presence after the close of the Newport season; but her desultory air perplexed him. She stood apart from the crowd, letting it drift by her to the platform or the street, and wearing an air of irresolution which might, as he surmised, be the mask of a very definite purpose. It struck him at once that she was waiting for some one, but he hardly knew why the idea arrested him. There was nothing new about Lily Bart, yet he could never see her without a faint movement of interest: it was characteristic of her that she always roused speculation, that her simplest acts seemed the result of far-reaching intentions (5).

Brief as this passage is, it is saturated with the interpenetrations of nature and culture. The language of the passage, even when not directly addressing nature is suggestive of nature and also suggestive of Lily’s role as a natural commodity. Selden’s shock at seeing Lily in the station “at that season” carries the connotation of cyclic vegetation. For Selden, Miss Bart is like a botanical commodity out of season in this particular place. The passage then entertains Selden’s more acceptable notion that Lily be “in the act of transitioning between one and another of the country-houses which disputed her presence”. While this may seem to reestablish Lily as a social being, it is important to recognize that even in these “country-houses” Miss Bart functions as an ornament to enhance the atmosphere at gatherings hosted by her wealthier friends.

As the passage continues, Wharton repeats the use of the word “air” to describe what might otherwise be called Lily’s manner or behavior. This choice further aligns Lily with the natural and heightens what Selden perceives as her separation from the crowd. The simple fact that Selden is described as “refreshed” by the sight of Lily, suggests that he is invested in a world-view that ascribes a spiritual value to beauty; the culturally determined province of both women and nature. This world-view is further explicated by Selden’s pastoral, leisure class relationship with the “country”. His return from a “hurried dip into the country” suggests that for him nature is a place apart from everyday life, a place for escape and renewal – both physical and spiritual—an idea which emphasizes the relationship between Lily and nature since she too has the capacity to “refresh” him when viewed against the bustling urban backdrop of Grand Central Station .

Indeed, the sight of Lily is more important to Selden than the substance of her. Wharton makes clear-- “[t]here was nothing new about Lily Bart ”—yet Selden cannot help but feel that there is great significance in seeing her. This further suggests Selden’s pastoral persuasions; an idealizing and artful interest in nature (and women) devoid of any real comprehension of or concern about the functions of the natural world. Wharton’s description of Selden’s pleasure in viewing both Lily and nature, along with his moralizing and critical detachment, stand in place for a whole patriarchal system of thought, in which nature and Lily become symbolic of significance without being significant in their own rights.
Selden is aligned with the dominant culture that sustains him, and looks with a hyper-critical eye at Lily’s negotiations of nature and artifice. It is not difficult to sense the imperious moralistic overtones of these observations. Though attracted to what he considers “natural” in Lily, Selden is scornful about what he perceives as Lily’s “artifice”. To Selden, Lily is a master of her art. Within the first a few pages of the novel Selden perceives both the brightness of Lily’s hair and the timing of her blush as “art” (7). In describing the scene when Lily leaves the Benedick Wharton writes:
She paused before the mantelpiece, studying herself in the mirror while she adjusted her veil. The attitude revealed the long slope of her slender sides, which gave a kind of wild-wood grace to her outline--as though she were a captured dryad subdued to the conventions of the drawing-room; and Selden reflected that it was the same streak of sylvan freedom in her nature that lent such savour to her artificiality (12).

This perception, closely aligned with Selden’s point of view, acknowledges in its language both the natural beauty of Lily, and the way it interacts with elements of artifice. Selden’s perception privileges the artificial, by having the natural lend “savour” to Lily’s “artificiality”. Furthermore his acknowledgement of the natural is coded as he also overlays the “wild-wood grace” of her form with the significant cultural imagery of the “captured dryad subdued”. This coding impresses upon the reader the depth of Selden’s culturally mediated conception of women and nature.

In the tableaux vivants scene, an episode which is defined by Selden’s point of view, the concept of Lily as “dryad” is restated. Wharton writes, “Her pale draperies, and the background of foliage against which she stood, served only to relieve the long dryad-like curves that swept upward from her poised foot to her lifted arm” (106). Here Selden’s view of Lily is more sensitive. Although the language of art and nature still mingle in this passage, the focus is on the Selden’s perceptions and glorifications of Lily’s “naturalness”. The passage continues, “[t]he noble buoyancy of her attitude, its suggestion of soaring grace, revealed the touch of poetry in her beauty that Selden always felt in her presence” (106). This language intensifies Selden’s escalating idealization. Here it is clear that for Selden, Lily is most beautiful when she is consumed as “natural”. Furthermore it is obvious that for Selden “nature” is idealized, magical, and pure.

Ironically, in this scene Lily is at the height of her artificiality, yet Selden is sure that “for the first time he seemed to see before him the real Lily Bart” (106) . Wharton goes on to describe what this “reality” entails, a Lily Bart “divested of the trivialities of her little world, and catching for a moment a note of that eternal harmony of which her beauty was a part” (106). This vision, Selden feels, allows him to acknowledge “the whole tragedy of her life” which he considers the cultural and social trappings which “cheapened and vulgarized” her beauty (107).

As the two characters leave the party for the terrace garden the reader might expect that some genuine connection will be attained, but close reading passage reveals more of the same aesthetic consumption of Lily. Wharton writes,
Selden had given her his arm without speaking. She took it in silence, and they moved away, not toward the supper-room, but against the tide which was setting thither. The faces about her flowed by like the streaming images of sleep: she hardly noticed where Selden was leading her, till they passed through a glass doorway at the end of the long suite of rooms and stood suddenly in the fragrant hush of a garden (108).

Wharton’s language here reverts again to natural metaphors. The image of the two moving “against the tide” seems hopeful. The faces flowing and streaming also seems on the verge of undoing those social constraints which have thwarted the possibility of connection between Selden and Lily. Quickly though Wharton introduces the image of the dream, and it must become clear that what is about to transpire does so outside of the realm of reality. The passage goes on to intensify this, describing “emerald caverns in the depths of foliage” which render the garden a “magic place” in which Selden and Lily accept “the unreality of the scene as a part of their own dream-like sensations” (108). This acceptance complete, “Lily withdrew her hand, and moved away a step, so that her white-robed slimness was outlined against the dusk of the branches” displaying herself as a blossom (108). This botanical verisimilitude is replicated a moment later when “her face turned to him with the soft motion of a flower” (109). This phrasing not only reinforces the flower image, but removes agency from Lily as a person. This brief exchange between Lily and Selden, although on the surface both lovely and sympathetic, is profoundly problematic in that it once again positions Selden as a consumer, aligned with patriarchal privilege and a powerful pastoral impulse to glorify beauty and nature as ideals, or ultimate realities, at the expense of authentic understanding. Despite the sensitivity and beauty of the tableaux vivants and garden scene, Lily remains a stranger to Selden. No longer perceiving Lily as artificial, Selden is moved by the “beauty” and “poetry” of nature contained in Miss Bart. Nevertheless he is unable to reconcile that with the circumstances of their actual lives. When Lily slips “through the arch of boughs, disappearing in the brightness of the room beyond” Selden is unable to follow her.

When he re-enters the house he is reabsorbed into the realm of the dominant culture which places a high sexual value on the flower-woman. The language of the passage indicates this transition through a focus on architecture and distinctly masculine details such as the cigars in “silver boxes invitingly set out near the door” (109). Further illustrating and ironizing Selden’s alignment with the dominant culture is the fact that the two people he meets as he is leaving the party are Ned Van Alstyne and Gus Trenor.

These two men on the surface may seem the polar opposites of Selden, certainly Selden does not see himself as part of their type, but is clearly opposed to it, especially in the earlier viewing of the tableaux. In this earlier scene Selden describes Ned Van Alstyne as evoking “indignant contempt” and compares him to Caliban (107). Nevertheless this final episode at the Brys reveals a good deal about the similarities Selden shares with these men. In their parting conversation Van Alstyne says “Hallo, Selden, going too? You're an Epicurean like myself, I see: you
don't want to see all those goddesses gobbling terrapin” (109). While Selden would never put his feelings in such simple language, the fact remains that rather than suffer the compromise of Lily as an ideal, Selden flees the scene. His tenacious will to preserve nature as a thing apart, a sacred beauty, ultimately opens the way for the events which most profoundly initiate Lily’s demise.

Selden’s pastoral consumption of Lily and Gus Trenor’s will to sexually consume her are not finally opposed so much as serving each other’s ends. Selden cannot compromise his pure vision and so Gus is given the room to make his attempt at acquisition. This attempt and the consequences it sets in motion press Lily to the brink and in Lily’s death Selden is able to gratify himself with the perfection of her “real” presence.

Chapter One

2009-06-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Although apparently focused on the role of women in upper-class turn-of-the-century society, the role of nature is a central idea in Edith Wharton’s first novel, The House of Mirth (1905). Subtly constructed, yet persistent, the relationship between women and nature permeates the text.

In this novel, Wharton emphasizes how characters understand nature and their relationship to nature. While environmental descriptions do not dominate the text, when present they reveal the cultural associations shared by many of the characters. Exploring these associations, readers can discern a basic world-view regarding the ways in which gender inflects the human-nature relationship against which to examine the details of the text. These details regarding this human-nature relationship often emerge where the language of the text suggests natural phenomena even when “nature” is not the focus of the passage, a pattern that highlights the pervasiveness of the theme.

This reading focuses primarily on what I call the flower-woman ideology. From the outset Wharton presents the reader with language that illustrates this conceptual relationship between heroine Lily Bart and nature. Although the Lily is not a farmer, woods-woman, nor a pioneer in any real sense, she is connected to nature in a way that is both symbolic and intentional. Her name is botanical and like a flower she is expected to bear a correlation to nature predicated upon beauty and passivity.
Furthermore she is, like all women of her age, intended for consumption.

Wharton’s two main characters in this novel, Lily and Selden, disclose much about Wharton’s consideration of the natural world and its relationship to culture. Through their interactions with each other and the world around them Wharton reveals a range of conflicting pressures and ideologies which ultimately destroy Lily, who I believe operates as a viable icon of the natural world in this novel, being symbolically tied to nature –through her botanical name and her “ornamental” value, and controlled / ruined by a patriarchal market-culture that idealizes even as it destroys .

In this novel Wharton evinces her dystopian vision regarding nature and “natural-identified” characters through the consumption and destruction of Lily Bart. This plot trajectory reveals the impossibility and impracticality of a woman being a perfect “lily”. The novel comments on the bitter realities of patriarchal and commercial life, but it also addresses the cultural associations that bind the identities of nature and women together, and how these associations result from a limited understanding of both on the part of those who dominate Wharton’s world.

 Cultivating and Consuming Lily
The consumption of Lily Bart as a natural aesthetic object is joined textually with the careful cultivation of her “natural” identity, which is to say that there is nothing innate about this particular identity. The wide cultural sensibility which ties femininity to nature aside, Wharton provides the reader with evidence of the ways in which the characters that populate Lily’s social sphere work to reaffirm her role by describing her in terms of naturalness.

Language of cultivation used on several occasions indicates the work Lily must do in order to make a good matrimonial match. For example, Carrie Fisher in a conversation with Selden says, “That's Lily all over, you know: she works like a slave preparing the ground and sowing her seed; but the day she ought to be reaping the harvest she over-sleeps herself or goes off on a picnic” (147). This passage frames Lily in agricultural and botanical terms. The ambiguous phrase “her seed” allows the reader to consider these seeds as metaphorical extensions of the flower-woman herself rather than something distinct or separate. While this phrasing grants Lily some agency, it is worth noting that Carrie Fisher, like many of the other women in this text, invests herself in promoting Lily’s presence and success among the social elite. In this capacity, Fisher cultivates and exhibits Lily for consumption. While not insensible to Lily’s personhood, Fisher is aware that Lily’s value in their social set is determined not by her humanity, but by those traits most desirable to the men of their class. In the same conversation with Selden, Fisher states, “it's Lily's beauty that does it” (147). A statement that indicates the woman’s beauty is her prime asset.

The theme of Lily’s cultivation for consumption runs through the novel. Nearly every friendly female character in the text works in some way to propagate Lily . In descriptions of Miss Bart’s youth, Wharton shows the reader that this has been a life-long condition for the main character. Not only does Lily’s mother “foster her naturally lively taste for splendour” but she also becomes fixated on Lily’s beauty and the power it might have (29). Mrs. Bart straddles the line between cultivation and consumption. Although she promotes Lily in the marriage markets of Europe, she watches Lily’s beauty “jealously, as though it were her own property and Lily its mere custodian” (29).

Other women also consume Lily in a variety of ways, she is an ornament to enhance the parties of the rich, to draw attention to their tables while abroad, and to help the newly wealthy make connections with those in higher social positions. Of those women who cultivate and consume Lily it is interesting to note the rather complicated role played by Gerty Farish in the text. While the other women in the novel are interested in cultivating the flower-woman along the lines of beauty and sexuality through their focus on the marriage match, Farish is interested in the spiritual idealization of Lily. Wharton expresses this interest in a number of passages where Gerty presents her vision of Lily as contrary to the prevailing view. In the scene preceding the tableaux vivants for example, Gerty describes Lily as “dear” and “wonderfully kind” while telling Selden of how
Lily has visited with the Club Girls and contributed money to their cause (105).

This interest in the spiritual uplift of Lily seeks to cultivate her along the lines of beauty and purity, not unlike Selden’s idealizations although his also contain an undeniable element of sexuality . In my view, Selden is the primary consumer of Lily Bart. I contend that Wharton makes clear the dismal reality of Lily’s existence, and by extension the dismal situation faced by nature, by beginning and ending the novel with Selden. Although Selden has been often considered a sort of “spokesperson” for Wharton’s own sensibilities, I believe, as Cynthia Griffin Wolff contends, that, “Selden is the final object of [Wharton’s] sweeping social satire” (338). From beginning to end, both Lily and nature are under the gaze of a masculine culture which finds both nearly as appealing dead, as they were alive.

Garden

2009-06-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Oh how I wish for more gardening space, and more sanity so that I might have better planned things, but as it is I went and planted some new seeds today.

Had I been more thoughtful I would have invested in only heirlooms and natives, but sadly I didn't. Still, the new seeds are all of this line.

Hollyhocks (watchman) - heirlooms. sooooo cool. I have high hopes but I have never grown them before so who knows. Four seeds starting in the bedroom. We'll see.

Flax Blue and California poppies - both natives growing in a pot together should be really beautiful if they take.

Artemesia (sweet annie) - heirloom and a mix of native wildflowers started in another bucket

Watermelons (stars and moons) - heirloom started in small pots. Don't really know that i have room for this, but I'm gonna try.

If I am some where grow worthy next year I am going to try an all mint menagerie as it is I have some orange mint which is lovely.

GAP and Me : A lesson in argument

2009-06-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

So for the past two days the "Genocide Awareness Project" people have been outside in the quad with their giant anti-abortion display.

Today it finally made me snap. Now I am not strictly pro-choice, in fact I lean more toward pro-life, but given our political climate and the way both women and children are treated in society, I currently vote pro-choice... but that's another tale.

My real problem with the GAP is not their politics vis a vis the abortion issue, but rather the way they mix their anti-abortion message with totally unrelated things.

Next to their images of aborted fetuses (which make sense given their argument) they have:

1. Images of the Holocaust
2. Images of African Americans being lynched
3. Images of animal testing
4. The word Genocide

Now, the word Genocide applies correctly to 2 out of the four things portrayed. The Holocaust and the treatment of blacks in the us could aptly be called "Genocide"

Genocide means the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

I pointed this out to them, but they mostly seemed confused. Furthermore I expressed my concern over the fact that they were conflating issues that have no relationship.

Their response? All these things are bad... lol

Um well, ok yes I see that I suppose, but really does this make for a sound argument?

I further pointed out that as white non-Jews their use of racial/ethnic oppression and genocides as a tool for furthering their cause is offensive to those who are actually concerned with racial equality.

Their response? "A black woman showed us support earlier"

Um ok. But one African American showing support doesn't debunk my claim at all. Furthermore this sort of "Token" woman sounds like the old "I'm not racist I have a black friend" argument.

I then inquired about the animal rights issue.

Are you guys pro-Animal rights? Are you vegetarian? (No) Do you work to avoid buying products tested on animals (No). Well then your use of this image is not only totally unrelated to "Genocide" but is also an obvious emotional ploy. You are -- by using this image with no real opposition to what it portrays-- merely exploiting the pain of these animals for your own ends. Making you just as bad as those who test on animals in my mind.

Similarly you are exploiting the suffering of Jews and Af. Am. people with out any real concern about the conditions --present or historical-- of minority peoples.

I also wanted to ask if they found it problematic that dominant white christian ideologies played a fair role in both the Holocaust and the persecution of African Americans. But I refrained on this point.

Garden

2009-05-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Two tomatoes going strong.
Two fuscias also chugging along though one was near dead when i bought it, it's doing much better.
Gladiolus and oregeno doing well
Peas all viney, though no peas yet
Cukes and beans just planted

The Lesson is Love : When A Broken-Hearted Pagan Reads Dante

2009-05-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. – Joseph Campbell

Just as Catholic Dante was guided by a pagan, I am guided by two Catholics, one living, one dead. That Dante and Deacon Anderson are guiding me -- showing me the way through this dark wood, by revealing allegory and encouraging me to decipher my own-- is not surprising. For myself, being pagan, the concept of allegory is strong. Moreover, as Campbell says in the quote above Every religion is true one way or another. I believe this and I am very interested in the presence of a pagan as the guide in the Inferno. I feel there should not be a bitter disconnect between the faiths. The allegory of love, sacrifice, journey… these things transcend Dogmatism. This is Dante’s experience, and it is mine.

Forgetting this inner essence seems to be the path to sin.

in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value… we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive—Joseph Campbell

Most of the sins represented in The Inferno are attached to the concept of a failure to read or seek the symbolic in some way. The poem suggests that one can see the world in base material form or one can seek for something deeper. In the levels of Hell there is little more than base material vision and obsession. The Hoarders and Wasters for example are described as having “labored to be blind”, I take this to mean that they had an inappropriate relationship to the physical because they labored to be blind to deeper meanings (VII. 53). The symbolic is the level at which the divine operates in Dante, and in my life. For me each moment, is layered with many meanings. The more significant moments are deeply woven with symbolic elements.

For me the most significant event in my life thus far has been my marriage. Every bit of that event is heavy with allegorical meaning, strange symbolisms.

When people get married because they think it's a long-time love affair, they'll be divorced very soon, because all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is a recognition of a spiritual identity. – Joseph Campbell

Years before I met my wife, I had 2 significant dreams. Dreams are so momentous in my life, powerful and allegoric, a moment of contact with the divine. One of these two significant dreams showed my wife Bird to me before I ever knew her, and another introduced me to two figures who have followed me in my mind wherever I go. This second dream occurred in 2003. “The Old Women Dream” in which two very old women were helping me fix a problem. Several days ago I held a door open for an old woman. As she entered she stopped and looked at me and I realized that she resembled one of the dream “old women”. She then spoke to me in Spanish and English. I was especially amazed by this because Bird and I both have a strong affinity in dreams and in reality to Spanish, yet I don’t look Spanish at all, so why would this woman speak to me in Spanish, it was quite moving. She said “You make the world a better place. My name is Gloria. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” Before the old woman appeared I had been standing outside of Gilke thinking about my wife. When Gloria left I looked up and saw a small office window with a statue of an eagle in flight. This seemed very significant since an eagle showed Bird and I where we were married. The day before our ritual, we walked the banks of the Columbia looking for the place that felt right. Suddenly, an immature bald eagle flew out of the low branch of a tree very close to us. That is how we knew the place.
Perhaps it is a symptom of my current mental state, but the central idea of Dante’s poem seems to be love. Love, as the guiding force that redeems and gives meaning to life and death. Love as an extension of creation, which is present in all living things. Dante is redeemed in a way through love. His recognition of the divine in Beatrice is a pathway to connection with deeper meaning.

I am very moved by this concept.

Midway in our lives journey, I went astray
from the straight road and woke to find myself
alone in a dark wood. How shall I say
what wood that was! I never saw so drear,
so rank, soarduous a wilderness!
It’s very memory gives a shape to fear (Inferno I. 1-6)

These lines were like the narration of my last few months. Still alive after a long and horrible straying. I too came to find myself in a dark wood which gave shape to fear. When things in my marriage fell apart, or were smashed but ill spent emotions and language I could not have described it better than Dante has here. In the first moments of reading The Inferno I could not help but think and feel that Dante and I are not so unlike. Too similar really at that moment. For I had gone astray from love, from mystic and spiritual connection. As Joseph Campbell describes, I had been “doing things … of outer value” and “forget the inner value”. That was the first step in all of our problems.

Now, my Bird gone far away, my entire life profoundly altered I spend long hours pondering. Introspective by nature, I wonder over and over considering my deep want to honor her and our commitment. A deep want to heal and protect that love. A love that brought us together, allowed me a new access to and understanding of the world, and the spirit. I wonder is this Prideful or honorable? To pride oneself on loving, healing protecting someone and then to breach that by a personal flaw or failing is a crushing blow. An immense humbling, but is it prideful to want to heal that damage, to renew the bond which is sacred?

Putting faith in the gods, guides and ancestors and working hard to improve myself and show her my earnestness… this is how I proceed. Faith and works.

Forces will have been set in motion beyond the reckoning of the senses… miracles and coincidence will bring the inevitable to pass – Joseph Campbell

It is no coincidence that I met Gloria and saw the eagle statue. It is no coincidence that I am reading this text at this moment. The hand of the creator is at work in this moment. The lesson seems to be love.

Does my love beseech the higher love to help me through this dark place? Is she like a living Beatrice? I cannot say. In all of this, my mind thinks of “Beata Beatrix” by Dante Gabrielle Rossetti. A painting I have long loved though I did not know the story it told. Thinking of this painting what strikes me most is the red bird, Bird, my beloved’s name. Allegory upon allegory. This is how my mind reads my life, this is how I read Dante, and my coming to Dante.

Coffee Cake for Bird

2009-04-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 3/4 Cups Unbleached White Flour
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Canola/Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Soy Yogurt
approx. 1/2 Cup Soy Milk

Topping Ingredients
6 Tbsp Unbleached White Flour
1/3 Cup Turbinado Sugar (i.e. Sugar In The Raw)
Ground Cinnamon
3 Tbsp Soy Margarine
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats

CAKE: Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and baking soda well. Add oil, yogurt, vanilla and soy milk and mix thoroughly. Pour ingredients into a lightly oiled baking dish.
TOPPING: In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, oats, and soy margarine. Add flour and sugar and cinnamon until you have a crumb topping, then sprinkle on top of coffee cake. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

As it Stands

2009-02-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

At this moment things are very bad...

1. Hard drive crash ate my thesis

2. Separated from my wife

3. Unable to focus therefore very little work is getting done

4. It's winter

5. Started smoking again

I think this summarizes all of it for those who might have wondered what happened to me... where i went and all that.

I am still alive but that's about the extent of it.

In the next week I've promised myself that I will try to work on an introduction for my thesis. This needs to be done. We'll see if any actual progress is made.

update

2009-02-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

life... currently shattered...

think on this instead

Starting Over

2008-12-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

Since my laptop crashed I've been frantically trying to write some portions of my thesis. My notes are mostly gone, so it's like a fresh start... which is usually good, but not always. I've started with a chapter on The Fruit of the Tree

Here's a little of what's been mustered:

Like many writers of her moment, Edith Wharton was deeply concerned with questions regarding nature and artifice. Although as scholar James L. Machor, author of Pastoral Cities, suggests, this concern was not a “central configuration of her work” but rather “a part of the imaginative pattern” (205). Still, even as a few threads in a finely wrought cloth, this part of the pattern is important and persistent across many of Wharton’s novels. Manchor looks to the canonical novel The House of Mirth for his example. There he finds that both the language and plot positioning of Nettie Crane’s story exhibit Wharton’s dissatisfaction with the notion of the “the home as pastoral enclave in the city” (206). For Manchor Lily Bart’s death “constitutes perhaps Wharton’s most ironic, tragic comment on the tenuous appeal but final inadequacy of urban-pastoral projections” (206). Although I find this reading quite compelling, I am somewhat troubled by its through reliance on the symbolic for it’s portrayal of the pastoral project. Of course when dealing with humanity and its cultural products, everything has a symbolic status, nevertheless I think an equally interesting critique of the urban-pastoral can be found in Wharton’s second, and less acclaimed novel, The Fruit of the Tree. In this work the urban-pastoral project in described in both symbolic and ecologic terms.

The opening pages of her 1907 novel The Fruit of the Tree establishes the tension between nature and artifice through Wharton’s descriptions of Justine Brent and John Amherst, two of the primary characters. Wharton presents Justine Brent in the following terms: “[s]he did not use, in speaking, the soothing inflection of her trade: she seemed to disdain to cajole or trick the sufferer. Her full young voice kept its cool note of authority, her sympathy revealing itself only in the expert touch of her hands and the constant vigilance of her dark steady eyes” (4). From this beginning Wharton develops traits in Justine that remain pivotal throughout the novel. Justine, although she fades into the background of the text for several chapters is really the main character, and it is through her perceptions that the reader first glimpses John Amherst who initially seems to be the main actor in the text.

Wharton states:
The nurse, sensitive by nature and training to all physical characteristics, was struck at once by the contrast between his alert face and figure and the silent way in which he moved. She noticed, too, that the same contrast was repeated in the face itself, its spare energetic outline, with the high nose and compressed lips of the mover of men, being curiously modified by the veiled inward gaze of the grey eyes he turned on her. It was one of the interests of Justine Brent's crowded yet lonely life to attempt a rapid mental classification of the persons she met; but the contradictions in Amherst's face baffled her, and she murmured inwardly "I don't know" (5)

Although this passage will likely slip from the readers mind as the text becomes powerfully focused on Amherst, this initial presentation of him is quite meaningful. Justine’s confusion regarding Amherst is well justified by the end of the novel, and so here Wharton is giving the reader exactly what she suggests in her description of Justine Brent, a character that is perceptive, honest, “sensitive to physical characteristics” and given to “rapid mental classification of the persons she met”. Justine Brent represents a scientific mind, a naturalist of sorts, in a highly urbanized setting. The contradictions in Amherst are troubling to her, but for the reader they seem perhaps enticing, after all the many appears to possess both a physique made for action and a mind made for reflection, two traits highly valued in men by western culture. If this troubles the perceptive Brent the reader might imagine that perhaps this is only because a girl in her “lonely” circumstance has not yet met a man possessing so many fine qualities.

However, Wharton’s prose continues to favor Brent’s perceptions. Outside of the hospital in the next chapter Justine “was amused to see that he [Amherst] failed to identify the uniformed nurse with the girl in her trim dark dress, soberly complete in all its accessories, who advanced to him, smiling under her little veil” (8). Brent can identify Amherst in the dim October evening, but he cannot pick her out, the language of this passage suggests that the reason for this is that Amherst has made her a social “type”, a nurse, rather than having examined her physical traits as is Justine Brent’s method.

Will it Never End?

2008-12-11T13:05:00.001-08:00

Seriously.... I feel like this is the term from hell, and winter break promises little relief. The paper is in process, but I am not sure it is making any sense. Oh well. I will simply be glad to be done with it.

Birthday

2008-12-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

Yes. Today I am 31.... I still procrastinate.... 9 more pages to go.

Grading Portfolios Yet Again

2008-12-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

Last stack of portfolios is on my desk... Grading. Final grading.... so exciting to be almost over this term. Just a few big papers left to crank out.... Aghhhhhhhhhhhh

GP Once More

2008-12-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

We're down south. Lots going on here, not much work being done, but overall i'm having a great day.

Introduction So Far

2008-12-04T15:51:00.000-08:00

On November 9, 1989 representatives from fifteen countries gathered together to discuss the politics of food. From their discussion the Slow Food International movement was formed and began to promote their manifesto that, “[i]n the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. So Slow Food is now the only truly progressive answer” (“Manifesto” par. 8). Since its inception the Slow Food movement has spread to 122 countries. This movement is not the only one of its kind. In recent years the focus on food has been a critical part of the ecological movement, introducing new concepts and even new language to describe the human relationship with food (locavore for example). These movements represent a sensible ordering of thought around a logical central idea. Food is a logical point around which to organize ones feelings and actions regarding their relationship to nature and resource use, because food is one of the few items that make obvious human reliance on and interconnection with the natural world.

The body of American literature contains multitudes of works focused on humanity’s relationship to the natural world. Many of these works, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, rely upon a worldview which vilifies the urban and elevates the wild as a sacred place apart. This tension between urban and wild is a central element in Willa Cather’s 1925 novel The Professor’s House. Characters such as Tom Outland and Louis Marsellus seem emblematic of this dichotomy. Even their names provide support for this concept, Outland (out-land) as the mesa dwelling place apart, and Marsellus (mar-sell- us) as the eager capitalist who Cather portrays as corrupter of Outland’s legacy. While this division has been widely accepted in many circles for generations, the concepts of glorified “wild” and vilified “capitalist” are not in the end polar opposites, but rather reflections of a similar human desire to manipulate and organize the natural world while conveniently ignoring the relationship between humanity and nature that exists at all levels of landscape.

A useful place for interrogating this binary in The Professor’s House rests in Cather’s representation of gardens. According to garden enthusiast and philosopher Mara Miller, “[t]he task of the garden is to mediate those tensions or polarities which are important for a given culture” (25).

Ending with a Boom/ Beginning with Slow Food

2008-12-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

It was the last regular day of 121 for my classes today. We ended on a great note, especially in my 10 am class. They were so intensely interested and interactive, it was tremendous. We laughed and joked and learned. I was totally delighted by the experience and I hope some of them will end up in my 214 class.

In my own work, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that very little has been done addressing food and ecocriticism. In my brief preliminary search I found only a few links. One of the most interesting was a Call For Papers that I wish I'd found sooner. Even this however does not make the link between food, ecocriticism and fiction. It seems much more interested in the literature of slow food or locavore movements.

I am eager to really begin the paper, hopefully my enthusiasm will last.

I also need to find a copy of "Loving Ourselves Best of All". A brief glance at this article has me pretty excited.

Ecocriticism and the Locavore

2008-12-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today I started working on the introductory paragraphs of my Cather seminar paper. In the paper I intend to look at how productive garden's in The Professor's House occupy a place between the idealized wild and vilified city. For me the garden is a place that destabilizes the civilization/nature binary.

To kick off the essay I've begun by looking at how food has become intimately related with ecology and environmental movements. I will claim that food is a logical point around which to organize ones feelings and actions regarding their relationship to nature and resource use... then examine it in the Cather novel...

It is only a beginning, but if feels like a good move.

Teach This

2008-12-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today it became clear that my students don't/didn't understand warrants. The better part of the day was spent explaining warrants in detail and providing a number of exercises to help them get some practice with warrants. It went especially well in my 10am class where students took initiative and began working with other students outside of their groups. In my 8am there was also one remarkable instance of a student working beyond the scope of the assignment to provide a fellow student with some tutoring.

We also revisited information literacy by discussing context and how context effects rhetoric. We talked about how to search for information about the historical context of an essay, and how to determine if something historically concurrent is also relevant.

It was a highly productive day in the classroom.

Outside of the classroom, not so much, but hopefully I can set things right in my own academic house before the week is out.

Wicks-Giving 2008

2008-11-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

This weekend in GP was inspired by the fiasco known to me as Wicks-Giving. This is an assembly of roughly 25 Wicks folk in a feeding frenzy.

I got very little academic work done this weekend, but we're on our way back up to Corvallis soon and school work shall resume then.

The Long Weekend

2008-11-28T22:06:00.000-08:00

Put together a small collection of poems for a friend's birthday, and thought about how much I miss writing...which made me think, damn I miss painting and photographing too... lame

Yep This Says It ALL: Happy Tagcloud Thursday

2008-11-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

GP Once Again

2008-11-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

We traversed down to GP again. The roads were foggy in the mountain tops, but otherwise fine.

I've graded most of my student's papers and I admit I've been pretty strict, but I feel as though I coached my heart out and if they failed to follow my lead it's their problem. Next term is business writing, so a whole new adventure.

I gave my presentation on Salsa music today in Spanish, and took every opportunity to highlight the connections between Africa and Salsa. I even included clips of Celia Cruz performing in Zaire and images of Santeria and Yemaya. It was nerve-wracking, but fun.

So much more to do...

Short Week

2008-11-24T11:19:00.001-08:00

I am so thankful that this week is going to be short. I just got a stack of student papers and I have so much of my own work to do. Meh. This is getting a bit intense. I am anxious for the term to end so I can stop all of this and focus, or try to focus on my thesis.... panic, just a little touch of panic.

After the IL Summit

2008-11-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

As the readers likely know, Friday was the Information Literacy Summit. I was rather nervous about presenting there but over all it went well. It was interesting to listen in on the conversations about who is responsible for teaching IL in the classrooms. Many people seem to be fine with the job being seated in composition classrooms while others seem to take it as a slight. I think that overall there is a sense that Information Literacy is everyone's business. There are different levels of specificity in IL just like in everything else and those levels can't all be covered in one or two comp. classes.

I really enjoyed teaching Information Literacy in a more detailed way. If ever I was given the opportunity to co-teach an info lit class I would jump at the chance. Before going to OSU I had seriously considered an MLIS degree. I loved working in libraries and the idea of being a University Librarian is still very appealing, but I love teaching in the classroom so perhaps the Ph.D. seems the most obvious choice.

Who knows...all I know is that I need to focus on the immediate future and this imminent Cather paper... meh

Summit Dealy-O

2008-11-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

Sitting at the IL Summit, feeling much less distressed than I did yesterday.... haven't spoken yet, but still. The PPT is done and that's all I need to prompt myself to speak.

The Three-way Dance

2008-11-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

In Betj's class today I noticed that I see in two of Cather's novels (Death Comes for the Arch-Bishop and The Professor's House) an argument for an intermediary space between to "poles". In both of these books this intermediate space seems somehow related to gardens or orchards. I have not worked out all of my thoughts about this, but I do know that I totally adore both of these works of fiction and it will be a pleasure to write about them, I only wish I had more time.

In other news nothing has happened with the thesis....stasis.... I can only hope that my ecocritical work with other texts and in other contexts will prove fruitful when the time comes to crank out chapters.

Back to the Grind

2008-11-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Back in Corvallis, and back to school. I am very ready for this term to end despite the fact that I haven't completed my seminar papers yet.

Much work to be done!

Road Call '08 (back tracking)

2008-11-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

We had lost some film a while back and recently recovered it. What great fun to develop these shots taken during out March 2007 trip from MA to Oregon.

1. Wall Drug Jack-a-lope
2. SD rest area
3. Portland OR's world famous Voodoo Donuts

The Road

2008-11-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

We drove down to Grants Pass last night after Spanish class. It got dark early, but we got to see a stupendous sunset on the western side of the highway,and some remarkable fog between the mountains on the eastern side. I realized that my limit for living without massive travel has been reached. I've not been on a long distance adventure since March 2007... apparently just shy of two years is my limit. I see a pattern.

I came home from extended roadtripping in late 1999

January 2001 I went to California for a few weeks (via bus)

January 2003 I went to Nebraska (plane)

April 2003 went from NE to IL for a few weeks (train)

May 2003 went from NE to MA for a few weeks (bus)

October 2003 Nebraska to MA (train)

March 2006 (phew it was a long wait) I went to Oregon for a few weeks (via plane)

May 2006 went to Oregon for a month (plane/bus adventure)

August 2006 went to Oregon for a few weeks (bus)

Sept 2006 drove from Oregon to Mass

March 2007 drove from Mass to Oregon.... waiting....waiting...

I need an adventure. Or a life which pays me to have wild adventures....hmmm

Another Classic Translation of My Spanish Work & More

2008-11-13T18:20:00.000-08:00

The Slow Travellers

I am a traveller. In my life it was many leases. One of my favorite adventures I happen in September 2006. The first day of year 2006 meets my wife to me Bird. In that one time it lived in Oregon and I lived in Massachusetts. This situation this good by anybody, then in September we did not decide move from house to Massachusetts. September 25, 2006, went to Massachusetts with Bird in the truck of her. The hard trip eleven days. We were very slowly because our U-Haul weight but by the truck. In Wyoming, next the Rockies we considered we left our possessions. After mountains it was easier to lead. We liked Wyoming in spite of all problems. In Wyoming to the area of listed rest many squirrel played with us. We gave to eat to. We gave nuts, peanuts, and granola. We pass of mountains and prairie. We sleep in the truck and one night in hotel. One night we slept in the truck and I begin rain. We were a little wet. We wish to travel per months, but our horse I travel to Massachusetts in another truck, therefore we traveled by only eleven days. Perhaps in the future our hope it would realise.

Good stuff.

Even better is to take this translation, translate it into French and then back into English....

The slow travellers

I am a traveller. In my life c' was much of beams. One of my preferred adventures I occur in September 2006. The first day of l' year 2006 meets my wife with me BIRD. In this time he lived in Oregon and j' lived in Massachusetts. This situation this good by whoever, then in us September n' did not decide mudar house in Massachusetts. On September 25, 2006, went to Massachusetts with the BIRD in the truck of it. The hard voyage eleven days. We were very slowly because our U-Transport the weight but in the truck. In Wyoming, after the Rock ones that we were considered our possessions left. After qu' it was easier to carry out mountains it. We liked Wyoming despite everything the problems. In Wyoming with the sector of the much enumerated rest accumulate played with us. We gave to eat with. We gave nuezes, groundnuts, and the granola. We pass from the mountains and the meadow. We sleep in the truck and a night in l' hotel. One night we slept in the truck and I begin the rain. We were little the wet ones. We wish to travel per month but our horse which I travel to Massachusetts in another truck, therefore we travelled by only the d' days; ounces. Perhaps with l' future our hope qu' it would realize.

Decided that INaDWriMo 2008 sounded like a challenge... I pledged to write 18000...we'll see. Right now it's looking sad. Do blogs count? Ha!

500 / 18,000
(2.8%)

Primal Scream

2008-11-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

The past few days I have felt like I am just squeaking by. It's conference week so almost every minute of my day has been tightly packed with scheduled events. On top of this the term is winding down so there are many projects with fast approaching due dates.

I managed to get all of my reading done on Death Comes for the Arch-Bishop, which is great, because I actually enjoy this novel, (which means I got to do something I enjoy for a little bit) and I always feel miserable when I fail to complete the reading for Betj's class. I also tapped into the Cather Studies website and found a bunch of info for my upcoming seminar paper.

I have a presentation of sorts at the upcoming Information Literacy Summit which I haven't worked on much and will likely spend my weekend trying to tackle. There's also a draft due on Tuesday for my final paper in SJ's class, but I feel pretty much prepared for this.

It's nice out today, lightly overcast, warmish...

Fifteen conferences, two large assignments, and several chapters to go until the week-end

Arggg!

In Light of This

2008-11-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

Some of my conferences are frankly depressing. I know that I've done my best as far as instructing these students but many of them are quite transparently trying to pull the wool over my eyes. Many have submitted frankly useless drafts which seem to have been put together in one night. There are few if any quotes, no citation and little organization. It is overwhelming because I am not sure what more I could do.

In light of this let's forget about 121 for a moment....

Here's a little floundering bit of semi-recent poetry

Yaquina Head

Sooth on sooth the sea
tosses and wears away the meanings

in an arching skyward cauldron
combusting ginkgo

A delta leaf vein tremulous
stilled in Holocene weed fields

Rosebay pointing up and up
spike on spike between clusters

Salal all finger-linked haunched
and sea air rounded in great hills

O Tomorrow...

2008-11-09T17:49:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow I have a test in Espanol, and my conferences start for paper two. It is rough. I don't really understand my Spanish that well with regards to verb conjugation, and I don't know why, but my students seem awfully confused lately, as though midterms sucked out their brains. My plan is to have them read their essays out loud to me while I take notes or ask questions about what I hear. We'll see how it goes.

In the joys of Sunday, my garden is doing well. We ate fresh strawberries this morning, and there are beans ripening. One sunflower has blossomed and many more are on their way. The peas have blossoms also. Oak leaves are crowding the lettuces, and it is a daily battle fending them off. Soon I'll be planting chard and kale. The herbs look great and the pansies too, some gladiolus soon to bloom. Sweet Oregon!

One Down

2008-11-08T17:04:00.001-08:00

Today I went to PDX and took the English Literature Subject GRE. I was much dismayed to see that almost all of the questions were British Lit pre-1800... egh. This of course is a section of lit that I know almost nothing about. I answered what I could and left some blank since blank spaces don't really count against you. It was three hours of testing that I would have been happier without, and 150 bucks I would rather have spent on --well on just about anything-- but sadly the Subject GRE is needed by most of the schools I'm looking at.

I registered for the test before I decided not to apply immediately for the Ph.D. Since then, I've decided to put off applying to Ph.D. programs in hopes that the bridge position might be available and attainable. If that falls through I figure there's plenty of other things I could do for a year while I'm waiting to see who wants me as a Ph.D. candidate.

In other news I need to get cracking on my thesis... egh. I bought some Eco and more Wharton at Powells today, but really I need to stop reading, and start writing.

Argh and Other Groans Of the Overwhelmed

2008-11-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

I am feeling pretty overwhelmed these days. Meh.

Equality is Equality

2008-11-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

It's pretty depressing to think about how many African-Americans voted to preserve or create inequality.

For me Judy Weider says it all.

I think the simple fact is that struggles for equality have been linked in American History and if we as a people really want equality we will need to find our way together.

In the meantime I'll be enhancing my political activity now that my faith in the process has been somewhat restored.

Free at Last

2008-11-05T08:54:00.001-08:00

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America. - Obama

But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!- MLK

Eyes on the Prize!

2008-11-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

I am so excited about the election. Having had Bush in office for the past eight years I've felt pretty down about America and our politics. Now for the first time since the great robbery of 2000 I'm excited about the election and hopeful about the future. Naive? Perhaps, but I am still feeling good.

Looking at the images of black voters and young voters taking to the polls I am filled with pride. Could it be that the American ideal of equality is coming an inch closer to fruition?

Beware of all the lies and hype... whatever your opinion vote.

It's Not About Grades: ILP

2008-11-02T12:47:00.001-08:00

I've noticed over the past few days that the ILP grades for my class seem a bit lower than usual. There could be a number of reasons for this. Primarily I am thinking it is a result of these two:

The ILP itself changed. Different questions, and it seems slightly different point values since last year.

Being taught in class gave students a sense of over-confidence with regard to the timeline. Several of the lower grades in my class are due to a failure to complete all of the assignments.

Either way, grades aren't everything. I tend to stress this fact to my students, and I feel that in this instance it is an appropriate sentiment. This term my students seem to be much more engaged with their topics, they are curious, they want to know. It doesn't feel like I am dragging them along from one assignment to the next. This is great.

It's Electric!

2008-11-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

So recent research into our energy use has yielded fantastic results. As most readers know, we are serious about reducing our energy use. We moved to a small place, we replaced all of our bulbs with CFLs and we have been minimizing electricity use in every way practical.

The other day we went to Energy Star to test our usage. Our total source energy consumption is 51,111 KBTUs which is well below that of 99% of US homes. That is still a lot of energy, we cook and heat with electric. We watch TV in the evenings and use our computers quite a bit, but still we're doing pretty well.

CFL's and unplugging everything when not in use are probably the main reasons for our reduction.

Studs and Yahoooooo?

2008-11-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

RIP Studs- "With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven.

I'm thinking it might be fun to make a yahoo account for my mother so that we could occasionally have a game of scrabble or cards (prehaps even pappy since he might be bored these days). Not that either of us are particularly into games, but it would be something fun to do, and chatting over an online game of scrabble can be fun...though I am deadly awesome at said game....

Anyone want to play?

Annie? I think this might work with dial up too.

Samhain

2008-10-31T22:29:00.000-07:00

This Samhain I am feeling much better than I was last year. It was lovely to be healthy and able to celebrate with my people. We handed out candy and had a nice ritual replete with apples, pumpkin ale, mullein, and elderberries.

The night was cool and pleasant. We all dressed with a little Spanish/Romani flair and listened to Romanian Gypsy Music.

Let's Form a Committee

2008-10-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

I talked for a good while with Betty Campbell about my thesis project. I had been thinking about who I wanted on my committee and in looking through the staff pages I found that she has an interest in botanical elements in literature. This had me excited. Our talk was lovely and very productive.

Just one more member to go... the search continues

Hysterical Translations

2008-10-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

So for giggles I ran my recent spanish essay through a translator. These translators are so funny because they sort of know what is being said but thet arrange things in an insane way. Here is what the translator made of my paper:

Me Life This text is a window present life. My life this ventured but is not pleasant. I am called Julie and I been 30 years old. In the past I lived in many states but now alive in Corvallis, Oregon. Alive in a house “Witham Hill Oaks” is called. I share my apartment with handcuffs to me, our Jan friend and our dogs Freyja and Moose. We are a very contented family. Our apartment is very small, but it is sufficient for me. I like to live circa on the University. I am instructor and student of English. I like to teach. Desire to teach in the future also. Work and study much. Every week work and study in a demanding way. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to very early wake up and way to me to the car shutdown bus. I teach to classes of writing to eight and the ten. At noon I visit me wife and ways the coffee by lunch. Two I attend the Spanish class. I like Spanish, but it is very difficult on long time of English writing and Literature. I need much concentration by the orations easy. The nights I cook food by my family and mirro CSI and The Colbert Report. Tuesdays and Thursdays I attend a class of Willa Cather and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This class is favorite me. Tuesdays I help to teach new instructors. I do not have long free time but I like to work in my garden Saturdays and Sundays. Now culture the peas, brócoli, onions, cucumber and lettuce. My life is similar garden, always money changer and to bloom.

Cold and Confusion

2008-10-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sick...not really sick, just sort of sick, but sick enough to be a little more brain dead than usual. The good news is that I've finished my grading.

Now it's on to drafting up my ideas for a seminar paper on Cather. still reading O Pioneers, which is almost as awesome as The Professor's House. It actually bares many disturbing similarities to a novel I was writing about Nebraska... odd... tis the season for odd...

Summer Strikes Again

2008-10-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Our allergies have been bad and the temps high. It's lovely here in the Willamette Valley. I potted up about 18 lettuce seedlings yesterday and they're looking good. Bird and I moved the cukes out back, and we noticed a little spotty mildew on the leaves, hopefully the better air circulation will help keep it under control. There have been red and white breasted nuthatches, mucho chickadees, hairy woodpeckers and downy woodpeckers too. I hate to go back to school with the weather so nice... eh

Grading Portfolios and Such

2008-10-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

I've been diligently grading my student's work for the past few days. It is an emotional roller coaster of sorts and I will be glad when it is over. I'm trying to formulate the top five issues I want to address in class. So far I only have issues two that I am sure of addressing.

So far my number one issue is Second Person Voice / Narration.

Despite the fact that I pointed this issue out in class and in conferences, about 80% of the papers I've graded contain some second person. It is making me crazy. I've avoided being overly punitive about it, but I am annoyed.

My second biggest gripe is formatting.

I'm not talking citations or works cited, I am talking about simple format. This includes margins, spacing, and font. I am almost sure that my students are tech savvy enough to figure this stuff out, so why are they choosing not to? Laziness is the only thing I can come up with.

I am weighing the pros and cons of attaching heavy penalties to the violation of these particular issues for paper 2. I don't know...

Thesis Thursday Strikes Again

2008-10-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Meeting with Betj today to discuss the thesis. I've been entertaining thoughts of adding Cather to the mix, but perhaps I won't. I don't know. I am feeling some confusion about the whole thing. I've started looking at Dana Phillips' Truth of Ecology again, and I am really enjoying it. So far the book sticks it to Buell and most ecocritics, accusing them of being more interested in their own personal revelation than in either ecology or literature. It is hard for me to hear this in some ways because I'd been willing to call myself an "ecocritic".... however I don't share these views or methods. I think the "pastoral" in literature and life has been a mess. People deluding themselves into deepening the illusory divide between humanity and nature... I see no such divide.

Phillips writes: "ecocriticism ought to cultivate an attitude of wary impartiality, which should be the best way to avoid what Buell calls the "environmentalist's dilemma of having to come to terms with actual natural environments while participating in the institutions of a technological culture that insulates one from the natural environment and splits one's allegiances." This is a dilemma that Buell say the pastoral "anticipates," and I agree, because I think it's a dilemma that by anticipating the pastoral first helps to create, then sustains and exacerbates. The pastoral does this when it buys wholesale the distinction between natural environments and "technological culture"" (19).

Oh yeh, I'm with this. This idea is pretty much at the base of my thesis. We'll see how the day goes.

Library Day Part 1

2008-10-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Today I held my 121 classes in the Willamette Room of the Valley Library. Today's class was designed to familiarize students with the Library of Congress system, help them figure out where a good book for their paper might be, and determine (at least superficially) if a specific book will be useful for them.

I started the lecture with a brief intro to shelf reading. I drew some "books" on the board and had the students figure out how to order them properly on the shelf. This went reasonably well. I'm sure that not everyone was completely following, but enough of the students seemed to get it, and I am certain that none of them had been exposed to this information before. In fact none of them had ever taken a book out of the Valley Library before.

I followed this lesson with a brief overview of where books are located in Valley. They each brought three call numbers they'd looked up the night before, and wrote down the floor where each book would be located next to their call numbers. I then showed them some floor maps and gave them navigation advice. After this, they were turned loose to hunt up some books for 20-25 minutes.

When they returned with their quarry we went over how to use the table of contents and index to get an idea of how useful a book might be. I assured them that a book can be counted as a source even if only a few pages relate to their paper. This seemed to make them feel some relief. Most of them checked out a book or two.

We will be using those books that they checked out in class on Wednesday. During that class we'll get into MLA for books, and I'll set aside some time to address some more specific questions about Summit and ILL which we touched upon only briefly today.

Lesson of the day...Make it UBER EXPLICIT that the ILP/Paper topic cannot be changed after ILP 2. Some student today was trying to make a case for changing his topic because "there isn't enough information". Frankly I know this is a lie. He doesn't know it's a lie, but it is. Almost any topic imaginable has been considered by enough people to make a suitable 121 Paper 2 topic.

Saturday Morning with Georges Bataille

2008-10-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

Today I got started on my Ciceronian project for Betjemann's class.

Since we were invited to make this a visual project I thought I would take the opportunity to paint something. Back in the day, 2000-2003, I was in love with abstract art. I painted for hours on end in my parent's garage smoking clove after clove in the wee hours of the morn. Lacking a garage this project is a bit less "animated" but is still coming out well.

I have so many other things to work on, but spending Saturday morning rendering my understanding of Georges Bataille's "The Solar Anus" in cheap acrylics is delightful.

in parting...a little Andre Masson pour inspiration

ILP: Day Two

2008-10-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today we worked on ILP 2 and 3. My morning class attendance was surprisingly sparse, but their involvement in the activity was good. I had them quick write a question or two that they still had about their topic, something that might be a good opening research question. My example was "How does hip-hop promote or negate misogyny?" They were then instructed, as they are in ILP 2, to come up with some good search keywords from their question. For example "Hip-hop", "misogyny" and perhaps "promote" or "negate".

When they were done with this I had them get into small groups of 2-4 people and share their questions and keywords with one another. They were supposed to offer any additional or alternative keywords to their partners. Then each group selected one person, preferentially the person having the most difficulty coming up with keywords, to come to the front of the class and share their info. During this part of the exercise the whole class and I offered new keyword possibilities.

We then talked about how with a list of 5 or more keywords a person might want to use different combos of 2 or 3 words when searching. They seemed to understand what I was getting at, and many seemed interested in the journal databases which is cool.

After all of this activity we talked about formulating multiple research questions and why questions are better than claims of policy. I am not sure that this really got through, but I am strongly hoping that it did. Papers that start out as questions are always more interesting and exciting than those that are born from trying to prove an already held belief.

Finally we looked at the library catalog and talked about keyword and subject searches. They will be done with the ILP by Wed, and by then we should be well into the research for paper 2.

Yeee Hawww... it's the weekend...

Draw Me A Mesa

2008-10-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

So today after Cather and Gilman, Betj and I had a tremendous discussion about The Professor's House (which is fast becoming one of my top three novels). Our discussions are always enlightening but in the presence of a chalkboard, as our talk was today, this characteristic was heightened. I took a sketch from our blackboard elaborations home with me in hopes that it might yield a fine paper. We'll see.

In other news I've committed myself to presenting my first draft thesis intro within a few weeks time. I guess I had better start working on it.

ILP: Day One

2008-10-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today we previewed ILP assignment one. It was great fun.

I've never taught through the ILP before and I am so glad I'm doing it. Usually no matter how much I remind them or update them about the ILP, their reaction always feels vague and sort of disengaged, but the reaction today was for the most part quite different.

I started the day by having them jot down three or more possible ILP topics. They did this and then I collected them for later approval.

I then showed them where to find the assignment online, and let them know how to use the rubric to determine the quality of their answers. We opened up the ILP itself and I guided them through all of question one. We talked about biases and values, read the Academic Writer and then had a quick write addressing their biases. If they want I imagine they could use this quick write as the answer to question one.

Then we moved on to the other questions.

Number 2 instructs them to go to Wikipedia and look up their topics. In my 8am class I used Manatees as at test topic, then in my 10am I let them shout out a topic. The one I heard loud and clear was Hip-Hop Dance. We Wiki'ed it and looked around. I showed them the discussion and history tabs and we had some fantastic conversation about hip-hop v. rap, and what the relevance of what they learn in Wiki might be to their paper.

We also went over keywords and search terms. This was especially productive in my 10am because the students were amused by "popping and locking" as a potential search term.

Overall I feel really good about the class and the ILP topics they chose. I've gotten back to them all with my input on their topics. There is an amazing array including: woolly mammoths, country music, African languages, hip-hop, sharks, Bigfoot, and more...

Hybridity

2008-10-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

I enrolled in a class about Hybrid classrooms that started this week. By Hybrid Classroom I mean a mix of online and in class teaching. This type of teaching is totally my thing. This term I've turned my 121 into a totally hybrid experience.

So far the class has been interesting. I've been able to discus my views on hybrid classrooms with a number of people who seem to be a bit skeptical about online classes and how they might be able to meet the needs of their students through something that seems to appear to be limiting in their view. I've been an online student and I have a different take on it.

In fact I'm getting pretty passionate about the hybrid class, so much so that I'm using this topic as the project for my Comp. Assistant class.

One Big P-Nut Butter Cup and More

2008-10-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

So I made cookies yesterday, or should I say one big cookie. Using my powers of experimentation I came up with a giant peanut-buttery-choco cookie of delight.

Today at school it was return to conferences.
Nine students...
Two who brought next to nothing
&
One who didn't really need a conference

Just five more conferences to go, then Wed it's back to the teaching grind whence I'll be experimenting with teaching the Information Literacy Portfolio, and conducting a workshop for any students who bring in revision (if any do).

We'll see...

Conferences Part One & Tagcloud Thursday

2008-10-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

So today conferences for paper one begin. Fifty students in four days...No sweat hahahaha.

So far four conferences are done. Some were in need of serious help, some were well done, but all of the conferences felt productive.

Twelve more to go today.

Nature, Identity and Force: Cather's Alexander's Bridge

2008-10-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Prepare for rambling...

In our class examination of Willa Cather's first novel Alexander's Bridge (1911), I was particularly struck by the final sentence of the work (pre-epilogue). This sentence reads, "The mind that society had come to regard as a powerful and reliable machine, dedicated to its service, may for a long time have been sick within itself and bent upon its own destruction".

What is so striking about this idea for me is the way this text, or rather my reading of this text, establishes a close relationship between scientific, mechanic and market forces in futile opposition against nature and identity.

This final line is tremendously loaded. Following the destruction of the bridge and the death of Bartley (and many of his workers), this line seems at first glance to allude only to the death of the protagonist, but for me it is suggestive of so much more.

Allusion to the mind suggests the scientific energy of the Professor, which is predominantly voyeuristic and taxonomic. Emblematic of the mind and connected with Psychology, the Professor seeks to document, organize, and control the natural force of human thought and behavior just as the mechanical force of Bartley's bridge building and engineering. Furthermore I think other forces are also subtly implicated such as notions of romance, and the forces of the market, which also seem to be reliable forces "in service" of society, yet act in this text to bring about destruction.

Although by the end of the work most readers seem to regard Bartley Alexander as an unsympathetic character who has perhaps used and manipulated those around him, (as the Professor suggests, "He belonged to the people who make the play, and most of us are only onlookers at best") I think this assessment is deeply complicated by B.A.'s own sense of his lost identity.

A number of times in the text it is suggested that B.A. has progressively lost control of his identity. This suggestion is made explicit in his letter to Hilda. The text also seems to couple this loss of identity with a move away from the west where Bartley was raised. Although this loss is initially perceived as a loss of youth, or a quest to regain the energy and bliss of young love, it seems as though the reunion with Hilda is insufficient precisely because it does not allow Bartley to regress far enough, to a place where he felt he still had command of himself.

This agency of youth seems linked to nature, the very thing that the protagonist in his maturity has worked successfully to overcome.

I don't know...just some thoughts.

MAWG Monday

2008-10-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

Well, since I need an excuse to blog about the thesis, and by excuse I mean a prompt to keep me on track, I've decided to make this MAWG Monday. The MAWG is a thesis work group that I should have signed up for last year, but foolishly didn't. I'm enrolled in the class this year, and just got done reviewing one of my fellow MA's thesis proposal. It's pretty good, Superman and the American Dream...interesting stuff.

I never wrote a proposal of this sort, I just kicked my idea around with Peter and went to work. Maybe the proposal would be a clever way of really outlining what I intend to do... Hmm.

Well the MAWG is tonight, I'll be sure to update this post when it's over.

In other news teaching went well today. They're turning in their first drafts on Wed and I am pretty excited about them. I'm even more excited about figuring out how I want to teach through the ILP since I've never done it before. It should be interesting. Hopefully it will help them with not only the ILP but paper 2 as well. We'll see.

For all those who haven't seen me in a while....

Sustainability Sunday: Garden Quick Glimpse

2008-10-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

I spent a chunk of the day winterizing the garden. I got some cull wood to build a little drainage shelf for some of the bigger plants. I dismantled the tomato plant and put in tulips, crocus, radishes, and broccoli. Things are looking good out there. Now I just need to build a little plastic lean-to to keep the heavy rains off. I'm thinking bamboo and old shower curtains.

The mid to late summer plantings are doing well. We've had a cuke and there are plenty more on the vine getting bigger and tastier everyday. The purple beans have been offering a steady supply. The leeks are still teeny but doing well. The strawberries are booming, and the fuschias are blooming.

Español

2008-10-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am both loving and hating Spanish class.

I dislike the fact that I MUST pass this class and two more terms of Spanish... Although I see how the requirement might be useful for a Literature person, especially in Lit and Culture, I don't think it is ultimately useful for a person studying 19th and early 20th century American Literature.

I like Spanish though.

I like Spanish poetry and music. I like many elements of Spanish culture. This class however is sucking out my brain. Although I feel like I understand la professora when she teaches (all en español) I really am no good at speaking. Meh... frustrating. Frustrating because I am failing at it and also frustrating because as a Ph.D. speaking will likely never be part of my need to comprehend the language.

Argh.

Debate

2008-10-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made pizza and watched the vice presidential debate. It was ok, but nothing stellar. Biden had better (clearer and more direct) answers but that is not shocking at all. Palin was "cute" as usual, and less blatantly stupid. Whatever...no fire was ignited in my heart. It's still Obama all the way, no shocker.

In class tomorrow we'll be having a little debate ourselves (really more of a discussion of the readings but I sense some tension). I'm trying to figure out how I want to moderate things. I appreciate Betj's super-positive style, but I have a hard time being positive when I think what someone's saying is foolish. Obviously it won't do to call out WR121 students, but I do want to press them into more critical thinking. We'll see how it goes.

Sleeeeeeeep

2008-10-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am beat. I don't know how I am going to get any thesis work done. Meh.

TA Tuesdays: A new pattern emerges

2008-09-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

I thought Tuesdays might be a smart day to reflect on the TA adventure and perhaps to vent about the events of my Monday morning teaching experiences. Yesterday I taught for the first time this term, once at 8am and then again at 10. I was surprisingly nervous before the first class began. I think the long summer break had me feeling rusty.

The 8am class got the squeaky version of my performance. I covered all of the important first day stuff, but it wasn't as snazzy as my typical style. I talked too much and didn't get them engaged enough, but it was too early to think on my feet. It went ok, but not stellar. I give myself a B.

During the hour between the two classes it occurred to me that the They Say, I Say templates we use in class are very much like a mad lib. They are in fact so clever that you can insert almost any topic into them and come up with something very arguable. To prove this I started ranting about Twinkies.

Observe (the bold is my addition):

In recent discussions of snack foods, a controversial issue has been whether Twinkies are an acceptable snack. On the one hand, some argue that Twinkies are not healthy. From this perspective, it is clear that if a snack must be healthy, Twinkies will not qualify. On the other hand, however, others argue that a snack need not be healthy to be acceptable and satisfying. In the words of one of this view's main proponents, "A snack is an occasional item, thus a tasty Twinkie is totally acceptable". According to this view, the fact that a snack is a small item, not a staple of the diet, means that anything food in small quantity can be appropriate.

Realizing this I decided to have the 10am students try this out. I had them get into small groups and gave them 5-7 minutes to draft something. They came up with some really good introductions. Topics included the USC/OSU game, logging, Batman, and McCain v. Obama.

Tomorrow we'll talk about paper one and MLA. So much to do...so little time.

Sustainability and the TA

2008-09-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to bring sustainability into my classroom I've turned all of the homework assignments into online assignments using our online classroom component known as "Blackboard".

Although computers use a great deal of electricity, it is a simple fact that 99% of my students turn in computer produced homework assignments. Since they are on the computer anyway, I figure making the assignments paper-free will cut down on resource use, and reduce the clutter on my desk. I'm all in favor of this.

I'm also experimenting with some online peer review. While this may not be a move toward sustainability, I want to see how the online portion of my class might be used to facilitate discussions that might not happen face-to-face. I have no idea how this will work, but at the very least it will be a learning experience for me. I think online teaching is a great thing. It is a way to reach students who otherwise might never attend the university. It is also a way to enhance the learning experience of students in traditional classes. Ideally I'd like to teach online courses in the future. Later this fall I'm planning to take a course offered through Chemeketa Community College called Hybrid Instruction.

Tomorrow it all begins again. The teaching, the reading, the panicked writing, the marathon conferencing, the endless research.

Money

2008-09-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

So WAMU has been bought out by Chase... meh.

I was not a huge fan of WAMU since they mismanaged my account and Bird's, but it is sort of distressing to see an increasing consolidation of bank power. How much does Chase control? Seriously?

I'm thinking FDIC insured Federal Credit Union. Or my mattress. Either one seems like a good idea.

Summer Tagcloud

2008-09-25T18:55:00.001-07:00

Apparently this is how I spent my summer... cool

Pre-Terrm Madness: How to update updates...

2008-09-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

The past few days I've been working with Sara J, Peter and Laura to orient the new TA-folk. This has been an exciting and exhausting process for me, and likely for the incoming TAs as well. I sense that many of them might be feeling a bit overwhelmed, but it can't really be helped.

When it comes to my own situation I am at the moment bewildered but indifferent to the challenges of finding the correct classes to fulfill all of my requirements. I've decided to dedicate this term to completing one chapter (and hopefully the preface) of my thesis. I've also compiled about 12 schools that I am "interested" in attending (although really only two or three are totally desirable). The next step is signing up to take and studying for the subject GRE. I am not a big fan of standardized tests, and I typically don't do that well on them, so this is a source of some minor anxiety. To remediate this anxiety (a little at least) I am dropping most of my classes this term and taking some thesis hours to round out the gaps.

My teaching plans are in order so I am happy to say there is no tension surrounding that particular issue.

Wharton, Spanish class, Writing 121 and more Wharton look like the immediate future of my academic life.

A Little Ruby

2008-09-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

ruby tuesday...

TA Tired

2008-09-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Helping to orient the new TA's has been surprisigly exhausting...maybe I am just rusty. Hopefully.

Sustainability Stumbling

2008-09-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I decided it was time for me to get some new clothes for school. Clothes shopping is a huge issue for me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my dismay over how fashion is used to "shape identity" in the consumer culture. If it were up to me I would own all second hand or hand made clothes, but my well-fed girth prevents the first and my lack of skill prevents the second. This being said I was prepared to spend some money on clothing that was either locally made or union made.

I purchased a t-shirt at the Eugene Saturday Market from a guy who does batiking. The shirt is great and although it is not organic I felt pretty much ok because I was supporting a local artist. I still needed pants so I decided to find some Carhartts, since for as long as I can remember Carhartts are union made in the USA.

Upon arriving back home I was dismayed to see that the pants I bought were Hecho en Mexico.

Boo...even Carhartts!!! Is there nothing sacred? I feel a bit bad about buying this gear, but mostly I am irked by the corporate decisions that I've just learned about (too late).

I guess I need to hunt up some sewing patterns...and some time.

New sustainability goal...one tub per week of recycling. Reducing packaging even more...yay.

New garden scavenging mission....free 5 gallon buckets and old clear plastic shower curtains

Coastal Waters, Coast Range, Dog Coats

2008-09-20T21:09:00.001-07:00

So we've been trying to squeeze the last drops out of summer these past few days.

We went to the coast on Thursday and had a nice time seeing the usual circuit of places we and the dogs love. Agate Beach was almost empty and the cool clean air was a delight after many days in the smokey valley. The absence of humans on the beach helped to preserve a number of great sand formations, but high tide timing on our part made shell hunting unrewarding. We delighted in the huge driftwood tangles instead.

Today we took Hwy 99 to Eugene for Saturday Market. The coast range was extra lovely with layers of smoke, cloud cover, and fog. In town we took the dogs to a new dog park and Freyja had a great time exploring the various little swimming pools. Later though we noticed that she was shivering, so we put one of my shirts on her...she was not pleased, however she was warm.

So it goes. Onward to fall!

Arrr!!!

2008-09-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings on Talk Like a Pirate Day! Although I spent most of this day gardening in true landlubber fashion, I do live in the home of this blessed day, and I tip my ratty tri-corner hat to all of the pirates out there fighting global warming. Because as we know more pirates=less global warming....

Ode to the Wharton-l

2008-09-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

So many people on the Wharton-l have offered great responses and suggestions. It seems I am behind the times. No surprise there. Apparently others have also suggested Adams as the location for The Fruit of the Tree. This is great news. Now I have a place to really center my eco-historical research.

I contacted the Massachusetts historical society in hopes that they might know of people doing environmental history research on the Berkshires. My aunt has also sent me a number of good leads on information regarding Adams and North Adams. Things are taking shape, or at the very least direction.

I'm reading Hudson River Bracketed right now, and am about half way into the novel. This novel will present some challenges I think. I am hoping that some more direct water references will be made, but if not I could use this book as an example of how nature is used as an aesthetic. Plenty of room for this reading in the title alone.

Fruit of the Hoosic?

2008-09-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

In my efforts to get some more work done on my thesis I've been concentrating my efforts on The Fruit of the Tree. I got myself onto the Wharton-l and started asking around to see what opinions other Wharton reserchers and readers might have. I have gotten back some interesting leads, one suggesting an edition of the novel edited by Donna Campell, and another directing me to a lecture given at the Mount last year by Dr. Jennie Kassanoff. I've emailed Dr. Kassanoff since I've been unable to find a copy of her lecture, and I'm on the look out for the Campbell edition in the University library.

My theory at the moment is that the novel may well have been based on the Hoosic River Valley. I have a few reasons for this.

1. The novel is set in the Moosuc River Valley (old spelling of Hoosic is Hoosuc. Similarity?)

2. The city of Adams is along the Hoosic and was the site of a large cotton mill

3. Adams mills were in the news quite a bit during 1906 due to worker strikes

4. Wharton was living in Lenox about 20 miles south of Adams

Even if there is no way to prove that Hanaford is based on Adams I think that I could make a strong case that the descriptions of fictional Hanaford strongly resemble the ecological and social concerns in Adams during the time in which the novel was written.

My next challenge is finding sufficient environmental history regarding this region. I am particularly interested in how the river was engineered and otherwise degraded to benefit the mill in the time leading up to the 1907 publication date of Wharton's text. I am also very interested in any wetland drainage that may have occured in the area. Some contemporary sources indicate that there are few wetlands in the Hoosic Watershed but several older maps (1930's) show a number of small ponds in the area. This part of the search for information has been slow going so far. I think I might need to get in touch with some history folk for better leads.

My interest in this wetlands aspect is due to the quote at the end of the novel:

"And do you remember how we said that it was with most of us as it was
with Faust? That the moment one wanted to hold fast to was not, in most
lives, the moment of keenest personal happiness, but the other kind--the
kind that would have seemed grey and colourless at first: the moment
when the meaning of life began to come out from the mists--when one
could look out at last over the marsh one had drained?"

A tremor ran through Justine. "It was you who said that," she said,
half-smiling.

"But didn't you feel it with me? Don't you now?"

"Yes--I do now," she murmured.

He came close to her, and taking her hands in his, kissed them one after
the other.

"Dear," he said, "let us go out and look at the marsh we have drained."

The Importance of Credible Sources Strikes Again

2008-09-16T07:56:00.001-07:00

As I wrote a few days back, I've become a bit of a fan of FactCheck.org . Every morning, before I read the news I take a look at FactCheck to see what's going on in the world of heinous campaign lies.

Today's entry was not about the lies of either campaign, but about a so called academic who has broken one of the first rules of academic writing. This author has been called out by the Annenberg Political Fact Checkers for using sources that are not credible. Among these sources are unsourced websites, himself, and opinion columns that are presented as facts. If the author was a student of mine he'd be facing an F, but this fella is on the NYTimes bestseller list instead...go figure.

Fruit of the Harvest: part 1

2008-09-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been full of harvesting, prepping, and cooking. We've gathered blackberries, plums, pears and apples. We've also had a steady flow of tomatoes from the garden, and some beans have been collected as well. Add to this a great buy on Italian prune plums at the grower's market and that has made for busy times. It's also made for delicious times well worth sharing (click the links for photos of the delight).

First: Blackberry Crisp

4 c Fresh Blackberries

1-3 Tbs of Organic Sugar (some say 1/2 cup, but that is way too much)

2 & 1/8 cups Organic Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 c Organic Brown Sugar

1/4- 1/2 cup Margarine or Butter

1/2 c Oats

2 Tbs Lemon Juice

Cinnamon

Coat the berries with lemon juice, sugar, and 1/8 cup of flour. Pour these into the bottom of a pan 9x13 should do it.

Mix Margarine, the rest of the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and oats until crumbly. Spread this mix over the berries. 375 for 30 minutes.

Second: Garden Bean & Corn Salsa

3 green onions diced

1-2 Tbs diced jalapeno

1/2 onion diced

3-4 ripe tomatoes diced

1 can corn

1 can beans rinsed (black or mixed beans)

cilantro

1 lime worth of juice

2 Tbs olive oil

pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and enjoy. Refrigerate the leftovers.

Sustaining Community

2008-09-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Recently, while looking for a plant identification book for completing these vegetation surveys, I stumbled upon a book called Food Not Lawns. The subtitle of this book is, How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and your Neighborhood into a Community. This got me thinking.

Being raised in frosty old New England my concept of community is somewhat jaded. At this moment in my life I find that this word strikes the same cord in me as "self actualized", "inner-child", and whole host of other jargony catch phases that make me feel a little queasy. I don't know that I believe community is possible without radical change, change that far exceeds food choices and even ecological choices.

Maybe I am wrong about this. Unlike inner-children, I want to believe that community is possible. I think Corvallis, while not a "community" in this new-agey sense, does have a unique culture evolving within its borders. The agriculture/food centered culture that exists within this town is unlike any I've ever known, and it seems to be a site of genuine creativity. This gives me hope.

Another thing I've been mulling over lately is elitism. I think that ultimately community fosters elitism and maybe I am ok with that. To be honest, I think my way of doing things is good (though not the only good way), I think it could be improved upon, but I decidedly feel that there are other ways which are not good. I don't mean not good for me. I mean immoral, wrong, not good. Does this make me an elitist? Perhaps, I'm still sorting this out. Opinions are welcome. At any rate I think a group of people who share enough resources and values to be a community will by virtue of those shared resources, values, and collective identity be expressing their sense of a superior way of life that they have found or created.

I don't know. What I do know is that the sustainability journey here at Casa Colibri is going reasonably well. We're deciding to unplug the tv altogether one day per week (it should totally be more, but I have come to love some mindless tv). We've also been put up large quantities of plums, and have harvested many more tomatoes. We've only filled our gas tank once this month (12 gallons), and we're down to 1-2 gallons of trash per week (not compacted).

The beat goes on.

FactCheck.org

2008-09-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

As readers of this blog likely know, I've been keeping my eye on the political scene surrounding the presidential and congressional campaigns. The two things that I've found most shocking lately are:

1. The willingness of the masses to perpetuate outright lies.

2. The damn near illiteracy of many who voice their opinions in public forums

On the first count I have only one thing to say, FactCheck.org This site disputes erroneous claims made against either candidate.

On count two... eh... here is a sample taken from reader responses to an article posted on AOL:

Rogergouin

06:28 PM Sep 12 2008

WELL WE HAVE ANOTHER STAR WHO NOES ALL ABOUT SARAH,STICK TO YOUR FAKE MOVIE MAKEING,WE ALL NO WHO YOU WIIL VOTE FOR,MABEY YOU CAN MAKE A MOVIE AND YOU CAN BE HIM YOU NO ALL ABOUT POLITICS

Wow! I've always thought participatory democracy is a great idea, and that elitism is bad....ummm maybe not anymore...just kidding... but really.

"I will lose my mind if I don't get them..."

2008-09-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

In the course of preparing my teaching materials I've been reading and thinking about John Taylor Gatto's "Against School". I've especially been mulling over his assessment of the material culture and its relationship to maturity. Gatto writes, "Maturity has by now been banished from nearly every aspect of our lives. Easy divorce laws have removed the need to work at relationships; easy credit has removed the need for fiscal self-control; easy entertainment has removed the need to learn to entertain oneself; easy answers have removed the need to ask questions. We have become a nation of children, happy to surrender our judgments and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults. We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair. We drive SUVs and believe the lie that they constitute a kind of life insurance, even when we're upside-down in them. And, worst of all, we don't bat an eye when Ari Fleischer tells us to "be careful what you say," even if we remember having been told somewhere back in school that America is the land of the free. We simply buy that one too. Our schooling, as intended, has seen to it."

This passage is thought provoking on its own, but in combination with a recent Burlington Coat Factory ad they've been playing on TV the passage seems to hit me over the head.

This ad features phrases like "must have", "gotta have", and "I will lose my mind if I don't get them". All the features of a temper tantrum in the making are attributed to full grown people in this ad. Distressing.

In other news we went out to Finley today to finish up the vegetation surveys. Today was the toughest of all. We walked all over a 30 acre plot of rose bushes and pitted earth. It was pretty amazing to see so many rose bushes in one place, and so few blackberry bushes after being at EE Wilson where there are tons of them. We took a break under a black hawthorn in the beds of elks. It was so delightful.

In the end it was hot and trying but we got all 40 plots checked out and made it back to the truck only a bit burnt and thoroughly dusty.

Free Fruits

2008-09-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

We went to EE Wilson for the second day of vegetation surveying. Things went smoothly. I saw a lovely dry marsh and plenty of fruit trees growing wild. I ate some Asian pears and apple or two. Bird and I filled her pockets with plums and a big bowl of blackberries. All delightfully free.
a little more fruitiness... is this a Georgia Peach

Timid Men Prefer the Calm of Despotism to the Tempestuous Sea of Liberty

2008-09-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

Although I had been planning to avoid politics today I was the recipient of a "banned book list" that Palin supposedly tried to push for while mayor. Book banning is another one of those issues that gets me up in arms so I had to look into it. Although fact checkers have found that the supposed "books banned by Palin" list is questionable, the fact checkers (even the rather right leaning ones) concede that Palin did ask about how to get books banned from the library in Wasilla. The fact checkers also concede that Palin fired (although under pressure from local citizens she later rehired) the librarian whom she originally asked about book banning. Why did she fire the woman? Because she felt the librarian was not "loyal" enough.

Loyal enough? Is Palin a duchess or a queen? Since when are librarians expected to swear their loyalty to the mayor? Ridiculous.

To me, book banning is just a vile perversion of what America at its very best might stand for. In some odd way I know that I am deeply "American". I believe in freedom, liberty, and equality as guiding principles. Despite the troubling violent and oppressive foundation of our system I think that these ideas remain woven in the fabric of our national identity, even if they are only something to be dreamed of and worked for, something not yet achieved.

Enough politics for now. Today was day one of our multi-day vegetation surveys. We surveyed 20 plots today at E.E. Wilson. Most of what we saw was thick blackberries and roses, but there was also substantial thistle of several kinds, asters, cow parsnips, apples, hawthorns, and hazelnuts. Outside of the plots we found some pears and brought six or seven home. A lovely but tiring day.

Keep Prayin' I'm Still Queer and I Was Created This Way

2008-09-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

It just keeps getting better. The news today is that Sarah Palin belongs to a church that wants to "pray away the gay". Please bear in mind that this is her less fanatical church. Her first church was one where folks speak in tongues.

Now I am not opposed to churches or speaking in tongues but I think the ultra religious have no place in national politics. I think our nation is too spiritually diverse to be run by anyone with intensely fringe religious beliefs.

Not that I planned on voting for McCain, but if I had been this would have totally sent me running for the hills. I hope those gay republicans* out there will think seriously about their political allegiances. We have so many enemies in this world, people too small minded to accept the possibility of love beyond gender/sex.

I encourage the folks in Wasilla AK to keep on praying for God's will to be done in my life because I believe it already has been. I am blessed, happy, bright and healthy...oh yes and queer.

*On a side note I am personally bewildered by gay republicans. I've been reading their web page trying to get it, but I don't get it. They say that protecting gay families and promoting legal adoptions for gay couples are important, they then say they support McCain, then they point out that "He supported Arizona's 2006 effort to ban marriage equality and roll back domestic partner benefits offered by some municipalities in the state. McCain opposes hate crime legislation and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). He supports continuation of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, which prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly and honestly in the U.S. military".

A Day in the Park

2008-09-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Avery Park for a walk around the loop trail and down to the edge of Mary's River. Freyja and Moose had a splendid time swimming around. Especially Freyja who thinks she is part river otter.

In the course of our walk we saw many delightful things. The rose gardens still had plenty of flowers blooming, and the native plant garden--although well past blossoming-- was fantastic and inspiring. As I walked I thought about this blog and what I might say regarding sustainability. The Avery Park composting display seemed promising, and the apparent health of the River did too, but then this appeared...

beneath the shrubs between the native plants and the playground. Although by this point in the walk I had already picked up a dozen cigarette butts, a burger king wrapper, a kiddie drink cup, two pull tabs, and a heap of fishing line, I found this particular object worthy of a photograph. In fact upon inspection I found it worthy of two photographs.

This label states that this particular bottle is designed to contain 30% less plastic than the "typical" bottle. While I think this is admirable in someways it is also misleading. Minor efforts like this seem to lull the consumer into thinking that such a purchase is "ecofriendly"-- a positive act.

Plastics in general are toxic. While they are used medically to save lives as the plastics industry has reminded us in their advertisements, they are not really safe for eating and drinking. They are especially unsafe for children.

It was only about a year ago when I discovered that many plastics contain toxic chemicals that leech into the foods and beverages stored in them. The main toxin that I have read about are phthalates. Granted this is only one toxin group but it is enough for me to be very wary.

Despite the fact that the Phthalate Information Center (a group with panel members from BASF Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, and ExxonMobile) claim that "Phthalates have established a very strong safety profile over the 50 years in which they have been in general use". I tend to put some stock in the numerous university studies that show a correlation between phtalates and endocrine anomalies, reproductive harm, and carcinogenic effects.

Beyond the toxicity, another issue is the waste of resources involved in the production of plastic bottles. Although plastic is recyclable it can only be recycled so many times before it is no longer usable. Much of what plastic is recycled does not re-enter the consumer market. Most if not all of the plastic bottles consumers purchase are of virgin plastic. Plastic is a petroleum product that is energetically costly to produce.

Bottled water is especially troubling since it is mostly a "luxury" purchase.

Americans shell out more than $20,000 "every minute of every day" or up to 60 cents for a glass of bottled water

1978 Consumption = 415 Million Gallons**

2006 Consumption = 8.2 Billion Gallons***

For comparison, Worldwide Consumption =

41 Billion Gallons***

It takes 1,851 gallons of water to refine one barrel of crude oil.**

Twenty-four gallons of water are needed to make one pound of plastic. **

1.5 to 2.7 million tons of plastic used per year to make bottles for bottled water.***

That’s 24gal/pd X 2000 pd/ton x 1.5 million tons = 72 billion gallons of water or 24 times the quantity of water used by the City of Corvallis every year to make bottles that are empty.

**Emily Gersema, Associated Press (2003)

***FAO and Earth Policy Institute (2006)

Disturbing. At least to me and to Bird. Although it is seemingly impossible to avoid plastics altogether, it is easy to substantially reduce how much plastic one uses. We've stopped all plastic shopping bag use by bringing our own bags. We've started saving bread bags and produce bags to reuse them. We're slowly but surely converting to bell jars for all of our storage needs, and are in the process of phasing plastic utensils out of our kitchen with the help of our local Goodwill's utensil bin. It's an uphill battle, but a fantastic adventure.

Some tips for reducing plastic use.

Tons of good links for sustainablity issues and info.

Of Pie Charts, Pirates, and The Changing Light

2008-09-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

I am up to week eight with my daily PowerPoints, which are essentially skeletal lesson plans designed to trigger my memory regarding what I want to teach on a given day. While it might seem neurotic and rigid to do such a thing I assure you that the PPT's are largely tongue in cheek. Each day starts with a pie chart showing how many classes are left in the term. Students seem to find it funny, though maybe they just laugh to amuse me. Either way.

To pass the time while I slave away there is a random ipod mix playing in the background. The pirate music is especially rousing!

Autumn is coming, and it's not just the TA madness that tells me so. I have been noticing the sad decline in light that crosses my little patio. When we moved in last February there was just a small patch where sun shone for more than an hour or two. This little patch will be my winter garden zone.

The summer garden is in transition. The tomatoes on my "Willamette" are ripening and the others are large and yellow-green. Some of the gladiolus, which oddly enough never flowered, have started to brown. Meanwhile the fuchsias and strawberries have decided with determination to bloom again so white and pink flowers abound.

Lots of work to do, both here and at school, between now and November.

Ode To the Polar Bear

2008-09-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Since Gov. Palin thinks Polar Bears don't deserve protection I would like to take a moment to revel in the glories of the Polar Bear.

This past Monday I spent a good amount of time gazing at Conrad and Tasul. These two bears were the highlight of my day. I know I'm "radical" for believing that all life, not just human, is sacred, but that is my stance.
These excellent creatures and their kind deserve our respect.

Cooking and PowerPointing

2008-09-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

The night is wearing on and despite the fact that I worked diligently on my teaching materials all day I haven't progressed past week one's PPTs. Maybe it's the fact that at almost 9PM I haven't had dinner yet but I feel somewhat confused and sleepy as I try to recall the events of my day.

On a high note, there's a 100% homemade pizza in the oven. Ten minutes to soy cheese, tricolor pepper, garlic, whole wheat bliss. It has been a cooking filled day now that I think about it.

In addition to the pizza, I tried to whip up an apple bread with some of the bushel we bought last Saturday. Somehow things were poorly timed and the apple chunks ended up coating the bread rather than permeating it. It's tasty nonetheless. People have been nibbling on it all evening.

Undaunted by that mild culinary setback I made some delicious chocolate chip coconut cookies, and we took some down to the new grad student who lives in our apartment complex.

Next Phase. New Books. New PowerPoints

2008-09-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

Today I completed my final exam in the Columbia Basin History and Ecology class. For better or worse the class is over and I am ever so glad. I feel like this has in some ways been the anti-summer, although I have had many great adventures it is as though the schooling never ended.

I suppose I must enjoy it, this protracted intellectual exercise, I only wish I had more time to linger in Edith Wharton novels and think about my thesis as an abstract rather than a reality. Although I had hoped to write thirty pages before the term began I have exactly zero pages written so far. I'm not very concerned. Despite the fact that this coming term promises to be ever so intense, I think winter and spring will be somewhat less loaded and allow plenty of time for Whartonizing.

Fall term, for certain, will not.

We went and got our books today in hopes of getting the best used copies. Bird found out that she had only one required text book, while Hobbit on the other hand had the worst deal with the most books and least cheap finds. My lot was in the middle with only one exorbitant book. In the world of the English major anything over 50 bucks is unholy. My Spanish text was 109...used. Eh, as if Spanish wasn't trouble enough on its own.

On top of all this I went and looked at the new WR121 packs. They're all shiny and shrink wrapped. I ran into one of my former students and we chatted about the summer. He was a hard worker. I was glad to see him and not one of my slackers. Maybe it is a good omen for the coming term.

I've already made PowerPoint shows for the first two days of class. I've also decided on borrowing Betjemann's daily reading checks as a way to promote homework completion. The time of new TA orientation is fast approaching, and I know in the next few days I will be working hard on that. Tonight is for resting, drinking good beer, and watching mindless TV.

Sustainability Sunday: Here Comes the Rain Again

2008-08-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

For those who may now know it, Rain is the name of the game in many parts of the Pacific Northwest. Newport Oregon for example receives an average annual rainfall of 68 inches. Here in the Willamette Valley however we receive an average of 42 inches per year. This is not drastically different from the annual precipitation back in Blackstone Ma (48 inches). The main difference here is that our average winter temperature in Corvallis is near 40 F compared to Blackstone's 22ish degrees.

A late summer downpour has inspired me to start seriously thinking about how I intend to confront the coming winter. I want to grow crops all winter since the weather is so nice, but what I will need to do is construct some sort of rain rerouting system to keep the plants from drowning. I'm open to thoughts and suggestions.

It's all about water and food these days. My thoughts seem to continually run back to the basics, the most basic of basics. Having enough to no longer need to fret about supply (as back in the living in a van days) the real concern now is quality. Most recently I've been thinking about Genetically Engineered or Genetically Modified foods (GE, GM, GMOs). This practice is so disconcerting.

I've been disturbed by GMOs since the late 1990's, but I suppose I never imagined that they would become so prolific and nearly inescapable. Recent reports that even Organic products like veggie dogs and cereals have been contaminated with GMOs are distressing. These companies are trying to avoid GMOs but can't.

"North American production of corn, soybeans and canola is now more than 50% with transgenic traits (herbicide tolerance or bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance), while milk from the United States (US) is mostly produced with recombinant bovine somatatrophin (rBST), and meat is being produced with various biotechnologically-based growth hormones" (Peter W.B. Phillips and Grant Isaac).

Furthermore it seems as though there is little control over inadvertent hybridization between GMO and non-GMO crops.

Solution? I don't have one. For me the ideal solution is radical. Stop GMO production altogether and/or mandatory labeling on all products containing GMOs (this of course doesn't even take into account all of the international implications of GMO agribusiness).

Barring this I feel as though organic and local is the best bet. All Local eating is a major challenge but one that I may undertake soon if only for my own piece of mind.

GMO Labeling: Threat Or Opportunity?
Peter W.B. Phillips and Grant Isaac
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
AgBioForum

A Water What?

2008-08-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

In the course of an instructional video I learned the depressing fact that 60% of adults polled in a survey conducted by the USFS did not know what a watershed is. 10% of those who didn't know thought that watershed is a synonym for a waterworks. Ironically 65% of people boil or filter their tap water. This means that more people are concerned about the health of their water than know where their water comes from. In a way this is a good thing because it means that these people might want to know what they can do to protect their water and themselves.

The more I learn about water issues the more passionate I become about watershed heath. Many of the Pacific Northwest natives recognize water as the first food, the most sacred gift. Without water we are going nowhere fast.

Soon my online class will be over and I'll have a few weeks to dedicate to my thesis. This information about watersheds couldn't have come at a better time.

Edith Wharton in talking about her character Lily Bart said: "a frivolous society can acquire dramatic significance only through what its frivolity destroys. Its tragic implication lies in its power of debasing people and ideals". If Wharton was interested in illustrating the tragedy of how frivolity destroys I find that she was enormously successful, and the ecological implications of this are what I intend to locate in her works and describe in my thesis.

Ecocritic Meets the VP Nominee

2008-08-29T18:02:00.001-07:00

Although I have been frankly anti-political since the Bush fiasco began, this upcoming presidential election is starting to get my attention. Initially, when it started to look like Obama and McCain might be the front runners, I felt both pleased and apathetic. I've always thought of McCain as a somewhat moderate Republican. This simply means that his name does not inspire me to do anything reactive...like scream. In that light he seemed like an acceptable possibility if the more desirable outcome of a Democratic (or more Ideally Green president) could not be achieved. I hadn't looked much into his policies because I already knew that he is anti-Gay marriage and thus I am anti-McCain.

Recent nominations for VP however have prodded me into action.

My first stopping place for information was Leauge of Conservation Voters since environmental policies are really my major concern. While it was no surprise that McCain has a worse environmental voting record than Obama I was shocked by how wide the margin was (I was also shocked by how often McCain fails to do his job). I was also pleased to see that Biden ranks reasonably high (though certainly not as high as I'd like ideally).

LCV couldn't help me however when it comes to the Republican VP nominee. For info on Sarah Palin I had to hunt through some news clippings. Googling her name and environment turns up some things. Such as "4 Things Sarah Palin Believes About the Environment" and "Palin Not Convinced on Global Warming".

Ok...ok...

Obama for president (despite the fact that I was recently warned that he intends to raise taxes for those making over 250,000 per year**gasp** as if that would ever effect me or apx 90% of Americans).

Causing a Stir

2008-08-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Although I've ranted a bit about my work regarding intoxication and Kate Chopin's The Awakening, I'd just like to put it out there that if anyone is looking for a quick but interesting read I would certainly recommend this novel.

In some senses tame by modern standards this book caused a stir in its day (1899) and virtually ended the author's career. Even today there is plenty to debate about in a classroom where this book has been read.

Stupendously available for free online.

Picking a Fight with Gentry

2008-08-27T20:34:00.001-07:00

I spent a few hours today considering Deborah Gentry's The Art of Dying. I enjoyed her work immensely. The first chapter was like a crash course in Suicide History and provided me with a number of other theorist's names and ideas to consider for further reading.

Gentry quotes Margret Higonnet’s essay “Speaking Silences: Women’s Suicide”. Pointing out that “[c]lassical instances of women’s suicide are perceived as masculine” while the “ninteenth-century reorientation of suicide toward love, passive self-surrender and illness [is] particularly evident in the literary depiction of women” (2). This is an interesting notion especially if one considers Jocasta and even the later Shakespearean account of Portia.

Further on in the text Gentry quotes Gilbert and Gubar regarding the sacrificial aspect of womanhood. “Whether she becomes an object d’art or a saint, however, it is the surrender of self-- of her personal comfort, her personal desires, or both-- that is the beautiful angel-woman’s key act” (3).

Gentry asserts that in many works of the Victorian and Edwardian period “woman’s death is important only in how it affects other characters, mostly men, who remain alive, an effect which is striking in the conclusion of Tennyson’s poem “The Lady of Shallot”… The poem concludes not with her death but with Lancelot viewing her corpse and stating, “She has a pretty face,” another instance of woman as symbol rather than substance” (14). This of course is totally relevant to my reading of both Chopin and JW Waterhouse.

With regard to Chopin, Gentry asserts that, “Edna’s awakening…is nothing short of an awakening to the true circumstances of existence for a woman shorn of the romantic illusions that society foists upon her-- an existence in which the deck is so stacked against women that the only true choice left to them is… to die” (22). She further states that “Chopin remasculinizes female suicide” (44).

This is the area where I cannot agree. For me Edna remains a self-delusional character until the very end. She is doubtful and confused as she goes to her death just as other Victorian heroines before her have been.

Gentry, Deborah S. The Art of Dying: Suicide in the Works of Kate Chopin and Sylvia Plath. American University Studies 56. New York: Lang, 2006.

The Desolate Woman, the Undefined Painter

2008-08-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

I'm still working feverishly on my Chopin paper, but I had to pause foe a moment in order to pay tribute to the term "the desolate woman". I find it to be quite catchy and rather apt. Anthony Hobson uses it to describe the female figures in J. W. Waterhouse's paintings.

As the paper develops I find that using Waterhouse as one of my artistic examples is rather problematic. I've only ever heard Waterhouse referred to as a Pre-Raphaelite, but Hobson contends that he is an English Neo-Classicist. I am not entirely swayed and I don't really have the time to hunt down the minute details I would need to make a fully informed decision.

Even the Waterhouse archive page seems confused on this issue. They state "Waterhouse's works are perhaps the best of the Pre-Raphaelites (although really a Neoclassic)". Umm.

How can one be the best painter of one style while belonging to another? To overcome this problem I am considering JWW a Pre-Raphaelite working at the end of the period. Whatever class of painter he is, his work is most certainly shaped by the earlier works by folks like Millais and Rossetti who are undeniably part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Developing the Mucha Connection

2008-08-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

The time in southern Oregon was relaxing and pleasant but the time has come to yeild once more to the pressures of academic life. As previously mentioned, I have a paper regarding Kate Chopin's The Awakening in the works. The main premise of this paper is that Chopin's world was dominated by repeating female archetypes in both art and literature. In my reading these archetypes become the various personas adopted by Chopin's main character, Edna, as she tries to experience "self-hood". In order to illustrate this point I intend to rely upon the images of two popular artists who were creating during Chopin's time. While many people draw parallels between the images of motherhood in Chopin and the works of Mary Cassatt, I am eschewing that well traveled road in favor of Alphonse Mucha and J. W. Waterhouse.

My reasons for this vary. In the case of Mucha I am interested in illustrating the connection between art and economy. Mucha was a commercial artist for most of his life and his works were and still are widely reproduced. Born July 1860 in Moravia, Alphonse Mucha was the son of middle class parents. His interest in drawing was apparent in his youth, and the young Mucha’s obsession with art seems to have been a disappointment to his family who tried on a number of occasions to steer their son in other directions including the seminary (14).

In 1887 Mucha relocated to Paris in hopes of developing his art beyond the confines of romanticism (16). His initial experience in Paris was not promising. He made “a bare living…executing minor graphic works for various clients” until 1895 when his poster for Sarah Bernhardt’s “Gismonda” changed the course of Mucha’s life (16). “It would be difficult to over estimate Sarah Bernhardt’s role in Mucha’s subsequent fame” (16). “It is quite certain, however, that his association with her launched him on a career at quite a different level than what he had experienced up to that time. He was now a preeminent graphic artist and posterist of not just local but international fame" (17). The Bernhardt posters were “widely publicized in many European and American publications…and their reproductions were distributed throughout the world” (17).

It is highly likely that Chopin was familiar with his work. I have found a few websites suggesting that Chopin was a fan of Sarah Bernhardt but this connection will need to be developed.

Rennert, Jack and Alain Weill. Alphonse Mucha: The Complete Posters and Panels. G.K.Hall: Boston, 1984.

Garden Delight

2008-08-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

We're down in Grants Pass for Bird's 10 year High school reunion. While I am not overly anxious for the reunion I am having a great time here at the Wicks Casa. Their place is delightfully located in the mountains well outside of town close to the Applegate River. Their garden is stupendous and I am filled with envy.

I woke up this morning to the sight and sounds of Bird and Rhonda working hard to push a wheel barrow of corn up a steep gravely slope.
Now many hours later all of that corn is shucked, blanched, cut and packed into bags. We also blanched, peeled, cut and dehydrated a box of peaches, and picked, prepped and vacuum sealed green beans.

It was a delightful and productive day.

Wharton, Willamette, and Whimsy: A Brief Account of Mastering English Literature at OSU

More of the chapter

Chapter One

Garden

GAP and Me : A lesson in argument

Garden

The Lesson is Love : When A Broken-Hearted Pagan Reads Dante

Coffee Cake for Bird

As it Stands

update

Starting Over

Tagcloud After Thursday

Will it Never End?

Birthday

Grading Portfolios Yet Again

GP Once More

Introduction So Far

Ending with a Boom/ Beginning with Slow Food

Ecocriticism and the Locavore

Teach This

Wicks-Giving 2008

The Long Weekend

Yep This Says It ALL: Happy Tagcloud Thursday

GP Once Again

Short Week

After the IL Summit

Summit Dealy-O

The Three-way Dance

Back to the Grind

Road Call '08 (back tracking)

The Road

Another Classic Translation of My Spanish Work & More

Primal Scream

In Light of This

O Tomorrow...

One Down

Argh and Other Groans Of the Overwhelmed

Equality is Equality

Free at Last

Eyes on the Prize!

It's Not About Grades: ILP

It's Electric!

Studs and Yahoooooo?

Samhain

Let's Form a Committee

Hysterical Translations

Cold and Confusion

Summer Strikes Again

Grading Portfolios and Such

Thesis Thursday Strikes Again

Library Day Part 1

Saturday Morning with Georges Bataille

ILP: Day Two

Draw Me A Mesa

ILP: Day One

Hybridity

One Big P-Nut Butter Cup and More

Conferences Part One & Tagcloud Thursday

Nature, Identity and Force: Cather's Alexander's Bridge

MAWG Monday

Sustainability Sunday: Garden Quick Glimpse

Español

Debate

Sleeeeeeeep

TA Tuesdays: A new pattern emerges

Sustainability and the TA

Money

Summer Tagcloud

Pre-Terrm Madness: How to update updates...

A Little Ruby

TA Tired

Sustainability Stumbling

Coastal Waters, Coast Range, Dog Coats

Arrr!!!

Tagcloud Thursday is here again

Ode to the Wharton-l

Fruit of the Hoosic?

The Importance of Credible Sources Strikes Again

Fruit of the Harvest: part 1

Sustaining Community