clean thine ears

Blogs vs. Term Papers

2012-01-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

OF all the challenges faced by college and high school students, few inspire as much angst, profanity, procrastination and caffeine consumption as the academic paper. The format — meant to force students to make a point, explain it, defend it, repeat it (whether in 20 pages or 5 paragraphs) — feels to many like an exercise in rigidity and boredom, like practicing piano scales in a minor key.

And so there may be rejoicing among legions of students who have struggled to write a lucid argument about Sherman’s March, the disputed authorship of “Romeo and Juliet,” or anything antediluvian. They have a champion: Cathy N. Davidson, an English professor at Duke, wants to eradicate the term paper and replace it with the blog.

Her provocative positions have lent kindling to an intensifying debate about how best to teach writing in the digital era.

“This mechanistic writing is a real disincentive to creative but untrained writers,” says Professor Davidson, who rails against the form in her new book, “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn.”

Read more . . .

CCSF Archival Photos

2011-12-18T21:57:00.000-08:00

Randy's favorite class back in the '70s.

See more . . .

Outstanding SSTF Piece in the La Mesa Patch!

2011-12-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Are Community Colleges Meant Mainly to Crank Out Workers for Business?

AFT pair: “All of us know what the replacement of funding based on enrollment with funding based on completion would mean—cuts and scarcity and a ‘streamlining’ of the community college system that would limit access and eliminate programs and classes.”

November 29, 2011

Editor’s note: The following letter—titled Who’s Behind the “Completion” Agenda?—was sent Tuesday to teachers in the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and San Diego Community College District by their union, the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. It is being reprinted here with permission of Jim Mahler, president of AFT Guild local 1931.

To the editor:
In past communications, your AFT has warned against the creeping academic Taylorism that comes with the movement toward student learning outcomes and pointed to the long history of American corporate interests seeking to discipline and, in turn, profit from institutions of higher learning—whether it be plutocrats railing against the dangerous ideas in the academy or business leaders seeking to transform American colleges into narrow job training factories that provide them with skilled workers without the accompanying bother of having to foot the bill for this service in the form of paying their fair share of taxes.

With the release of the California Community College Board of Governors task force on Student Success report, we see yet another push by some “system representatives” and their “external partners” to push for a dumbed-down, totally instrumental view of our mission that focuses nearly exclusively on making community colleges more efficient machines cranking out workers for business.

The latest stalking horse is completion, with all the requisite hand-wringing and intellectually disingenuous bracketing off of the larger socio-economic forces that make it harder for our students to complete their degrees.

It’s all about the students’ success, they remind us, as if we had somehow forgotten them on the way to collecting our fat paychecks and gold-plated pensions.

In sum, the report recommends a comprehensive revamp of community colleges, noting that, “Taken together, these recommendations would reboot the California Community College system toward the success of its students.”

The “reboot” metaphor says it all about the ideology behind the report: It’s mechanistic with a open bias toward a technocratic business model that favors reductionist measurement systems over the failed human judgment based system of old.

It’s time to stop allowing students to “wander” through the curriculum and track them more efficiently. If only we do a better job of tracking and push our lax, waste-filled system with more accountability measures, all will improve despite a historic budget crisis the largest gap between the rich and the poor in modern history, and the legacy of systemic racism.
The end game of all this is, of course, funding based on these mechanistic “outcomes,” but the report doesn’t take us there quite yet. As the authors note, they were “split” on whether this was the solution at present:

After considerable review, the Task Force was deeply divided on the topic of outcome-based funding. A vocal minority supported implementing some version of outcome-based funding, while the majority of Task Force members did not support such a proposal at this time due to various concerns, some of which are noted above. For many Task Force members, the lack of evidence demonstrating that outcome-based funding made a positive impact on student success was an important factor in their decision to reject implementing outcome-based funding at this time.

While some states have identified positive impacts, others have not and have terminated implementation of their outcomes-based funding models. The Task Force suggested that the Chancellor’s Office continue to monitor implementation of outcomes-based funding in other states and model how various formulas might work in California.

Of course, all of us know what the replacement of funding based on enrollment with funding based on completion would mean—cuts and scarcity and a “streamlining” of the community college system that would limit access and eliminate many programs and classes that don’t accommodate the Academic Taylorist party line.

Not surprisingly, in addition to the “system representatives,” the report received help from the Lumina Foundation and other corporate funded “external partners.”

And these sorts of “external partners” are far from being neutral players with a high-minded interest in the public good. They are, in fact, part of a larger network of interests interested in privatization, union-busting, pension reform, and more.
As Eric Kelderman noted in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

The Lumina Foundation for Education has become one of the best-known higher-education philanthropies in the country, spending nearly $50-million annually on projects to improve college completion ... the foundation is shifting its focus away from giving money to new projects to develop policy ideas. Instead, Lumina will work to enact the changes needed to drastically improve college graduation rates ...
Still, Lumina's change in focus doesn't mean that the organization will be spending less money, he said. In fact, the foundation will expand its efforts by convening business leaders, lawmakers, higher-education groups, and faculty members to build consensus on specific policy measures . . .
In addition, he said, Lumina will draft model policies for states, including legislation. The group is already working with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative-leaning organization, to write and introduce bills in statehouses.

But Kelderman’s characterization of ALEC as “conservative leaning” soft-pedals the significance of this group to the point of completely missing the significance of the connection between Lumina and ALEC.

Fortunately, John Nichols, in The Nation, has a much keener eye. In a recent piece on ALEC, Nichols outlines their origins and history:

Founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and other conservative activists frustrated by recent electoral setbacks, ALEC is a critical arm of the right-wing network of policy shops that, with infusions of corporate cash, has evolved to shape American politics.
Inspired by Milton Friedman’s call for conservatives to “develop alternatives to existing policies [and] keep them alive and available,” ALEC’s model legislation reflects long-term goals: downsizing government, removing regulations on corporations and making it harder to hold the economically and politically powerful to account.
Corporate donors retain veto power over the language, which is developed by the secretive task forces. The task forces cover issues from education to health policy. ALEC’s priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, pass voter ID laws and more.
In states across the country they succeeded, with stacks of new laws signed by GOP governors like Ohio’s John Kasich and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, both ALEC alums.

So when Lumina joins forces with ALEC it means more than just a move toward influencing legislative policy; it means they are part of a larger network of monied interests pushing our country further toward plutocracy and corporate domination.

That is why there is nothing about creating educated citizens for our democracy in the BOG report, because that is simply not part of their agenda. Corporate interests collaborating to impose the business model in public higher education want efficient workers trained to follow top-down orders,not critical thinkers who might question their agenda or buck up against the slow creep toward “outcomes based funding” that would serve as a Trojan horse for privatization.

It is in keeping with this agenda that the Draft Recommendations of the California Community Colleges Student Success Task Force would, “Encourage students to declare a program of study upon admission and require declaration by the end [of] their second term” (Recommendation 2.5).

To those who seek to cut waste out of government expenditures on public education by eliminating the temptation students have to explore intellectual horizons and to learn about diverse vocational fields, this requirement compelling community college students to compartmentalize themselves in narrowly defined majors, soon after admission to college, seems entirely justifiable, notwithstanding that students in four-year universities have until the junior year to declare majors.
In the effort to discourage frivolous intellectual experimentation, the report asserts, “Declaring a program of study is much more specific than declaring an educational goal. Doing so sets incoming students on an educational pathway and builds momentum for their success.”
To that end, “A student who is unable to declare a program of study by the end of their second term should be provided counseling and other interventions to assist them in education planning and exploring career and program options.” And, for the rebels, “If these interventions fail to meet their desired end, students should lose enrollment priority after their third term.”

How to deal with students whose curiosity might get the better of them, even after committing, on cue, to a program of study? Recommendation 3.1, on enrollment priorities, reveals one hammer: “Continuing students should lose enrollment priority if they do not follow their original or a revised education plan.”

Woe to the career tech student who might venture to take a course in geography, philosophy, or fine arts! What is the utility of radiation technology or mathematics students enrolling in political science to learn about legislative processes or the impact of free-trade agreements on the national economy and labor force demand?

Recommendation 4.1 certainly would eliminate that option for working-class students stretching to meet the costs of community colleges: “Under this recommendation, students having the course in their education plan would pay the credit enrollment fee, while students not having the course in their education plan would pay a fee covering the full cost of instruction” or market value.

No allowance for the pursuit of interdisciplinary knowledge in this model! Straight and narrow utilitarianism only! The prospects for reducing public education expenses in running course sections in dangerous majors, such as history and sociology, or literature seem almost endless.

While recent discussions of the “Buffet rule” have focused people’s attention on the fact that the rich have gotten richer while the rest of us have suffered, they have also exposed the truth that, as opposed to the decades-old mantra of the anti-tax zealots, the affluent pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than the rest of us.

The rich have gained, the poor are poorer, and the middle class is shrinking. You don’t have to have a Nobel Prize in economics to know that this is not fair.

What this phenomenon has done is push us further towards plutocracy or the rule of the dollar.

As to whether all this amounts to a conspiracy, we urge you to consider the extensive activities of American Legislative Exchange Council. As the Center for Media and Democracy’s ALEC Exposed website explains:

ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line.
Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.)
Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills.

ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. We agree. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door.

More specifically ALEC (which is 98 percent corporate funded) pushes a corporate agenda at the international, national, state, and local levels with regard to union busting, workers’ rights, the privatization of education, healthcare, the environment, energy, agriculture, voting, taxes, prisons, immigration, and much more.

It is not a conspiracy of the imaginary “nefarious elite”; it is how the very real economic elites have highjacked our government at every level (including education). It’s how the Koch brothers’ money talks and democracy walks. To put it another way, this is what plutocracy looks like.

To review ALEC’s activities on a state by state level, see where their money comes from and which politicians are part of the organization, see: www.alecexposed.org.
In particular, go to the privatizing education page and scroll down to the find the “treating universities like manufacturers” link.

Jim Miller and Jonathan McLeod
Miller teaches at San Diego City College and Jonathan McLeod at San Diego Mesa College. A debate on this issue was published Nov. 20 in The San Diego Union-Tribune under the heading Stressing Success.

About this column: Letters can be emailed to ken.stone@patch.com and are subject to editing. Please use your real name and give your hometown. Thank you.

Randy Holiday Classics

2011-12-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

Darlene Love will be on Letterman again soon! Watch for her. May you have a healthy and happy Festivus.

Here's a retro-post from 2008:

The English Literature Club: This Friday!

2011-11-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

The Hungry Reader at the Feast:

Model Writers, Model Readers.

Or, Which Fork Do I Use With Hemingway?

--Matt Duckworth

Friday, December 2, 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Batmale 349.

This talk is meant as a tour, of sorts, as a modeling of and reflecting upon dynamic literary exchanges from the perspective of an avid lifelong reader.

I'll be looking into work by Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast!), Richard Ford (including Ford on Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner), William Hazlitt (quoting Coleridge on WW and STC), John Fowles, Richard Holmes (on Shelley and Byron's marksmanship and on literary biography as pursuit), Barry Lopez, Rebecca Solnit, Virginia Woolf, and others, as needed.

I will have handouts. There will probably be coffee and treats.

Please tell your students. Please attend, if this seems intriguing.

Thank you.

Ben at Berkeley!

2011-11-28T10:14:00.001-08:00

Hello Colleagues,

This Thursday, December 1 at 6:00 p.m. sharp, U.C. Berkeley’s famous “Story Hour” series will host me reading from and providing literary analysis of my novel, Barrio Bushido. At the beautiful Morrison Library inside of the Doe Library building, with arms extended, I welcome you and your students to attend this unique, unprecedented event. Never before has U.C. Berkeley’s “Story Hour” opened its doors for urban literature. Many times urban fiction is portrayed as senseless and ultra-violent. At this event I will explain how Barrio Bushido both reinforces and smashes those stereotypes.

Many of you know my story and work. I come from the streets, the Marine Corps, and academia. Many of our students can relate positively to my background. I have performed throughout the state and have led functions that go beyond the literary level, including a first ever Ya Basta! Leadership Conference and more recently a successful Leadership and Education conference entitled “Inventing Your Destiny.”

Please come to this U.C. Berkeley event and suggest that your students come as well. Perhaps they can receive extra credit for attending this event that may change their lives.

If you would like to find out more about this event, please click on the links below.

Thank you and have a great rest of the semester,

Benjamin Bac Sierra, English Instructor

http://storyhour.berkeley.edu/#sierra

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1479422798&ref=tn_tnmn#!/events/143674205737913/

Filmmaker Ralph Bakshi and Poet Melvin Wilk in Conversation with Richard B. Simon

2011-11-28T10:06:00.001-08:00

LIVE! Saturday December 3,2011, Tikva Pop-Up Record Store, San Francisco

Rich Simon will be "in conversation" withanimation legend Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat) and his old friend from the neighborhood, poet Melvin Wilk,this Saturday, December 3, at the Tikva Pop-Up Jewish Record Store inthe outer Mission in San Francisco.

Sponsored by the Idelsohn Society, the discussion will focus on the roots of Bakshi's work inhis Jewish upbringing in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and will feature anunprecedented poetry reading by Bakshi and Wilk ... as well asopportunities to ask questions in an intimatevenue.

First, at 7pm, we'll showBakshi's American Pop, about a Jewish immigrant family's questfor musical glory in America. Discussion, poetry, and Q and A willfollow.

It's free -- with adonation requested -- but it's a really small venue (a storefront!) soreserve tickets early.

The Tikva Record Store runs the month of December in theOuter Mission, where Mission meets Valencia at the foot of Bernal, bythe Argus. It's "The First Pop-Up Jewish Record Store in theWorld" -- and will featurelive bands, lectures, films, comedy, food trucks -- and, of course,lots of rare Yiddish vinyl ...

This should be prettycool, folks.

Info and tix: http://tikvarecordsdec3-eorg.eventbrite.com/

American Pop, Ralph Bakshi and the JewishExperience:

Filmmaker Ralph Bakshi, best known for his films FRITZ THE CATand WIZARDS, is making a rare San Francisco appearance to show hisclassic film American Pop and discuss, with longtime friend/poetMelvin Wilk, his Jewish upbringing and the influence it had on hisart. The conversation will be led by writer/scholar RichardSimon.

1 show - 7pm

Doors open 15 minutes prior to show time

Limited to 2 tickets each

All events are free with a rotating suggested donation at thedoor

TIKVA RECORDS

"The First Pop-Up Jewish Record Store in theWorld"

Open December 1-28, 2011
(3191 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA)
* All events are free with a rotating suggested donation
* Advance ticket reservations required via Eventbrite

The store will feature an eclectic series of exclusive live musicperformances, film screenings, academic lectures, comedians, remixworkshops, food trucks, and more.

Special events will emulate the historical and culturalsignificance of Tikva Records - NYC's most prolific Jewish recordlabel of the '50s, '60s and '70s. Events will explore the JewishAmerican songbook, and Jewish culture in general, interpreted by someof today's brightest performers, comedians, musicians and lecturers.Rare vinyl from select Jewish musicians of the past 80 years will besold at the new Tikva Records, and we will have all of our latestalbum releases for sale including: Songs for the Jewish-American JetSet, Black Sabbath, and Mazeltov, Mis Amigos. San Francisco PublicSchool tours will commence during the daytime hours at Tikva Records,and food trucks will be carefully paired with each event listedbelow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T15:33:00.001-08:00

GIFSoup

Follow-up to the Nancy Sommers workshop

2011-11-18T10:23:00.001-08:00

Many people have expressed their gratitude for the Wednesday's workshop on responding to student writing. I know that it recharged my disposition and my essay marking right away, helping me simplify, step back, identify patterns of strength and need, and direct students toward future learning in upcoming online exercises, lab tutoring, and essay assignments.

Maybe there was just too much to cover since the issue of grading deserves its own week-long conference, but we really needed to spend more time discussing the student essay by Estelle Costanza (Frank's wife, George's mother) so kindly and bravely provided by Kristen Hren. (Who else would have volunteered to do this?) This essay was an incredible choice for our workshop, so perhaps we could continue the essay-response discussion in the comment section of this blog post.

I would also ask that those of you who marked the essay give your marked copies to Kristen so that she can compare the different strategies. I had hoped that during the workshop we would be able to go into small groups and compare our response strategies and the aesthetic of our marked papers, but there was not enough time.

One reason that there may not have been enough time was that we may have talked a bit too much about the assignment sheet. That was important, of course, since one of our goals was to analyze the relationship between assignment design and student/teacher response, but we needed to give more attention to what the student wrote and our responses to that writing. We can do that in the blog comment area and discuss ways to help Estelle Costanza reach even more of her potential.

I hope that our dialogue on this workshop material and our dialogue on responding to student writing will continue to unfold.

Again, thanks to those of you who prepped and participated, and a special thanks to Kristen for helping all of us, including Nancy Sommers, by sharing her work with us. We owe her! So give her your marked copies at the very least. Thanks.

To the comments!

Thank you, Nancy Sommers!

2011-11-17T23:37:00.001-08:00

Nancy Sommers provided a truly wonderful workshop on responding to student writing yesterday in Batmale Hall. Many of us have been energized by the dialogue, and hopefully that dialogue will continue. Another way to continue the dialogue is on Nancy's blog:http://blogs.bedfordstmartins.com/hackerhandbooks/. There you will also see links to Nancy's movies with students and teachers.

And, hey, if you haven't seen the free videos at Re:Writing via the Rules for Writers companion site, take a look. You and your students might like them, among other things.

Jump to Video Central.

Brilliant and Inspiring Composition Scholar!

2011-11-17T23:33:00.001-08:00

Is Proper English Dying? And Should Us Care?

2011-10-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

This Jeff Yang piece is in the October 29 Wall Street Journal.

If, as Laurie Anderson sang, language is a virus, then English is the common cold.
Already ubiquitous — English has an estimated 1.5 billion speakers — it’s only growing more so, given its status in fast-growing emerging markets. Especially the fastest-growing and emerging-est market of all, China, where it was estimated last year by the China Daily newspaper that up to 400 million people are currently actively learning English, or nearly a third of the population. (It’s this statistic that led Jon Huntsman, former Ambassador to China and soon-to-be-former GOP presidential candidate, to remark recently that in a few years, China will have more English-speakers than America.)

Read the entire article in the October 29 Wall Street Journal . . .

Gene Yang at the SFPL on 11/5

2011-10-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

You and your students might be interested in Gene Yang’s upcoming lecture on the inner workings behind graphic novels and his latest project(s). He is a rising star in the graphic novel narrative art form, and his novel ABC has been taught at CCSF and featured in reading groups. You can find out more at his site: geneyang.com

Event: Leveling Up with Gene Yang: Mixing Magic with Graphics

Date: Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011

Time: 1 – 2:30 p.m.

Place: San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch
100 Larkin Street
Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room
San Francisco, CA 94102

Bay Area Community Colleges Deal With Dropouts

2011-10-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

John Delgado on "The Practicality of an English Major"

2011-10-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

In the words of Alison Schoenberger, English Literature Club President . . .

"We will be holding a meeting this Friday, October 21, Batmale Hall room 349 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. That is all the same, however, our speakers have been moved around. For this meeting we are excited to announce Professor John Delgado speaking on 'The Practicality of an English Major - Learn how to make English as your major work for you while you're matriculating through undergraduate and graduate studies. Make stronger social and professional connections, earn more money on a part or full-time basis, use the literature you've learned to overcome obstacles in your life, personally and professionally.' 'You either have it, or you've had it!'"

Coffee, treats, a congenial lecture, chatting afterwards, and planning for future talks and events: the usual mix!

Christoph Greger's talk, originally scheduled for this Friday, will now take place on November 18th.

Thank you, and we hope to see you this Friday!

--Matt Duckworth

English Literature Club Advisor

Al Davis was an English Major!

2011-10-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

And now the commitment to excellence
shall dominate our labs and classes more than ever.

B.A. in English, Syracuse '52

Newly Proposed Course ID Numbering System

2011-09-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Many if not all us have received requests to comment on the recently proposed Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID), a supranumbering system being developed to ease the transfer and articulation burdens in California’s higher educational institutions. This is something that could impact the look, content, and feel of our courses. We have just a little bit of time to comment on these descriptors by registering at the C-ID site and then responding to what has been proposed. You might love or hate what is in the works. To learn more about C-ID, please visit their ABOUT page. To access FAQs for faculty, please click here.

I have linked the proposed descriptors here, if you don't want to use C-ID's simple registration. You could comment (anonymously) here in our blog, and we could compile those comments (hit the comments link below) and send them to C-ID and/or our articulation officer.

Here are the descriptors:
ENGL 110: Freshman Composition
ENGL 115: Argumentative Writing and Critical Thinking
ENGL-CW 100: Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGL-LIT 100: Introduction to Literature
ENGL-LIT 105: Critical Writing and Thinking Through Literature
ENGL-LIT 160: Survey of British Literature 1

THE BOWLING EVENT OF THE CENTURY: 10/21, PRESIDIO BOWL

2011-09-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

You got a date on Friday, October 21, baby!

We will be bowling with and against the CCSF librarians at the Presidio Bowl (presidiobowl.com).

The sign-up list is on the whiteboard in the English Dept office. You will see options to roll during one or all of the hourly slots: 4-5pm, 5-6pm, and 6-7pm (the bonus round). We will have four lanes at $50/hr per lane, which includes shoe rental. Up to 6 rollers may use a lane. They have a bar/restaurant because, well, the Presidio Bowl is a bowling alley. This bowling event is in place of the softball game we were going to play with the librarians. We will save that for the spring.

So who's going to roll? Sign up!

Hey, it might be more convenient to use the blog's comment space
to sign up for your rounds, but that's, like, just my opinion, man.

New Videos on Responding to Student Writers!

2011-09-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

Jump to this video filmed locally. You might recognize some of the participants.

For more resources, jump to this handbook page.

Fishy Sentences

2011-09-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Most people know a good sentence when they read one, but New York Times columnist Stanley Fish says most of us don't really know how to write them ourselves. His new book, How To Write A Sentence: And How To Read One, is part ode, part how-to guide to the art of the well-constructed sentence.

Fish is something of a sentence connoisseur, and he says writing a fine sentence is a delicate process — but it's a process that can be learned. He laments that many educators approach teaching the craft the wrong way — by relying on rules rather than examples.

Analyzing great sentences "will tell you more about ... what you can possibly hope to imitate than a set of sterile rules that seem often impossibly abstract," Fish tells NPR's Neal Conan.

A good sentence may be easy to pick out, but learning to understand what makes it great, says Fish, will help a student become a stronger writer and a "better reader of sentences."

Jump to the NPR piece.

What's wrong . . . or right?

2011-09-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with our universities?

This fall more than 19 million students will enroll in the 4,000 or so degree-granting colleges and universities now operating in the United States. College enrollments have grown steadily year by year, more than doubling since 1970 and increasing by nearly one-third since the year 2000. More than 70 percent of high school graduates enroll in a community college, four-year residential college, or in one of the new online universities, though only about half of these students graduate within five years. The steady growth in enrollments is fed by the widespread belief (encouraged by college administrators) that a college degree is a requirement for entry into the world of middle-class employment. A college education is now deemed one of those prizes that, if good for a few, must therefore be good for everyone, even if no one in a position of academic authority can define what such an education is or should be. These conceptions are at the heart of the democratic revolution in higher education.

Read the rest of this piece. It offers much to discuss...

The Mechanical Muse

2011-09-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

By LEV GROSSMAN
Published: September 2, 2011

Something very important and very weird is happening to the book right now: It’s shedding its papery corpus and transmigrating into a bodiless digital form, right before our eyes. We’re witnessing the bibliographical equivalent of the rapture. If anything we may be lowballing the weirdness of it all.

The last time a change of this magnitude occurred was circa 1450, when Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type. But if you go back further there’s a more helpful precedent for what’s going on.

Read the entire article on this computer screen.

Join the English Literature Club: Fridays 1:30-2:30

2011-09-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

The English Literature Club will be meeting most Fridays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. this semester in Batmale 349, the usual place.

This Friday, September 9th, will feature a club introduction, and I will give a brief talk entitled "Roses, Rats, and the Shortest Poems on Earth." I will use short pieces by Langston Hughes, Carl Rakosi, Robert Burns, William Blake, Dorothy Parker, John Keats, and the team of Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser as an introduction to reading poetry. I will focus on voice and character in relation to the unfolding drama of even the shortest poems.

If you have students in your English 1Bs (and other classes) who are a bit anxious about reading poetry, send them to the Lit Club meeting this Friday, and I'll try to help them out a bit.

Thank you,
Matt Duckworth
English Literature Club Advisor

Professional Development

2011-08-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

BANG OUT this Saturday at Amnesia!

2011-08-13T12:18:00.001-07:00

Please join us for the next BANG OUT reading, Volume XII: BLANK on Saturday, August 13th at Amnesia on Valencia Street in San Francisco!

Amnesia Bar (Valencia Street btwn 19th and 20th)
7-9 pm
FREE and open to the public

With fresh new work banged out on the theme "BLANK" by local writers:

Sarah Fran Wisby
Suzanne Kleid
Diana Turken
Brittany Billmeyer-Finn
Jen Sullivan Brych
Brent Armendinger
Aneesa Davenport

"BLANK" is... the perfect anti-theme, or the spaces we leave or that exist between us, between all things; what we choose to fill them with or how. Blank stares, shooting blanks, whatever the blankety blank -- we always welcome any and all interpretations of the theme.

Sarah Fran Wisby writes poetry, fiction, memoir and essays, preferring always to deepen and subvert genre by way of the hybrid form. Her book Viva Loss was published in 2008 by Small Desk Press. Recent work can be found in Eleven Eleven Journal and Rumpus Women Volume 1, and heard on Invisible Cities Audio Tour #2: The Armada of Golden Dreams. She’s also been published in Instant City, Sparkle and Blink, Digital Artifact, and The Encyclopedia Project Volume 2, F—K, for which she was honored to write the entry for fuck. She performs her work all over the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, and was a Literary Death Match champion in December 2010.

Suzanne Kleid is the manager of Readers Bookstore at the Main, a used bookstore inside the San Francisco Main Library. Her essays and fiction have appeared in the Believer, Bitch Magazine, Other Magazine, Watchword, Pindeldyboz, and We Still Like.

Diana Turken was born and raised in Los Angeles, Ca. She is currently working on her MFA degree in Poetry at Mills College. She likes to write about railroad barons, cowboys, and Californians. She is a cable news junkie, a basketball fanatic, and makes her own biscuits from scratch. She lives and works in Oakland.

Brittany Billmeyer-Finn, a Michigan Native and Oakland transplant moved here last August to attend Mills College. She is currently an MFA Poetry candidate at Mills, part time retailer, Maya Deren enthusiast, vintage dress collector and loves all things crystals, shells and feathers. Brittany lives in Downtown Oakland where her fellow poet housemates, graph paper notebooks and Magic, their cat, constantly inspire her. Also, Brittany is currently madly in love.

Jen Sullivan Brych has written plays, fiction and journalism for places like the Los Angeles Times, Wired, The Rumpus, Killing My Lobster, the Bay Guardian and blah blah blah. She was a finalist for the Third Coast fiction prize and teaches creative writing and English at City College. She can be seen wrangling her huge baby at various city parks.

Brent Armendinger is a satellite orbiting San Francisco while he also teaches creative writing at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. His chapbook Archipelago was published by Noemi Press.

Aneesa Davenport lives in San Francisco. Her work has appeared in Fanzine, Beeswax Magazine, Kitchen Sink, Monday Night, The South Carolina Review, and elsewhere. She has read with Quiet Lightening, Funny/Sexy/Sad, and Don’t Mention It, a 24-hour literary reading. Find her at http://paragraphed.wordpress.com/.

--

From Amick Boone and Kevin Hobson, former curators of the Ecstatic Monkey Reading Series, BANG OUT Reading Series provides writing prompts to encourage new work that is “banged out” for its readings. Hosting bi-monthly readings since October 2008, our aim is to inspire our readers to write and present work that’s fresh and spontaneous and to hear how some of our favorite writers interpret our prompts.

--
BANG OUT: A Quick and Dirty Reading Series
www.bangoutsf.com

State's high school dropout rate nearly 20 percent

2011-08-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

(08-11) 14:53 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Nearly one out of every five students in California's projected class of 2010 - 18.2 percent - dropped out of high school before graduation day, meaning 94,000 teenagers hit the streets without a diploma, according to data released today.
Perhaps more alarming are the 17,000 eighth grade students who quit before attending a single day of high school, about 3 percent of their class.
       These numbers are believed to be California's first accurate assessment of the dropout and graduation rates using a data system that tracks individual students over their four-year high school career, according to the state Department of Education.
       Overall, 74 percent of high school students graduated on time. The remaining 7 percent who didn't graduate or dropout were students still enrolled in school or who earned a GED.
In past years, the state used an unreliable system that relied on schools to manually track students and report dropout rates to the state. The data was sketchy at best, with rates fluctuating year to year and among districts with similar demographics.
       Over the last decade, reported dropout rates statewide have fluctuated between 11 percent to 22 percent. "For far too long, the discussion about graduation and dropout rates has revolved around how the results were obtained," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, in a statement. "Now, we can focus on the much more important issue of how to raise the number of graduates and lower the number of dropouts."

Jump to the complete story.

Astroturf Alert!

2011-07-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

That's not grass, man.

Reporting live from Batmale Hall, Randy Cyberia . . .

Congratulations to Best of the Bay Ben!

2011-07-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Best of the Bay 2011: BEST HOMEBOY SCRIBE

Awash as it is in traffic-stopping murals and radical neighborhood galleries, the Mission hasn't produced a lot of novels recently from its native sons and daughters. So when born-and-bred Missionite and City College literature professor Benjamin Bac Sierra's debut effort Barrio Bushido turned out to be a magical realistic, drug-and-violence-driven, sophisticated lyrical achievement, the 'hood rejoiced in its son. Bac Sierra's readings at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts turned out a capacity crowd, and a retinue of candy-painted, hydraulic-powered low-riders lined the curb outside. With Bac Sierra as a role model, maybe the barrio won't have to wait long for another of its own to follow suit and publish something great.
todobododown.wordpress.com

http://www.sfbg.com/specials/best-bay-2011-best-homeboy-scribe

From the CHE Ticker . . .

2011-07-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

California’s Public Colleges Are Falling Behind, Report Says

July 20, 2011, 1:59 pm

The often-celebrated public system of higher education in California is average, at best, and getting worse, argues a report released today by researchers at Sacramento State University. The report evaluates the state’s performance on six measures and finds major declines in college preparation, affordability, participation, and finance compared with other states over the past seven years. “It is a serious mistake to assume that a subset of high-profile, high-performing colleges and universities equates to a public postsecondary system that is up to the task of educating growing generations of Californians,” the report says.

Read the report.

SF Fringe Festival Play about a Community College English Teacher

2011-07-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

Coming in September!

Panic!

EXIT Studio
San Francisco, CA

This comedy traces the journey of a community college English teacher who starts having panic attacks while teaching Hamlet, is repeatedly visited by the ghost of her dead father, and receives advice on reducing anxiety from characters such as Crazy Larry the cynical teaching veteran, Rainbow the yoga teacher, and Elvira the healthfood store clerk. Laura Wiley plays over ten different characters in this solo show on anxiety, middle-age disillusion and listening to your inner voice.

Laura Wiley has studied solo performance at the San Francisco Marsh. She is grateful for all the artistic input, script feedback, acting coaching and encouragement that she has received on this piece from four special people affiliated with the Marsh--David Ford, Ann Randolph, Mark Kenward and Rebecca Fisher.

In addition to acting and writing, Laura draws, paints, plays classical and jazz flute, and sings. Her websites are www.lauraaustinwiley.com and www.laurawileyflute.com.

Times and Place
EXIT Studio, 156 Eddy St, SF
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 7:00 PM
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 4:00 PM
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 10:30 PM
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1:00 PM
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/182348

Kid Friendly: No

Dog Friendly: No

Non-Smoking: Yes!

Wheelchair Accessible: Yes!

Contact

Who:	Christina Augello
Phone:	415-673-3847
Email:	mail@sffringe.org
Web:	http://www.sffringe.org

Narrative Techniques by Randall

2011-06-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

History of Teacher Ed

2011-06-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Bridging the “Widest Street in the World”
Reflections on the History of Teacher Education
By Jeffrey Mirel
The long-standing divide between education school faculty members and their liberal arts colleagues has hindered teacher education in America. Instead of continuing to debate the relative merits of pedagogy versus content, professors on both sides should realize that prospective teachers need to know not only their subject matter, but also how to teach it so students will understand.

Read the article . . .

Patrica Delich's new book on online teaching!

2011-06-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

Patricia Delich, CCSF's former educational technology designer, helped many of us get rolling with online teaching. She has published a new ebook about online course development. Here it is. You can learn more about Patricia's work at http://elearningnetworks.com

Designing and Developing
an Online Course: A Guide for Educators

Written by an educator for educators, this ebook covers the practical questions that often arise when designing and developing an online course. Topics in this ebook were collected and assembled from questions asked over my years of working closely with educators. It is designed to help educators create an online course that is usable, accessible, and engaging so students get the most out of an online course. If you have been asked to design and develop an online course and need some help, you've come to the right place. I'll provide tips to help you prepare to work on your course all the way through to the final touches.

Available Ebook reading formats:

When you purchase the full book, you gain access to all formats.

Format	Full Book	Sample First 9%
Online Reading (HTML)	Buy	View sample
Online Reading (JavaScript)	Buy	View sample
Kindle (.mobi)	Buy	Download sample
Epub (open industry format, good for Stanza reader, others)	Buy	Download sample
PDF (good for highly formatted books, or for home printing)	Buy	No sample available
LRF (for Sony Reader)	Buy	Download sample
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Buy	Download sample

I am Worried about My Grade (encore)

2011-05-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

No Wonder Twins?

2011-05-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Loren Bell: "How to Read Emily Dickinson"

2011-05-06T05:17:00.000-07:00

Today, Friday, May 6th, 1:30-3 p.m., in Batmale Hall 349 . . .

Loren Bell will discuss "How To Read Emily Dickinson."

The English Literature Club invites all to attend.

The admission price?

Loren recommends that you "bring a favorite poem by Emily Dickinson," but literary browsers and the merely curious are welcome too!

Thank you.

My Mother Taught Me To Hunt

2011-05-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

She did, indeed. "What did you learn in school today, Matthew?" she started asking when I was five. She made me feel I should learn things, so I have pursued learning, sometimes relentlessly, ever since. Learning something (or, better, multiple "things") to bring home and share became proof of my prowess: a string of trout for the pan after a day of fishing for knowledge. And, she listened to my answers each day for so many years that I think about reporting what I've "caught" at the end of each day, still, even now.

(We didn't get along all the time, but those-- asking and listening-- were absolute gifts.)

When I think of her, I now often think of the ending to Ted Kooser's poem "Mother":

But the iris I moved from your house

now hold in the dusty dry fists of their roots

green knives and forks as if waiting for dinner,

as if spring were a feast. I thank you for that.

Were it not for the way you taught me to look

at the world, to see the life at play in everything,

I would have to be lonely forever.

The poem's ending catches my sense of debt, of appreciation, and while I don't think I ever feared the spectre of loneliness the way the poem's speaker seems to have done, perhaps the gifts of seeking knowledge, of seeking life, and of reporting it, of sharing it, have protected me in their own way.

Thanks, Mom.

Your son,

Matthew David

P.S. I posted an expanded version of this entry on my own blog (Matt Duckworth Underwater) back in December, near the anniversary of her death. Since Mother's Day is this Sunday, it seems fitting to remember my mother again, though without the anger this time.

A Po-Mo Whodunnit

2011-05-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

If you enjoy a good mystery with a twist, Sean Kim recently published a detective tale in Southword Journal. Click the link below then click again on 'Fiction':

http://www.munsterlit.ie/Southword/Issues/19A/contents.html

Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac's iPhone directions

2011-05-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

I loved this New Yorker "Shouts and Murmurs."
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2011/05/02/110502sh_shouts_hanson

"so much depends

upon

a Red Lobster..."

and

"Do not go gentle when you make that right..."

Crissy Field Fun

2011-04-30T19:19:00.001-07:00

Glorious day by the Bay: great pick for the day, Craig.

Here are some of my photos of the English Department get-together this afternoon.

Enjoy!

--Matt Duckworth

A Teacher of 45 Years Speaks Out: How Educators Are Being Blamed for Our Financial Mess

2011-04-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

"I am sorry I became a teacher. I honestly didn't mean to place so many states in danger of going bankrupt."

This piece first appeared on the Good Men Project Magazine.

For over 45 years I have enjoyed making a living teaching. It hasn’t been easy or lucrative, but it had its rewards, one of which was a secure retirement plan.

Now, after reading the recent California Little Hoover Commission Report that recommends that public school retirements be reduced, even for those who are already retired, and the actions of the Ohio, Idaho, and Wisconsin republicans in accusing teachers and their pensions and bargaining rights as mainly responsible for that state’s financial situation, I am sorry I became a teacher. I honestly didn’t mean to place so many states in danger of going bankrupt.

I also realize now that I am sorry to have chosen education as a career for other reasons. I am sorry that my wife may have to work until she is well past 70 and endure the rigors of 12-hour shifts as a nurse. I am sorry that I may become a burden to my children because my retirement income won’t cover the costs of extended care. I am sorry for those students I encouraged to become teachers, telling them to ignore the glow of the better-paying professions.

I am sorry that the government is punishing me for being a civil servant by taking away over 60 percent of the Social Security benefits I had paid for during years of part-time work in the private sector to help put two children through college. I am sorry that, if I outlive my wife, I won’t be eligible for her Social Security benefits—because I’m a public servant.

♦◊♦

I am also very sorry that the vast conservative media have chosen teachers as a topic for loathing and hatred.

I am sorry that the right-wing politicians and conservative think tanks are at work to convince the public that education would work better if schools were private. I am sorry that the producers of Waiting for “Superman” didn’t travel a few miles farther to see my school and talk to the parents and students. I am sorry that the writers of the movie didn’t get a chance to see what is really happening in America’s schools. I’m sorry they didn’t call their work Waiting for “Funding.”

The use of misleading facts to bully educators is rampant. Most recently, Wisconsin teachers, fighting merely for the right to negotiate as a union, were accused of causing over 7 million dollars of damages to the State Capitol Building and grounds. The media spread that lie and never followed up with the fact that the damages never were properly assessed. Sorry to say, but this is just one example of the media’s bullying of teachers. When is the last time the public learned that 145,100 public school teachers were physically attacked and that 276,000 were threatened with injury?

I am also sorry that, as a teacher, I did such a poor job of teaching students to think for themselves, and let the fear mongers drug their critical thinking skills. I am sorry that I spent so much time getting my students ready for the state test that I did a poor job of teaching them to ask for proof when an organization says it offers fair and balanced news reporting.

♦◊♦

Until today I never stopped to look at what my decision to become a teacher had cost. I wrote a letter to one of the commissioners on the Little Hoover Commission expressing how my decision to become a teacher had cost my family dearly and that their findings made me sorry I had become a teacher.

The response was hardly unexpected. The secretary of the commissioner responded by writing that teaching was a valued profession. But apparently not valued enough for the commission to advise the California legislature not to leave the teacher retirement plan alone. After all, the budget has to be balanced and God forbid there is a tax increase. Sorry to say, their recommendations, if followed, would result in extensive court battles, legal costs, and the possibility that teachers would continue to be the scapegoats whenever the economy is troubled. By the way, sorry to say, not one member of the Little Hoover Commission is a teacher or educator, and the commission is dominated by big business members. The findings of the Little Hoover Commission are not unexpected, given President Hoover’s legacy.

♦◊♦

I left the financial world after tiring of the constant manipulation of the general public to add to the company’s bottom line. I am sorry I didn’t fight my temptation to help others and instead stay in the corporate world with a secretary, reserved parking spot, executive dining room, paid-for college courses, free health care, my own office, and a chance to continue to hobnob with the movers and shakers of the world from Richard Nixon and king-maker Asa Call to Ronald Reagan.

At age 22 I had my own upscale apartment in Los Angeles and a racing Cobra. Life was good and the pension plan was lucrative as I had to pay nothing into it. The company was going to move to a beach community and I would have been a made man. All I had to do was ignore my desire to help others.

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist: I entered a teaching college and, now, over 45 years later, I have a lot of apologies to hand out.

I know that my fellow teachers have spent decades teaching our students about the evils of bullying and to not tolerate it. The theme “Don’t Be a Bystander” is one of our major lesson plans. And yet, I am sorry to say, we are now the ones being bullied. Perhaps it is time for us to join together and write letters, make phone calls, and express ourselves to our elected officials to let them know that there are millions of teachers who vote—and we won’t want them to be sorry.

Alan Haskvitz, a teacher for 45 years, honestly didn’t mean to place so many states in danger of going bankrupt. He just wanted a secure retirement plan.

Photo Prompts?

2011-04-25T23:13:00.000-07:00

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Mind-Boggling Photo Manipulations by Erik Johansson 1

routecoup�e

Nathan's Egypt Exhibit at SFSU

2011-04-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Learn more . . .

Dig this too.

Community colleges could turn away 400,000

2011-04-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Community colleges could turn away 400,000

Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

03/31/11

An unprecedented 400,000 students could be turned away from California's community college campuses next fall because state lawmakers are letting billions of dollars in taxes expire in June that would otherwise protect courses, Community College Chancellor Jack Scott said Wednesday.

Pointing to budget talks that stalled this week in Sacramento - and the resulting failure of Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to let voters decide whether to extend and increase taxes - Scott said he expects the state to reduce its allocation to the college system by $800 million, nearly 10 percent of its total budget.

Voter approval of the taxes would have raised about $13 billion, resolving half of the state's $26 billion budget deficit. Democrats backed Brown's plan but were unable to persuade at least four Republicans to join them to meet the two-thirds majority required to place a tax measure on the ballot.

The Legislature has not yet decided how to make up the difference, so it's not clear that cuts to the college system would actually double from the $400 million reduction already planned by lawmakers.

Nor is eliminating courses the only way to make ends meet, said Steve Boilard, director of higher education with the Legislative Analyst's Office. For example, community colleges could impose a second fee hike on top of next fall's increase, he said. The price is rising to $36 per unit, from $26.

Yet higher fees can also be a barrier to college, educators said.

If 400,000 students are locked out of community college as Scott predicts, it would be roughly the same number as are enrolled in the entire California State University system.

"This is a tremendous tragedy, and a very deep blow to the economy of California," Scott said, describing community colleges as the "No. 1 workforce training institution" in the state.

The California system is the largest in the country, with 2.75 million students. And that's 140,000 fewer students than two years ago, when budget cuts forced the colleges to shed thousands of courses and instructors.

Meanwhile, community colleges have never been more popular, with more students knocking on the door every day to study nursing, programming and other careers; gain credits for transfer to a university; or improve basic English skills.

"These are catastrophic reductions," said Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District. She joined Scott and other chancellors to lay out next year's expected landscape on campuses across the state.

San Diego colleges offered 16,000 courses two years ago, Carroll said, but next year they expect to offer less than 13,000.

"People trying to train for work will not have the opportunities they need," she said.

In Sacramento, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks (San Bernardino County), disputed the idea that community colleges fuel the California economy by putting people to work.

"It's not even true," said Donnelly, who serves as vice chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee. "It's small businesses that do that."

Donnelly said the way to resolve the state's budget crisis is not through tax extensions, but by deregulating businesses and eliminating state targets for reducing carbon emissions.

"I didn't come up to Sacramento - to leave my family and my business and my life - just to put a Band-Aid over the budget," he said.

College faculty members are having none of it.

"California will never emerge from the Great Recession without community colleges," said John McDowell, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/31/BAOB1IMOQG.DTL

This article appeared on page C - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle
© 2011 Hearst Communications Inc. | Privacy Policy | Feedback | RSS Feeds | FAQ | Site Index | Contact

Great Videos on Teaching

2011-04-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

Taylor Mali (http://taylormali.com), one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet., gives his mind on what teachers make. Mali is a vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math and S.A.T. test preparation.

He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his New Teacher Project has a goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through "poetry, persuasion, and perseverance."

Crissy Field Picnic Party: April 30, 1pm

2011-04-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 30, 1-4pm (maybe later), we'll be having a bring-your-own-but-sharing-would-be-nice picnic party at Crissy Field in the grassy area somewhere near the Warming Hut Cafe. The picnic tables and grills are snagged on a first-come, first-served basis, so if anybody would like to earn non-instructional lab hours guarding a table, please let me know. (A permit would cost $50 and might not be necessary.) This is a beautiful part of the city, featuring great views, a little beach, historic structures, and an actual parking lot that might have vacant spots. See images below.

Since the Department's "adult" party on May 13 at the Presidio will be at night and cost a bit of do-re-mi, this daytime party at Crissy Field will be a fun, low-cost alternative for all, especially those of us with children, leaving us more babysitting money for the May 13 night party.

Will you be going to this Crissy Field party on April 30? Let me know.

Craig

ckleinma@ccsf.edu

Department Party at the Presidio Cafe: May 13, 6pm

2011-04-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

You are being welcomed back from Spring Break with paper flyers in your mailboxes announcing our annual party scheduled for May 13. The flyer should answer all your questions about how much, what time, etc. so be sure to look for it and get your order and money in ASAP. The venue cannot handle changes, so we must meet the deadline. The price includes dinner ,contribution for a celebratory cake, and six retirement gifts.

We have the same venue as before , the Presidio Golf Course Cafe. I forgot to mention last year that just around the corner from the restaurant and into the woods a bit is an art installation by Andy Goldsworthy, the environmental artist who also did the walkway of the DeYoung. Some of you also may have heard about him from the movie about his nature art, designed to disappear into the environment. Check it out.

Maps: The Presidio Cafe (near the Arguello Gate)

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

The Ruins of Detroit

2011-03-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Take the tour

Hello?

2011-03-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

Progress Monitoring::Monitoring Progress

2011-03-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

Use your report options!

Erwin's Adventures in Minneapolis

2011-03-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

Erwin Barron awaited the decision of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area in the sanctuary of Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington on Monday. The panel split 3-3 and may appeal.

Here's the whole story!

INTERNET-AGE WRITING SYLLABUS . . .

2011-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

INTERNET-AGE

WRITING SYLLABUS AND

COURSE OVERVIEW.

BY ROBERT LANHAM

- - - -

ENG 371WR:

Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era

M-W-F: 11:00 a.m.—12:15 p.m.

Instructor: Robert Lanham

Course Description

As print takes its place alongside smoke signals, cuneiform, and hollering, there has emerged a new literary age, one in which writers no longer need to feel encumbered by the paper cuts, reading, and excessive use of words traditionally associated with the writing trade. Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era focuses on the creation of short-form prose that is not intended to be reproduced on pulp fibers.

Instant messaging. Twittering. Facebook updates. These 21st-century literary genres are defining a new "Lost Generation" of minimalists who would much rather watch Lost on their iPhones than toil over long-winded articles and short stories. Students will acquire the tools needed to make their tweets glimmer with a complete lack of forethought, their Facebook updates ring with self-importance, and their blog entries shimmer with literary pithiness. All without the restraints of writing in complete sentences. w00t! w00t! Throughout the course, a further paring down of the Hemingway/Stein school of minimalism will be emphasized, limiting the superfluous use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, gerunds, and other literary pitfalls.

Prerequisites

Students must have completed at least two of the following.

ENG: 232WR—Advanced Tweeting: The Elements of Droll

LIT: 223—Early-21st-Century Literature: 140 Characters or Less

ENG: 102—Staring Blankly at Handheld Devices While Others Are Talking

ENG: 30—Advanced Blog and Book Skimming

ENG: 231WR—Facebook Wall Alliteration and Assonance

LIT: 202—The Literary Merits of Lolcats

LIT: 209—Internet-Age Surrealistic Narcissism and Self-Absorption

LEARN MORE

Matt Duckworth Underwater: A Favorite View

2011-01-26T18:12:00.000-08:00

What did Shakespeare's Antony say?

"Friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears." Something like that.

It was a solemn occasion, at least in the original.

I grew up with a lot of bad gags in variety shows in which a comedian would deliver Mark Antony's lines and a bunch of rubber ears would shower the stage.

Still I say, colleagues, students, idle browsers,

lend me your eyes . . . .

I invite you to check out my blog.

Matt Duckworth Underwater:

Art, book reviews, photographs, postcards, quick fiction, quotations, and (usually aquatic) reflections.

If you click the link in the title above, you'll get one of my latest blog entries, a reflection on free diving in Monterey Bay this past weekend.

I hope you find Matt Duckworth Underwater of interest. I'm not a professional artist or photographer, but I have a lot of fun. Join the fun.

Thank you,

Matt Duckworth

P.S. Here are some sample photographs and art from my blog also. (If you click on the pictures, you'll get an enlargement.)

"Oh, where are you going?" Kayaking on San Francisco Bay.

Happy fish.

The ancient Celts collected heads, and so do I. Mine are clay, however.

Mermaid sighting on the Berkeley campus.

Namor in Repose; Or, Self-Portrait #47.

A beautiful day on San Francisco Bay: Berkeley Marina.

Last weekend near Lover's Point, Pacific Grove, CA: A (Definite) Favorite View

My latest favorite photo. Note how the water really has shape and substance; note the surprising contours. You can see such features, such elements, more clearly in the enlargement, if you click on the photo. (Very fun--challenging, exhilarating--to be swimming in and with such water.)

Ben on KPFA

2011-01-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

Entertain yourself; here is the Ben Bac Sierra Barrio Bushido KPFA 94.1 interview in its entirety.

Cover to Cover's Denny Smithson was a great interviewer. Enjoy!

Please follow this link:

http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/67048

If you would like to learn more about the book, my writing, and my goals, please visit my blog: t odobododown.wordpress.com

If you would like to discuss or order the book, please call me at 415-225-4568.

Sincerely,
Ben Bac Sierra

Anna Mills a Mama!

2010-12-30T15:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome, Ari Harlow Mireles, born at 10:55 on the morning of December 29th! He weighs 6 pounds 5 ounces and is 20 inches long. Anna and baby are both doing well.

Happy Holidays!
Anna and Sam

Happy Holidays from Randy and the entire Cyberia family

2010-12-23T20:59:00.000-08:00

Darlene Love will be on Letterman again tonight! May you have a healthy and happy Festivus. Here's a retro-post from 2008:

This Saturday: Last SF reading from YOUNG JUNIUS (for a while)

2010-11-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Colleagues, friends, neighbors...

As the YOUNG JUNIUS tour winds down, I'd like to bend your ear and invite you out for one last hurrah this Saturday afternoon at Borderlands Books in the Mission at 3PM. (866 Valencia @20th)

I mean sure, I'll be at the Lit Club afternoon session next Friday, the 19th, but for a full-on bookstore setting, this is your last chance. Hope to see you there! Also, please spread the word to your students who may be interested. You can download a flyer to print here.

Also, if you'd like to read excerpts (*special chapters*) of the novel for free, come over to my profile at Scribd.com where you can see the new partnership we've established and the great-looking page they set up. We're serializing chapters there all week and launching the Full PDF of the novel for free on Thursday! I'm happy to give it to you guys here, now.

CC Dropout Rates

2010-10-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Bryan Guillermo stared at his dismal grade report and considered dropping the math class he had just begun at City College of San Francisco.

It was fall 2004. Two months into his first semester, Guillermo already felt overwhelmed by the basic algebra, quadratic equations and polynomials covered in class.

"I'm really bad at math," he admitted, remembering that he also considered dropping chemistry, nutrition and astronomy. "It was a challenge to understand what they were talking about."

Guillermo's academic struggles are the norm in California community colleges - and the vast majority of students hoping to earn an associate degree or a vocational certificate drop out instead, according to a new study that points to an alarming trend at California community colleges.

Sir Ken Robinson: "Changing Educational Paradigms" Animated

2010-10-17T10:09:00.001-07:00

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

www.youtube.com

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

I don't think Robinson's material will prove surprising, but I hope it proves engaging and even fun in this animated format. (Fun being a very serious topic; animation, in the fullest sense, being the object of our enterprise as teachers, yes?) And, if you disagree or find the models insufficient or simplistic, the play of mind may prove worthwhile anyway and should set up meaningful discussions.

I am finding this illustrated presentation on educational paradigms and divergent thinking useful in considering how I want to plan my next semester's classes. I like the emphasis on the arts, but I also like that Robinson named mathematics and science as well. As many instructors in our department have, I've been quietly working with my own students on being academically energized through the popular science texts we're using--Flotsametrics and the Floating World, The Outlaw Sea, The Devil's Teeth--and through Barry Lopez's essays in About This Life, among others. Playful curiosity and comprehensive watchfulness seem useful, fruitful qualities to foster in ourselves and in our students, one reminder that I find in the above animated lecture.

How (and how well) have our own "divergent thinking" skills survived in the face of the "educational system" that we have experienced, surmounted, and served these past years? Luck? Childlike play? Engaging that playful curiosity on behalf of research and teaching tasks? And so forth?

Human Tutoring

2010-10-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

In Higher Education, a Focus on Technology

By STEVE LOHR

The education gap facing the nation’s work force is evident in the numbers. Most new jobs will require more than a high school education, yet fewer than half of Americans under 30 have a postsecondary degree of any kind. Recent state budget cuts, education experts agree, promise to make closing that gap even more difficult.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and four nonprofit education organizations are beginning an ambitious initiative to address that challenge by accelerating the development and use of online learning tools.

An initial $20 million round of money, from the Gates Foundation, will be for postsecondary online courses, particularly ones tailored for community colleges and low-income young people. Another round of grants, for high school programs, is scheduled for next year.

Just how effective technology can be in improving education — by making students more effective, more engaged learners — is a subject of debate. To date, education research shows that good teachers matter a lot, class size may be less important than once thought and nothing improves student performance as much as one-on-one human tutoring.

Read more . . .

Ben Bac Sierra: Lecture TOMORROW

2010-10-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

Literature Club Lecture Series

Join the Literature Club in the official

Friday Lecture Series

TOMORROW

we will be presenting

. . .

Transforming the Ugly

into the Sublime:

Lecture by

Benjamin Bac Sierra,

author

Barrio Bushido

Friday October 15 1:15-2:30

Batmale Hall Room 349

If these lectures don’t satisfy your thirst for Literature, join the

Literature Club every Friday 1:15-2:30 in

Batmale Hall Room 349

Contact the Literature Club at Litclubccsf@gmail.com for more

information or to get involved

_Barrio Bushido_--Ben Bacsierra's New Novel

2010-10-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Jump to Ben's blog!

The son of Guatemalan immigrants, Benjamin Bac Sierra was born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission district, at one time the heart of Latino culture in Northern California. Living the brutal “homeboy” lifestyle, at seventeen he joined the United States Marine Corps and participated in front line combat during the first Gulf War. After his honorable discharge, he completed his Bachelor’s degree at U.C. Berkeley, a teaching credential program and a Master’s in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Currently, he is a professor at City College of San Francisco.

Interview, Readings and New Book Almost Here!

2010-10-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all! My new novel, Young Junius, is almost here!

Last night KRCB (Sonoma's NPR) aired this interview on their "Word by Word" show with host Gil Mansergh. Give a listen if you'd like to know more about YOUNG JUNIUS or hear me read parts of the book. Click here to hear.

I'm also happy to announce the following events. Hope to see some of you (and/or your students) out!

Friday night 10/8 at A Great Good Place for Books - 7PM - 6120 LaSalle Ave., Oakland (Montclair)
Saturday night 10/9 as part of Litcrawl at the Mission District Police Station (in the community room, NOT a cell) at 7:15 to 8:15. 630 Valencia St.
Tuesday 10/12 at Books Inc. in Opera Plaza - 7PM - 601 Van Ness, SF

I know we're all hitting that crazy-busy point in the semester, but we shall carry on! More info and events at my website and my readings/events page. THANKS!

Lois Silverstein's new book

2010-09-26T11:10:00.001-07:00

“Here we have ‘poems with imagery chiseled as precise as haiku’
to those with ‘condensations of allusions and a wide gamut of feeling’;
poems that celebrate ‘childhood wonder to the intimacy of love,
its ritual bonds and mystical eroticism;’ and pay
‘eloquent tribute to death, with choking feelings of grief’.
Here are poems that matter.”
-Abdul Jabbar, Ph.D., San Francisco

“These poems sparkle.

Here is daily life...their light clear and already refracted,
the ordinary writ large. What wonderful poems.... I’m full of admiration for them --- those flitting moments of our lives --
the watching of a child in discovery, a cat, a tree, a love and a deep loss. These are poems that speak of our own discoveries and some of the deepest dimensions of reality.”
-Ellen Spolsky, Ph.D. ,Jerusalem

You can order a copy from X-Libris at www.xlibris.com/LovingisListeningTothe....html or www.xlibris.com/Silverstein.html. You can also order toll-free at 1-888-795-4274, using the book’s ISBN: 978-1-4535-3739-8. You can also order from my website, www.LoisSilverstein.com, or from Amazon.com.

Also, if you haven’t read my other novels – DAUGHTER, DOL, and CURTAIN RISING – I do hope you’ll get a copy and enjoy them.

I will be reading from Loving Is Listening this Autumn, in several venues around the Bay Area. If you’re interested in joining the festivities, please let me know and I will send you the details.

Meanwhile, enjoy the early days of Fall!
Lois

October 5 Poetry Reading

2010-09-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Multiple points of view

2010-09-16T11:01:00.001-07:00

Katrina . . . 5 years ago . . .

2010-08-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

--from Greg Palast (from Bill McGuire)

A forensic analysis by Dr. John W. Day calculated that if the Corps had left just 6 miles of wetlands in place of the open canal, the surge caused by Katrina's wind would have been reduced by 4.5 feet and a lot of New Orleaneans would be alive today.

The Corps plugging its ears to the warnings was nothing less than "negligence, insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness."

Have you tried Dropbox to share English Dept. docs?

2010-08-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Watch a Video

Publisher's Weekly Weighs In on YOUNG JUNIUS

2010-08-25T21:50:00.001-07:00

Last week Publishers Weekly reviewed Young Junius, my new novel out in October from Tyrus Books.

Here's what they had to say:

"Searing . . . a vicious black comedy of murderous errors. Harwood pulls no punches, revealing not only the white death of crack cocaine but the ineffectuality of black liberals who believe their Harvard Law books can cure the malignancy inherent in “forgotten civic ideas” like the Towers and the desire of the Towers’ inhabitants to destroy anyone trying to escape. In the end, Junius’s fate is as old as Aeschylus, the endless cycle of killing “just a snake eating itself."

Click here to read the full review.

I've already lined up a few reading dates, including

Oct 8: Great Good Place for Books, Montclair--for any East Bay types. 7PM.
Oct 9: Mission Police Station Community Room as part of Litquake's Litcrawl. 7PM
Oct 12: Books Inc, Opera Plaza, 7PM

Oct 20: M for Mystery in San Mateo, 7PM
Nov 13: Borderlands Books, 3PM (Saturday)

Hope I'll see you out!

Triumph Fades on Racial Gap in City Schools

2010-08-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

August 15, 2010

Triumph Fades on Racial Gap in City Schools

By SHARON OTTERMAN and ROBERT GEBELOFF

Two years ago, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, testified before Congress about the city’s impressive progress in closing the gulf in performance between minority and white children. The gains were historic, all but unheard of in recent decades.

“Over the past six years, we’ve done everything possible to narrow the achievement gap — and we have,” Mr. Bloomberg testified. “In some cases, we’ve reduced it by half.”

“We are closing the shameful achievement gap faster than ever,” the mayor said again in 2009, as city reading scores — now acknowledged as the height of a test score bubble — showed nearly 70 percent of children had met state standards.

When results from the 2010 tests, which state officials said presented a more accurate portrayal of students’ abilities, were released last month, they came as a blow to the legacy of the mayor and the chancellor, as passing rates dropped by more than 25 percentage points on most tests. But the most painful part might well have been the evaporation of one of their signature accomplishments: the closing of the racial achievement gap.

Among the students in the city’s third through eighth grades, 40 percent of black students and 46 percent of Hispanic students met state standards in math, compared with 75 percent of white students and 82 percent of Asian students. In English, 33 percent of black students and 34 percent of Hispanic students are now proficient, compared with 64 percent among whites and Asians.

“The claims were based on some bad information,” said Michael J. Petrilli, a vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a research group that studies education policy. “On achievement, the story in New York City is of some modest progress, but not the miracle that the mayor and the chancellor would like to claim.”

Reducing racial gaps in educational performance has been a national preoccupation for decades. But after substantial progress in the 1970s and ’80s, the effort has largely stalled, except for a brief period from 1999 to 2004, where there were some gains, particularly in reading, according to a report released this month by the Educational Testing Service, which develops standardized tests used across the country.

The achievement gap was also the main thrust of the No Child Left Behind law, which mandated annual testing for all students in grades three through eight and required school systems to track the performance of each racial and ethnic group, with the goal of bringing all children to proficiency by 2014.

New York City’s progress in closing its achievement gap on those tests drew national attention as a possible model for other urban school districts. It won praise from President George W. Bush as evidence that No Child Left Behind was working. In 2007, the city won a prestigious urban education prize from the Broad Foundation, which cited the city’s progress in narrowing the racial achievement gap.

But the latest state math and English tests show that the proficiency gap between minority and white students has returned to about the same level as when the mayor arrived. In 2002, 31 percent of black students were considered proficient in math, for example, while 65 percent of white students met that standard.

Experts have many theories, but no clear answers, about why national progress on closing the gap has slowed. They included worsening economic conditions for poor families and an increase in fatherless black households, social factors that interfere with students’ educational progress.

Mr. Klein said in an interview that he was not discouraged by New York City’s performance on the 2010 state tests, and that he still felt “awfully good” about improvements for black and Hispanic students, noting their rising graduation rates and college enrollments.

“I don’t think we claimed it was a miracle; certainly I don’t believe it was a miracle,” he said. “I think there are sustained steady gains here, and I think that’s important.”

Unbowed, Mr. Klein said the new test results reinforced some of his beliefs and policies: he said he would continue to close low-performing schools, for example, and would keep pushing to pay more to teachers who work in hard-to-staff neighborhoods or subjects, which the teachers’ union has resisted.

The bulk of Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Klein’s effort to overhaul the education system has been focused on the lowest-performing students. The city has closed 91 poorly performing schools, established about 100 charter schools and sent waves of new young teachers and principals into schools in poor neighborhoods.

Mr. Klein began to use test scores to measure schools’ performance, and joined with the Rev. Al Sharpton in forming the Education Equality Project in 2008 to promote good instruction and education reform for minority and poor children. “It is certainly what makes Joel Klein tick,” said Kati Haycock, the president of the Education Trust, which advocates for progress on the issue. “And you can’t say that for everyone.”

The city has even tried to attack the deeper issue of how children are reared at home, by offering some families monetary incentives to go to the dentist for checkups, for example, or to maintain good school attendance. The three-year-old pilot project was ended in March after it showed only modest results.

For several years, data suggested that the city had seen improvements among all ethnic groups, including in graduation rates, which have risen about 14 percentage points for black and Hispanic students since 2005, and a national standardized test given every other year to a sampling of fourth and eighth graders.

Even so, the scores on the national test, considered tougher than the state tests, did not exactly show a mastery of material. Forty-nine percent of white students and 17 percent of black students showed proficiency on the fourth-grade English test in 2009, for example, up from 45 percent of white students and 13 percent of black students in 2003.

The city made no statistically significant progress in closing the racial achievement gap in that time, said Arnold Goldstein, a statistician at the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the national test. With few exceptions, including Charlotte, N.C., and Washington, D.C., the achievement gap on the national tests has remained constant in all major cities.

But the test scores that the mayor and the chancellor chose to highlight were the state standardized tests, and they built their entire system around it, with schools’ A-through-F grades, teachers’ bonuses and now tenure decisions dependent on how well their students performed on the tests.

By 2009, the passing rates of black students on English exams had narrowed to within 22 percentage points of white students’, and within 17 points on the math exams. And charter schools, which predominantly serve black students, were doing so well that one Stanford University researcher proclaimed that they had practically eliminated the “Harlem-Scarsdale” gap in math.

But skeptics argued that comparing passing rates was flawed because they did not account for whether a student passed by a little or a lot. In New York City, black and Hispanic students were far more likely to pass with scores barely above the minimum requirement, thereby masking the real difference in performance among groups.

The State Education Department recalibrated the scoring of the tests this year, raising the number of correct answers needed to pass and saying that the previous standards were not accurate measures of what students needed to know at each grade level. When that happened, the passing rates of white and Asian students dropped a little, but those of black and Hispanic students plummeted.

Asian students have generally performed better than white students on state math tests in the city, and about the same on English tests. Those gaps have remained fairly consistent over the years.

While the slow improvement of all groups is “still a success story,” Mr. Petrilli said, the achievement gap, which shows how different groups perform relative to one another, still means that most black and Hispanic students will be at a sharp disadvantage when they have to compete against white and Asian peers as they move through schools and into the workplace.

While the gap is not closing, Mr. Klein said he was encouraged that the scores for black and Hispanic students were rising nonetheless.

“Do I wish that we had eliminated the entire achievement gap?” he said. “Sure.”

Jennifer Medina contributed reporting.

Giants v. Brewers--9/17! Who's going?

2010-08-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

BRING BACK THE CRAB!

Excitement is building around the 1^st City College Night with the San Francisco Giants sponsored by the Foundation of City College, now scheduled for Friday, September 17, 2010. Game time is 7:15 p.m. Please note the change of date.

This is a fantastic opportunity for our College community to enjoy an evening at AT&T Park while cheering on the Giants at one of their final home games of the 2010 season. A major benefit of attending this game is that a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated from the Giants to help reinstate classes.

The Foundation and the College have many plans in the works to make this event a success and enjoy a fun-filled evening at the ballpark. Bring your friends, family, colleagues and join us as we raise money to keep classes open at CCSF and cheer the Giants to another exciting victory.

Tickets will go on sale the week of August 16. Ticket price is $21.00 plus fees, and you will be able to buy your tickets directly from the Giants, or via their website. We will notify you when tickets are available, so do not order them yet. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Dr. Don Q. Griffin

Chancellor

A New Word!

2010-07-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Palin invents word 'refudiate,' compares herself to Shakespeare

By Matt DeLong
The Twittersphere erupted Sunday when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tweeted that "peaceful Muslims" should "refudiate" the mosque being built in New York City near where the Twin Towers once stood. Palin found herself the butt of many tweets, as refudiate, of course, is not a word in the English language.

After deleting the offending tweet, Palin replaced it with another calling on "peaceful New Yorkers" to "refute the Ground Zero mosque plan," which only added to the confusion because it would appear the word she was looking for was "repudiate." Then came the kicker: To quell the vicious Twitter-ribbing she was receiving, Palin unleashed yet another tweet comparing herself to no less than the Bard of Avon.

Naturally, this led to a very entertaining Twitter meme, #ShakesPalin, in which participants revamped classic Shakespeare quotes, Palin-style (and of which ~~Reason's~~ The Cato Institute's Julian Sanchez was arguably the champion).

A good time had by all.

As a postscript, Mediaite points out that this is not the first time Palin has used the word "refudiate." (Watch at the 1:05 mark).

By Matt DeLong | July 19, 2010; 10:53 AM ET
Categories: 44 The Obama Presidency

The Life and Death of Harvey Pekar . . .

2010-07-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

--a video of his spring lecture/discussion--one of his last--with Israeli artist Etgar Keret at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum

--from The Cleveland Plain Dealer

--NY Times obituary

SHORT Story Contest

2010-07-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Published in paperback & Kindle :)

2010-07-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hello colleagues,

May you all be deliriously relaxed right now.

I'm writing to share the glorious news that my novel, GLITTER GIRL, has now been published in paperback and is also available on Kindle (Amazon's e-reader). The link is here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984581308 if you'd like to see it.

I'm planning some local readings in August and September and will keep you posted.

Thank you for all your encouragement and support in this rather long process!

Now, back to the sofa.

Erin

KGO Broadcast featuring Jim Sauve (6/29/10)

2010-06-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

Gil Gross June 29, 2010 Hour #1

Download or Listen

A battle is brewing at City College of San Francisco over remedial classes. Gil speaks with Professor James Sauve and Steve Ngo, former student and attorney who discussed what they think the problem is and how to fix it.

Bring it. CCSF in the NY TIMES . . .

2010-06-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

At City College, a Battle

Over Remedial Classes

for English and Math

Don Q. Griffin, the chancellor of City College of San Francisco, presides over a campus split by a furor over remedial classes.

By CAROL POGASH

Published: June 24, 2010

At City College of San Francisco, one of the country’s largest public universities, thousands of struggling students pour into remedial English and math classes — and then the vast majority disappear, never to receive a college degree.

Jump to the article and look for familiar names . . .

Learning by Degrees, by Rebecca Mead

2010-06-03T23:10:00.001-07:00

A member of the Class of 2010—who this season dons synthetic cap and gown, listens to the inspirational words of David Souter (Harvard), Anderson Cooper (Tulane), or Lisa Kudrow (Vassar), and collects a diploma—need not be a statistics major to know that the odds of stepping into a satisfying job, or, indeed, any job, are lower now than might have been imagined four long years ago, when the first posters were hung on a dorm-room wall, and having a .edu e-mail address was still a novelty. Statistically speaking, however, having an expertise in statistics may help in getting a job: according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, graduates with math skills are more likely than their peers in other majors to find themselves promptly and gainfully employed. The safest of all degrees to be acquiring this year is in accounting: forty-six per cent of graduates in that discipline have already been offered jobs. . . . Read more in The New Yorker . . .

Jazz for Education in Honduras

2010-06-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Café La Boheme Presents:

The Steve Mayers Quartet

featuring Steve on guitar, Craig Kleinman on bass, Glen Iwaoka on drums and Bill Carey on tenor saxophone

Saturday, 6/5, 2010, 7-10pm

Live Jazz in support of Olancho Aid, a foundation dedicated to education in Olancho, Honduras

3318 24th St. (between Mission and Valencia) in San Francisco

Across the street from the 24th St. Bart Station

All proceeds for this performance go to Engineers Without Borders, who are raising money to install computer labs and two internet towers in a school system eastern Honduras. They have gathered a team of ten Spanish-speaking educators to lead workshops at some point next year with Honduran teachers on how to best utilize this technology in the classrooms.

We are planning to return to Juticalpa in September or October 2010. During this trip we plan to integrate the new technology into their school curriculum through professional development workshops.

Here is the website for the project (Olancho Aid): http://www.olanchoaid.org/en/

Engineers Without Borders: http://www.ewb-usa.org/ Thank you in advance for any donation in these challenging economic times!

They have a couple options for fund delivery:
1) Send it through the website at, https://www.ewb-usa.org/donate.php?fund=3&project=179, which connects them to ewb-usa's donation page

2) Send it via mail given the following instructions http://ewb-oc.org/give.html Whatever the way, just make sure the following is specified somehow to make sure the money goes to the right place. Engineers Without Borders Orange County Professionals Honduras Project

Some photos from our last fundraiser:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=142720&id=97997116568

How much oil has leaked?

2010-05-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

Remembered/Reasons/Mission(s)

2010-05-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Did you see the New Mission Theater in that film?

Werner Herzogs reads MADELINE and more!

2010-05-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

Brilliant! For adults . . .

More on storytelling

Seth in the DATEBOOK

2010-05-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

These are just three examples of alternative strategies that aspiring authors, aided by Internet technology, are devising to get their work to the public. In the process, they are creating publishing models to circumvent the traditional - some say broken - one.

"The model of agents and publishers as gatekeepers just isn't working anymore," says Harwood, who with fellow podcasting author Scott Sigler has taught Author Boot Camp seminars at Stanford, in which they show writers how to create a publishing platform the way they did.

"I had to do something because just writing letters to agents wasn't working. So I give people my work for free. After they've listened to my book, they know they'll like it. I've given away six books in audio form."

Harwood posted serialized podcasts of his second book, "Young Junius," which will be released in autumn by independent crime fiction publisher Tyrus Books. He devised an innovative marketing scheme for this title as well. In the first week of May, he announced on his Web site that he was offering a $35 special edition, and he says the orders came flooding in. A week later, he had earned enough to cover a third of the cost of the print run for the hardcover, paperback and special editions.

It's Portfolio Time! (4/26/10 NEW YORKER)

2010-05-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Any gold in your students' portfolios?

CCSF Transfer Student Josh Biddle and the University Medal

2010-05-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Speak out
University Medalist Josh Biddle's commencement address

17 May 2010

BERKELEY — This speech is for Bill Sell who changed my life by teaching me that it's more fruitful to lean into my emotions than to retreat into my fear.

Josh Biddle speaks at Commencement Convocation at UC Berkeley's Haas Pavilion on May 16
Josh Biddle speaks at Commencement Convocation at UC Berkeley's Haas Pavilion on May 16. (Steve McConnell/NewsCenter photo)
Main story: A call for 'moxie' and compassion marks Commencement
Good afternoon. I'd like to begin by thanking Chancellor Birgeneau, the distinguished faculty, my fellow graduates, and their families I'd like to thank my friends at the Biology Scholars Program for helping me realize my dream of going to medical school. Thank you to the lab of Dr. Darlene Francis for teaching me how to do science. I'd like to give a special welcome to my friends and family. Mom, Dad….if it weren't for you I wouldn't be here today…so thank you for getting it on all those years ago. My good friends and community college colleagues Matt and Martha. My best friend Jeremy. My grandfather Tom Erhard who served this country in World War II and my grandmother Peg who serves the best almond butter crunch you've ever tasted. I'd like to thank my great Aunt Velma who will turn 101 on August 8th. You know when Velma heard that I might be speaking today she said she would explode. So if an old lady blows up in the next few minutes, I apologize, but I think she washes out. You don't stain do you Velma? And finally I'd like to thank my younger brother Justin who shows me everyday what it means to be diligent, honest, and full of integrity. Thank you.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that "the way to write is to throw your body at the mark when your arrows are spent." So I ask that you forgive me in advance if I hurl my words at you with too much desperation, but this is my last day on campus and I'm going to do my best to leave it all on this stage. I've spent a lot of my life hiding. I hope that this is not one of those times. But even if I fail, don't worry, the truth is that this speech isn't for you….it's to remind me of the person I want to be.

I enrolled at City College of San Francisco in the spring of 2005 and transferred to UC Berkeley in the fall of 2008. During that time, I volunteered at San Francisco General, studied drug-resistant cancer at UCSF, and was a medical assistant at the Glide Health Clinic. At Berkeley, I've been a member of the Biology Scholars Program, investigated how experience becomes biologically embedded, and spent two semesters as part of the Teach in Prison program at San Quentin. I'm starting UCSF medical school in the fall and now I've won the University Medal.

But I assure you it hasn't always been this good. It certainly wasn't like this at San Rafael High where I spent three years using all my energy to keep the world at arms length. It wasn't like this when I went to the University of Wisconsin thinking I could run away from my confusion, and then dropping out after only one semester. It wasn't like this when I came home and enrolled at the College of Marin only to find my old habits waiting for me. And it certainly wasn't like this when 9 years ago I enrolled in a therapeutic boarding program in Boulder, Colorado.

I spent a total of two years at AIM House. I learned that few things are ever solved, but that a commitment to working through my struggles allowed me to address entrenched, cyclical challenges like addiction and depression. As a mentor, I tried to help other young men bring meaning to their own hardships. I learned that recovery isn't easy, that failures are inevitable, but that understanding and healing come from being patient and gentle. In the end, I learned that compassion is perhaps the highest human virtue.

But look, if I really knew what I was doing I wouldn't be a 28 year-old undergrad. I wouldn't go to therapy every week to find out why I can't make a relationship last more than 8 months and I wouldn't break nearly as many promises as I do. I'm wrong more often than I'm right and I've got about a billion more questions than answers. I spend most of my time making my life harder than it needs to be and I forget to do a lot of important things. About the only thing I do know is that I don't know much. I'll tell you some of the things I think about before I go to sleep but most of the time I just make it up as I go along.

I know that the real University Medalists are the students who have to sleep on couches because they can't afford rent, or the ones taking a full course load while they raise their children and work a half or even full time job. I know that before I save the world I should probably learn the name of the man who drives my bus. I know that it's easy to love poor people in Africa, but I also know that there are poor people in my backyard who need help and that the hardest person to love is myself. I know that I'm not supposed to be afraid of my pain, that it's the clearest window I have into the experience of others, but most of the time I run away from that too. I know that the moments when I'm most sure of myself are the ones of which I should be most leery. I try to treat the self-doubt that greets me every morning as motivation to do better. I honor the homeless men and woman trapped in the dungeons of their addictions who explore the truly dark places of this world so I don't have to. I remind myself to think of this diploma not as a symbol of my accomplishment but as a reminder to return to the communities who don't have Berkeley graduates to fight on their behalf. I know that the things I used to be most ashamed of are the ones that have brought me the most insight, and I'm starting to understand that forgiveness means giving up all hope that the past could have been any better than it was. But the most important thing I know is this, just tell your story. Share yourself with those around you, the good parts and bad. I know it isn't easy, but it helps. I promise. And anyway, you're too beautiful to keep it to yourself.

I appreciate this award. I really do. I'm honored to be the first community college transfer to be awarded the University Medal and I take that responsibility seriously. I want to accept this award on behalf of the late bloomers and the second-chancers. I want to champion the nontraditional path and represent the wisdom of following one's own internal directives no matter how foolish they initially appear. And if my winning helps inspire other young people who struggle to bring meaning to their lives not to be embarrassed by their confusion then I'm happy. But for me, the true reward is being able to share space with my parents without precipitating a fight, to know that when I smile it's genuine, and to be comfortable with where I've been, confident in who I am, and excited about the doctor I'm going to be. I get more love and support than one person deserves and it feels good to finally be able to accept it.

I'm going to end with the only piece of advice I'd like to give my fellow graduates. It's something I wrote for my friends at Glide after a man told me to stop being an observer and start being a participant. Magnolia, Angela, Charles, and Greg, this poem is for you.

Speak out
Because words are the foundation of family

Speak out
Because you never speak only for yourself

Speak out
For the watchers, the doers, the dreamers, the hurt, the addicted, the ignorant, the fighters, the angry, the meek, and the chained

Speak out
For us

Speak out
Because there is more value in one true statement spoken from the heart than there is in all the wealth Wall Street can lose

Speak out
Because every word you speak plants a seed of bravery in the belly of a person trying to decide if their time has come to stand up

Speak out
Because abuse is never earned

Speak out
Because justice for all is more important than the peace of a few

Speak out
Because we learn as children that you can't fit a square peg in a round hole, and then think as adults that we can somehow put a round soul in a square cage

Speak out
Because poverty is a systemic failure, not an individual fault

Speak Out
Because the education of our children is more important that the taxes on our property

Speak out
Because you don't have to suffer alone

Speak out
Because heterosexuals do not have a monopoly on love

Speak out
Because there are more important things in this world than your fear

Speak out
For love over loneliness, the strength to know when it's time to leave one for the other and the wisdom to recognize when we found the one we need

Speak out
Because we sing as individuals but we make music as community

Speak out
Like the fate of the world depends on what you say because it does

Speak out
So that the wisdom of your struggle is not lost to the graveyard of silence

Speak out
So that the youth can use your story like a blueprint to stay out of trouble

Speak out
And share the symphony of yourself with a room full of tone-deaf friends who don't care much what you sound like and who value the effort over the achievement

Speak out
To tell those you love that you do and to tell those you don't that you're working on it

Speak out
Because your voice is the sound of God's breadth pressed through the bellows of your being

Speak out for any of those reasons
But really
Speak out for me
Because I'm selfish
And I just want to hear what you have to say.

Matt Duckworth Underwater: Reprise

2010-05-16T16:51:00.001-07:00

Summer is a-coming: that time for creativity outside the classroom.

I hope these shots from my blog prove amusing and even intriguing. Check out the blog for words as well as images.

Thank you,

Art, book reviews, photographs, postcards, quick fiction, quotations, and (usually aquatic) reflections.

http://www.mattduckworthunderwater.blogspot.com/

Party at 6 tonight: Presidio Cafe (near the Arguello Gate)

2010-05-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

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YOUNG JUNIUS Special Edition preorders are now live!!

2010-05-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I'm back to remind you that today is Cinco de Junius! The special edition of my next book YOUNG JUNIUS is available for preorder now at sethharwood.com. Because you're a close colleague, use the code FAMILY to get $5 off the cover price of the book when you order.

I think you guys will really like this book. It goes back to the late 80s and combines a sense of crime/noir with the literary touches of Richard Price. Think The Wire meets The Wonder Years! Gah!

To read more about why this special edition release is breaking new ground in publishing, read my post here. Yes, we got Writers Digest to post about this in their weekly newsletter! Super cool. If you want to help spread the word, go ahead and forward this email to your friends or look here for more ideas.

Thanks for your support! -- Seth Harwood

One Week to Go: YOUNG JUNIUS SPECIAL EDITION Pre-Orders!

2010-04-29T10:22:00.001-07:00

Hey, Just a quick post/alert about this...

We are one week away from the launch of the YOUNG JUNIUS edition pre-orders at sethharwood.com!!

My next novel, YOUNG JUNIUS, is coming out this fall. I couldn't be more excited about my new partnership with awesome indie publisher Tyrus Books and the way we're breaking new ground in publishing by combining my online presence with their experience in bringing books to market. For more info about what we're doing and ways for you to help spread the word, have a look over here: http://sethharwood.com/junius and at E-Team

Then get ready to order YOUR COPY on May 5th--Cinco de Junius--at 9AM PDT. This signed, numbered special limited edition won't last long and we're only selling it by pre-order this spring. So get in early and remember to tell me how you'd like me to sign yours!

I'll be back in a week for a final reminder.

Thanks! --Seth

Who has seen THE CLASS?

2010-04-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

Accelerate!

2010-04-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) announces

The 2nd Annual Conference on Acceleration

Baltimore, Maryland

June 24-25, 2010

Is anybody teaching this classic?

2010-04-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

Video of Panel on Jews and Comics at the Jewish Contemporary Museum (4/1/10)

2010-04-15T12:05:00.001-07:00

Lou Schubert, our Poli-Sci colleague at CCSF, organized this panel. I was the moderator/discussnik. Jump to the JCM's video site to watch the panel. It's also linked to the comic artist Miriam Libicki's site, realgonegirl.com.

Around 36 minutes into the video, after each panelist's bit, Lou and I try to push the discussion.

Kleinman

Alex Teague's MORTAL GEOGRAPHY

2010-04-13T10:12:00.001-07:00

Learn more and catch the tour at www.alexandrateague.com

Louise Nayer's New Book!

2010-04-07T23:06:00.000-07:00

Reading questions in O, The Oprah Magazine

More at louisenayer.com

FORUM Fundraiser

2010-04-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Join us for performances by multi-talented songstress, Francesca Lee (composer of Paper Hearts), award winning poet Sharon Doubiago (author of Hard Country, South America Mi Hija, My Father's Love and many more), Seth Harwood (author of Jack Wakes Up), Alex Teague (award winning poet) and Louise Nayer (poet and author of Burned: a Memoir).

The show begins on Friday, April 16th at 8 pm at the Hotel Utah on the corner of 4th and Bryant st. in downtown San Francisco. It's 8 dollars at the door and all proceeds contribute to the proliferation of the CCSF Literary magazine, Forum.

The show will also feature local poets and writers.

For driving directions visit http://www.hotelutah.com/

Visit Francesca Lee at http://francescaleemusic.com/
Keep up with the Forum blog

Blue Eyes Brych!

2010-03-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

Look at that shana punim!

Can't stop thinking about this story . . .

2010-03-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

HARRISON BERGERON
by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

--originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine in 1961--

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.

George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about.

On the television screen were ballerinas.

A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.

"That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel.

"Huh" said George.

"That dance-it was nice," said Hazel.

"Yup," said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.

George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas.

Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself, she had to ask George what the latest sound had been.

"Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George.

"I'd think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds," said Hazel a little envious. "All the things they think up."

"Um," said George.

"Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?" said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. "If I was Diana Moon Glampers," said Hazel, "I'd have chimes on Sunday-just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion."

"I could think, if it was just chimes," said George.

"Well-maybe make 'em real loud," said Hazel. "I think I'd make a good Handicapper General."

"Good as anybody else," said George.

"Who knows better then I do what normal is?" said Hazel.

"Right," said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that.

"Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?"

It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples.

"All of a sudden you look so tired," said Hazel. "Why don't you stretch out on the sofa, so's you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch." She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George's neck. "Go on and rest the bag for a little while," she said. "I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while."

George weighed the bag with his hands. "I don't mind it," he said. "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me."

"You been so tired lately-kind of wore out," said Hazel. "If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few."

"Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out," said George. "I don't call that a bargain."

"If you could just take a few out when you came home from work," said Hazel. "I mean-you don't compete with anybody around here. You just set around."

"If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it-and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

"I'd hate it," said Hazel.

"There you are," said George. "The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?"

If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head.

"Reckon it'd fall all apart," said Hazel.

"What would?" said George blankly.

"Society," said Hazel uncertainly. "Wasn't that what you just said?"

"Who knows?" said George.

The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn't clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen."

He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read.

"That's all right-" Hazel said of the announcer, "he tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard."

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred pound men.

And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. "Excuse me-" she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive.

"Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous."

A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen-upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.

The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H-G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.

And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random.

"If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not-I repeat, do not-try to reason with him."

There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges.

Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake.

George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have-for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. "My God-" said George, "that must be Harrison!"

The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head.

When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen.

Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood - in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.

"I am the Emperor!" cried Harrison. "Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" He stamped his foot and the studio shook.

"Even as I stand here" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened-I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!"

Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.

Harrison's scrap-iron handicaps crashed to the floor.

Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall.

He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.

"I shall now select my Empress!" he said, looking down on the cowering people. "Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!"

A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow.

Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all he removed her mask.

She was blindingly beautiful.

"Now-" said Harrison, taking her hand, "shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!" he commanded.

The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. "Play your best," he told them, "and I'll make you barons and dukes and earls."

The music began. It was normal at first-cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs.

The music began again and was much improved.

Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it.

They shifted their weights to their toes.

Harrison placed his big hands on the girls tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers.

And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang!

Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well.

They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun.

They leaped like deer on the moon.

The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it.

It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling. They kissed it.

And then, neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.

It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.

Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on.

It was then that the Bergerons' television tube burned out.

Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George. But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer.

George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. "You been crying," he said to Hazel.

"Yup," she said.

"What about?" he said.

"I forget," she said. "Something real sad on television."

"What was it?" he said.

"It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel.

"Forget sad things," said George.

"I always do," said Hazel.

"That's my girl," said George. He winced. There was the sound of a riveting gun in his head.

"Gee-I could tell that one was a doozy," said Hazel.

"You can say that again," said George.

"Gee-" said Hazel, "I could tell that one was a doozy."

Reading in a Digital Age

2010-03-22T12:45:00.001-07:00

Notes on why the novel and the Internet are opposites, and why the latter both undermines the former and makes it more necessary . . .

By Sven Birkerts

Print the article?

People of the [Comic] Book on 4/1 at the CJM

2010-03-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

Lectures + Gallery Talks

Thursday, April 1, 2010, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Buy Tickets

Free to Institute for Comics Studies attendees or free with Museum admission.

info@thecjm.org

About the Program

Join artists Miriam Libicki (jobnik!) and Michael Aushenker (Cartoon Flophouse), as well as scholars Craig Kleinman, Joel Schechter and Rabbi Harry Manhoff, for a roundtable discussion about the connection between Jews and comics, both past and present. Moderated by Lou Schubert!

In connection with the 2010 WonderCon and Institute for Comics Studies, and in collaboration with the Cartoon Art Museum.

clean thine ears

Blogs vs. Term Papers

CCSF Archival Photos

Outstanding SSTF Piece in the La Mesa Patch!

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Are Community Colleges Meant Mainly to Crank Out Workers for Business?

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Randy Holiday Classics

The English Literature Club: This Friday!

Ben at Berkeley!

Filmmaker Ralph Bakshi and Poet Melvin Wilk in Conversation with Richard B. Simon

Happy Thanksgiving!

Follow-up to the Nancy Sommers workshop

Thank you, Nancy Sommers!

Brilliant and Inspiring Composition Scholar!

Is Proper English Dying? And Should Us Care?

Gene Yang at the SFPL on 11/5

Bay Area Community Colleges Deal With Dropouts

John Delgado on "The Practicality of an English Major"

Al Davis was an English Major!

Newly Proposed Course ID Numbering System

THE BOWLING EVENT OF THE CENTURY: 10/21, PRESIDIO BOWL

New Videos on Responding to Student Writers!

Fishy Sentences

What's wrong . . . or right?

The Mechanical Muse

By LEV GROSSMANPublished: September 2, 2011

Join the English Literature Club: Fridays 1:30-2:30

Professional Development

BANG OUT this Saturday at Amnesia!

State's high school dropout rate nearly 20 percent

Astroturf Alert!

Congratulations to Best of the Bay Ben!

Best of the Bay 2011: BEST HOMEBOY SCRIBE

From the CHE Ticker . . .

California’s Public Colleges Are Falling Behind, Report Says

SF Fringe Festival Play about a Community College English Teacher

Panic!

EXIT StudioSan Francisco, CA

Narrative Techniques by Randall

History of Teacher Ed

Patrica Delich's new book on online teaching!

Patricia Delich, CCSF's former educational technology designer, helped many of us get rolling with online teaching. She has published a new ebook about online course development. Here it is. You can learn more about Patricia's work at http://elearningnetworks.com

Designing and Developing an Online Course: A Guide for Educators

Available Ebook reading formats:

I am Worried about My Grade (encore)

No Wonder Twins?

Loren Bell: "How to Read Emily Dickinson"

My Mother Taught Me To Hunt

A Po-Mo Whodunnit

Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac's iPhone directions

Crissy Field Fun

A Teacher of 45 Years Speaks Out: How Educators Are Being Blamed for Our Financial Mess

"I am sorry I became a teacher. I honestly didn't mean to place so many states in danger of going bankrupt."

Photo Prompts?

Nathan's Egypt Exhibit at SFSU

Community colleges could turn away 400,000

Great Videos on Teaching

Crissy Field Picnic Party: April 30, 1pm

Department Party at the Presidio Cafe: May 13, 6pm

The Ruins of Detroit

Hello?

Progress Monitoring::Monitoring Progress

Erwin's Adventures in Minneapolis

INTERNET-AGE WRITING SYLLABUS . . .

Matt Duckworth Underwater: A Favorite View

Ben on KPFA

Anna Mills a Mama!

Happy Holidays from Randy and the entire Cyberia family

This Saturday: Last SF reading from YOUNG JUNIUS (for a while)

CC Dropout Rates

Sir Ken Robinson: "Changing Educational Paradigms" Animated

By LEV GROSSMAN
Published: September 2, 2011

EXIT Studio
San Francisco, CA

Designing and Developing
an Online Course: A Guide for Educators