time for coffee!

The Ink Spots, "Java Jive"



Covered by Manhattan Transfer:



Black Coffee, as sung by Ella


Peggy Lee


and Sarah Vaughan. Love them all!


(not forgetting kd lang!)

Julie Taymor's The Tempest preview

I cannot wait to see Julie Taymor's film of the Tempest with Helen Mirren and an amazing cast!

Thanksgiving. It's not just the food

The list of the things for which I am thankful is too long to post, and in some cases, too intimate for this blog, so I will sum it up: I am thankful for every day.

I am so thankful that I share an extended family with such good people, who have enriched my life immeasurably.
And I am thankful for videochat technologies, like Skype!
Remember when we watched Star Trek and the crew would communicate with various friends and enemies on a huge screen? Science fiction was so cool! and now it is here, but not on the starship--in our living rooms and kitchens.



Although they guys are in Spain, we continued the tradition of Thanksgiving in Bemidji with Linda and Jim, and as many of the family as could make it in spite of the icy roads. We were able to talk to folks in Spain by videochat, and to one branch of the family who wisely decided not to drive after the storm. On twitter, I observed lots of other people comment on how Skype was becoming a Thanksgiving ritual, connecting people who could not travel to be together. I especially enjoy the sight of someone walking around with a laptop, so that the folks on the other end can see the weather, or the food, or how they have rearranged the room!

What do crows say to each other early in the morning?

It's that time of year again, when viewing the crows becomes a part of my day. This afternoon, I was driving in south Minneapolis at about 4 when I drove under the crows' flight stream north. They wing in from the south, heading toward their night roosts in the cemetery on Cedar and Lake, to the trees of Loring Park, probably to other sites by the river. Thousands of them gather, but they fly overhead one by one, in a non-ending stream. My friend said they were creepy, but I love them. Who would clean up the dead squirrels in the road, if not for the crows?
Here's a glimpse of what it looks their daily return to the roost looks like:

And here's a great video of them descending on Loring Park as the sun goes down:

Birdchick (Sharon Stiteler) has posted about this enormous roost in Loring Park and even organized a viewing "Birds and Beers" party at one of the bars on the park last winter. This is something I want to do this year! Once, I walked through the park after dusk and the trees were filled with their rustling murmer.

I recently came across this amazing post by artist and blogger Coco Mault, in which she shares a recording she made very early one morning of the crows that roost near her home, before they flew away for the day. I have listened to it several times now. It's so complex and beautiful.

Morning Crow Sounds by Mault, Coco

Cloud Cult at First Ave

Jay Gabler of Twin Cities Daily Planet interviewed Craig Minowa of Cloud Cult before their show. They played two nights at First Ave, and we went to the second, all-ages, show on Thursday. These great photos give an idea of how much fun it was for the band and the audience alike. Most of the people in the audience were singing along to every song, even the new ones off their Cloud Chaser CD, like this one, "You'll Be Bright."



Some of my favorite moments from the show? During the first song, the two painters spun their canvases as they laid down the background colors. The keyboards player also played the French Horn, and the bass player played the trombone. The cello and violin add such richness to their sound.

The band can either sound like their albums or change up the arrangements. Either way, their live performances are a joyful communion with their fans.

This is the first song of theirs that I fell in love with on the radio. Now I have a good dozen that I love.

Images of collaboration

Casteller from Mike Randolph on Vimeo.

My presentation went well, and I have a lot to think about, regarding collaboration. How about this image? Yikes!

A blast from the past.

When Reagan was president, we used to engage in futile debates about whether he was stupid or evil. It didn't matter as the effects were the same, but this SNL skit was recently posted in connection with Bush's book tour. Stupid? evil?
Here, Phil Hartmann portrays a Reagan who is in total control.

(via @iescolar)

Getting it right is hard

I'm working on a presentation about collaborative learning. It's leading me to think hard about when my teaching works and and when it doesn't. What are the things I can control, and what are the ones I can't. I can try to create an atmosphere or a vehicle or a structure, but student motivation is complex. What seems like an invitation to experiment and play for one student is perceived as a lack of structure by another.

By emphasizing multiple ways to engage in low-stakes writing activities, in which the evaluation is not based on such factors as grammar or correctness, but rather on effort and communication, I'm continuing with a philosophy of second language teaching called "the communicative approach." It involves active learning, a more student-centered approach, and support for making mistakes. But the fact is that most of my own language learning (and teaching) background ALSO emphasized repetition, drill exercises, and the internalization of correctness as essential building blocks for good (better) communication. Sometimes the tension I experience between these two tendencies makes me tired. But then I read this passage by Timothy Mason in this post on teaching grammar:

"Grammar is surrounded by similar anxieties. Grammar is, indeed, the fruit of such anxieties. Rules of grammar are rules of comportment and the grammar teacher is a dancing master. Like so many other aspects of language, good grammar is good posture.You cannot teach it without attending to social nicety. Which is to say that any such attempt needs to be fully sociologically informed."

So, some of my anxiety about correctness in communication comes from my awareness that I want students to be able to move between informal and formal registers, to have more control over how they are perceived by a variety of audiences. I want them to be able to code-switch, between slang and formal, written discourse. That's a lot for students to absorb, and takes a lifetime to learn. So maybe I need to lighten up.



Sometimes I find myself turning into a "tongue-clucking grammarian."


A mashup created by YouTube user saintblackangle using MC Frontalot's song "Tongue-Clucking Grammarian." Mc Frontalot is an exponent of nerdcore hip hop.

Pop surrealism

What better antidote to an election hangover than Salvador Dalí on What's My Line?

Go, SF Giants!

Yeah, I'm a bandwagon fan.But it has been so much fun watching the SF Giants win the world 2010 series!