Busy work day

My daughter has been away from home for one week now. I miss her so much. But I am busy, busy, busy!

It's not as if I don't have lots to distract me: it's the second week of classes, filled with department meetings, graduate students conferences, directed study projects, committee business, class prep, fiddling with online classroom support platforms. I also have to prepare a multi-media presentation for an event next week, and I have some papers to revise for presentation in April. But I have declared today "catch up on paper work day." I have summarize the building's financial business for our tax returns, do renters credit forms, a faculty activities report, update my CV, and file about six months worth of bills. If I can do this before I have coffee with a friend by 3:30, I will reward myself by going out dancing tonight. I haven't been dancing for almost two years! The sun is shining, the kitty is warm, and I can watch Season 2 of Dexter while I file, so life is good.

"Busy work"+ YouTube got me this priceless item.

iPAD? really? REALLY?

MAD-TV did a bit back in 2007 which is getting its second wind because the dudes at Apple thought the best name for its new device was iPAD. Really?


I'm sure the device itself will be totally groovy--or at least as groovy as an oversized iPod Touch-- but iPad is definitely a #nowomenintheroom #namingfail.

On Twitter, iTampon is trending higher than iPad because we are juvenile,and need distraction from the grim prospect of the State of the Union address later today.

A few tweets I retweeted:

RT @annfriedman: I hope the iPad has wings for extra nighttime protection.


@ SpaceyG The iPad. For your light iDays.


hehe RT @goatking @cassidycody No, the iPad will come in two sizes. iPad and MaxiPad

Be careful talking about iPods and iPads in Boston.


RT @zuzansantos: el mundo paralizado por el iPad..... iWey x_x <-- #iWey =)
joeymornin

@joeymornin Mr. Obama’s speech could not come at a more critical time for... blah blah... #IPAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updated: More jokes in the comments to this post here.

"Tamalitos de Cambray," de Claribel Alegría

De la poeta Claribel Alegría:

TAMALITOS DE CAMBRAY

(5,000,000 de tamalitos)

A Eduardo y Helena que me pidieron una receta salvadoreña.

Dos libras de masa de mestizo
media libra de lomo gachupín
cocido y bien picado
una cajita de pasas beata
dos cucharadas de leche de Malinche
una taza de agua bien rabiosa
un sofrito con cascos de conquistadores
tres cebollas jesuitas
una bolsita de oro multinacional
dos dientes de dragón
una zanahoria presidencial
dos cucharadas de alcahuetes
manteca de indios de Panchimalco
dos tomates ministeriales
media taza de azúcar televisora
dos gotas de lava de volcán
siete hojas de pito
(no seas mal pensado es somnífero)
lo pones todo a cocer
a fuego lento
por quinientos años
y verás qué sabor.

Sunday morning gratitude songs

A tired but happy Brother Ali (another local artist we appreciate in this household) sings "Fresh Air" after returning from his successful tour: gratitude for Sunday mornings, for the Twin Cities, for family, for his good fortune.

This video has his words in closed caption; it's worth reading along. "Us" is another great CD I'll be picking up at The Fifth Element!

"I started rhyming just to be somebody. Found out that I already was."

Note to self: Get Dessa's new CD "A Badly Broken Code" today.

Here's a video from a live performance in The Current's studio by Dessa, featuring Jeremy Messersmith and Aby Wolf. I am in going to walk down the street later today, frozen rain or not, to buy her new CD "A Badly Broken Code" at The Fifth Element on Hennepin.

I first heard Dessa sing with two other women in a collaboration they call Boy Soprano (Aby Wolf and Jessy Green, both equally amazing singers) on MPR's Midmorning show and fell in love with her voice, her musical sensibility, and her intelligence.
Here she is performing with fellow Doomtree artists P.O.S. and SIMS live at The Walker last year. She has paid her dues on the spoken word circuit as well, and collaborates with other rappers like SIMS in teaching as well as performing. "Veteran" showcases her rhyming and what it's like to be an MC and a woman in the hip hop scene.

Howard Rheingold sums it up: we need a good "crap detector"

21st century media literacies from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Howard Rheingold is a pioneer.

Howard hit on one major take­away that I had from our week in the UK. “Increas­ingly I think the dig­i­tal divide is less about access to tech­nol­ogy and more about the dif­fer­ence between those who know how and those who don’t know how,” he said. He’s con­vinced that what’s most impor­tant is not access to the Inter­net — we have more than a bil­lion peo­ple on the Inter­net now and there are 4 bil­lion phones out there — but access to knowl­edge and lit­era­cies for the dig­i­tal age. “The abil­ity to know has sud­denly become the abil­ity to search and the abil­ity to sift” and dis­cern. “Skill plus social” is the key.socialmedia.biz, Howard Rheingold on essential media literacies | Socialmedia.biz, Jul 2009

"Kids today!"

I begin teaching tomorrow and I'm not quite ready, but I will be! Meanwhile, here are some things I've been thinking about as I prepare my syllabi. Prof Hacker reminds those of us who teach that if we are complaining about students today being unteachable it probably means we're doing something wrong. And I agree; it's just as hard to teach well now as it ever was.



Do we as teachers want to sound like Mark Bauerlein, author of "The Dumbest Generation"?

Isn't that a little like Monty Python's "4 Yorkshiremen" routine? Here's a Spanish parody of "kids today!"

U.S. Figure Skating Championships this weekend

And my favorite skater, Johnny Weir, is in rare form in his short program, even though he is 3rd after Jeremy Abbott and Even Lysacek. We'll see how the free skate goes tomorrow afternoon. The top three skaters are the most likely to be chosen for the Olympic team. UPDATE: yes, all three will got to Vancouver!


Here's his "Poker Face" number from performances he did last year

Craig Ferguson tells Rush to send a million to the Red Cross

Craig Ferguson is funny and also a man of integrity.

General Larry Platt has a message for you

Although we haven't been watching American Idol, we did see the instant runaway hit that was the performance by "General" Larry Platt of his own composition "Pants On the Ground." Yes, it's funny as hell. But we should also listen to this interview done with him by Jay Smooth of Ill Doctrine fame, (scroll down to number 20) in which he talks about surviving an attempted lynching and his work as a Civil Rights activist.

But today his message is simple: pull your pants up, fool!

What Idol didn't bother to tell its audience is that Larry Platt is an esteemed Civil Rights activist, well-known in Atlanta--they declared a Larry Platt day in his honor in 2001. I hope more people learn about his history through this little novelty moment.

Of course, this has been remixed. given the stadium rock cover treatment, the emo white boy singer-songwriter treament, heck, here's a compilation of the remixes that have sprouted like mushrooms. These guys are dancing to a remix, and hey! they're in Minneapolis!
I like these two gals with their "Ellen, put this on your show!" cover:


Jimmy Fallon does an uncanny imitation of Neil Young singing "Pants On the Ground"

"Freak the Vogue!"-Pony and Dashaun teach basis of vogue to the fabulous Beat Freaks

Pony and Dashuan, two of the stars of Vogue Evolution (the crew I first saw on ABDC) teach The Beat Freaks how to vogue.

PART 1 OF Pony and Daschaun of VOGUE EVOLUTION teaching LindseyB, Rino, Maryss From Paris, and Keeley "LockN' Key" of the BEAT FREAKS how to VOGUE. Part 1 includes: Catwalk & Duckwalk.

FREAK THE VOGUE 1 from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

Part 2 of Pony and Daschaun of VOGUE EVOLUTION teaching LindseyB, Rino, Maryss From Paris, and Keeley "LockN' Key" of the BEAT FREAKS how to VOGUE. Part 2 includes: Dip & Hands

FREAK THE VOGUE 2 from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

I have so much respect and love for these dancers! Here they talk about the knowledge behind the moves. There is a lot in common for these dancers who are keeping dance practices alive and innovating with them at the same time: take the moves and make them your own!

FREAK THE VOGUE: THE KNOWLEDGE from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday David Bowie

Yesterday, David Bowie turned 63. He has been one of my cultural icons since I shared rooms with a woman named Shay Steele in 1976-77, in Bordeaux, France. Shay was a self-proclaimed glitter rocker, who adored Queen, Bowie, and the whole crew; she introduced me to music I hadn't known up until then. I wonder where she is now?

Dolphin buddies

Every day on the way to school, we pass a van that with this rear window decal of three dolphins on the back. Our day is not complete if we don't see the dolphin van.


"Hey, bro, bring back some corn chips."

Galaxy songs and Monty Python

Fresca shared the lovely mashup that autotunes the voices of Carl Sagan and other scientists, talking about how we are all connected. I love it, and I know I saw it a while back, but I can't find it on my blog--I'm no good at tagging. Connecting is good when you remember to mark your path somehow.

This recalls another musical musing on our galaxy, by Monty Python:

(via clusterflock) but this clip is Monty Python's very own YouTube channel!!! (Here Eric Idle replies to "fatuous comments" left on the site.)

Website: http://pythonline.com
For 3 years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube. Now the tables are turned. It's time for us to take matters into our own hands.

We know who you are, we know where you live and we could come after you in ways too horrible to tell. But being the extraordinarily nice chaps we are, we've figured a better way to get our own back: We've launched our own Monty Python channel on YouTube.

No more of those crap quality videos you've been posting. We're giving you the real thing - HQ videos delivered straight from our vault.

What's more, we're taking our most viewed clips and uploading brand new HQ versions. And what's even more, we're letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there!

But we want something in return.

None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.

Getting to know your hippocampus

PBS has a series called This Emotional Life. One of the topics the show addresses is depression: what is the difference between chronic depression and feeling sad?

"Major depression is profound depression. The person with major depression usually experiences a complete loss of pleasure in nearly everything that once brought them happiness. These episodes usually are not triggered by any specific event. During a depressive episode, even a positive event does not lift the person’s mood much. Major depression often interferes with a person’s ability to work or go to school, sleep, study, or eat. At least half of the people who suffer from one depressive episode will experience a second within 10 years. But other types of depression have been also identified, including dysthymia, postpartum depression, bipolar disorder (formerly called “manic depression”) and seasonal affective disorder (SAD)."

The show outlines research that suggests, through brain imaging, that people with depression show changes in the region of the brain known as the hippocampus. In other words, depression is associated with a physical change in the brain. This seems to have to do with the fact that nerve cells in the hippocampus are responsive to stress hormones, such as cortisol. Stress motivates us to both physical or mental activity;, but if we are not able to burn off the extra fuel our bodies produce in response to stress hormones, it can overload our systems and affect bone density, blood pressure, and other systems. Too much stress over too long a period of time (in the form of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline) may disregulate this part of the neurological system.

The hippocampus is a structure in the brain shared by all mammals. Because of its shape, it was given a name derived from "seahorse." It is thought to play an important role in certain types of memory and of spatial recognition. Damage or lesions to parts of the hippocampus can be seen in people suffering from Alzheimers, forms of amnesia, and other conditiions. Shrinkage, or atrophy of the hippocampus ("reduced hippocampal volume" the studies call it) has been observed in people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and post-traumatic stress disorder. Although there are many unanswered questions about the implications of these recent findings, one striking implication that is being studied is that early diagnosis and treatment can not only help people manage their symptoms, but also actually help heal the part of the brain that seems to suffer the effects or cause (it's not clear which) these disabling conditions.

What is more, brain scans have also shown that anti-depressants, the medications used to treat depression, can not only alleviate symptoms, but also affect (halt or reverse) damage to the hippocamus. Studies also show increased hippocampal volume in London Taxi Drivers, who must remember every single street in London and pass a test called "The Knowledge". Part of the hippocampus was larger than average in these drivers, especially those who had been driving longer! The hippocampus helps lay down a spatial map, and has a role in the "recollection function" of memory.


Neuroplasticity! gotta love it.

New Year's Intentions

I have decided to think about intentions rather than resolutions for the New Year.

I'm so full of intention right now I could burst! but each time I sit down to make a list (of what happened last year, or what I want to do this coming year, or what I have to do today), I feel overwhelmed by the idea that I won't finish it-- either the list or the actions on the list. How do people make Top 10 lists? Or answer the question "what is your favorite word"? I've discovered that it is better for me to rely on the people who like to do these things, rather than attempt to do them myself.

The psychological inventories I did this fall in the process of some work-related coaching affirmed something I already knew in a vague way: I'm an ENFP: my style doesn't always lend itself to conformity, follow-through, or completion. I've managed to learn over the years how to get things done--I know where my money is, the house is reasonably clean, I have a job!-- but it is easy for me to look around at half-finished projects and feel tormented by the undone items on my list.

I like big pictures, systems analysis, making connections. I was always good at the theoretical aspects of math, chemistry, biology, but when it came to the labs, I would lose interest and patience in repeating experiments to demonstrate things that were already known, get discouraged when my clumsiness meant I had to start over again. This is one of the reasons I did not major in physiology, although I still adore that branch of the life sciences, and turned to literary studies and teaching instead: because it is the student's job to follow through. I've gotten more patient and disciplined over the years, but inertia is one of my favorite states.

So, in the spirit of working with my strengths to address my limitations, I'm making it my intention this year to live more mindfully, to be aware of my intentions, rather than trying to make a specific list of resolutions to check off. I'm doing this because I know myself well enough to know that the lists WILL happen anyway, and that I will check things off, and that on any given day, I won't be able to do all of the things that I think I SHOULD do, and that THIS IS OK.

The paradox is that one must let go first in order to be able to receive.

And, as Stewart Smalley said, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me."


And here is a great round-up of the Top Ten Mind Hacks for Making Your Resolutions Stick from the wonderful site Lifehacker. Because our intentions need a little boost!