The one thing that I am very happy about is that I don’t have to sit and write any longer in the exam setting. Timed typing has destroyed my finger-wrist-arm assembly: 28 pages in 5 hours on the major exam, 21 pages in 4 hours on theory, and 27 pages in 4 hours on PKD. Not to mention the mental numbness that sets in toward the end of the exam. In fact, I began to feel like an android by the end of each exam. Running through my tape, one instruction followed by another, and another datum passed through the memory banks and into the output. Dawn Lashua, the graduate student secretary, caught something that I had not perceived in my flurry of typing today. I was not consciously aware that I had wrote the last sentence on my last exam so that it  concluded: “the end.”

It’s storming right now, but luckily the power went off after a lightning strike for only a few minutes. I was stressing about charging my iPod and printing out a copy of my reading list.

Our lights are back on, the reading list is printed, and my iPod is now charging. I feel as ready as I ever will be. I just need to wash my water bottle, assemble a snack kit, and get some rest.

Here I go!

In June 2010, I will take my three PhD exams in the Kent State University English Literature PhD program.  For these exams, I convened a committee of trusted professors, each administering one exam. I choose to take my exams in these areas: 20th Century American Literature (administered by Kevin Floyd), Postmodern Theory (administered by Tammy Clewell), and the Philip K. Dick Canon (administered by Donald “Mack” Hassler). Below, I have included my Philip K. Dick reading list. Go here to read my Postmodern Theory exam list, and here to read my 20th Century American Literature exam list.

PhD Minor Area Exam:  Philip K. Dick’s Fiction and Non-Fiction, and Critical Works

Director:  Donald “Mack” Hassler

Novels by Philip K. Dick, organized by date of composition.

1. Dick, Philip K. Gather Yourselves Together.  1950.  1994.
2. —. Voices from the Street.  1952.  2007.
3. —. Vulcan’s Hammer .  1953.  1960.
4. —. Dr. Futurity.  1953.  1960.
   
5. —. The Cosmic Puppets.  1953.  1957.
6. —. Solar Lottery.  1954.  1955.
   
7. —. Mary and the Giant.  1954.  1987.
8. —. The World Jones Made.  1954.  1956.
9. —. Eye in the Sky.  1955.  1957.
10. —. The Man Who Japed.  1955.  1956.
11. —. The Broken Bubble.  1956.  1988.
12. —. Puttering About in a Small Land.  1957.  1985.
    
13. —. Time Out of Joint.  1958.  1959.
    
14. —. In Milton Lumky Territory.  1958.  1985.
15. —. Confessions of a Crap Artist.  1959.  1975.
    
16. —. The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike.  1960.  1982.
17. —. Humpty Dumpty in Oakland.  1960.  1986.
18. —. The Man in the High Castle.  1961.  1962.
    2009/12/2
19. —. We Can Build You.  1962.  1972.
    
20. —. Martian Time-Slip.  1962.  1964.
    
21. —. Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb.  1963.  1965.
    
22. —. The Game-Players of Titan.  1963.  1963.
23. —. The Simulacra. 1963.  1964.
24. —. The Crack in Space.  1963.  1966.
25. —. Now Wait for Last Year.  1963.  1966.
    
26. —. Clans of the Alphane Moon.  1964.  1964.
27. —. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.  1964.  1965.
    
28. —. The Zap Gun.  1964.  1967.
29. —. The Penultimate Truth.  1964.  1964.
30. —. Deus Irae.  1964.  1976.  (Collaboration with Roger Zelazny).
31. —. The Unteleported Man.  1964.  1966.  (Republished as Lies, Inc. in 1984).
32. —. The Ganymede Takeover.  1965.  1967.  (Collaboration with Ray Nelson).
33. —. Counter-Clock World.  1965.  1967.
34. —. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1966.  1968.
    
35. —. Nick and the Glimmung.  1966.  1988.
36. —. Ubik.  1966.  1969.
    
37. —. Galactic Pot-Healer.  1968.  1969.
38. —. A Maze of Death.  1968.  1970.
    
39. —. Our Friends from Frolix 8.  1969.  1970.
40. —. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.  1970.  1974.
    
41. —. A Scanner Darkly.  1973.  1977.
    
42. —. Radio Free Albemuth.  1976.  1985.
43. —. VALIS. 1978.  1981.
    
44. —. The Divine Invasion.  1980.  1981.
    
45. —. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer.  1981.  1982.
    

Short Fiction by Philip K. Dick, needs elaboration by individual stories.

1. The Philip K. Dick Reader.  1997.
2. Robots, Androids, and Mechanical Oddities:  The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick.  Eds. Patricia S. Warrick and Martin H. Greenberg.  1984.

Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick.  2002.

Non-Fiction by Philip K. Dick

1. Dick, Philip K.  “The Android and the Human.” Vector:  Journal of the British Science Fiction Association 64 (March/April 1973):  5-20.
2. —. The Dark Haired Girl.  1988.

Critical Works

1. Fitting, Peter.  “Ubik:  The Deconstruction of Bourgeois SF.” Science Fiction Studies 2:1 (1975).  19 October 2007 <http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/fitting5art.htm&#62;.
2. Haney, William S. II. Culture and Consciousness:  Literature Regained.  Lewisburg:  Bucknell University Press, 2002.
3. Kucukalic, Lejla. Philip K. Dick:  Canonical Writer of the Digital Age.  New York:  Routledge, 2009.
   
4. Mackey, Douglas A. Philip K. Dick.  Boston:  Twayne Publishers, 1988.
5. Palmer, Christopher. Philip K. Dick:  Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern.  Liverpool:  Liverpool UP, 2003.
6. On Philip K. Dick:  40 Articles from Science-Fiction Studies.  <more information>.
7. Sutin, Lawrence. Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick.  New York:  Carroll & Graf, 2005.
8. Suvin, Darko.  “P.K. Dick’s Opus:  Artifice as Refuge and World View.” Science Fiction Studies 2:22 (1975).  19 October 2007 <http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/suvin5art.htm&#62;.
9. Vest, Jason P. The Postmodern Humanism of Philip K. Dick.  Lanham, MD:  Scarecrow Press, 2009.
10. Warrick, Patricia S. The Cybernetic Imagination in Science Fiction. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1980.
    
11. —.Mind in Motion:  The Fiction of Philip K. Dick.  Carbondale and Edwardsville:  Southern Illinois UP, 1987.

In June 2010, I will take my three PhD exams in the Kent State University English Literature PhD program.  For these exams, I convened a committee of trusted professors, each administering one exam. I choose to take my exams in these areas: 20th Century American Literature (administered by Kevin Floyd), Postmodern Theory (administered by Tammy Clewell), and the Philip K. Dick Canon (administered by Donald “Mack” Hassler). Below, I have included my Postmodern Theory reading list. Go here to read my 20th century American literature exam list, and here to read my Philip K. Dick exam list.

PhD Minor Exam Area:  Postmodern Theory

Director:  Tammy Clewell

Texts:

1. Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation.
   
2. Berman, Marshall. All That Is Solid Melts Into Air.
3. Bertens, Hans. The Idea of the Postmodern:  A History.
   
4. Broderick, Damien. Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction.
   
5. Bukatman, Scott. Terminal Identity:  The Virtual Subject in Postmodern Science Fiction.
   
6. Butler, Judith. Bodies That Matter.
   
7. de Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life.
   
8. Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus:  Capitalism and Schizophrenia.
9. Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology.
   
10. Eagleton, Terry. The Illusions of Postmodernism.
    
11. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Volume 1:  An Introduction.
    
12. Habermas, Jürgen.  “Modernity: An Incomplete Project.”
    
13. Haraway, Donna. Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.FemaleMan©Meets_OncoMouse™: Feminism and Technoscience.
    
14. —. Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature.
    
15. Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity.
    
16. Hassan, Ihab. The Postmodern Turn.
    
17. Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics.
    
18. Huyssen, Andreas. After the Great Divide.
    
19. Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction.
    
20. Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism:  Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
    
21. —. Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions.
22. Latour, Bruno. We Have Never Been Modern.
    
23. Lyotard, Jean-François. The Postmodern Condition:  A Report on Knowledge.
    
24. McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction.
    
25. Norris, Christopher. What’s Wrong with Postmodernism?
26. Perryman, Mark ed. Altered States: Postmodernism, Politics, Culture.
27. Poster, Mark. The Information Subject.
    
28. Vattimo, Gianni. The Transparent Society.
    
29. Wilde, Alan. Horizons of Assent: Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Ironic Imagination

In June 2010, I will take my three PhD exams in the Kent State University English Literature PhD program.  For these exams, I convened a committee of trusted professors, each administering one exam. I choose to take my exams in these areas: 20th Century American Literature (administered by Kevin Floyd), Postmodern Theory (administered by Tammy Clewell), and the Philip K. Dick Canon (administered by Donald “Mack” Hassler). Below, I have included my 20th Century American Literature reading list. Go here to read my Postmodern Theory exam list, and here to read my Philip K. Dick exam list.

PhD Major Exam Area:  Twentieth-Century American Literature

Director:  Kevin Floyd

Texts:

CANONICAL

1. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening (1899).
   
2. Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! (1913).
   
3. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper”
   
4. TS Eliot: “The Waste Land,” “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock”
   
5. Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio (1919).
   
6. William, Carlos Williams. Spring and All (1923).
   
7. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby (1925).
   
8. Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury (1929).
   
9. Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying (1930).
   
10. Langston Hughes: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”; “Epilogue”; “Harlem”; “Same in Blues”; “Theme for English B”; “Mother to Son”; “Song for a Dark Girl.”
    
11. Countee Cullen: “Yet Do I Marvel”; “Heritage”; “Incident.”
    
12. Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms (1929).
    
13. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).
    
14. Dos Passos, John. The Big Money (1936).
    
15. Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
    
16. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).
    
17. Wright, Richard. Native Son (1940).
    
18. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).
19. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman (1949).
20. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye (1951).
    
21. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man (1952).
22. Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time.
23. Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
24. Eugene O’Neill, Long Days Journey Into Night
25. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
    
26. Ginsberg, Allen. “Howl” and “Kaddish.”
27. Kerouac, Jack. On the Road (1957)
28. Burroughs, William S. Naked Lunch (1959).
29. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun (1959).
    
30. Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962).
31. Plath, Sylvia. Ariel.
32. Pynchon, Thomas. V. (1963).
33. Sam Shepard, True West
    
34. LeRoi Jones, Dutchman (1964)
    
35. O’Connor, Flannery. “A good man is hard to find”; “everything that rises must converge”; “revelation”; “good country people”
    
36. Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969).
37. Reed, Ishmael. Mumbo Jumbo (1972).
38. Delany, Samuel R. Dhalgren (1975).
39. Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony (1977).
    
40. Gibson, William. Neuromancer (1984)
    
41. DeLillo, Don. White Noise (1985).
42. Morrison, Toni. Beloved (1987).
    
43. Gloria Naylor, Linden Hills
44. Roth, Philip. American Pastoral (1997).
45. Updike, John.  Rabbit, Run
46. Butler, Octavia. Kindred (1979).
    
47. Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex (2002).
    
48. Vonnegut, Jr., Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five (1969).
    

NON-CANONICAL

1. Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot (1950).
2. Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles (1950).
3. Kornbluth, Cyril M. and Fredrick Pohl. The Space Merchants (1953).
   
4. Ellison, Harlan.  “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967).
   
5. Tiptree, James Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon), “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” (1973).
   
6. Delany, Samuel R. Tales of Nevèrÿon (1979)
7. Sterling, Bruce ed. Mirrorshades:  The Cyberpunk Anthology (1986).
   
8. Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash (1992).
9. Powers, Richard. Galatea 2.2 (1995).
10. Di Filippo, Paul. Ribofunk (1996).
11. Cunningham, Michael. Specimen Days (2005).

After dinner tonight, Yufang and I saw this sunset hidden behind the Kent State University library and other buildings on campus. It was so beautiful that I wanted to save it on my iPhone knowing I would share it will you all later. The pink radiance at the center of the sky surrounded by the imposing dark blue makes me feel calm and peaceful. Besides the pleasant colors, it might have just been my baby’s company.

Come out for the Spring 2010 AGES Graduate Student Symposium on April 22 from 11:00am until 1:00pm in 209 Satterfield Hall. Yufang is presenting her paper, “Cultural Memory and Schizophrenic Identity in Hua-Ling Nieh’s Mulberry and Peach,” and I will present my as-yet-unwritten essay, “James Cameron’s Avatar, Primitivism, and Pastoral Machines.” See you there!

Professor Maryann De Julio selected the Moudileno article for me to read prior to our conversation about it, which constitutes the exam itself. I couldn’t have asked for a better essay, because it was very much connected with some of the other things that I am thinking about in my PhD exam studies, namely the influence of capital on the cultural construction of identity. In this case, Moudileno argues in the case of francophone romance novels in the 80s and 90s written and published in French-speaking African countries present a non-African ideal of Westernized romantic love embedded in circuits of capital and brand recognition. Following a structuralist analysis of a particular collection of these kinds of Westernized love stories in Adora, Moudileno demonstrates how these stories and romance novel book covers exist in opposition with the realities of patriarchy in much of Africa. However, she does end by considering the possibility of how a universalized idea of love presented in these novels, which apparently sell very well in many African capital cities and bookstores, do offer a form of resistance to male dominant societies despite their heteronormative message.

The exam itself went very well. Professor De Julio, Professor Mack Hassler, and I had a wonderful conversation that began with the article but traversed into French film history and the science fictions of Phillip K. Dick.

The four hours of translation on the other hand was nerve-racking. I translated the whole document verbatim just under the 4 hours, and I made a one sentence summary of each paragraph in the margins. I reviewed this before coming out of the room to let Professor De Julio and Mack know that I was ready for the exam. Having already translated the entire document, the spot translations that Professor Dejulio asked me to do went very well. There were some things that I didn’t translate accurately, because the literal translation did not match the idiomatic meaning of certain phrases. The nice thing about the exam is that it isn’t just about translating, it is about having a conversation and engaging the ideas in the article being translated. Professor Dejulio picked an excellent article that I was able to sink my analytical teeth into, which made the exam, past the translation, an enjoyable experience. However, I should say that it was a draining experience, which two twenty minute afternoon naps did not cure. I did feel more like myself the following day when Yufang and I went to Cleveland for groceries at Cleveland Asian Market and for free flash drives at Microcenter (4GB flash drives no less!).

For those folks who, like me, are not superstars in their second language for the exam, I can offer you these study tips that I used to prepare for the exam:

• Begin your studies well in advance with an online newspaper in your second language, and print out articles (or in my case, movie reviews) double spaced so that you can write out your translation between the lines. Use online verb conjugators and Bablefish to check your translations, and make notes of idioms and phrases that recur repeatedly.
• Move on to scholarly articles and translate those. You will notice a difference in the writing.
• Throughout, practice conjugations, keywords, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions. I would write these 5-10 times each along with the English translation to make sure that I could remember them.
• A few days before your exam, lock yourself in a room for four hours with a scholarly article and translate it as you would on the day of the exam. It was from this experience I got a sense for how quickly the time passed and I developed a better strategy of divide and conquer–I translated the first paragraphs, the last two paragraphs, and then the beginning sentence of each paragraph before filling in the rest. If you can read the language, which is the ultimate goal of having proficiency in another language, you do not need to do this. Just read the essay and make notes. I had to think hard and rely on my dictionary extensively for understanding what was being said, so that is why I took this strategic translating strategy.
• Prepare your dictionary for your test day. I made notations throughout the dictionary as I was doing my preparatory work, and I put lettered tabs at the beginning of each section of the dictionary for quick page turning and reference. In the back section with irregular verb conjugations, I made a note of the definition so that I could save time from flipping back and forth on words that I wasn’t immediately familiar with. I used Collins Robert French Unabridged Dictionary, which I found to be rather good with only a few idioms missing from the translation that I worked on.
• Bring snacks like nuts for energy and water to drink. If you’re lucky like me, your wife will bring you a slice of lemon cake and a triple shot soy latte halfway through the exam!

Despite passing my exam, I am still critical of the foreign language requirement as it now stands at Kent State University. I believe that it should be something integrated into the curriculum in some way more than the exam. I know of some folks who were told to remove foreign sources from their dissertations, which seems counter productive to being scholars who attempt to engage a wide array of worldly discussions connected to your object of study. Based on my practice for the exam, I did find some Philip K. Dick articles that I will probably include in my dissertation. I can warn my future dissertation committee that they will be damned if they think I won’t include some French in my dissertation after spending part of this past year and a year and a half at Georgia Tech preparing for that one exam that allows me to move forward with my PhD exams. Also, I think it would be useful if there were a source requirement for the dissertation, or taking part in a foreign language seminar might meet this kind of requirement. The foreign language requirement should be something promoted more when you are beginning a program of study; students should go ahead and meet with the examiner in their secondary language right away even if the test will be put off until later. These are only some ideas, but the foreign language aspect of the Literature PhD at Kent State needs to be improved (along with the degree’s requirements and supporting coursework in general, but that’s another issue). As graduate students, we are part of that conversation to improve things, so we need to assert ourselves and make sure that our voices are heard. Otherwise, it will be left up to others to decide for us and those that follow us at Kent State.

Vive la langue françaises!

My buddy Masaya, who started the PhD program at KSU at the same time that I did, just left Kent for a new job in Japan. He’s planning on finishing his dissertation from home. It is uncertain if Yufang and I will see Masaya again in Kent, but we are planning on visiting him in Japan when we go to Taiwan in the near future to visit her parents (and I get to meet the parents for the first time!).

It seems that we’ve reached that point in the PhD program that those friends we began with will be leaving soon. It probably won’t be long before more of our friends here will be moving away for jobs, too.

The same is true for professors we have grown to count as friends: Masood and Jenny Raja will be leaving for Texas in July.

I guess this is my experience of academia (others’ mileage may vary)–always moving on and always building new friendships. This has happened for me at Georgia Tech, the University of Liverpool, and now at Kent State University. In each case, I’ve kept in touch with friends by email and Facebook, but it feels nearly impossible to stay in touch as well as I would like due to the work that I need to do now (and it is always now that work needs to be done). Will there be a point where I will feel caught up enough to maintain those friendships that are important to me? It’s hard to imagine a radical reconfiguration of my work and personal schedules to really make it possible. Perhaps now, I am better at in-person relationships–that is, good at maintaining friendships when there is a geographical proximity to friends and as distance grows and other means of communicating such as email or the phone are required. The fact is that I have trouble engaging technology to support long-distance friendships even though I am heavily engaged with technology on a daily basis. I realize that some folks are really great at keeping in touch online, and I am very thankful for their efforts. I will have to give it a lot of thought about how to be one of those folks who are experts at maintaining friendships regardless of distance.

To Masaya: Borrowing in part from Garisson Keillor, “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch [even if I forget to sometimes].”

Last night at Applebee’s: Dave, Seth, Masaya, me, and Yufang.

This is a fun and informative event which will introduce library science students to the many opportunities available to those with an MLIS degree!

Please note:  This is not a job fair.  Rather, it is a chance to meet and to network with many types of library professionals throughout Ohio.

We do hope that those interested in art librarianship will stop to chat and join our chapter!

Kent:
Thursday, March 4
Kent State University, Student Center Ballroom

Columbus:
Wednesday, March 10
State Library of Ohio

Agenda (for both events):
5:00 – 6:00       Panel Discussion (**advice and tips on job searching in a tough economy)
6:00 – 7:30       Library Exhibits

Mr. Japanese Sea Cow and I are visibly upset over not being permitted to buy a fucking Ampad notebook from the Kent State University Bookstore in the Student Center Complex, because I wouldn’t put my backpack in their “Place Bag Here” wooden cubby hole matrix. First, I disagree with the attitude that the bookstore takes toward students and anyone else who may be carrying a backpack–obviously, women are permitted to carry their bags into the store, large and small. I realize that many bookstores on college campuses have these bag areas with the idea in mind to reduce shrinkage. There are other, more effective ways to reduce shrinkage without overtly labeling all potential customers are thieves. Second, the Kent State Bookstore in no way assumes any responsibility for my bag and its contents, which includes a laptop, iPhone, books, notes, tools, etc. That’s right–tools. I don’t want to appear hypocritical–not wanting to be viewed as a criminal, yet distrusting others with my things out of sight at the front of the store by a heavy traffic, public area, but there is a difference–the store has substantial capital and the potential means to effectively protect their goods without criminalizing all who enter their premises. I, on the other hand, do not have the capital to run the individual risk of someone purposively or mistakenly lifting my nondescript black backpack from a public space unattended. I can, however, hold on to my bag and dutifully give others respect as human beings and fight the urge to steal, which apparently the bookstore is afraid that I cannot control. Third, I’m particularly troubled by the fact that students obey the signs and leave their things at the front of the store. I didn’t stand there after my altercation, so I don’t know how many were rebuked, but a girl in front of me was also reprimanded. However, she went back to the front and left her bag. I, on the other hand, left vowing never to return. Oh yes, I have voted in the market by taking my $3.50 elsewhere, and I will, going forward, tell my students to seek their books from businesses that give them respect as individuals and not treat them as criminals. By putting de Certeau’s theory of individual choice into action, I believe that I am effectively sticking it to the Kent State Bookstore and its attack on respect for persons. In my best Ricky Bobby voice–”Alan Wilde, save me with your magical powers of irony!”

Thanks to NASA’s Speakers Bureau, Professor Jay Reynolds of Cleveland State University and the Glenn Research Station agreed to visit my two intro writing classes today to talk about America’s return to the Moon, current research on Mars, and investigations of asteroids and protoplanets, which is what Prof. Reynolds is at the present involved in with the DAWN mission to observe Vesta and Ceres.

I asked Prof. Reynolds to speak to my classes about some of the things taking place right now at NASA, particularly in relation to NE Ohio, where the majority of my students are from, and to give some context to the work that NASA does. He did an excellent job of this in his two presentations today for my students. Based on the subjects that he covered, I believe that he filled in many gaps that I either didn’t have the time to cover or those things that didn’t occur to me at the time as my classes worked their way through Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars as part of the “Space Exploration and Your Future” theme of my intro writing classes.

Prof. Reynolds demonstrated his depth of knowledge about NASA and its missions while also engaging broader economic and political interests in response to questions put to him by my students. He displayed a contagious abundance of energy and excitement about his work and the work taking place at NASA that I believe carried over to some of my students in the two classes.

At the beginning of his presentation, he began simply by asking my students what they thought of the unauthorized, yet mission making, Apollo 8 picture of the gibbous Earth next to the lunar surface [find it here] and the Apollo 17 image of the fully illuminated Earth [find it here]. What he stressed with these images was that our missions to the Moon turned into missions about the Earth. Our going out there gave us, meaning humanity, a new perspective on our planet and ourselves as co-inhabitants of what Carl Sagan termed a pale blue dot.

He discussed the Space Shuttle, Saturn V, and Ares I and V launch vehicles [see my Lego versions here] in detail, which elicited many questions between the two classes. Other questions included: How safe are the launch vehicles? Why did we go to the Moon? Does anyone own the Moon? What do you do with Helium-3?

Prof. Reynolds’ presentation ended with a discussion of asteroids and the importance of locating and tracking those objects which cross or may eventually cross the orbit of the Earth. This is related to the work that he does for NASA with the help of undergraduate and graduate students from Cleveland State University in conjunction with the DAWN mission [some related info here].

I am thankful that NASA can make a special event like this possible, and I am especially grateful to Prof. Reynolds for taking the time and energy to drive down to Kent and spend the afternoon with my students. It was a terrific occasion to close out the Fall 2009 semester for my students.

My second class is busy working on their peer reviews now, and they are all busily engaged with each other’s essays. But what would this post be if I were not to complain about something–the desktops in MOU should have the default Microsoft Windows XP games disabled. I would rather my students have “underlife” talk after completing an assignment rather than playing a throw-your-brain-into-neutral game of solitaire.

And one concluding question: Why do computer support folk have to be jerks? This isn’t a universal rule, but it a widespread malaise that appears with a variety of stenches. I encountered the kindergarden teacher routine today, when I asked for help getting the projector to mirror the computer monitor. If the podium in these otherwise nicely equipped computer rooms wasn’t a Frankensteinian agglomeration of multiple breakout boxes and wires that must be configured in just like a sudoku puzzle for the proper video source to be projected. I wouldn’t be quite as upset about this if the tech didn’t use a normal tone of voice with her assistant and would code switch into a condescending cutesy voice when she would turn back to me.

As in my previous SFH classes, my students and I roll with the punches and switch to the tried and true method of writing on paper. With their daily work on pulp, I ask them to type up their scribbling on vista when they are online in the dorms (I wonder if this IP allocation issue is affecting the dorms–I understand that not all students use ethernet). This extra step with writing, as I told my students in that class, may actually help them develop their writing further, because it adds another layer or step to their production of text. I encourage them to consider what they wrote in class and how they can make it better or write it differently when they are transcribing it on vista. Considering this, it will be interesting to see how my two classes develop if the computer connectivity issue continues.

There were two break-out sessions–one in the morning, and one in the afternoon–with a number of interesting and practical modules. I decided to sit in on Uma Krishnan’s “Multimodal Projects and Ideas” and Eric Smith’s “Using Chat Rooms and Bulletin Boards.”

Uma made the point that we should not hold our students back when they are evidently capable of doing much good work, which was evident by the array of multimodal projects strewn around the classroom. There were videos, posters, a necklace, and even a dress–all created to emphasize or elaborate on the research and writing component of each of those particular student projects in her 11011 and 21011 classes. Despite some technical difficulties in the classroom, Uma gave us a very well thought 0ut presentation, but I believe that I am only going to take multimodality so far in my own classes. This has nothing to do with Uma’s presentation, but my own concerns about multimodality in the entry-level writing classroom.

Eric’s presentation, also beset by technical difficulties and indicative of the problems inherent to using computers in the classroom with folks who are not computer savvy, was a top notch introduction to the chat and discussion board possibilities with the classroom software, Vista 8. Based on what I learned from Eric today, I will switch my classes over to Vista this Fall so that the classroom will be completely paperless from syllabi to daily assignments to portfolio projects. I believe that this shift will allow my students to do more work in the classroom with daily prompts that build up to their larger assignments, and it will allow me to more efficiently read and respond to their work (in the past I have relied on paper in my first semester teaching, and email in the my second semester teaching). Additionally, a paperless classroom will save some trees and hopefully prevent or reduce the likelihood of getting sick by handling so many students’ papers. This is nothing against my students–I don’t think you are any more ill than any other group of persons in the population, but there are many of you who come in contact with a lot of other folks and you then hand me papers in effect handled by you and potentially a lot of other folks–but I want to remain healthy throughout the semester.

One thing that I do enjoy about the annual writing workshop is that it is the one time each year when adjuncts, LSRP grad students, and literature grad students are all in the same place at the same time. As much as I unreservedly want greater solidarity among the literature graduate students at Kent State, I also feel that there should be more cooperation and interaction between the groups on both sides of the aisle–rhetoric on one side, and literature on the other. What can we do to facilitate more coming together like this, and even better, how can we work towards more professionalization through research and publication involving members of both pools of graduate students?

And, this is Brian Huot’s final year as KSU’s Writing Program coordinator. Brian helped me out a lot in the 61094 teaching college writing course, and as my mentor when I first began teaching college writing at KSU. I haven’t been at KSU long enough to see the metamorphosis of the KSU writing program under his direction, but I can certainly see that things are electric at this point when his term is ending.

Unfortunately, I didn’t win any of the door prizes, but the new utopian studies guy, Alex, won something, and Seth got a sweet daily planner. John walked away with the grand prize. Maybe I’ll have better luck next year!

Four students were killed and nine injured when National Guard troops fired into a crowd on the Kent State University campus in Ohio. The National Guard had been called in during the weekend to deal with large demonstrations and unrest.

Guerilla Theatre at Dowling. Click for more images.

As we’ve learned through many of our interviews, Kent State was a tipping point after which nothing was the same.  There were major reactions across all college campuses, no less so than at Dowling.

New Voice, May 11, 1970

As detailed in the New Voice, the week following the shootings revealed a variety of responses.

Tuesday
In a very moving emotional response Dowling students today reacted to the murder of four Kent State undergraduates by Ohio National Guards by a boycott of classes. Approximately 250 members of the college community gathered on the campus lawn to picket and listen to the spontaneous reflections of students, faculty, and administrators concerning the shootings and to speak more generally about government oppression on college campuses and in Southeast Asia.

In sympathy with the student protest President Allyn Robinson canceled classes and ordered the flag to be flown at half mast.

Tension ran high when demonstrators became aware of the presence of two unidentified gentlemen in white shirts and dark glasses who refused to explain their presence on campus but dissipated when the men, who were thought to be police officers withdrew.

At noon, Student President Larry Collins held a scheduled meeting of the Student Association to discuss possible action. A motion was introduced to extend the boycott to a general strike to last through the week and on into examination week. This motion was passed by a vote of 85 to 36 and will be presented to the faculty at tomorrow’s faculty meeting in the hope of gaining their support for this action.

This meeting broke up into groups early in the afternoon to continue discussions for planned activities during the strike action.

Wednesday
Early this morning students supporting the National Student Association Strike gathered in the Hunt Room to begin their drive to reach the community and students. Students were sent out to the local shopping centers and high schools to hand out literature urging them to come to the college tomorrow to attend the open discussion conference. Other students covered the rally held at Kennedy High School in Plainview where one of the four students killed at Kent University went to high school.

Students went to the different classes in session and talked to the people about the reasons why the strike was being held. They then left the classrooms and did not force anyone to cancel classes. Meanwhile, at 11:30 the Dowling Cinema Committee showed the film, “No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger” in the Hunt Room. Later Ned Bobkoff and some students staged a Guerilla Theatre. This was repeated at least three times during the day. They plan to repeat the performance at Smith Haven Mall tonight.

At a meeting so large, it had to be transferred from the Hunt Room to the Carriage House, the Dowling College faculty voted today to cancel all classes and final examinations with the understanding that no student would be penalized because of this action. They further voted to endorse the demands of the National Students Association New Conference and demanded the immediate resignation of President Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew. This action was taken in response to the motion passed yesterday by the Student Association at Dowling urging such a cancellation in respnse to the murder of four Kent University undergraduates, and  in support of the N.S.A. demands. The vote of the faculty was 23 to 17. The faculty also voted unanimously to commit themselves to be on campus in spite of this cancellation to talk with students and to hold discussions of the pressing issues facing the academic community and the nation as a whole as a result of the actions of the Nixon administration at home and Southeast Asia. They also hope to utilize this time to meet with all their students to discuss final grades.

The sense of the meeting seemed to be that the faculty and students wanted to take advantage of the last two weeks of the semester to try to apply the Liberal Arts to prevent crisis facing our nation in a form radically different from that of the traditional classroom.

President Allyn Robinson also announced at the meeting that Dowling College would conduct an all day radio and telephone poll on May 9 over WBAB and asked for volunteers from the students, faculty and administration to man this effort.

Plans are also being formalized for a series of films and discussions on the present political situation to take place through the day today. A number of speakers from the Dowling Community and from outside the campus have been scheduled to speak. Students from many Long Island high schools have been invited to Dowling to take part.

Thursday
The campus was virtually overrun by students from many High Schools who came to the campus to find out what they could do in the cause of peace. Movies provided by the cinema committee and Mr. Budner were offered to those attending.

Most of the students went to the Carriage House for an afternoon of music and speeches by interested members of the Dowling Community. The afternoon seemed to be high-lighted when it was pointed out that two plain-clothes policemen were sitting in the audience. The police were offered the chance to speak thier minds but declined to do so. Afterwards in informal discussions the two men indicated that they would be pleased to try and find other cops interested in speaking some time next week.

“Dowling Reacts to Nation’s Violence”
The New Voice
May 11, 1970

Dr. Kevin Bedell ('71)

Kevin Bedell started at what was then Adelphi Suffolk College in 1966. A poor kid from Flushing, Queens, he hit his stride in physics and went on to not only teach at Dowling but to earn his Ph.D. from Stony Brook University and work at Los Alamos National Lab. He is currently Vice Provost for Research at Boston College.

In these clips, taken from a longer oral history held in the Dowling College archives, Dr. Bedell describes how he got off to an inauspicious start at the College  but soon came to the attention of Dr. Gschwendtner and the rest of the science and math department. You’ll also hear Kevin’s reactions to the Kent State shootings, what happened to him in the Vietnam draft during the physical exam, and the curious (to me, anyway) prevalence of hitchhiking on Long Island.

Hi Everyone,

Please see the attached flyer and program for AGES’ second annual Graduate Research Symposium (sponsored in part by Graduate Student Senate). AGES is really excited to have five participants this year from three different programs! Come and show your support for your students/colleagues, enjoy a bite or two to eat, and engage in what promises to be a really interesting afternoon of scholarly collaboration! Please distribute this informationwidely!

Date: Thursday, April 23
Time: 12-1:30pm
Place: 209 Satterfield Hall

Best,

Christa

Morning Classroom

Afternoon classroom

Now that we’re about to begin week 11, I have found over the semester that the conversations and discussion in the classrooms are nearly the same.  I suppose that it comes down to the students and the instructor.  My morning students talk just as much as my afternoon students.  In both cases, sometimes the conversation takes off organically, and other times I employ wait time, begin with writing prompts, or call on individual students to begin the conversation.  The one thing that I have noticed the most is that students in my afternoon class might develop sore backs from turning around in their chairs to see who’s talking or to address another student directly.  

There are a myriad of other possibilities that could contribute to the way my two classes engage in discussion despite the different classroom configurations.  My concern about the different classroom layouts may have contributed to both classes having good discussions, because I may have tried to get the afternoon class more energized or my observation and reflection on the earlier class may have honed my approach in the afternoon class.  Additionally, the students in the afternoon class may be a group of students that don’t need face-to-face contact to engage in lively discussion.  

This is certainly not an extensive survey of classroom dynamics, but it was a lesson that I was glad to learn and wanted to share.  I want both of my classes to be active and I want my students in both classrooms to have an equally positive and enriching experience.  I’m very glad that my assumptions about the classrooms didn’t come true.  

A short note on recent classroom activities:  This past week, we had a slow march into Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001:  A Space Odyssey, because I wanted to engage the students in two short writing assignments based on a documentary on the film version of 2001 that showcases the technology they would encounter in the book and film (which we will begin watching Friday), and a passage from the book on dissatisfaction and using our imaginative foresight to devise personal plans for overcoming person dissatisfactions.  This past Friday, my students shared their short dissatisfaction essays out loud in class, and we had some fruitful conversation in both classes based on that work.

This afternoon, Mr. Donaldson met with about 10 to 15 students and faculty in the NEOMFA office in Satterfield Hall.  I made a point of driving into campus today just for his visit, and I was very happy that I did after listening and taking part in the enjoyable conversation.

During the conversation, Mr. Donaldson talked about how he made a point of studying authors whose works he liked and respected in order to figure out how they did things rather than going into a creative writing program to hone his writing skills.  In particular, he commented on his studies of Joseph Conrad and Henry James.  When asked about The Mirror of Her Needs (1986), he mentioned some of his influences in the writing of that novel were Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, which has a great respect and love for but not Arthurian legends in general, and Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions.  

When asked if any of his books might be made into movies, he didn’t think that would happen.  He said that he would get an ego boost if it did, but then feel let down when the film didn’t replicate his work honesty.  He went on to say that movie adaptations of books are reinventions or recreations of the works that they take as their object.  In his case, a director that makes one of his books into a movie would be creating something that was theirs, and that’s okay.  As an example, he talked about Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Essentially, Peter Jackson created something new that isn’t the same thing as Tolkien’s novels–that if you read the novels you will feel something different than what you feel when you see the movies.  Why is that so?  It has to do with the differences in media.  In books, you can get into the head of a character, which you cannot do in a movie.  On the other hand, movies are able to combine sound effects, special effects, visuals, cinematography, and music–all overlaid one another–to create something different than what you get in the linear word-by-word world of books.  It’s not to say that one is better than the other, but rather they have different strengths and weaknesses.

When asked about completing a book, he remarked that, “It’s a lonely place at the end of a book.”  I knew that there was a lot of housekeeping tasks including copyediting, proofreading, etc. that take place after the manuscript is finished, but Mr. Donaldson said that there was a real “so, what have you done for us lately” attitude by publishers to authors when I book is done–meaning, when’s your next book going to be ready?

I asked him what his thoughts were on the recent court case between a Harry Potter lexicon writer and J. K. Rowling and her publisher.  Mr. Donaldson said that he wouldn’t take the time to deal with something like that if it came up in regard to his own work, but he talked about why Rowling and her publisher got pissed off in the first place.  Had the lexicon author, Steve Vander Ark, approached Rowling’s publisher with the idea rather than skirting them and approaching another publisher then there would have been the possibility of his lexicon coming out.  As it was, there was a broach of professional courtesy and the attempt at circumvention of the rights of the author and publisher.  Also, the money issue, which is a non-issue for Rowling and her Scrooge McDuck swimming pool of money, but it would have been a more real issue for her publisher.  So, had Ark made the proposal to the publisher with a stipulation that the author could give final approval of the factuality of the lexicon entries then he would have been on much stronger ground than putting it out through another publisher, RDR Books.

His last thought before leaving for his next scheduled stop around campus was that, “storytelling is our number one survival skill.”  Stories take on many different aspects of our lives from the mundane to the more fantastic.  I think this is even more poignantly made clear in the documentary that I recently saw called Darkon, which is about live action roleplayers, or LARPers, in their game and “real” lives.  I agree with Mr. Donaldson’s idea, because it’s the stories that we tell that make meaning for and about our lives.  And, it’s for that reason that I feel that I’m drawn to the study of SF and the stories that we tell about the only literature that, as Mr. Donaldson pointed out, “presupposes the future.”

I didn’t have an opportunity before his alloted time was over to mention this, but his elucidation of the decline in book sales across the board reminded me of a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago with Mack Hassler.  I am definitely integrated in a technological circuit, but I turn back to books to find the stories that I’m interested in.  Furthermore, the stories about technology are in books–pulp–paper.  Mr. Donaldson didn’t have an answer about the future of narrative forms and media (who could?), but the fact is that it appears, particularly with Border’s recent announcement to decrease SF and Fantasy stock in its brick-and-mortar stores, the current SF/Fantasy boom-bust cycle is on the bust side of things.  I don’t know how much this has to do with changing reading habits, non-reading habits, online and gaming culture, or the economy’s continuing nosedive trend.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see, or if I’m feeling entrepenureal, perhaps I’ll take it in the next big direction.

Many thanks to Mr. Donaldson for taking the time to speak with us today, and thanks to the folks that made his visit possible.  We sorely need more author visits to Kent.

I assigned the novel as part of the second unit of the course, in which my students will write their second formal essay.  Over the course of two weeks, I have my students read one (during the week) or two parts (over a weekend), and we come together to talk it over in class.  In addition to the text, I bring a lot of materials to class such as documentary videos and still images from the Kubrick’s film and astronomy observations.  Also, I bring my science background to class, because my students have had many poignant and spot-on questions about the science that takes place in the novel.  The integration of science, which they should have had some exposure to in high school, into the writing curriculum allows for another level of instruction in addition to the tremendous, yet not impossible, amount of writing that I require of my students.  Also, their curiosity about how and why things work the way that they do is leading them down the path to developing better critical thinking skills.

I can report that there have been good days and bad days in regard to our discussions on the novel.  A large part of that is my own lack of experience in leading discussion, using wait time, and encouraging my students to think about things before class through tailored assignments.  I spend a lot of time, a whole hell of a lot of time, planning my classes.  My student’s weekly two page journals have been an invaluable resource for altering course when one thing works better than another, because I can get their reflective feedback on things that we do, in addition to my own observations of class and my performance.

As much as I’ve enjoyed using 2001:  A Space Odyssey thus far in class, I’ve now come up against a wall regarding their next writing assignment.  I have a couple of ideas, but I will have to narrow these down tomorrow and put together a handout to give out on Friday after we finish talking about Bowman’s exit and return through the Star Gate.

This returns us to planning.  I’m still grappling with finding the appropriate time to devote to class planning and responding to my students’ work.  I can confidently say at this point in my burgeoning professional career as a teacher and researcher that I cannot meet my students on the page with the same intensity and time as someone such as Carmen Kynard, who writes about her work and experiences as an instructor in her article, “‘Y’all Are Killin’ Me up in Here’:  Response Theory from a Newjack Composition Instructor/SistahGurl Meeting Her Students on the Page.”  I wish that I could, but there isn’t enough time in the day (and I’m only teaching one course–Kynard writes about having 140 students!).  I spent approximately 10 hours evaluating my students’ first essay, and I regularly spend at least an hour and a half to two hours prepping for each class.  I realize that this is my first time teaching, so I’m building up an archive of materials and methods of teaching that I will be able to remix and re-purpose in future classes, but at this point, it all seems rather overwhelming to me.  I want to give my students my all, because I expect no less from them.  On the other hand, teaching is only one aspect of my PhD career at this point, and I have to engage the courses that I’m taking and produce my own work for those courses (and conferences–I still have to rewrite my Transsexual Technologies paper for SLSA 2008).

So, that’s my report thus far from a lone spaceman in tiny pod floating in space and feeling many millions of miles from home.  Luckily, my shipboard computer didn’t try to kill me, but the stresses of second year PhD life are taking its toll.

1. Course work:  Teaching College Writing with Professor Brian Huot.  I’m taking a class in preparation of teaching the introductory college writing course in the Fall at Kent State University.  I received an appointment beginning in the Fall that pays for my classes and gives me a stipend in exchange of carrying a 2-1 teaching load.  This Fall will be my first college teaching experience, and I’m feeling a mixed bag of excitement and trepidation.  However, the excitement is taking over as this course progresses and I learn more pedagogical theory and nuts-and-bolts teaching practices.
2. Writing:  I’m preparing my much traveled conference paper, “Michael Bay’s Transformers, the Global War on Terror, and the New Post-9/11 SF Narrative” for publication.  I promised this to Sherryl Vint, co-editor of Science Fiction Film and Television, at IAFA 2008 in March.  My plan is to send this off in the next two weeks.
3. Writing and Conferencing:  I’m turning my paper, “We are All Nomads:  Computers, Orientalism, and Nomadology in Mike Resnick’s Ivory” into a conference length work.  I’m presenting this at SFRA 2008 in July (on my birthday).  This will require a lot of elbow grease, but I’m confident that it’ll come together before I begin the long drive out West (yes, I want to go on a road trip after I finish my Teaching College Writing course over Summer I).
4. Writing and Conferencing:  Andrew Pilsch emailed me on Facebook awhile back about doing another panel at SLSA 2008 in the Fall.  Last year, Chris Van Acker, Andrew, and I were on a panel together, and it was a blast.  Andrew has some kickass ideas for a new panel, and an even more knock-dead paper idea.  I just sent him a draft for our panel proposal along with an abstract of my publishable-length paper, “Transsexual Technology:  The Political Potential of Gender Shifting Technologies.”  That’s another paper that needs a significant reduction, but I’m looking forward to getting some comments and questions on it.

UPDATE

My CRS kicked in and I forgot to mention this:

5.  Reviewing:  I’m looking forward to reviewing Sonja Fritzsche’s Science Fiction Literature in East Germany for German Quarterly!

Dr. Stoddart’s presentation was rich with detail and heavy with science.  My B.S. from Georgia Tech facilitated my following along with the molecular mechanical operations enabled by reduction and oxidation, as well as the nano-switches flipping between open/ground states and closed/metastable states.  However, I was clearly not the audience for this talk.  The audience was full of real chemists and chemistry students who fully engage the technical aspects of the presentation that were lost on me.  That being said, I did come away from the talk with a better understanding of the particular nanotechnologies Dr. Stoddart described, and I particularly enjoyed the personal stories and anecdotes he shared with the audience.

He began his presentation with images from his youth on a tenant farm outside Edinburgh.  Growing up, he enjoyed working on machines, but it’s fascinating that his household didn’t receive electricity until he was seventeen (around 1955).

His interest in nanotechnology and molecular machines comes from three non-scientific sources, which include:  jigsaw puzzles (NB:  pieces), crossword puzzles (NB:  words and phrases), and Meccano/Erector sets (NB:  building complex models from simple pieces).  Obviously, Dr. Stoddart has a thing for solving puzzles with finite building blocks, and he further illustrated this through his technical, yet approachable, presentation on recent developments and future potential of nanotechnology and molecular “building blocks.”

His presentation had a “future” component that touched on two nanotechnology applications.  One being nano-mechanical memory storage, in which Intel and HP are both very interested.  Using molecular switch tunnel junctions (MSTJ), computer memory can be advanced beyond the DRAM specs of 2020.  This means that MSTJ based memory will occupy a smaller space, have a greater memory density, use less power, and have unique physical properties (Stoddart didn’t elaborate on this, but I’m guessing better thermal dissipation or some other aspect that’s problematic for DRAM memory and increasing memory access speeds).    An interesting fact that he gave the audience about memory density is that 10^12 bits of memory can be stored in a space the size of a U.S. First Class stamp!

The other interesting future nanotechnology incorporates nanovalves to release targeted medicines within cells.  He, and three of his colleagues, started a company, Nanopacific Holdings, to pursue this technology.  He let the audience know that this is something close to his heart, because it has the potential in the treatment of cancer, which claimed his wife after a protracted illness.

Dr. Stoddart ended his presentation with the story of his knighting ceremony with Queen Elizabeth.  As he was kneeling in front of the Queen, the Lord Chamberlain introduced him to the Queen as, “Sir Fraser Stoddart is honored for his achievements in chemistry and nanotology.”  Stoddart choose not to correct this misstatement, but the Queen broached the subject after knighting him.  She leaned over and asked, “He got that wrong didn’t he–It should be nanotechnology, shouldn’t it?”  This lead to a short conversation between Stoddart and, as he calls her, the “Nano Queen.”  Apparently, she knows a bit about nanotechnology!

I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture, and I’m eager to read up on some of the things that I included in my notes of the event.  I didn’t have a chance to ask (okay, the technical questions during the Q&A made me reconsider asking this) him he enjoys SF, or if SF had any part in his development as a scientist.  I’ll have to track down his email address and ask!