schizzes and flows

I know I’ve been absent from this space for a while, and believe me I’ve acquired a nice case of blogger’s anxiety over that time–the same kind of frustration I used to get when I was (or more accurately, wasn’t) writing creatively. So many distractions, interruptions, and obligations to worry about, and before you know it, no writing for a week and serious case of bitchy writer syndrome. Today’s no exception: I’ve got a stack of new media proposals to read through, papers to read and comment on, two papers of my own to write, a REALLY long draft of a conference paper to revise and cut to 8 pages by next week, and a summer job to find pronto. With my to-do list in hand, I decided to get out of the office and park myself at a secluded table in the student union. Nice and quiet. Great view of the lake (ok–a bit of a distraction…). Overall, work’s going well this morning. I’m beginning to get in the zone. Even managed to read a few blogs and not feel guilty about it.

Then…

Music. Really loud classical (string ensemble) music. More specifically, a really loud string ensemble version of “The Eye of the Tiger” (you know, the montage workout anthem from Rocky III). At first, I thought maybe a student had programmed the jukebox and tweaked the volume controls before retreating gleefully to watch our puzzled/angry expressions. The Old “Eye of the Tiger” String-Ensemble trick, huh? Touché. Eventually (but only because I’m in a bit of a daze here), I realized that what I was hearing wasn’t from the jukebox but was rather coming from outside the Union. A real string ensemble playing “Eye of the Tiger” on the street. With an audience. If they had only played “Tiger,” I might’ve suspected a happening (and a pretty cool one at that). But, it seems they have an entire catalogue of pop standards (an hour’s worth and counting), most recently a Star Wars medley, a full-length version of “Stairway to Heaven,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

And so it goes.

File this under the “Holy Baudrillard, Batman” tab:

Last week, I received an email from someone in the offices of campus housing asking me if I would allow a professional film crew to tape some of my class for use in a new promotional video the university’s putting together. Apparently, the university’s excited to show off to new and prospective students smaller class sizes, one-on-one interaction, and the campus’ relatively diverse classroom environments. So, since I teach in one of the campus’ few residence hall classrooms–and since my section comes late enough in the day that students may not have to jet off to another class–my name came up and the emails came a’ rollin’. (So much for my first thought: “they like me, they really like me…”)

At any rate, I wrestled with the request, trying to strike a balance in my own mind between being a good sport and a team player and not wanting to disrupt my already jam-packed course calendar–As the emails made clear, this would not be a documentary: the producers of this tape want some specific shots and may need to interrupt class to get them. Of course, there’s the issue as well of using my image and my class’ image to potentially sell the university to prospective students/future donors. And lastly, the thought of having cameras in my class, documenting my teaching, made me, to say the least, uncomfortable…

Longish story short, we were able to reach a compromise of sorts: I would agree to let the cameras in, but only after class concluded. IOW, I would re-create a lesson for as many of my students who would volunteer to stay after class and participate. Total awkwardness with this request aside, I gotta say the whole process left me wondering how the hell actors do this for a living. My students were instructed to “look interested–you know, nod a lot and take notes–raise your hand to answer questions.” For my part, I was instructed to just “teach as I normally do” (do I have a normal way of teaching?), which pretty much means sitting in a chair and talking far too much in order to set up a ridiculously hard question that more often than not falls flat on its face.

Well, my sedentary pedagogy went fine for a little while, and I suppose they got some interesting footage about how early rock musicians appropriated the sound of the delta and electric/Chicago blues, and how recognizing this can help us understand how dominant discourses function (and, more to the point of the class, how dominant discourses in the academy function). Apparently, though, this style is a little boring on camera, so they asked if would mind teaching a little standing up, “you know, move around a bit.” You know, act more like a teacher…

“Uh, Ok, but is it Ok if I sit or lean on a desk, because, you know, I don’t usually walk around and ‘lecture.’”

“Sure. Whatever works for you. We just want this to look as real as possible…”

File this one under “I don’t think you meant to say that aloud”:

Me: “Um. I didn’t receive last semester’s course evals in my mailbox. Just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a mix up with my name or the fact that I’m new.”

Department Power that Be: “Well, I can’t seem to find them. Are you sure your students filled them out?”

Me: “Yep. They filled them out … But maybe that “good” student I asked to walk them over to Helen C. White actually turned “bad” somewhere along the way and dumped them in the lake instead.”

(Nervous laughter)

DPTB: “Nope. Still don’t see them. How many students did you say you had in your class?”

Me: “19.”

DPTB: “Well, I have a few evaluations here that are missing course and instructor codes. Looks like a few of them had 19 students. We could just choose one of these and call it your evaluations.”

Me: “….”

Or so a local news cast claimed this morning, with a quick qualification: “More details to come during tomorrow’s morning show.”

Should be fun to trace the grocery store checkout meme on this one:

1. “I heard we’re supposed to get significant snow Wednesday.”

2. “Really? Because I heard we’re supposed to get really significant snow.”

3. “Actually, I heard they just revised the forecast: We’re now supposed to get MONDO HUGE significant snow. Better stock up on your significant essentials.”