April 7, 2011

  • Notes about the Conference...

    10am Session - 31 March 11. Random Thought: Are attractive people just not intelligent or do they find they don't need to be? If you just got what you wanted, or didn't have to be smart to get what you wanted, it wouldn't be necessary. Right? Idea: Could Paper 2 (in English 120) ask them to find the truth in an oxymoron? Instead of "Define a Controversial Word," maybe asking them, "Can there be a smart blond?" They'd argue the existence of that oxymoron, perhaps. Phrase: "Intimacy Management." Idea: Use footnotes in meeting minutes and handouts more? Questions: Aren't we all translating all the time? Between baby & mom; significant others, text messages? Note: Dante's Inferno: there are many translations - children's & surfer dudes. Oh, and there is a webpage of idioms that can't translate well.
    Noon Session - 31 March 11. Question I asked: What advice/lessons can teachers/students take away from international conflicts you've seen when we deal with conflict zones in the classroom?" Question: How do you resolve your own internal conflict? With writing. Idea: If you are passionate about something, there will be others who want to read your words because you are speaking for them. Quote: "To tell the truth and so make peace." Thought: Too many stories are suppressed. We are tribes. Marines, Americans, Jews, etc. & we aren't supposed to go against our tribe. But there are stories that need to be told. Another oxymoron: Pro-peace military man. Question: Can we get away from associating with a tribe? Can you be objective with your family/your tribe? Book Title: Reservations for 2070. Something to Ask my Students: Is a translator a writer?
    2pm Session - 31 March 11. Documentary about Bethlehem by Matt Sienkiewicz. Very interesting.
    Noon Session - 01 April 11. Quote: "I love a broad margin to my life." (Thoreau). He was at Walden Pond. Thought: Hitler's concentration camps were modeled after our Indian reservations. Ew. Ugh. Wow. Quote from Amoussa: "When I go to school, I deal with Jesus Christ; when I go home, I with my G'ma." Thoughts: Borders between genres are so strict, some say, but professors act like people having been mixing genres." (Maxine Hong Kingston) YAY. Question: How much self-promotion is necessary and appropriate? Quote: "Laughter is a country," Susan Deer Cloud; she's bit of a preachy hippie (another oxymoron?). "When I speak, I'm silent; when I'm silent, it speaks."

    Random Bits of Writing:
    ---It sounds like Barry White's stuck under there. Damn bug, makes all kinds of noises. Then I have to try to explain them to the dudes at Valley. They look at me like I have bat shit on my face. I think their computers warn them now: SHE WROTE A LETTER. Damn right I did. Don't try to !&$# me over with that oil pan. So, I guess Barry can live there.
    ---they are texting about beer deliveries. they are eating alone but thumbs move. they are well-versed in abbreviations. they are electronically comfortable. they are connected oddly by small words. they are a different generation.