How to Thank a Professor?

When I buy clothes I think, WWMSD?  As in, what would my sister do?  See, I'm not a very visual person and I'm not good with visual aesthetics, or things like layering, color coordinating, doing hair, all these things are lost on me.  Luckily, she's very good at it, and she's one of those types of people that will wear high end hair extensions and do all sorts of torturous beauty treatments, like tanning -- which I definitely won't do because I have an allergic reaction to sunlight and usually spend summer in a gallon of suntan lotion, and a hat or hoodie for my delicate scalp, because if I don't I spend two weeks itching in misery.  So, when I want to fit in with the pink collar world I've learned to imitate.  And that brings me to the model for etiquette: my boss.  

Today, she gave me my third thank you card this year, along with a small gift.  (Every time I get these cards I consider scanning them and sending them with my college application, but I figure that would look junky.)  Anyway, she is as close as a model for the etiquette of gratitude that I'm going to get. 

So, I'm trying to find a way to thank a professor of mine who has been a great help to me outside of the classroom.  He's critiqued and offered suggestions for my fiction, and he's working, albeit slowly, to answer a question related to my Claude McKay interest.  He's been helpful to me on numerous occasions, and I don't think I would have even pursued writing certain pieces had it not been for his help.  And he always gives me practical advice, meaning that I never have to listen to any fluffy, touchy feely crap that I loathe so much.  Traditionally I've just ended emails with "thank you."  Once, I offered to pay him, but he declined payment.  Now, I did write an official Thank You card to my Econ professor but again, my handwriting is horrible, and I've already said "thank you."  So, I've been thinking about sending a gift.  I figure that it would not be a conflict of interest considering that we'll never have a class together again, thus it can't be considered a bribe.  On the other hand, I am planning on making an appointment with him and asking for a letter of recommendation in the winter.  So, I'm torn as to whether it's ethical or not.  Perhaps I need to review the faculty handbook.

But my other problem is that I have NO IDEA what to give to him.  He helps me, not the other way around.  I don't really know the first thing about him, other than the time period of the literature he likes.  So I thought, sure, I could get him a book, or a subscription to a literary journal.  It sounds like a good idea to me because my third grade teacher gave me a copy of Charlotte's Web and I loved her for it.  I'd already read it, I might have even already had the copy, but the fact that she'd give me a book!  The fact that she'd think that highly of me!  But, I was a third grade kid with little motivation or encouragement and so of course it felt wonderful.  But to give a book about a subject in which a grown adult is an expert in?  They'd probably already have read it, or know all about it.  Plus, doesn't the library have all the literary journals a professor would ever want to read?

So, I could give the gift of food.  It could be something homemade, but then how do I know what he eats?  He could be diabetic.  He could be a vegan.  He could be allergic to something.  Okay, so I could give a gift certificate to a restaurant, but how do I know that he even lives near there, or that he doesn't hate the place.  And, if someone is a vegan, perhaps Jackson isn't the place to be getting your gift certificates.  And I should know, because the last time I went to Mat's Cafe with my vegan mother she kept complaining that the bread tasted like pork (and it definitely did not). 

I've researched online for suggestions, but apparently all the tips are for grade school teachers because I'm pretty sure a handmade card covered in glitter isn't age appropriate.

I've considered calling the secretary of the department and being like "Is anyone there allergic to peanuts?" but I'm afraid that might be taken the wrong way. . . .hmm.

So, I guess I'm leaning towards the gift certificate idea.

If only the rapture had come, I'd be spending my time in hell with poker players and promiscuous women.  Instead, I'm reading etiquette guides on the internet, so maybe I really am in hell. 

For Eng 132

car name clue #1

Normally my writing process is all done in my head, although sometimes particular lines or points I want to make will come to me randomly and I write them down on whatever is handy, like a post it note, the back of a receipt in my purse, or on my hand.  I've been trying to write less on my hand ever since I found out Sarah Palin was a "Palm Pilot" user, too.  Plus, I drink a lot of water which means I go to the bathroom a lot, and that means I wash my hands enough times at work that by the time I get home what I've written is gone. Since starting English 132 my process has had to change.

handy when used with the zoom feature.

My English class requires free writing, brain mapping, outlines, and more.  I've never written an outline for any paper.  Ever.  That's not to say that I haven't been assigned outlines.

I knew I wanted my personal essay to be about education so I needed to pick a defining moment in my life.  I had a few different ideas but the details of some incidents were sketchy, and I wasn't sure that I could come up with one single "A-ha" moment in my education.  In previous reflective essays I had successfully narrowed in one a single event, but that wasn't going to happen this time.

recording an album on a tape recorder.

So, I started looking at my father's expanding photo collection.  My father has scanned and sent more than 200 photos of me as a child, and not even 100 of my sister.  Part of the disparity, I think, is being the first born, but the reality is that my parents clearly had favorites and this is a fact that the photos reminded me of, something I ended up somewhat acknowledging in my reflective essay.  The idea that my father favored me never played a big role in my life because I lived with my mother, and since she wasn't very fond of me that was the part I decided to acknowledge.

I figured that I'd write about my experience as a young child in remedial reading and I wanted to look in the photos for details, names of books, names of cars, street names, clothing, anything that I could add to bring the early 90's alive.  I did successfully find the model of one of our old cars.  I found some titles of the books my father would put in front of me and ask me to pronounce (not that I could).  Ultimately, I didn't even use these details, but, what I also started to find were photos of me dressed up in princess costumes, things I hadn't thought about in a long time.

the kindergarten princess.

I started to think about the book I always asked my parents to read, the record that accompanied it, and the fairy tale book that become my next favorite. 

I still love fairy tales, folklore, and anything with strong archetypes, moral lessons, and similar themes fairy tales touch on.  I'm currently enamored with The Decemeberists because they make epic swashbuckling revenge songs and concept albums about mythical tragedies, all the kinds of things you'd find in fairy tales.  However, I'm far from the princess type.  So, how in the hell did that happen?

 

Yes, like most girls I was into princesses and fairy tales.  Sure, it wasn't the only thing I was into because I was also into baseball (and I did NOT throw underhanded), basketball, Nintendo, playing a red plastic guitar, dancing, recording an album, and alternating between crushing on Beetle Juice (I cannot explain this) and Macaulay Culkin, and Punky Brewster.  But, eventually, I quit the princess stuff altogether, which makes sense because I've never been graceful and I never became that girl in Reviving Ophelia who replaces all her interests to become some super shy feminine chick with no personality who only wants to fit in and date cute boys, and is apparently too threatened to raise her hand in class.  I was cursing guys out in class, so, girly girl princess? Definitely not me. 

As a super graceful Cinderella

So, then I started thinking about how that happened.  How I went from being "the happiest baby and the nicest child" (my mother's words) to being different, difficult in my mother's opinion, but also independent, fairly gender neutral, and how I wanted to take charge rather than be a princess waiting for a prince to rescue her and set her up in a nice castle with a rockin' carriage and a sweet pair of glass kicks.

It was pretty obvious to me that reading played a big role in how I was able to envision myself and transform myself into someone I wanted to be, not someone who I was told to be.  When I was able to read I wasn't at the mercy of advertisers and marketers who plucked particular fairy tales to tell to little girls on the silver screen. Through reading I was able to inhabit any story or character I wanted, and I started to think of the damsel in distress as pretty damn lame.

eat your heart out Culkin.

From that point on I started thinking about incorporating my love of fairy tales into the story and using them as metaphors throughout the story.  I didn't want to hit too hard on the usual themes of a wicked stepmother (which, while I did think then, I do not think now), but they all seemed to loosely fit the story.

I'm not sure what I would have come up with had I not started looking at old photographs because they were instrumental in jogging my memory and helping me add meaning to my experience in remedial reading.

Now....to upload my papers.  

So... we're debating on whether or not to postpone this weekend's book club meeting/party/badminton tournament because one member is sick, but new members are planning on attending.

I was at the store the other day and I saw this man in a wheel chair stop across from the meat section. Everyone was crowded around the meat and every time he got close someone would walk in front of him. I was getting so pissed off.

I turned around and said, "Hey, are you trying to get to the meat? You want me to push your way in?"

He laughed.

I said, "Seriously, you gotta get in there and just shove people."

He said that was OK, that he'd wait.

I said, "I'm just looking for an excuse to push people around."

He was appreciative but said that he was patient.

I said, "Okay, it's my loss!"

I went away and watched him, a couple minutes later he finally got to look at the meat.

But . . . yeah, I could use an excuse to give into my lesser desires. Plus, my other classes start after this weekend and that'll mean the end of non academic related fun.

Sigh.

The most amazing thing I've seen happening at a school

...and that includes the "Glee" Prom.

Way to kick ass students, you are my heroes.  

Happy Mother's Day.

Today I'm getting together with family to celebrate my Mother

and my Grandmother.

and I should call my paternal grandmother, too,

and probably facebook my step mother.

Some interesting reading for Mother's Day involving Mother's role in education and childhood from all across the globe:

 The Heavyweight Girls of Manipur, by Thingnam Anjulika Samom, an article that links a mother's social status and literacy to a decrease in feeding girls less than their brothers during food scarcity in India.  

Building Better Kids by Kevin Drum, a Mother Jones article that discusses the link between a child's academic achievement and the education of the child's mother.

The Importance of Tang Dynasty Mothers to the Family Education by Haiwen Guo and Zuoliang Wang. 

Mother's Education and Child Health: Is There a Nurturing Effect?  by Yuyu Chen and Hongbin Li.



and because I prefer reading and writing when there is constant noise in the background: 

Leadbelly "Mother's Blues"

"Motherless Children Have a Hard Time" by Blind Willie Johnson.

"Freedom Riders" coming to PBS, May 16th.

Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.

Goals & Plans.

"I am waiting for something to go wrong.  I am waiting for familiar resolve.  I am waiting for another repeat.  Another diet fed by crippling defeat.  And I am waiting for that sense of relief."

- Expo '86 Death Cab for Cutie.

That used to be the theme song for my life.   

But. . . not anymore.

That may have something to do with why I'm being too stubborn to quit this bet I made.  I'd like to think I'm hanging on for the fifty bucks, but this is not worth fifty bucks.  If I ever use a bet in class to motivate kids I'm just going to opt for shaving my head.  That would be less painful than this.

How did this bet happen?  It was probably brought up by my soon to be wed co worker who has been doing the usual ritual of dieting her way into an extra small dress.  What she couldn't do was eliminate carbs.  I thought betting that I could spend two weeks ingesting under 20 carbs a day would be easy.  I didn't realize how much carbs are in. . . oh, EVERYTHING.  Sure, I expected no oatmeal and no pasta and no rice, but no fruit?? Limited vegetables?  NO CONDIMENTS?  I have a pantry full of things from the Bombay Grocers and the best Asian Market in Michigan, and I can't eat any of it! 

While I've passed the phase of extreme irritability I still feel like shit which, oddly enough, is the only thing I can't do on this diet.  I can drink psyllium fiber in order to keep some semblance of digestive order but it's a drink that has to be slammed, not sipped, or else it thickens.  The first time this happened I put it in green tea. It was like drinking snot but without that salty taste I remember from my youth.   So, maybe it's a good thing my marriage is in the state that it's in or else this would REALLY be cramping my style.  I'll suffer through this for one more week, and after that I'll be running for a banana and a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries.  And peanut butter!!

My body never wants to cooperate with that voice in my head.  The voice in my head that says SHUT UP to the other voices.  Not literal other voices, but, ok, so for my new class I'm supposed to free write on paper and type it up.  Obviously I need to show evidence that I've thought about different topics before selecting one topic.  The problem is that I already came up with my topic while at work.  It just popped into my head and I started writing it in my head.  People talk about different processes, all those people that go into the damn woods, but that's my process.  Things come to me when I'm in noisy annoying places and I can't always write them down -- but I do remember them.  But by the time I have paper I'm so far into what I want to write about that any real free writing is on that subject.  So, I guess I just have to try and free write about other topics, like I'm exploring them, while I already know what I want to do.  I already know my opening line.  I already know paragraphs, I just haven't written them down.

I am a bad non conformist student.  But I have to find a way to fit in.  I'm choosing "education" for my theme for the semester.  Not surprisingly, my personal essay will involve reading fairy tales.  Here's the thing, when I was young I really bought into the whole Disney Cinderella thing.  I really thought that a person could happily suffer and if they were virtuous enough someday they'd be rewarded.  As an adult, I've come to realize that the most realistic version of Cinderella would be one where she cuts off her toes to fit into her shoes, and she spends the whole night praying she doesn't bleed to death before the Prince proposes.  To escape you have to be willing to hurt to get out, but to remain good and pure and virtuous you have to use your new position to help others who weren't fortunate enough to find their glass slipper.

So, I've decided a few things.  First, I need to research admission boards and ask them if they look at portfolios for students looking to transfer to departments that do not request portfolios.  Second, next week I need to buy a domain name because I've decided I am going to host part of my portfolio -- along with my fake online class -- online.  I can't rely on making a "smart" public facebook where I wear glasses and say intelligent things.  That seems too dishonest anyway, because lets face it, my facebook updates are like: "Tripped in heels at DSW today, knocked over an entire shelf of shoes."  Third, I need a list of goals to accomplish during the next year.  I need to be very careful in establishing these goals because I frequently second guess myself and feel strange for mapping out my future.  I feel strange that I am hatching a plan to obtain a letter of recommendation from a long estranged professor who I probably won't even take a class with.  I feel this strange sense that what I'm doing is wrong, and yet, it's NOT.  So, why do I feel like I need to be some fucking Cinderella who just does good and lets things just happen to her?  hoping that some fairy godmother of an admissions board will decide I'm worthy to enter the very halls that intimidate me so much.  Unless I'm clubbing baby seals over the heads, metaphorically or otherwise, I shouldn't feel bad about having an agenda. 

So, here's my agenda:

May 2011: 

• Read all the books I planned on reading (McKay, Toomer, etc.)
• Slightly revise To Make A Man and send that out.  Revise and edit Untitled IV and send that out.
• Track down McKay related essays that were mentioned in my African American Lit textbook.
• Work really hard in Eng 132.  Pay attention.  Learn to be a better writer.  Edit essay sentence by sentence, looking for everything that is discussed in the power point lecture (blog entries will NOT be getting the same time consuming treatment.)  
• Save money: Amount TBD (with school expenses I cannot set a definite amount.)

 June 2011:

•  Volunteer on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Work hard in all three classes, taking full advantage of having intelligent professors.  Making sure to ask questions and learning as much as I possibly can.  
• Begin researching the authors I will need to use to support my fake online course content and techniques.  I'll need to develop theories and practices not only from my own experience, but also from real experiments, data, etc.  and be able to cite them and their influences. 
• Save Money: Amount TBD
• Successfully use a semi colon in class.  
• Go to the eye doctor.
• Make a dental appointment for a cleaning.
• Make annual doctor appointment.

July 2011

• Repeat all of June
• Study in advance for the physics class I will take in the fall semester.  This way, I won't struggle as much to keep up with the pace when it starts.
• Work on improving my Spanish.  

 August 2011

• Hopefully, use writing from Creative Writing class towards something that will better my chances of being accepted into a four year university.  
• Sign up for another math class, a physics class, and macroeconomics.  However, if my targeted professor is teaching a class I haven't taken before I will sacrifice econ for that course.  If he is NOT then I will begin Plan B, tentatively known as Operation Hippie.
• Repeat of June and July.
• Read a lot during break. 
• Research in preparation for December.   
• Work on improving my Spanish.

September 2011

• A Math class, a science class, and potentially an econ class means massive homework.  So at this point I may have to sacrifice some volunteering.  I am hoping to at least continue Sunday mornings.   
• Work on developing a web portfolio.
• Work hard in classes.
• Buy a working oven.
• Oven will mean I probably don't save school money this month.
• Work on improving my Spanish.  

October 2011

• Find a cheap kick ass Halloween costume.  The Stay Puff Marshmallow man might be out of my league expense wise, but surely I can pull off The Dude's simple attire of a bath robe.  Or maybe that blonde guy who was eaten by a bear. I am not willing to sacrifice the best Halloween party in the world.
• Work hard in classes.  (Possibly) continue Operation Hippie.
• Savings: TBD
• Work on improving my Spanish.

November 2011

• Same as October.

December 2011

• Make appointments to meet with the professors who I will ask for letters of recommendation.  Put together packages with stamped and addressed envelopes as well as deadline dates.  Possibly bring cookies/something.  Note to self: figure out what they eat, if any of them are diabetic or vegan or have allergies.  How?  I guess I'll have to have conducted research in advance.
• Read and write and do all the wonderful things I've wanted to do.
• Save Money: Amount TBD.
• Work on improving my Spanish.

January 2012

• Hopefully, I am out of school.  I am no longer at community and can spend my time doing whatever I want, which will include reading, writing, volunteering, and hanging out with friends and family.
• Apply to colleges.
• Finish online and paper portfolio.
• Save 700 a month.

February 2012 - July 2012

• Do what I want.  
• Save at least $700.00 a month, every month.

August 2012

• Start new school.
• Develop new plan.
• Find a part time job.
   

 List subject to additions. 

taking a bite out of school.

Crikey!  I'm still in search of my very own croc'.

I thought I was going to write about computers, programming, and hacking for my latest English class.  Specifically, how programming and how hacking (government sanctioned) skills can transform traditional patriarchal fields into fields to be potentially dominated by women (and so persuading women to learn/work in these fields), and then a paper on how the internet is used to create a more democratic society (Egypt) and a society where the lack of government oversight can be potentially corrected by radical groups (like Anonymous when they brought down the websites of credit card and internet payment process giants after the oligarchy exercised cartel-like control post wiki leaks blow up).  The latter one would be difficult to write because I can't come across as advocating for it or else that would violate the student handbook rules, or whatever.  But, it appears that I have to select one general community to write about for all essays.  I don't want to do my personal essay on anything related to computers, so it looks like the hunt is still on!

My brother keeps sending me his Australian videos and I can't get the accent of the camera man out of my head.  But I do like thinking about doing homework and imaging myself as a crocodile hunter and the crocs as my assignments.  I want my first paper to have teeth, but it'll probably end up less like a crocodile and more like my great grandmother -- nothing but gums. 

Giving Meaning to School Work.

Oh oh oh oh!!

I was sitting at work today straining my eyes to death and then suddenly I remembered something I had seen on The Colbert Report awhile ago.  He featured a woman named Emily Pilloton on it who has been designing products for people in impoverished nations who aren't able to afford more traditional products. I found the clip here: 

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

So they've developed shoes to avoid damage from land mines, glasses that are affordable and can be adjusted for whatever your prescription, among other awesome creative inventions.

So, I was thinking about what kind of projects could give school a level of meaning that Dan Pink discusses for businesses, and it seems to me that this would be a great idea.  Designing products with a positive social impact would not only be relevant for science courses, shop courses, and art courses, but even history classes!  Why?  Well, not long ago I watched a very disgusting BBC special on how filthy London used to be before modern sanitation.  Apparently people would buy these special shoes to lift themselves above the muck.  They didn't look like anything I had seen before.  So that got me to thinking about the type of products that were made before our modern technology.  It seems to me that developing a product using low tech equipment, or even improving on a once popular but now discarded design, could be something that could be incorporated into a history class. 

I mean, I get it, history and humanities and everything in between are important to fostering creative and critical thinking skills.  They develop a more informed citizen and improve democracy.  But, hey, for a kid who can't think that far ahead making something like this would provide some immediate meaning to their daily work.

Also, this weekend there was a shooting outside of my place.  The person hit was just a kid.  So, yeah, physical science courses could have a student make something -- anything -- using wedges, levers, and pulleys, or they could aspire to something that helps foster a sense of empathy and responsibility.  

I came home to research Emily.  Apparently Emily and crew are doing exactly what I'm talking about already!  I found this awesome video: 

She also discusses physically designing better classrooms.  I love it!!!!  I especially love the game play idea.  Imagine if young children could exercise and get their blood flowing while learning math, not only improving their learning but perhaps leading to less medicated students. Imagine a child's abundance of energy being treated as an advantage rather than a problem!

Learn more about Emily's Group Project H.