When the hurly-burly’s done

From metafilter: Witness: holocaust and genocides as told in art.

So my friend Nick and his friend Michael have a band. They’re called The Disband, which is not the most interesting thing about their project. See, Nick and Michael live far away from each other, and yet they have released two fully collaborative CDs in the past couple of years, in addition to producing a tribute to Wilco.
For their newest release, they are laying the process bare. Check out the progress on The Live Album by listening to half-finished tracks and watching the video diaries, then give them some feedback. This is a rare chance to be a part of the recording process, as a spectator with benefits. You’re welcome.

Richard Buckner apparently set selections from Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology to music, on a record entitled The Hill. It came out a while ago, but hey, I’m slow on these things sometimes.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mr. Buckner, let me just say this: he is a great songwriter and guitarist with a voice and delivery that will grow on you, kind of like how Tom Waits and Bob Dylan grow on you. Buckner has a tendency never to repeat the lyrics to a chorus, to tell abstract stories with concrete details, and to rock me on a fairly regular basis. Here are a few of his songs:

“Amanda Barker” (from The Hill)

“Jewelbomb” (from Since)

“Charmers” (from Dents and Shells)

The sensation or perception of such energy as warmth or hotness. So it’s the second day of 95+ degree weather here on the Gold Coast.  I guess I could say that it’s a dry heat, but I wouldn’t know, since I’ve spent the entire past 24 hour period huddled up against various air conditioners.  I can safely say, though, that it’s not pleasant between the house and the car, and the car and the place of business. 

 Intensity, as of passion, emotion, color, appearance, or effect.  Saturday night’s show definitely fits this description.  We were loud and perhaps a little sloppy, but the jams went on for a long time, the hippies danced, and a good time was had by all.  Especially by me, quite frankly–it was the most fun I’ve ever had playing music.  Something about the combination of the tiny stage, the friendly crowd, and the freedom to improvise really worked.  I’d gotten enough sleep, I was in a good mood, and everything was clicking for everyone.  Just plain awesome.

Konrad Glogowski writes:

I don’t want my students to see writing as something one produces as a response to a question or a prompt. I don’t want them to see writing as production of answers. I want them to see writing as something one arrives at, something one produces after engaging with ideas, I want them to see it as an attempt to explore their views and opinions. I don’t want them to produce texts that present ideas as definitive and self-evident. I’m gradually beginning to realize that trying to fit all their thoughts into a five paragraph essay does injustice to both the ideas they engage with and their own cognitive abilities. I don’t want them to see their interpretations as something immutable and definitive. That is what essay-writing seems to do to their perception of intellectual engagement: Here is my thesis. Here is my evidence. I’m done, Mr. G. What are we reading next?

Yes. This is my issue with student writing, exactly, and expressed in a far more effective way than I ever could. Why is it that my students, my colleagues, and, I fear, myself continue to think of writing as a summative/culminating activity? Why is it that the essay is always a strong candidate for a final assessment, but is almost never assigned as a way of checking in with what students are thinking some time before they finish reading an assigned book?

Something struck me yesterday when I dropped a friend off at the airport for her trip. I apologized that she’d be getting there so early, but I was trying to make sure to be through NYC before rush hour hit. So she had an extra couple of hours to kill in the terminal in Newark. Anyway, and I don’t think she was just trying to make me feel better, when I asked her what she’d do to kill the time, she mentioned a few things: enjoying the feeling of checking in first for her flight, eating some of Newark Airport’s famous sushi, and breaking in her new travel journal. See, she’s a habitual journal writer and has been for years. She writes when she can, when she’s got something she needs to work out or just put on paper to see how it works, and has encouraged me to start keeping a journal too. I wish I had that kind of discipline–I’d love to get into the habit of writing whenever something strikes me.

I’m excited about using blogs in a classroom situation. I think it might, if everyone’s on board, work out like Konrad’s experience (that would be AWESOME). I would love for my students to see this as an opportunity to express themselves and, even more importantly, to learn by collaborating with each other asynchronously.