matching tracksuits

The Bard on the Wane

Monday 04 February 2008

In a study entitled "Vanishing Shakespeare," the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that 55 out of 70 "English departments at the U.S. News & World Report's top 25 national universities and top liberal arts colleges, as well as the Big Ten schools and select public universities in New York and California" don't require English majors to take a course in Shakespeare. Instead, we're replacing the Bard with Madonna:

Increasingly, colleges and universities envision a major in English not as a body of important writers, genres, and works that all should know, but as a hodgepodge of courses reflecting diverse interests and approaches. See Appendix B.) After redesigning the English major at the University of Pennsylvania, for example, the department's undergraduate hairman told The Daily Pennsylvanian student newspaper that We might not agree on what we think English is, but we could all agree that our curriculum should reflect the makeup of our faculty. Such a philosophy results in course offerings being driven not by the intellectual needs of students, but often by the varied interests and agendas of the faculty. As a consequence, it is possible for students to graduate with a degree in English without thoughtful or extended study of central works and figures who have shaped our literary and cultural heritage.

It's difficult for me to imagine not studying Shakespeare as an English major. Shortly after I graduated, the professor who taught the Shakespeare course at my small liberal arts college introduced a second Shakespeare course in which students spent a whole semester studying a single play, with the ultimate aim of performing it. It was offered every other year, with a more traditional, 12-play Shakespeare course offered on off years. I wish I'd had the opportunity to take both.

But not to study his work at all? "A degree in English without Shakespeare is like an M.D. without a course in anatomy. It is tantamount to fraud."

"Vanishing Shakespeare"

Sunshine After the Rain

Sunday 03 February 2008

I’d just finished a tough second period. Most classes with second period are tough — it’s just that kind of class. I was a little down about how much of a disaster that period could be when I decided to walk down to the cafeteria for a cookie.

The next-door social studies teacher emerged as I was walking by and told me about an unexpected exchange he’d had with a student.

“Latonya was talking in class,” he began, “And I told her to be quiet.”

Latonya (not her real name, of course) is a bright young lady in my related arts class. I’m teaching “Self-Advocacy,” which is basically social skills. And while Latonya is a very sweet young lady when she wants to be, she has a reputation for being tough on teachers.

In fact, the first time I met her was when I was calling her down for inappropriate behavior in the hallway and she began telling me how stupid my judgment was. When she first found out that I was teacher her third quarter related arts class, she said, “No way I’m staying in that class.” But by and by, talking very occasionally in the hallway or while outside before lunch, she came to change her opinion of me, and I of her. Before long, she was asking me when she’d be in my class, saying, “Mr. S, I can’t wait to be in your class.”

Now she’s in my class, and she’s one of the few who genuinely wants to learn how to make their school days more successful. She listens; she participates; she behaves wonderfully. But it’s not an academically challenging class, and I was curious how she was doing in other, “real” classes.

It seemed I was about to find out.

“You told her to be quiet, and…?”

“And she said, ‘Okay.’ And did it.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Mr. W. continued: “I was so surprised that I just looked at her and said, ‘Excuse me?’ ‘Mr. S. teaches us to just say “okay” whenever a teacher asks us to do something,’ she explained.”

It’s hard to explain the odd elation I felt. Part of it was for me — “Hey, I taught someone something!” It was important to feel positive after having had such a negative lesson. Most of the elation I felt was for Latonya. For someone whose auto-pilot sends her into fits of denial and aggression when confronted by a teacher like that, she accomplished something ineffably significant in just saying, “Okay.”

When I saw her in the hall during the next break, I told her how proud I was of her.

I wish I had a picture of her expression.

I walked back down the hallway, thinking, “These are the moments that keep me going in this job…”

The Saga, Part III

Saturday 02 February 2008

Forced air heating systems are delicate. They're designed based on the cubic area of the home, and they push out a given amount of air (measured in tons, no less) depending on the size of the home. The bigger the home, the more air needed, and the bigger the unit installed. Simple.

Zoning systems work by shutting off air to particular parts of the home via dampers installed in the ductwork.

"The two," Mr. Accent Heating Tech told me, "are not compatible. The gas pack is forcing out enough air for the whole house, but it's not getting delivered to the whole house, and it's all not going into the house -- some of it is doubling back to the unit, making it think it's overheating."

Time to call TSC again.

This time, they poked and prodded even more. And two problems were uncovered. First, one of the dampers was broken. This was when the tech said, "Oh, crap."

The second problem: the whole control board needed to be replaced.

"No problem," I thought. This is all still under warranty.

Parts were ordered, and TSC called to set up a time to come back out. "The total cost will be about $480," the TSC woman explained.

"Total cost?" I asked. "This is still under warranty."

"Well, that's the information I have from the owner," replied Ms. TSC.

"Well, I'd like to talk to the owner," replied Mr. Getting More And More Irritated.

Larry -- the owner -- explained to me that the part was still under warranty, but labor wasn't included.

"Ah, that's how you're going to do it," I said.

"Excuse me?" Larry asked.

"Well, I knew you were going to get money out of me, I just didn't know how."

It seemed ridiculous: almost $500 of labor to replace two parts? Granted, the control board looks fairly complicated, but it should be a matter of disconnecting, reconnecting, setting, and testing. And the damper -- it slides right in to a pre-cut hole. Attach the control wire and viola.

At a price of $100 an hour, that's five hours' work.

I was still feeling frustrated about the whole thing, and I explained to him my concerns about zoning systems in general. "How much would it cost just to pull the whole system out?" I asked.

"I'll have to get back to you on that," Larry replied.

"Well, do," I said.

He never did.

However, TSC called back later to set up a time to come out and do the work, and we've yet to receive a bill. And the heating finally works.

So it seems Mr. Total Comfort was right. Too bad he made such a mess in the bargain...

Dumbfounded

Friday 01 February 2008

Young Lady: You teachers are so disrespectful. It's so unfair.
gls: I'm sorry -- I don't follow.
Young Lady: You tell me to be quiet and that's fine. But what happens if I tell you to be quiet?
gls: [Pauses in thought; wonders if he heard correctly; contemplates an adequate response.] Well, generally kids don't tell adults to be quiet.
Young Lady: God -- you don't get it. [Storms out.]
gls: [To self.] No, you don't get it.

So many of my students think that they're adults' equals, that they can talk to adults just like they talk to their peers.

Did our teachers think the same of us?

Odd Advertisement

Thursday 31 January 2008

Interesting -- in an ad-y way -- how the family is looking on, from a distance, as if their house is being built.

The Saga, Part II

Wednesday 30 January 2008

Cooler weather arrived. We started using the gas pack for heating. After some time, the same thing that had been happening with the cooling began happening with the heating — it simply would not turn on.

We called TSC again. They came out, poked, prodded, tested, ruminated, and gave a verdict: the main control board of the gas pack was at fault.

“That is covered by the home warranty,” I told them, “So I’ll take care of it through the home warranty people.”

Out came company one. They poked, prodded, and tested, and determined that the gas was not properly regulated. They regulated it. The heating worked — for about two hours.

Next day, they came out again. I left a note with the information TSC had given me. “Please change the main board,” I asked. They changed a few parts, but not the main board. Gas-related parts. And the heater worked again. For about two hours.

I called them back out and they finally changed the main board. And the heater worked. For about a day.

We called the home warranty people again, asking that they send out a third company. They did — Accent Heating. The gentleman poked, prodded, tested — “I can’t find anything wrong with it. It’s working now.”

Great.

Two companies, three techs, and none of them can figure out what’s going on.

The problem was this: the zoning system was making a call to the heater, but it was not turning on. As soon as I reset the power to the heater, it would come on. However, it would eventually shut off and never turn back on. The exhaust fan (to remove the fumes from the burning gas) would turn on, but the heater would never ignite.

Finally, AC made it out when it the problem was happening. He tested, prodded, and so on, and finally was able to tell us the problem: some upper temp limit error was tripping out and causing the heater to think it was overheating, so it shut down. Every time I reset it, I was basically overriding that. The heater thought things were fine, but it would once again think it was overheating.

“What’s causing this?” I asked.

“The zoning system,” replied the AC tech.

Double great…

Out Before the Count

Tuesday 29 January 2008

If Giuliani is a prize fighter and the primary season is a title bout, Giuliani just bonked his head on the way out to the ring, knocking himself unconscious to the cheers of virtually no one.

Zoo

Tuesday 29 January 2008

Greenville has a zoo -- a small zoo, but a zoo nonetheless. We took L for her first visit Sunday.

She most liked the giraffes, but seemed generally thrilled with everything -- especially the way I was toting her about at times.

As usual, L made friends with everyone.

And clearly, I wasn't the only parent running around the zoo, trying to document everything my child does.

Walk in the Front Yard

Monday 28 January 2008

The other day, it was sunny and semi-warm. What else could we do but take the Girl out for a walk in the front yard?

She's getting better at walking, but our bumpy front yard causes certain navigation problems sometimes.

The Saga, Part I

Monday 28 January 2008

We’ve been battling our gas pack for months now. And every time someone comes out to look at it, we get a different diagnosis.

It started back in the summer, when we came home one day to find the house a cozy 90 degrees.

Delicious.

We called our home warranty company — American Home Shield — and they sent out a company called Total Comfort, which was a Total Disaster. The tech poked around a bit, then determined that it was the pre-installed zoning system. Which our warranty doesn’t cover. A quick call to the manufacturer of the system revealed that only two companies in all of Greenville deal with zoning systems. We called one of them: The Service Company (TSC in future reference).

They sent out a tech who spent an hour undoing what Total Comfort had done. Basically, the TC tech made a mess that the TSC tech had to fix. It took an hour. After another hour of testing, checking, and ruminating, the TSC tech determined that the transformer for the zoning system had blown and would need to be replaced. He also informed us that whoever installed the system did it poorly, because it should be on its own dedicated circuit. He worked up an estimate of how much it would cost to fix everything: it was well over a thousand dollars.

I contacted the previous owner to ask who had installed the zoning system, and when. “It was The Service Company, about two years ago.”

Armed with this info, I called TSC back. Sure enough, they were able to confirm that they had installed it. As such, I politely requested that they come out and fix the problem. And they did.

The air conditioner was fixed, and we thought our woes were over. But alas, all of this was only a prelude.

Development

Sunday 27 January 2008

All of L's linguistic development is in Polish currently. But that's an entirely different post...

L is understanding more and more spoken language every day. She brings things to us; she takes things from one person to another; she puts things back; she gives hugs -- all when asked.

She also recognizes people in pictures.

"Pokaz Papa," I say.

"Pokaz Nana," I ask.

Dziadek, Mama, Tata, L, Babcia, Papa, Nana -- each and everyone she recognizes. (Babcia is in a different picture, though.)

Earl Scruggs and Steve Martin

Sunday 27 January 2008

Yeah, I couldn't believe it myself.

Odd Surfing

Saturday 26 January 2008

Nothing special -- just an odd little chain of clicks...

I watched some of Searching for Bobby Fischer last night. It's the story of Josh Waitzkin, a child chess prodigy who still plays chess. I know his several of his games well because a chess program I have include several of his self-annotated games.

In the movie, Josh's foil is child prodigy Jonathan Poe. In real life, the boy's name was Jeff Sarwer.

Jeff no longer plays chess. But he has a little on his web site about it, specifically the games against Waitzkin he played twenty years ago. He writes,

I found some old scoresheets of games I played in the 80's. There are games from the World Youth Championships, New York Open, and for kicks the only two tournament games I played against Josh Waitskin. The first game I won, and in the second I blew a winning position and a draw occured [sic] that I never realized would become chess folklore. (The book and film "Searching for Bobby Fischer). In short, I was 7, he was 9, and I quickly forgot about the draw and won the world-10 championships 2 months later.You won't find many tournament games of mine, but the truth is that I never played in too many tournaments -- I was always happier playing speed chess in the park or in some random late night cafe or something

Truth is, Sarwer didn't just stop playing chess because he realized he preferred speed chess in the park to tournaments. The truth is more tragic.

Anyway, the subtitle of Jeff's web site is "citizen of the world" and he has a little interactive map that shows all the places he's been/lived. "Wonder if he's been" -- oh, you know where I checked.

Turns out he's currently living there, I think.

Show Us the Money?

Friday 25 January 2008

Huckabee on the proposed stimulus package (via memory via NPR): We're giving people all this money, which we're going to get in loans from China. Then we're going to tell Americans to go out and spend it, mostly on products produced in China. Who's economy is getting stimulated?

Marc Acito, in an NPR commentary, developed similar ideas.

If we get said check, we're going to invest it in new windows. The bliss of being a homeowner...

A School with Character, No Doubt

Thursday 24 January 2008

I received an email with the title,

You are nominated for a Ph.d

I think I’ll pass.

Still, it’s not as bad as Armstrong College spelling “curriculum” with two “i’s” (i.e., “cirriculum”) on their “Academics” menu when their little site went live a couple of years ago…

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