My Progress With Portfolio Work

Slowly but surely I'm withdrawing from prose, which may be a bad thing and a good thing. 

This may be a bad thing because I'm struggling to continue my prose work. I could use insubstantial artistic justification and cite a lack of inspiration but I feel it has more to a lack of interest (more on this below). This certainly could be another setback stemming from a lack of conception as to how to develop specific characters, but my character work hasn't been hopeless. I think I may have found my greatest enemy: plotting. 

Currently I've been working my 'country noir' story, and I think I have better characters than perhaps I'm willing to give myself credit for. Yet, the plot seems to be a bit thin. Maybe this is just a process but I'm becoming exasperated with a lack of infrastructure, so to speak, with my plot. Last week I had about 6 pages (out of ideally ten or more) of work, but I stopped because I find the robbery that lies within the crux of the plot doesn't make a bit of sense. Consequently I feel I need to take some time to figure out what my characters' struggles might be and then have my characters progress the plot--perhaps. 

To digress, I've actually started back at writing some poetry. After last week's frustration with my story I wrote a comic poem about my disappointing walk to the Harry Ransom Center while in Austin. I feel there can be some judicious editing needed but I laid down some interesting poetry. I also looked at some of my old work and I feel a great deal of it has potential. For awhile, poetry was my focus and specifically image-heavy poetry influenced by Eastern and especially Japanese poetry. I've ventured into experience-heavy poetry, a la Ginsberg and Whitman but I feel that it is easy, especially for me, to veer into self indulgence. I think some of these poems have potential, but I think I need to get back to image-heavy poetry, which has been my strongest material, as well as lay some commentary or discourse in these poems, much like Rumi would do or Neruda (both of which I like more than Basho or Ginsberg). 

It has also led me to think about what I enjoy about writing. I enjoy reading, but lately I've been reading less of classics like a good writer should be and watching 'The Wire.' I've also been reading some poetry, especially that of Thomas Hardy (and I plan to read 'Far From the Madding Crowd' soon). This has led me to reconsider what genres I enjoy the most in writing. When I was in my latter years of college I found enjoyment in writing, but writing scripts and poetry. My prose struggles have been numerous and I have worked on it, and I've got some good drafts. Yet, I'm starting to think that my prose struggles are not just my incompetence in writing prose but a lack of interest. Poetry gives me a great deal of joy, as does script writing. Part of me is thinking that I should refocus my portfolio on poetry and scripts, because I enjoy them the most and that maybe my prose isn't coming too well because I'm not interested or subconsciously I find it boring. I read a great deal of short stories, but my novel reading is subpar; typically I find reading 300 pages or more to be exhausting because I feel like it's unnecessary. If Faulkner could create an ensemble of hopelessly interesting characters in less than 250 pages in 'As I Lay Dying' then anyone can. That being said, I think I should continue trying for my prose. I'm thinking that writing from first person might be a good change of pace, as it best resembles dialogue and script writing (as far as prose concerns). I do think that my point of view work on a character in my 'country noir' story was exceedingly better, so I may start at that. 

Preparing for the MFA with Writer's Block

I've realized that if I do not get a teaching position within in the next year it will be necessary to go back to grad school.

My interest in writing and education has led me to believe that besides the dreaded MAT program (as I've discussed before) I should look into MFA in Creative Writing Programs. I've decided to apply to two MAT programs at least and at least two MFA programs. Since I've decided to apply to MFA programs this summer will be dedicated to building up my portfolio. 

Most MFA programs require a portfolio with 20-40 pages. Therefore my goal for the summer is write and work on at least 40 pages of prose (if not more). I intend to build up my portfolio by working on a 20 page short story, a 10 page story, and about 3 or 4 stories under 10 pages.

Thankfully I feel like I have a fair share of old material I can work on through revision. I have a 20 page story already laid out, but it needs heavy revision in specific moments. I have an idea for the ten page story, but it hasn't been written yet, so I'll probably start on it soon. The quick fiction pieces, as I'll call them, haven't been all worked out. I had been working, slowly, on an episodic story about a girl named Dorothy developing into an independent person; one part talked about her stunted attempts to date boys, one talked about her moment laughing at Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" when it was played during 9/11. I had planned to write about her conflict with her religious grandmother, but as I think about this I feel it might be better to separate these ideas and make them unique, individual stories. I feel like if I can create memorable characters from these individual stories it might serve my quick fiction interest. I do have another story about a kid digging for gold in his backyard, that's more than just about a kid digging for gold in his backyard, but I'm not sure to work on it or not. 

Besides showing my capacity for character development, I want to show these MFA programs my uniqueness not only in storytelling but also subject matter. I've come to realize that I have some consistencies in my subjects and themes. I'm very interested in the cognitive development of young persons, especially in how this development interacts with their growing awareness of the world and how their own, specific worlds shape their awareness. My 20 page story is about kids who take their chum hostage, but it's also about how they're driven to excess through the negligence of adults. I'm also interested in the mechanisms in living in a small town area, especially a small Appalachian area, during the 1990s and 2000s. So much changed during this time in Southern Appalachia as jobs grew fewer and the economic divide grew greater and meth completely devoured homes where I grew up around. There's definitely a Daniel Woodrell influence, but I'm not exclusively interested in 'country noir' though that's what I'm planning with the 10 page story. 

Why do I write about all this? This blog was initially suggested to show my inner workings concerning my writing and my output, but ultimately became a soap box for things I care about. It will remain a soap box, but I feel like it may serve me well to use this blog as a mechanism for self awareness over the Summer as I work on this portfolio. Self awareness is important in growing as an artist and keeping one on track, which is what I really need. 

As the title suggests, I've been overcome with a great deal of writer's block, rooted in my work. My creative writing output has stalled in these past two months because work has led me to be mentally exhausted and consequently my ideas have been stalled and exhausted. It's really hard to work at writing when you have 40 hour work weeks; not that this is impossible, but it's hard. Another purpose of this blog has been so that I can write something, anything while still working 40 hour weeks. So now that I am only working 17 hours a week, it's time to write!

A Belated Post on Austin

Austin, the live music capital of the world and supposed hub of alternative culture, is no Atlanta.

In fact my recent vacation to Austin by way of travelling on the Greyhound bus through the Gulf South has reaffirmed by faith and pride in the Atlantic South and Georgia.

Travelling, as I've mentioned before, provides opportunities for transcendent moments that help provide self awareness and perspective on life. Chicago put perspective on my life as a recent graduate, uncertain of what career I wanted for myself. The enjoyment of Millennium Park, Willis Tower, the North Side, and the food gave me a desire to bask in my youth and relish in life for a bit (rather than completely immerse myself in 14-16 hr days in film or theatre for barely enough). 

What did Austin put in perspective? For the past year I've been bashing Atlanta and to an extent Georgia; I've made my interest in moving away once certified to a great deal of people, among a general distaste for certain elements of Atlanta (namely the sprawl and city planning) and the political climate of Georgia (whose state legislature have performed meaningless and useless political actions while not properly discussing others). In short, I grew tired of the short term thinking of many Georgians and Atlanta at the expense of long term planning and wise investment (say, in education). All of this led me to think of moving out once I became certified in teaching or once I got into grad school. UT-Austin had been on top of my most desirable grad schools, with a fully funded MFA in Creative Writing and a great deal of cross genre work. Austin has been growing exponentially over the past few years, winning accolades for its nightlife and food and in particular its music. 

Atlanta is better, to me, at least. 

What Austin put in perspective was the value in my home state and gave me ammunition in pride in my state. 

Make no mistake, Austin isn't a bad city. 6th Street is a good street for nightlife. There's some great food here, ranging from taco trucks like 'Karma Taco' to Caribbean/Italian fusion places like Rasta Pasta at The Drag. It even has the backdrop of the Colorado River (Texas's Colorado River, not THE Colorado River that flows through the Grand Canyon) and Lady Bird Lake. It also has a badass state capitol. 

This, however, is all in Atlanta and in plentiful portion. 6th Street has a good music scene, but it primarily has John Mayer or Stevie Ray Vaughan wannabes, coffeehouse music, or club music. We have that in Atlanta, but in more original and uniquely raw forms and more of it (a la Opera, Club Mami, etc). We have great restaurants, especially in East Atlanta and Midtown like The Vortex, Ann's Snack Bar, Bluefin, and Mary Mac's. We have the Chattahoochee River and Piedmont Park and our capitol, while smaller, has a golden dome.

Austin is just as sprawled out as Atlanta. I tried to navigate through most neighborhoods and got blisters all over my feet because there is no transit in Austin. They have a bus system, but it is narrow and doesn't cover  a great deal; it-and this is sad-makes MARTA look like the Subway or CTA. I could get around to most places in Atlanta through MARTA; I can get to Little 5 Points through the Inman Park station, or Decatur through their station, or Midtown through Arts Center Station or Cheshire Bridge through Lenox Station. That does not include the bus routes MARTA has. One couldn't do that in Austin. Nor was the bus too reliable; I'd end up waiting 40 minutes to an hour waiting on the right bus at a station, even though it was supposed to be no less than 20 minutes at a given stop. East Austin has no bus coverage, for the most part, which made my seemingly feasible trip to the Rude Mechanicals for their new show (which sucked by the way) far more time consuming and treacherous. 

There's a lot of cool stuff in Austin, but for me I was unimpressed because Atlanta spoiled me, with actual travel destinations for tourists a la Georgia Aquarium, or cultural places like the High or the Alliance, as well as nightlife. I had some wonderful moments in Austin, especially when I was with people I met at the hostel, but I couldn't help but feel I was missing out on a better vacation. Especially given the expenses I could've gone to the Grand Canyon, or even somewhere local like Western North Carolina or Charleston or Savannah. Instead, I spent more on Austin than Chicago and trust me, Austin is no Chicago. 

It lead me to not understand why Atlanta didn't get the kind of coverage that Austin received in travel articles. Atlanta is better than Austin, no offense. 

Does this mean you shouldn't visit Austin? Not necessarily. For any interested traveler I'd suggest visiting Austin as a stop on a road trip, on the way through the Southwest, as well as visiting San Antonio. 

Would I suggest Greyhound? Actually, Grehound wasn't so bad. If you look up Greyhound on the internet you'll see a great deal of horrible reviews, discussing lost cargo to missing buses to lack of reservations in seating. Greyhound wasn't quite like this; I had no troubles or pains in cargo and I always had a seat. I think Greyhound is much like driving, with specific benefits and detriments. The benefits are the rural areas you see for better (like the farm land of Central Texas) and worse (the Gulf South, Mississippi's roads). I think if you do not have a form of transportation or a reliable form of transportation (like me) then Greyhound is definitely an option. Between the bus and flying, I'll take flying though. 

Even though I'm disappointed that I didn't get quite my money's worth in travelling, and that Austin didn't live up to much of its hype (to me), I'm glad I can take a perspective back that where I'm at and living isn't too bad. I'm acquainted with people who do not like Georgia and who came here and haven't acclimated to our ways, but now I feel like I have fair enough room to counter their beliefs with a great deal of pride and appreciation to what I've got. 

Really, it also showed me that I need to start thinking wisely and not differently about travelling. I chose Austin because it seemed different, over my instinctual interests in smaller areas (like Charleston or Savannah) and my love of nature (like Western North Carolina, like the Grand Canyon, etc). I should trust my instincts and wisdom over intellectual choosing something that's difficult or different.

Also, this trip showed me the importance of not just being by oneself. I had no issues in terms of discomfort. I just realized that having company would've made my trip better. Choose company and think wisely while travelling, and trust your instincts. 

Between Atlanta and Austin, go to Atlanta.

UPDATE: 7/28/2013

I miss Austin. Go to Austin as well.

The Other Generation Y

I hate it when Generation Y is pinned down as lazy or spoiled by older generations. Check out this blog post from "Bayou Renaissance Guy" where he addresses my generation citing other articles that reflect the attention my generation is currently receiving (because of our coming of age) through analysis and criticism:  http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2010/06/generation-y-spoiled-rotten.html. There's also this article:  http://www.offthegridnews.com/2011/12/08/generation-jobless-victims-or-spoiled-losers/. In fact, google "generation y lazy" and see what comes up.

I resent this stereotype for various reasons, namely that it reflects generalization, fundamental attribution error ("I got a job, so if you can't- tough"), a lack of awareness of changing economic climate, and truly it stems from this Objectivist idealism that people are not held back by circumstance or upbringing or anything like that, like why poor, black inner city youth can learn  computer code even though they may not have access to computers in their environment (http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2011/12/12/if-i-was-a-poor-black-kid/). That's the thing; there's this notion that, as my Ayn Rand-influenced friend put it, sociology and psychology are the "sciences of making excuses for people." Essentially, this means that factors such as socioeconomic development, parental guidance and raising don't affect cognitive development and that people use this as an excuse to their laziness and that the elites and people who succeed are that way through their own hard work. 

Bull-wait for it-http://cdn.randomfunnypicture.com/wp2/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/For-my-fans-of-the-wire-sheeeeit-obama-hope-change.jpg.

Of course there are people out there who did not grow up in fortunate circumstances and had low income families but were often able to find through their human experience moments of clarity, or having the right people raise and take care and influence them, or interacting and creating bonds with the right people, or being influenced by the right models or right philosophies. There are definitely instances of this, but that doesn't mean there are not adverse circumstances that adversely affect people. People's cognitive development, perspective on life, and life's philosophy are certainly affected by being around the wrong people, having the wrong type of parental raising (or not any parental raising), and having a human experience where exposure to raw and awful shit affects you. 

There's evidence in neuroscience for this in neuroplasticity, where the brain remaps itself based on human experience. Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz even wrote a book about how he helped people with OCD by having them  just think that they don't have OCD: http://www.amazon.com/The-Mind-Brain-Neuroplasticity-Mental/dp/0060393556. People learn to survive through models, through experience. With good parents, people grow up learning to survive through hard work and dedication and develop empathy for other. Not everyone will have these parents, or upbringing. 

This is The Other Generation Y. 

Generation Y is stereotyped as trust fund kids, people who followed their impulses to impractical degrees who suffer through unemployment, people who occupy Wall Street with  no aim, and were spoiled by technology, instant communication, and financial wealth and upkeep. 

Behind this and unnoticed is the Other Generation Y. See, Baby Boomers were stereotyped in very much the same way as Generation Y's were; impulsive, spoiled brats who vest themselves in material needs and status symbols like sleek cars, and such, but this wasn't the case for a lot of them. During this time there was The Other America, where people suffered through low incomes, low circumstances, and low chances. When the kids of The Other America came of age they were the ones who went to Vietnam, not the Benjamin Braddocks. They came home to an economy like it is now, they turned to drugs and impulsive relationships and unplanned parenthoods. These are the people who were devoured by Cocaine and Crack and had children that became The Other Generation Y. This Generation Y subgroup had to grow up in broken families, through divorce and fighting, had to see low incomes go lower because of the shift of manufacturing to overseas markets, were devoured by meth and now they're coming of age. 

Like many posts, this one comes about because of a specific incident. A former childhood playmate was arrested, with someone else his own age, for home invasion and theft. He put a gun on a senior citizen and took his wallet and money. This guy is a member of The Other Generation Y. 

It saddened me, truly, to see him on the front page of our local newspaper, because he wasn't a terrible kid growing up. He was smart and had a wit about him; he picked on me quite a bit, but I was a nerd and he was one of the few kids who came over to my house for my birthday. Unfortunately, he had a mother who was a substance abuser and lived on a street that notoriously was full of people like that. He barely got to be with his father, who died a few years ago only 56 and said father neglected if not outright abandoned his family. His father was a drunk and impulsive, having 6-8 kids with 3 different women. 

I was lucky; even though my dad was a member of the Other America he grew up with good role models in his extended family, like his Great-Uncle Arthur, his uncle Carlton, and his employer Otis Stonecypher. Therefore when he got out of military service in 1975, he knew better than to go into drugs and instead used his GI Bill to go back to school and get trained in a trade. Though my dad worked a lot and I didn't see him a lot, I wasn't raised by someone who didn't understand his position as a parent. When I played recreational sports, my dad didn't always throw the ball with me because of his job and his fatigue, but I never had to worry about whether or not I was going to be picked up. 

See, the guy I mentioned earlier did. Let's call him D. D was on the same football team as me and I remember we had practice then when it was over, my dad was at his truck waiting to pick me up. D's wasn't, even though he was supposed to. Because my dad knew D's father, he and I waited, giving D some change to use the pay phone (before cell phones became popular) to call his dad, and waited for him to come pick him up. We waited 20 minutes, during which time D cried because he was certain his dad wasn't going to pick him up. My dad was just about to take him home, when D's dad finally showed up. I'll never forget that, because to me it seems basic that as a father you show up and pick up your kids, but that's because I was raised in an environment where that happened. D wasn't, and unfortunately he didn't have role models, parental guidance, or an upbringing that showed him necessary skills and developed a sense of self-awareness. Instead, he learned through his human experience that he had to make it on his own, and through impulses (word of the blog, if you couldn't tell) he led himself into robbing a senior citizen (who chased him out with a shotgun, by the way).

The idea of "Generation Y" almost seems asinine to me, because it fails to capture the entirety of people born in my date range. Not all of us had exposure to technology from an early age. Not all of us have iPhones, not all of us went through school without working or had new cars or new stuff. A lot of us grew up like this Bayou Renaissance man did, or came up with worse, because of the shift in the job market, because of how unplanned parenthood and drug addiction ate up people who needed help.

That's another word of the blog: help. Like, I hope D gets help and can clean himself up and make good decisions. People need help, and getting help doesn't mean you're spoiled either. Everyone gets help in one way or another.

Contemplation of MAT Programs and On Student Loans

I'm a firm believer that loan debt is not indicative of maturity.

This seems trite, but when discussing loans with a colleague of mine last summer this individual's response to my justification that some people choose GSC because they don't want to take on so much debt was "Well then you grow up and take up a loan" and this was echoed a year before by a fellow student as well. These were, like me, theatre majors.

In my earlier post "On College" I talked about how college has been in my mind lately because it has been a year (actually a year and two days from this post) since I walked. Also, college is a major topic in the media because of how unemployed young people are, something Obama has noticed and is trying to alleviate with lower interest rates on student loans (which would make me happy).

Today I started thinking about loans and debt because I realized that the MAT program looms over me, even though I wish to not undertake this program. I truly want to teach, and find immense gratification in education and especially English education, but the MAT program doesn't seem worthwhile to me. It seems to be more theory than practice; you come in and undertake one year and a half of theory then a semester's teaching for one class. For me, as someone in the classroom three and sometimes four times a day three days a week as a substitute teacher I find that I get a fair amount of classroom experience and really this is the best way to get prepared to be in the classroom. Any teacher will tell you that, and I know because I've asked them.

There's also something worse about the MAT program; no funding. There's no funding for most programs (there's a few like Emory's MAT program which provides some funding for matriculating second year students but it's freakin' Emory so tuition is pretty high) and most classes are during the day. So, really, you're not in grad school you're in extended undergrad and the MAT program is essentially designed like the last two years of a Bachelors in Education program is, just for non Bachelor's in Education holders. Most teachers who obtain MAT programs usually have to do MEd programs, depending upon their focus. Here's the catch though; it can charge so much because it is an alternative route to certification. If you have a Bachelor's degree but not in education and therefore not certified you can either get hired after passing GACE scores and go through the least expensive GA TAPP (or equivalent for other states), do a post-bachelor's degree that lasts a year, or the MAT. Unfortunately, because of teacher layoffs and the low demand for specific teaching subjects (a la my subjects) the MAT is looking like the only route to certification.

This worries me. As I mentioned in the above the MAT program doesn't really suit me or my needs and experience (and probably, honestly, very few people). More importantly, however, is the cost. A MAT program has the same costs as any other Graduate institution, which is per hour usually. At North Georgia, this is around $17,000, At other institutions this is around the $20,000 ballpark. Plus, it's usually two years of my time, and as I mentioned because it is during the day you either have to support yourself through a night job or just take more student loans for living expenses.

That brings me back to the subject of loans. I think people are starting to realize what I have felt, and what I argued against with my colleagues, which is that the idea of good debt ie student loan debt is an outdated illusion. There is no good debt; there's debt. Twenty years ago student loan debt may have been good debt, because of the job market for college educated people, but now with the economy and the saturation of the good market student debts are just more debt. There's necessary debt, and there's needless debt. You have a job that  pays reasonably well and you want to settle down and have kids, taking out a loan to pay for a house is necessary.

Most people will argue that college loans fall in the category of necessary debt, because investing in one's future is important. I agree, but that doesn't mean college loans aren't needless debt. My friends were taking on debt while theatre majors. This is needless debt, to me. The thing about Theatre, or any Fine Arts or Humanities or Liberal Arts (etc) degree, is that you CAN get jobs in them. They require, however, a great deal after college, and that means working a piss poor entry level job, sometimes earning $150 a week, that means a great deal of time trying to navigate the job market, that means dealing the uncertainties as to what you want to do. Taking out a great deal of loans for that type of degree is high risk and in some cases toxic. Because I went to a small liberal arts degree for my Bachelor's (1 year though) I saw several people coming out with $40,000 or more in loans...for a theatre degree. This is ridiculous. If you major in the liberal arts you should not be able to afford a brand new Ford Mustang with your debt. That means that after college you are going to pay a great deal out of pocket or defer it or whatever depending on your success. Plus, said liberal arts degree isn't the only place to get a theatre degree. There are public universities that will teach just as much for extremely less. That's the rub for needless debt, to me, when you choose the most expensive option over the just as good, if not better, less expensive option. Choosing a college because of prestige and not factoring in cost is asinine if not downright stupid, and taking in debt to fund this investment is needless, if you ask me.

Options is an ideal word for debt. What are the options before taking on debt? Do I need this house or should I take on an apartment for less the cost? It seems simple, but apparently it doesn't stop people from choosing really expensive options and needless options. That's what I am thinking about my MAT program. The people like my colleagues would say just do it, get certified. I'm not on their terms, though, so I feel like I need to explore my options before jumping in the MAT ship. I mean, ultimately, I may have to bite the bullet to it, but even MAT students are struggling (as I saw them in my sub teaching courses). I mean is $20,000 debt worth a $40,000 job? I mean, I could go back to North Georgia Tech and get a two year degree in IT and make that, with less cost. Plus, I feel like the twenties are made for exploring: the world, yourself, and others. This MAT program will not only put me in more debt with the possibility of uncertain options, but also take away two years that I could spend seeing Peru or Egypt, and developing my self awareness.

I may have to start looking at MAT programs, but I'm not doing it without a fight first. Rambling over.

On Tests in Public Schools

Today I subbed for British Literature, which is my territory and consequently I guess I'm a little more observant of how English is taught. English Literature, Rhetoric, and Composition is exceptionally important, not only in the development of basic skills of reading and communication, but also in developing creative critical thinking skills. This means giving a person the skills to form arguments, to develop research strategies, and ultimately be able to critically think in unique situations because of the lack of order of operation in literary analysis. Bottom line: you will not always face a troubleshooting issue that can be fixed by operations. You need a creative element to one's troubleshooting capabilities. This is the ultimate objective in English pedagogy, in my opinion, and it is one of my guiding principles as a future English educator (hopefully).

While substituting I noticed a test on Medieval and Renaissance literature; perusing the questions I found this test to be totally worthless to the aforementioned objective and, really, to the students' future. In perspective, I am reminded of a time when I mentioned the contributions of a chemist in Chemistry 1212 and a guy behind me said "You don't need to know that," because knowing who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry isn't going to help one develop the skills that come with Chemistry. He's right, and I was totally buffoonish. Likewise, this test was basically like me in that chemistry situation, and I regarded it in the same way as my classmate. The questions were basic, trivia questions. "What happened to Lady MacBeth before she died?" "The defeat _____ changed English history." "Elizabeth murdered whom in 1587?"  Do the students need to know this?

To an extent it is imperative to understand context, and in the case of the MacBeth, to understand what happened in what was read. This isn't helping students though. While students need to boost their memory, memory is aided through practical uses. Just remembering a math equation will not help you; your memory of that math equation increases through practice and through application. Likewise, that test should do more to test the students' capability to apply the information to analytical short answer questions. "Explain, briefly, how Shakespeare uses MacBeth to critique Elizabethan politics." "In what way was blood used as a leitmotif?" These kind of questions both enable the student to apply classwork and information but also create critical arguments, and presents circumstances in which analytical tools are pressed into action.

We need to veer away from multiple choice tests. They are asinine, and exist due to student numbers primarily. They do very little in improving the student's applicable capabilities in the real world. At Gainesville State I actually felt I received some wonderful examples of how this can work. My Chemistry professor offered a short answer test, and would grade based on correct answer, but give credit for correct work done on equations in solving incorrect problems. Why? To help facilitate growth. Another wonderful example was Larry Cook, my Stagecraft and History of Costume Design and Decor professor. He only gave out two tests, all of the test was short answer and he'd take off if you didn't put enough on the test; typically he'd expect at least 3 pieces of information per question. A lot of people wouldn't do well, but he always held a policy of allowing the tests to be corrected but with a caveat: if you brought in a test with a question that required a sentence, he'd expect a paragraph. A more applicable example in the English pedagogy context was Chris Barnes, my English 1102 professor. He was pretty laid back, and usually split the class in groups and have them work together. One of the great ideas was that he expected the essay to be worked on, but he'd accept better drafts. Why? Because he, like most people, understand that education is about growth. Not everyone is going to understand an essay at first go, but through analysis of mistakes made on said first go the second draft or even the third draft could show excellence.

Now to get to my (other) bottom line: As an aspiring English educator I tend to be aware of how my teachers and how other teachers teach so that I can build my curriculum accordingly. Any teacher you meet is the sum of the best parts of their favorite teachers. What I believe pedagogy should be based around is enhancing critical thinking and practical skills, as well as spurring growth. That's why I look at the Medieval and Renaissance test, as well as any multiple choice test and standardized test with a decidedly negative view. It does not help students grow, nor does it test critical thinking skills. We cannot do this to our students. We must work towards a more engaging, and a more practical curriculum.

On Giving a Shit

Don't do anything half-assed. Give a shit about what you do. I mean, c'mon.

This seems like a basic, after school or in school symposium speech, thing, but it doesn't seem like people give a shit.

This post, of course, arose from an incident. I love going to see movies, and I see about 30 every year in theaters. Unfortunately due to work, financial setbacks, and other factors I haven't been able to see any movies this month which, also unfortunately-for me at least, has led me to miss on some good movies like "Pina" and "Into the Abyss." Finally, after a long week, and an especially long day with unruly kids I received a nice paycheck and decided to see 'The Hunger Games' at the local cinema. This theater has always had issues with customers, going back to their inception. It seems to be run by wannabe turn-key operators, and consequently they've displayed a lack of concern. During the past few movies I've seen there, I have dealt with quality issues in particular with feedback. I dealt with it during 'Crazy Stupid Love.' I dealt with it during 'War Horse.' The picture quality is a bit low, but I can live with it. I, however, feel that if you pay money for something you should  receive good quality, regardless. During 'Hunger Games,' I didn't get that quality. I figured by a year they would've fixed the issue, but they didn't. I went to go get money back then. The manager, very reluctantly, gave me my money back and added "Well I guess you can pay $18 and see it in Gainesville."

Well, I will. Or I will pay $1.50 to Redbox or $8/month for netflix, or I will pay $5 for HD on Vudu.

Given the variety of options that come with seeing movies-rentals, instant queue, video on demand, you'd think that a movie theater would be appreciative of patronage, that the movie theater would care about the customers enough to ensure quality viewing to properly compete with the home viewing experience. If this were the case, the manager wouldn't have been snarky. He would have said, "Sir, I apologize for the quality and we'll work hard so your next viewing experience will be exceptional." If this were the case, there would not be a feedback problem, or it would've been fixed or the theater would wisely invest money in high quality instruments and equipment. If this were the case, they would say "even if we have to raise the price, it will be less expensive than driving to Gainesville, and people deserve quality." That's just it, though. Their mentality isn't that. Their mentality is "either give us money or pay more to drive to Gainesville." They know that people can't afford on a regular basis to go to Gainesville. They know that their quality might be substandard, that they might be able to cut corners, they might be able to charge a lot for concessions, that they can pick movies that they want rather than what an audience wants. "Don't like it, pay for the gas money to go to Gainesville." To hell with that, and to hell with this "don't like it, leave" mentality.

What happened to giving a shit about people? I'm not one to talk about how good things use to be, because I think that's primarily a load of shit. When you look at some things, you do see various circumstances that seem better. Like profit sharing; when a workplace made a profit, the profits were shared to all employees. The modern day equivalent of that is 401Ks, which do not provide exceptionally liquid assets (unless your 59 and a half), and can be a form of entrapment. Another example: Rich's. Rich's used to be a substantial retail store in the Southeast before being absorbed into Macy's. Rich's had this policy of allowing returns for a substantial time. They didn't care about losing money; they thought long term, and knew long term that keeping a customer was more vital for their business than a short term profit stemming from a purchase (I may need to blog about short term thinking versus long term thinking).

No less, in the case of the rant-and this is a rant out of frustration-I feel that the sense of entitlement that permeates in workplaces and businesses needs to cease. There's a great scene in the season 2 finale of Mad Men called "Meditations in an Emergency" where during the merger of Putnam, Powell, and Lowe meeting Duck Philips outlines his plan for Sterling Cooper, in bringing it to "financial maturity" by buying ad spaces, "the cheaper we can get it." Bert Cooper (the Objectivist of the group) is the one who says "I didn't hear the word 'client' once." This, of course, leads to Don Draper choosing to opt out of this vision because of his concern for clients and his job's duties in favor of the clients.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5N3OQklFEU

It seems as though the world has been taken over by the Duck Philips's of the world. People who don't give a shit about people, who are willing to do things half-assed so long as there are short-term profit gains and not take into consideration of long term.

Joe DiMaggio has a quote that I think is suitable for the topic of "giving a shit." When asked why he plays so hard, he said "There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best." I think it is within our self-interests to always owe people our best and to give a shit. 

I will see 'Hunger Games' in Gainesville, by the way.