Confessions of an Errant Mind

Well, it wasn't the easiest semester, but another group of students have completed my ongoing service learning partnership with North High School in Minneapolis. The project changed significantly this year: rather than creating jazz radio programming, students primarily worked on audio profiles of significant places in the city. They're not without rough edges, but I'm impressed with what they come up with. You can see the project on the partnership's website, which will continue to expand. Here's the address:

http://www.passthepeace.net

Just click on U of M Audio Portraits on the left hand side.

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, after about two months of work, the final pieces of my grad school application (to Minnesota's Geography Dept.) were submitted on Wednesday. While I'm only applying here, I also had a couple of fairly involved fellowship applications (to the Javits Fellowship and the National Science Foundation). But I can definitely say the whole process helped me clarify both my reasons for pursuing grad school and what I'm interested in studying. Now it's just the waiting game--I probably won't hear much until the end of February on any parts of this. But it's a relief to have it done!

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I received word this week that I've had my first article conditionally accepted. Yay! It's at a journal called Academic Exchange Quarterly, a general education journal. Basically, I outline some of the difficulties I encountered in my service learning project last spring. The catch is that I need to add a significant number of outside sources to my piece in order for them to publish it. Because that will entail some more time from an editorial standpoint, they're charging me a "redactory fee" of about $130. I've asked some other faculty friends for input on this, and it sounds like a high number. On the other hand, with a grad school and fellowship applications coming up this fall, a peer-reviewed publication sure would look good. So I'm adding this to my to do list and trying to remain grateful for the chance to see my name in print.

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This semester, one of my classes has been partnering with KBEM-FM, a jazz formatted public radio station based at North High School in Minneapolis. Students and the school and my students worked together (well, at least tried to) to create several radio programs about specific jazz artists. As part of the project, I asked my students to create a website with more research about their artist. Though there's still a few rough edges, I think it's basically completed, so I thought I'd post it--here it is:

http://kbemradio.googlepages.com/home

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm teaching a couple sections of a course this summer in the Bridge to Academic Excellence program here at the U. It's a noteworthy goal--getting "at-risk" incoming freshman exposed to college and the demands of coursework. The Daily, our student paper, has a front page article about it today: Here's the link.

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got a chuckle out of last Sunday's "For Better or For Worse."

The reality is, of course, that most of us (even English teachers) don't use "good" grammar on a regular basis and do just fine. There are many grammars out there, and what gets labeled as "good" is only one of them. The ability to use it does bring a kind of status, but also resentment--you come across as educated, but also possibly out of touch. Grammar is related to environmental context, and the most skillful speakers know which grammar to choose for a given situation. This comic does a good job of highlighting that tension, I think.

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

School is difficult. I found this out again last semester taking just a single Geography course while working full time. But it amazes me how many of my students manage to pull off much more difficult feats.

Case in point: today I had a conference with a student who's not doing well grade wise. He's missed several classes and assignments. I'm never sure exactly what to make of such students--sometimes there's a story, and sometimes they're just not mature enough to handle the freedom of a college environment.

In this case, it sounds like the former. He's an older kid in a seven child family. His dad is a "deadbeat" and his parents are in the middle of a divorce. He's working full time and also has to help care for his younger siblings--picking them up after school, for example. In addition, he's had two family members die so far this semester, one of them shot in west St. Paul for a gold chain he was wearing around his neck.

Would I even still be coming to classes if I were in his shoes? I did great as a student, but I had zero financial pressure, a stable family life, and no job. As an instructor, I feel almost no capacity to help guide this student--he's got a lot on his plate and there's not much choice about it. I've heard several stories like this one, and it always helps me keep my students' work in perspective. There's a lot of pressure (especially financial) in being an undergraduate, and it's amazing that as many get through it that do.

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had an interesting discussion today in one my sections. Several students brought up the oft-quoted "Ignorance is bliss" issue when it comes to the food they consume. Basically, that if it tastes good, they won't worry about it. As one students said, "What I don't know doesn't hurt me." (Though in the case of E. Coli contamination, that's not exactly true.)

I pressed them on this a bit. Specifically, I brought up the division in capitalist societies between producers and consumers, and how that gap often allows for abuse to occur. With food, that might mean working conditions in slaughterhouses or animal cruelty issues.

The responses students gave to this point were interesting. One said that it was just these people's roles and that's how life is. Basically, that there will always be the oppressed among us, and we should just accept the system. Another brought up a variation on that, that immigrants (using that slaughterhouse issue) will always be oppressed. A third student asked, "But are you saying we're to blame for that?"

In a word, yes. What amazed me about the discussion was the lack of empathy students felt for those working at the other end of the food chain. What mattered to them was convenience, cost, and flavor, not bigger ethical issues. It makes me wonder if this is how an economic system like ours sustains itself, by reducing producers and consumers to abstract ideas, not flesh and blood people like us. To a certain extent, this might be a defense mechanism, since so often we feel quite powerless to change the system--we have neither the time, money, or opportunity to do so. Yet to defer blame for this is disingenuous. We feed this system with our money--if we chose to buy more expensive, yet ethical products, the system itself would change. But without real connection, a sense that we are all in this together in some way, and the time and resources to care, it's a tough road.

Posted by Jerry Shannon at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)