Archive for the ‘Journalism’ Category

Writing

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Hi. Just a reminder that you are scheduled to attend a Focus Group for W-course instructors on Thursday, May 7th, from 4-6 p.m. in room 409B in the Thomas Hunter Building. You will receive a stipend of $75.54 (two hours on a Non-teaching Adjunct line) for participating. Notes will be taken, but all comments will be kept anonymous.

The Writing Across the Curriculum Program appreciates your help in exploring the issues involved in teaching Significant Writing courses. We hope to use what we learn at these sessions to better serve Hunter’s faculty, and we hope the sessions are useful to you in preparing to teach future W-designated courses.

See you tomorrow,

Dennis Paoli
Co-coordinator,
Writing across the Curriculum Program

So, I went. And I participated. And I didn’t do what I had said in an email to the co-coordinator about what I was thinking about doing at the focus group: Outing my colleagues whom I feel undermine students’ writing efforts, especially those colleagues who don’t make rewriting an essential part of their Significant Writing classes.

Let’s get real. Writing is about rewriting. Don’t teach rewriting? Then it ain’t writing they’re teaching.

So, I sent the following to Dennis Paoli after I completed the focus group:

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A 30-40P Episode Ever There Was One

Friday, May 8th, 2009

I came across this student-instructor correspondence [provided later in this post] while searching for other material on my hard drive. The Student-In-Question was an excellent writer as well as considerably bright. He was in his late 20s or early 30s.

In my class, he also was functionally indolent.

I plan to use this anecdote and others for my tome about The Four Barnacles of the Apocalypse.

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Twitter & the WORD

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I’ve been experimenting with Twitter, essentially twitting to announce what the WORD writers are publishing, such as covering the PEN festival this year or Julia Porfido’s “Children of the Night.” As I say, it’s an experiment.

But lately when I’m checking on the latest of the WORD’s new followers, I get this whacky owl logo, saying, “Sorry, the account you were headed to has been suspended due to strange activity. Mosey along now, nothing to see here.” A few days ago, the WORD got three in a row.

So, I wonder.

Anyway, Twitting is an experiment.

PEN Update: Hannah Levine Scores

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

The PEN May 2, Event, The PEN Cabaret, featuring Laurie Anderson, Carrie Brownstein, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Patricia Clarckson, Steve Connell, David Conrad, Mark Z. Danielewski, James Franco, Peter Hirsch, Nick Laird, Walter Mosley, Parker Posey, Lou Reed, Sekou and Sean Wilsey, sold out weeks ago. But WORD writer Hannah Levine, who works for the Hunter Envoy as its Entertainment Editor and who blogs at  My Soul Is a Butterfly, had been for several weeks feverishly hoping as well as feverishly persisting to get access even though we guessed the odds were a 1,000 to one.

I got this email from her last night: “I am ecstatically happy.”

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Protected: A Whole Lot of Flashing Going On

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

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The Commute

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
A decent shot. Did on the fly as I was passing through the 42nd Street subterranean metropolis where a number of the subway lines converge. A decent shot.

A decent shot. Did on the fly as I was passing through the 42nd Street subterranean metropolis where a number of the subway lines converge. That

I’ve been experimenting with requiring my students to write about their commuting experience, ostensibly from home to campus and back. Of course, there are students who commute to work then to campus and then back to work then to home. I’ve also had students who commuted to campus then to work then back to campus and then home or work, depending. The permutations are infinite (especially keeping in mind students who commute to two jobs in one day).

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Uh Oh! It’s That Time in an Academic Semester

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Dear Faculty,

Your teacher evaluation packet(s) can now be found in your mailboxes. The teacher evaluation period is Monday, April 27 to Friday, May 15. The last day for teacher evaluations is Friday, May 15 and your evaluation packets should be handed to a student representative during the time before this date.

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The WORD at the …

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

About a half dozen. Names and events they’re covering will be announced in a few days.

A Tempest in a Teapot But a Tempest No Less – End

Monday, April 20th, 2009

So, where does all this lead? I don’t know. But the brawls, the tempests, the imbroglios are no longer going to be concealed behind D:F/M’s phony facade of collegial sobriety, that’s for sure. Those days are over. Nevertheless, one more time, the email that exposed this most recent teapot tempest.

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A Tempest in a Teapot But a Tempest No Less – Part 5

Monday, April 20th, 2009

My reply was posted on Hunter L.

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