I am pleased to report that I can check my first Thing off the list. H.W.L. and I went to the Blue Mountain Lavender Fields on Sunday, and had a really wonderful time. The weather was perfect--clear and warm, but not overly so. The fields are a pleasant fifteen-min. drive outside of town, and it's quite possible to believe yourself in Provence.
We garnered four different types of lavender, and took our own sweet time doing it. I was amazed how much calmer I felt as soon as I stepped into the fields--sometimes I think big business's use of aromatherapy (ie in their marketing of same) is such a crock, but there was something clean and relaxing and astringent about the fresh lavender smell that put mass-marketed potions in the shade. An astounding number of bees were working the field. Generally I'm a bit apprehensive of the little critters, but I waded right in, figuring we were all workers together, and that seems to have done the trick. Listening to the wind dashing lightly through the trees surrounding the property, the overpowering hypnotic hum of the bees, the occasional cheerful calls from kildeer (I think), sparrows, and chickadees, and the bleating of the lambs down the hill, while kneeling in warm dirt up to my elbows in lavender: peacefulness.
Superlative company; divine lavender lemonade; shopping accomplished; two lavender bushes planted in my back yard; little bunches of fresh lavender throughout my house.
Check.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Write Two Movie Reviews
Just saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer yesterday (I have a 10-year-old, that is why, so step OFF), and have a long rant in mind. In the meantime: DON'T. Just...don't. *sigh*
I have a longer piece about Terry Gilliam's films that's been in my head for quite some time; I want to get at least a short version of it out of my head and on paper (virtual or otherwise) to see if it's worth it. I kind of think it might be a good pop-culture paper idea, or maybe even the basis for a film seminar class. A preview: Gilliam's Romantic (ie the cultural period, not the emotion or practice) use of the mad artist as pessimistic critique.
I have a longer piece about Terry Gilliam's films that's been in my head for quite some time; I want to get at least a short version of it out of my head and on paper (virtual or otherwise) to see if it's worth it. I kind of think it might be a good pop-culture paper idea, or maybe even the basis for a film seminar class. A preview: Gilliam's Romantic (ie the cultural period, not the emotion or practice) use of the mad artist as pessimistic critique.
Complete Rank and Tenure Self-Eval
If you don't want a nuts-and-bolts explanation of academic administrivia, this is the post to skip.
On college campuses, "tenure" indicates the granting of permanent status, after some sort of probationary period, and "rank" indicates one's title or standing, and is broadly associated with length of employment. For instance, I started out as an assistant professor, and I am now up for consideration as full professor (the top rank! whoot!), while I got tenure almost two years ago. Practically speaking, rank indicates salary level.
So I've got the rest of my R&T packet together: I have crunched the numbers from my student evals and displayed them prettily; I have had the requisite number of peers visit my classroom and send in their evals; my chair has written her letter; I've updated my curriculum vitae (what the rest of the world calls a "resume"). Now I must write my self-eval, judging my own performance over the last two years, and making the case for a change in rank. It's due during the first week in July. I actually was up for rank last summer, but had such a bad year and was so unprepared that I just plain skipped it--salary increase and all. I just couldn't get my act together; partially because medical leave made me short some evals (which the R&T committee probably would have waived, given the reason), but mainly because I just couldn't face the self-eval.
So I've got to get this monster done. I'm a business writer: I can do this.
*sigh*
On college campuses, "tenure" indicates the granting of permanent status, after some sort of probationary period, and "rank" indicates one's title or standing, and is broadly associated with length of employment. For instance, I started out as an assistant professor, and I am now up for consideration as full professor (the top rank! whoot!), while I got tenure almost two years ago. Practically speaking, rank indicates salary level.
So I've got the rest of my R&T packet together: I have crunched the numbers from my student evals and displayed them prettily; I have had the requisite number of peers visit my classroom and send in their evals; my chair has written her letter; I've updated my curriculum vitae (what the rest of the world calls a "resume"). Now I must write my self-eval, judging my own performance over the last two years, and making the case for a change in rank. It's due during the first week in July. I actually was up for rank last summer, but had such a bad year and was so unprepared that I just plain skipped it--salary increase and all. I just couldn't get my act together; partially because medical leave made me short some evals (which the R&T committee probably would have waived, given the reason), but mainly because I just couldn't face the self-eval.
So I've got to get this monster done. I'm a business writer: I can do this.
*sigh*
Visit the Lavendar Farm
Good friend H.L. (known to most of you Five-Thingers) has been talking to me about the Blue Mountain Lavender Farm for quite some time now. We missed "Lavendar Days" last year. I'm pretty sure we're going to make it this weekend. We both need a break pretty badly, and I think we'll pretend we're in France! Of course, she can speak French. I can read it--slowly--but do NOT ask me to pronounce anything, unless you're looking for a good laugh.
This is handy because I'm going to Texas to meet up with a bunch of long-time girlfriends in July, and I think I can get lots of "Walla Walla" prezzies for the girls here in one swell foop. A bit more girly than I usually am, I know, but it's nature! And art! And...gourmet lavendar sugar! So leave me alone.
This is handy because I'm going to Texas to meet up with a bunch of long-time girlfriends in July, and I think I can get lots of "Walla Walla" prezzies for the girls here in one swell foop. A bit more girly than I usually am, I know, but it's nature! And art! And...gourmet lavendar sugar! So leave me alone.
Scan in a Centlivre Play
Susanna Centlivre's A Bold Stroke for a Wife is my favorite of all her plays. Two main issues have kept me from staging this one: first, it's a real tour de force for the lead actor, who gets to send up all the other lead (stock) characters--if the lead can't mimic all of them, then the show goes nowhere. Second, Centlivre was able to rely on a handful of stage tropes without minding too much about political correctness: her demographic was delighted by equal-opportunity offensiveness.
In discussing this piece in both the classroom and in theatre sessions, I've been kicking around the idea of modernizing it. "Modernizing" in the sense of how The Oregon Shakespeare Festival manages it, though: preserve most of the language, but feel free to edit/fix anachronisms/update settings/etc. For example, several of the stock characters aren't easily recognizable to the modern audience: while one can easily "translate" a changebroker to a day-trader, say, what to do with an "antiquarian"? So the trick is to figure out what abstract idea or issue the stock character is being used as shorthand for, and see if there's a substitute.
An easy one: on the 18th-century stage, the portrayal of Quakers was usually used to show a certain nervousness about religious over-enthusiasm in general. No point in taking a potshot at the fairly inoffensive Quakers in this day and age, right? But how about...corrupt televangelists? And voila, Obadiah Prim and his wife become Jim and Tammy-Faye Bakker style characters, and the lines still work, pretty much!
So that's an example of what I've been thinking about. I've gotten David sucked into it, and he's currently noodling around with one of the scenes. But in the meantime, I want to do the dramaturgy, and that requires getting a clean, digital copy into the computer, scanned from my facsimile copy of the first edition, so we can edit out the 18th-century typographical weirdness (such as the long "S" for the letter S, and the use of the dash to end almost every line), regularize the spelling, and format it like a modern script. After that, we can start playing in earnest (and I'm sure this process will keep showing up here).
In discussing this piece in both the classroom and in theatre sessions, I've been kicking around the idea of modernizing it. "Modernizing" in the sense of how The Oregon Shakespeare Festival manages it, though: preserve most of the language, but feel free to edit/fix anachronisms/update settings/etc. For example, several of the stock characters aren't easily recognizable to the modern audience: while one can easily "translate" a changebroker to a day-trader, say, what to do with an "antiquarian"? So the trick is to figure out what abstract idea or issue the stock character is being used as shorthand for, and see if there's a substitute.
An easy one: on the 18th-century stage, the portrayal of Quakers was usually used to show a certain nervousness about religious over-enthusiasm in general. No point in taking a potshot at the fairly inoffensive Quakers in this day and age, right? But how about...corrupt televangelists? And voila, Obadiah Prim and his wife become Jim and Tammy-Faye Bakker style characters, and the lines still work, pretty much!
So that's an example of what I've been thinking about. I've gotten David sucked into it, and he's currently noodling around with one of the scenes. But in the meantime, I want to do the dramaturgy, and that requires getting a clean, digital copy into the computer, scanned from my facsimile copy of the first edition, so we can edit out the 18th-century typographical weirdness (such as the long "S" for the letter S, and the use of the dash to end almost every line), regularize the spelling, and format it like a modern script. After that, we can start playing in earnest (and I'm sure this process will keep showing up here).
Friday, June 15, 2007
Just Five Things
Uber-cool idea from Adam via Bradley, who assures me that the cool kids will let me play. If not, I'm totally hiding behind you on the playground, dude.
The plan is to post five "mini-goals," also known as "things" in the vernacular, and track them. Simple enough, yes?
I hereby promise that I'll attempt to keep this from being just a glorified "to-do" list, although elements of that will surely creep in, given my OCD status. But I'm liking the mix of "get the job done" and "fun stuff" I'm seeing so far, and will do my best to follow suit.
Oh, dear. Now I have the Eurythmics singing "Just one thing" in my head. (Join me.)
The plan is to post five "mini-goals," also known as "things" in the vernacular, and track them. Simple enough, yes?
I hereby promise that I'll attempt to keep this from being just a glorified "to-do" list, although elements of that will surely creep in, given my OCD status. But I'm liking the mix of "get the job done" and "fun stuff" I'm seeing so far, and will do my best to follow suit.
Oh, dear. Now I have the Eurythmics singing "Just one thing" in my head. (Join me.)
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