Dr. Jill Biden

Hooray for Dr. Biden and her commitment to the ethos of the community college.

This month's More magazine features an interview with the wife of the V-POTUS.  She is currently teaching three sections of English at Delaware Technical and Community College.  She calls this her "one sacred area."  My first response to her work was to wonder how bad the job of Second Lady must be to find teaching freshman comp a better option!  But then, from the article, I couldn't really tell whether she teaches writing or literature.

Dr. Biden talks about her commitment to people like herself, women who go back to college after marriage and children.  She says that she believes in her students and lets them know.  Her comments remind me so much of folks at COCC like my friend Carolyn Esky and others in the Human Development program.

Interviewer Lynn Sherr asked Jill Biden, "What is it about community colleges that so moves you?" 

Dr. Biden answers, "It's people who are struggling to get ahead.  They work at minimum wage jobs; they're trying to support families.  I want to raise awareness that this is the perfect place for them to get job training or that it's the gateway to a four-year college."

I agree with her views.  But please don't think I am a community college teacher out of any kind of altruism.  I sometimes think it would be nice to live the life of my oldest friend -- a private university professor who pretty much teaches just what he wants to teach and who has grad students doing his slave work.  But, bottom line, I prefer doing what I do.  I believe in the community college not just for my students but for myself.  I think that what I do is "right livelihood," one branch of the noble Eightfold Path.  By increasing other people's opportunity to live a successful and powerful life, I ease my own suffering.  And there ain't nothin' self sacrificing about that.

Manhattan Perception Management

Jack Donaghy would be proud!  Proud of the management of perception performed at the foot of 30 Rock.  I went to the Top of the Rock when I was in Manhattan over spring break and experienced the amazing class erasure performed at the entrance to the experience.

One enters the Top of the Rock experience as though entering a ride at Disneyland.  We take a short one story elevator to the ticketing area.  Once there, we walked through an overview of the history of the building of Rockefeller Center.  This included some videos about the construction, about the wonderfulness of the founders, and about Swarovski Crystals (they constructed some of the decorations within the Center).

One is almost required to have one's photograph taken on the way in.  One is posed on a "steel beam" in front of the New York skyline in a shot that emulates or parodies the famous photograph by Charles Ebbets called "Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper."

At the end of the journey one may choose to purchase the full packet of pictures for $25 (two magnets, cardboard framed photo).  The package probably costs $2 to create but the labor! 


Yes, it's the labor I'm thinking about.  The structure of this visit continually links, blends, mystifies, (pick the word you want) the interests of the workers with those of the plutocrats (great 1930s curse word) who financed and continue to finance the building and its works.  The ticket stubs, the advertising, the videos, all ignore the huge differences between those who make things and those who own them. 


And, sadly, I think that this is what America wants -- to ignore the gigantic differences in lifetime safety, stability, and hope between those who have and those who have not.

New Quarter Halfway Over

I thought this would be a light quarter.  I only have two classes, one the public speaking weekend bootcamp and the other a small group communication class taught at night.  Unfortunately, I am also on three hiring committees which have eaten up a lot of time.  And I'm setting up to teach online this summer.  So I'm behind.

Another Disappointment

Another disappointment included not receiving help from faculty and staff at our "partner" university, Oregon State. I'd been planning to teach a brand new course, Introduction to the Rhetoric of Film. The only school in Oregon that offers it is OSU so I needed to know their student learning outcomes in order to create a course that they would accept so our curriculum committee would accept it. Last year, in winter 2009, when I emailed the department chair for the first time, he didn't answer me. This year, I emailed the teacher of the course and spoke with him twice. He promised to send the syllabus and the outcomes but never did. I also emailed the departmental administrative assistant who didn't sent me a syllabus either.

So, by the time COCC's registration started in late February, I was feeling very unprepared to teach the course. None of the current textbooks I've found, like The Terministic Screen or Narrative in Fiction and Film, are suitable for community college freshmen. If I was going to work without a text I really needed outcomes and a bit more help. Didn't get it. After a weekend of registration filled almost all the other speech courses but left my new SP199 course with only two bodies, I decided to abandon the course and teach another section of the ever popular small group communication.

Horrible Ending of the Quarter

Last quarter ended terribly and I just haven't wanted to blog about it.

First, there was the problem of my Philosophy of Love and Sex class. Reading their final analyses, I realized that at least half of them were leaving the class invested in the same old belief in "true love" they had when they entered. I feel like King C'nut, trying to hold back the waves of noxious ideology and like him, I think I just have to turn back that work to a higher power.

Second, there were the two exploding teams, one in each small group communication class. Two teams did not check up on their paper writers and suffered at the very end of the quarter when in one group, the writer stole two thirds of the paper and in the other, the writer didn't even turn the paper in. This is a terrible betrayal of other students who, basically, allowed themselves to be betrayed. I spent much time online on my Ipod Touch dealing with each issue.

I was on my Touch because we were off to New York on March 21 where, among other stories we consumed was South Pacific, a play that celebrates "true love" in that "at first sight" 1940s fashion and reveals it in all its awe-full glory.

Another Wonderful Presentation

I'm a few days late in writing this because Lucky Seven actually performed last Thursday night.

This was another wonderful presentation. They gave their presentation on communication in a dental office. They had an attractive PowerPoint with pictures of people from the office. Their presentation was very well organized. I appreciated especially that they had a funny skit AND they made excellent use of their written sources (something some of the teams have neglected to do.) But the aspect of the presentation that I most appreciated was that they went beyond their original question and became critical thinkers and asked about the problem of "groupthink" in a low conflict work environment. Great work!

Great Small Group Presentation

Yesterday I saw the first of my small group communication class's Team Oral Reports and I must give props to KJCJs. They presented a report on Conflict in the Restaurant Setting that was excellent! It had everything I want a group presentation to have. They dressed in black uniforms to show their solidarity and also gave each team member a chance to present information. Their presentation had a clear beginning, middle and end. It was creative: they used web videos and skits as well as simply presenting with talking heads and PowerPoint. They referenced their sources, had quotes from the text, showed that they understood the course concepts and overall worked together with energy and commitment. Great work!

Oh yes, they also introduced us to the wonderful video series created by Generation Awesome called "The Bartender Hates You"