Settling in, part three

Settling in, part three

Since my last post... my stuff finally showed up. On Sunday. The moving company had told me to book people to unload for 10, since the truck was supposed to show up between 8 and 12. Ha. Movers showed up at 10 -- problem. I had specifically asked for burly people. Apparently, the temp agency doesn't care, because I got a fairly overweight and out of shape woman and a wiry but tiny middle-aged guy. They were really nice and worked really hard. And let me tell you, if I'd realized how little they were being paid, I'd have hired someone else. Also, they helped to explain where the African-Americans are in this town, because I just haven't seen all that many, nor even many Latinos, who are the fastest growing minority. As it was, I had to pay them for 4 hours before the truck showed up. And then it took 5 hours to unload, because there were intermittent thunder showers with amazingly hard rain. I'd forgotten about that. It rains with a vengeance in this part of the country. But still, no earthquakes, no direct hurricane hits, no tornadoes (I think).

Moving was aided by a nice neighbor who helped with the heavy furniture (and then said I could pay him back by visiting his church. I told him nicely that, when I went to church, I went to church X, but thanked him. Then, one of the members of the local England contingent showed up -- I've got English workers in the buildings on either side of my building -- some kind of skilled labourers. He was, um ... rhymes with "kissed as a heart" since England had won that morning (I was able to see the game up to the goal, because by 11 I knew the truck would be late). But he staggered over and helped bring up the last of the stuff and then helped to put the couch together. We ended up having a glass of wine at his place and watching Deadwood and playing fussball. I owe him a meal, though. We'd never have got done when we did without him, and he saved me at least an hour of OT for the help.

Cats seem to be ok. I think the Girl has peed a could of places, but I'll get a black light and run over the carpets and treat them. Can't smell anything, except where a previous animal clearly left its scent. The boy is still sleeping under the covers on my bed every day ...

Kitchen is mostly unpacked. One more box of foodstuffs and some odds and ends. But I had a cup of tea this morning! I'm now sitting at my desk, but using my laptop. I want the office in total order before I open up my computer. Living room is useable -- couch is clear, rug on the floor (does anyone know what one uses under a flat-weave oriental rug to keep the color from rubbing off on the beige carpet?), TV and DVD player set up -- not the speakers, though, so no DVD's for another day. Boxes still everywhere. ButI lucked out. There is no recycling in this town, and I have no storage -- the one problem with this apartment. But the manager needs boxes so I can take them all to her and not just put them in the dumpster.

Today, I bought a car. Not the Civic. On my way to pick up the Civic, I got a call from the Hyundai people. 2003 Elantra GT with high, but acceptable, miles for $2500 less. I don't think it's as good a car, and of course it made a funny noise today when making a tight turn, but seems fine. And it's got a three month warranty, plus I bought a two-year, bumber-to-bumper warranty (I don't on new cars, but on a used one?). I almost think they gave me the deal on the Hyundai so I wouldn't take the Honda. The two lots are owned by the same dealer. The Honda guys made a big stink, but I could believe they found someone willing to pay a lot more for it, so did a deal with the other lot. Either way, the Civic was overpriced and the Elantra underpriced. And my payments will be really affordable, so I'm happy.


I totally forgot about going to my orientation yesterday, but the HR person called me and let me come late. So I'm in the payroll system, the Credit Union, which I joined last week, set up my direct deposit, I'm set up to start my health insurance two weeks after my start date, and just have to do my retirement stuff. Plus, the nice HR person said I could ask for a Mac laptop -- I might not get it, but I can ask! And I have my parking permit. And got a couple of hints about campus life. Apparently most of the faculty eat at the same time, and usually in the cafeteria. Guess I know what I'll be doing!

Now, I think I should maybe eat something?

Because, well, I can. I have food and dishes!

I think I will be pretty much settled in by Thursday night, so I can have a blogger meet-up on Friday!!!

Settling in, part two

Settling in, part two

Well, I've been here since Monday. My stuff is not here yet. The cats and I are not adjusting well to the lack of furniture. OOOH!! I just heard from the truck driver -- this was going to be a post about how much they sucked, but apparently the incompetent woman was replaced, and the new guy will have my stuff here today. He'll be late, and I will end up paying the Labor Ready people a bit more, but I will have my stuff. And I will be able to watch an hour of the England game!

Oh -- And I think I've bought (providing the financing works) a used Civic. Lots of miles, but not for its age.

More later -- England are playing, and the local chain restaurant opened early for the neighbors!

Settling in, part one

Settling in, part one

Ok ... so here's what's been happening

First, do not trust United when they say that someone will bring you the little tags from the pet carriers -- tags United puts on the carriers themselves, with information about what flight the owner is on, and what seat number -- they will not do this. You will have to hit the service button and threaten hysteria to get the flight attendant to check right as they are closing the plane doors. Fortunately, the flight attendants all seemed fine with the bitchiness. Oh -- and if you want to take a red-eye? The airbus 300 is not a plane designed for this. I can usually sleep in any plane (as my most recent travelling companion and reader of this LJ can affirm). I have never been so uncomfortable on a plane in my life. But the people were all nice and the children all fairly quiet.

Next, the apartment. It's very nice. People who choose to visit me will have a decent place to stay. But. Because I have to complain about something ... When I spoke to the realtor, I did say that I would prefer to live closer to the part of town called Old Town. What clearly didn't occur to me is that, to most USAmericans, I am close. One can drive to OT in less than 10 minutes. But what I meant was that I wanted to be able to walk there with ease. That isn't going to happen. Instead, I am about equidistant to OT, the Uni, and most of the shopping. The apartment itself is very nice. High ceilings, central heat and air, nice-sized rooms, and new construction. But it's an apatment complex, with all the charm that entails. And frankly, I'd forgotten how much I don't like living in apartment complexes. Still, it's very nice. It's just ... well ... OT is, for the US, actually old. There are tons of really lovely and charming brick and stone buildings that are between 150-200 years old --some even older. There's a pedestrian precinct with not bad looking pubs and coffee shops. There are even nice little wooden victorian houses and brick terraced houses ... And I hate having to drive there. As far as I can tell, this is definitely not bicycle-safe country.

Yesterday was a wash. Very tired and jet lagged, and I wanted to spend some time with the kitties. But... I went to grab dinner at a place I knew had TVs in the bar, thinking to watch replays of the football. It's a chain restaurant, but not the one known for its flair. Cheap Coronas in the bar, but sadly, I'd forgotten I was on the right coast time zone, and had just missed the footie. I'd noticed the England flag on a couple of cars as I drove in, and I had just ordered my beer when I noticed that I had been noticed. Three English builders trying to chat me up at the same time. Very pleasant, none my type. Turns out they live in the buildings on either side of me. Joy. But still, neighbors. Sadly, the chain restaurant is the best they can do for a local. Not me. I will be seeking out a better pub. I also found a much better place to watch the football -- another chain, but one I'd never seen before. This one is a bona fide sports bar, so I was able to watch the Netherlands play the Dirty Cheating Bastards this afternoon.

I spent part of today looking for a car. I need to go and test drive a Hyundai I saw -- a couple of years old, and only about 23000 miles. Also under $10k. But neither a standard transmission nor anti-locking brakes, which I really want. I also test drove a new Scion xA. the one I drove was an automatic, but they have one standard transmission coming in later this week. It's about $14k, but I really liked it. Unfortunately, their financing is terrible -- I can't get anything lower than 6.25%, so I'll have to see about getting a loan from a bank if I want that one. that, and I really hate the idea of buying a new car. I don't think anyone in my family has ever done that. It's against the rules ... Oh well, off to a couple more car places this evening.
Car update: I may take my father's advice and try to get a beater for a couple of grand to last me a few months till I can estimate finances better. I hate to waste money, but it sounds like a decent idea not to get locked into a loan I really might not be able to afford, and I can always trade the car in ...


In other news, no one told me I had to make arrangements with the post office for a mailbox key, so I will have mail sitting and waiting for me in a day or two. I have unfortunately ascertained that I really should have had a pedicure before leaving old city. As it happens, there are no cheap Vietnamese nail shops here, and pedicures are half again as pricey as I am used to spending (by used to, read "about twice a year"). Coffee and grocery stores are OK -- although the drip I had this morning seemed to have been flavoured. At least the evil *$ doesn't have a shop here, as far as I can tell.

Finally, because I know that the kitties are the most important part of this ... They are fine. The boy is throwing his cat litter around like a crazy man. The girl has taken to the tops of the kitchen cupboards, by way of the counter-tops and refrigerator. Pictures to follow as soon as I have the other computer and peripherals set up. They aren't eating as they should, but the vet said they needed to lose weight, anyway. i think they will be happy when my bed is here. The boy kept waking me up crawling into my sleeping bag last night. The girl slept on the floor nearby. I am going to disturb them shortly by using the new vacuum cleaner .... But they seem to be adjusting much better than I expected. No sulking after yesterday afternoon, at least.

That's about it for now. I'll be trying to catch up over the next few days. I missed you all!

The kitty has landed

The Kitty Has Landed

We are in New City. We are all fine. Blogging to resume shortly.

Actual Panic Setting in

Actual Panic Setting In

Ok ... so I have finally found a second cat carrier that meets United's odd carrier restrictions -- apparently the carriers have to be secured by bolts rather than clips ... I may go and get metal bolts ...

I have checked the forecast. Apparently, the cut-off is outside temp of 87/29. I am flying from a cool (around 55 F forecast) place -- at 11:30 at night a place that is supposed to hit a high of 90F the day I arrive, but the low is supposed to be 70, and I get there at 7 a.m.

Please note that I am concerned about the cats. The reason I am trying to fly with the cats is that I love them very much, and after talking to the vet, I thought we would all be safer and less stressed out with the shorter trip, no time in scary hotels in a strange car, etc. But I am also scared to death that something will go wrong, and my stuff will be arriving at destination city on the day I'm to get there (that's the first day of the 5-day window) and I'll have to fly out there to meet the truck and find someone here to take care of the cats so I can spend a thousand dollars I really don't have to fly back and drive the cats home when we should all be settling into New City.

Moving Advice for the junior faculty

Moving advice for junior faculty

A whole bunch of us academic bloggers are involved in thousand mile-plus moves this summer. Most of us are moving with pets. I, for example, am checking my cats as very expensive luggage, and hoping that the information United Airlines gave me on appropriate cat carriers is correct. This means about 9-12 hours in the kitty torture chambers for the very talkative cats. And if they go in the cargo hold, you aren't allowed to give them tranquilizers ... except maybe the natural ones? It seemed that it would be less stressful for them than having to be in the carriers in a car for multiple days ...

Any advice for all of us moving newbies?

Update: I did actually consult with the vet before buying the air ticket ...

Still here, mostly

Still here, mostly

Really. Sensible blogging will begin again. I've got all kinds of posts in my mind, from another "How to do College" post to the further adventures of ADM as she moves thousands of miles into a different latitude (with more sunlight during the winter, I hope), adjusts to a new life in a place where she knows almost no one, madly scrambles to get two new preps together for Fall, Three new preps for Spring, and somehow turns out two more book reviews, scrapes the back of her tiny brain for a conference paper (or two, because finally the most coolest evah Late Antiquity conference has a theme that I might be able to write to -- suggestions are welcome via e-mail... please!), and tries to generally astound and amaze the good folks at SLAC with what a good hire I am.

But first ... Final grades in last night. Office almost entirely cleaned out. One more trip on Monday to take care of keys, paperwork, purging computer files, etc. Wedding reception for good friends tomorrow. Packing up my house (the vast majority of the packing is not done) for the truck that arrives on Thursday ...finishing up with last visits, final details and as many World Cup matches as possible after my stuff heads off without me. I am kinda swamped. In the meantime, feel free to offer suggestions for posts, questions for me to answer, and talk amongst yourselves.

Union? or Guild?

Union? or Guild?

You know, I'm pretty pro-union. Raised in a union family. Boycotted lettuce and grapes. Joined every union I was asked to join. I've been a member of the NEA and the AFT. But I was thinking today about the teaching-to-the test mentality, which I think makes it far easier to hire less-qualified K-12 faculty. And I was also thinking about the commodification of education, which most of the college faculty bloggers have mentioned at one time or another. I think the 'prove you deserve funding by raising test scores' syndrome is part of the commodification, if not as clearly. And then I thought, The NEA and the AFT are Labor Unions.

I am not labor, except in the strictest sense. I am a professional. I feel bound to do my best because I want the respect of my colleagues and because I have a very real and realistic worry that not doing my best will result in my not being promoted or even in my not keeping my position. Coincidentally (becaue we all know I'm all about the peer validation), I can't do a crap job because I feel guilty and it drives me into a downward spiral of self-loathing.

That's me and most of my colleagues at 4-year institutions, most of whom are not unionized. It's also a lot (but proportionately fewer) of my CC colleagues, all of whom are unionized/represented in collective bargaining agreements (not all in the whole country -- I'm talking about the ones I know). From what I can tell about K-12 faculty (and I tend to see this through the eyes of K-12 faculty friends, who are like-minded, so take it with a grain of salt), that attitude is rare after a faculty member is firmly entrenched -- with tenure based on seniority, etc.

So I'm asking -- how much has the transition of faculty from professionals to labor helped to create this system of commodification. If faculty are going to act like their jobs should have contracts similar to those of auto workers or longshoremen, is it any surprise that our fellow citizens should see us that way?

What if we scrapped the labor union model and instituted a guild model with all of the training, peer review, and accountability of the ideal guilds we teach about, as well as having the rights to collective bargaining and strike?

Just asking.

Joining the ranks of the Nano-users

Joining the ranks of the Nano-users

OK ... I have bought a nano. Just the 1 gig. Not entirely sure I did the right thing, but everybody seems to like their nanos. BUT -- why did no one tell me about the Apple educators discount? Because I almost bought one slightly on sale, and you know? I did not know that Apple made it almost affordable to buy their products. I looked around their site and, while all the lovely Mac things are still more expensive, they aren't nearly as bad. I might even be able to think about buying a 12" G4 (do you know they have refurbished ones?). I wouldn't want it as my primary computer, but for travel and working in cafes??? I can type on a dinky keyboard for short periods...

Anyway, after a brief panic that I didn't have a USB2 port (I do ... I just don't know which one it is -- there are 4 USB ports, and only one is USB2), I can now await delivery of my gift. I don't think I bought myself anything when I got my job, so I'm justifying it that way!

Thanks, everybody for all your help and advice. It means a lot to me to know my friends will help me spend my money!

Advice from the net

Advice from the Internets

Dear Internets,

As you can tell, I have a bit of short-timers' and senioritis combined, what with the end of term (Finals next week!) and moving and all. And I need retail therapy. Not really. But I do need to get a headset so I can use my new Skype account and, most importantly ... I want a music player.

I wanted an iPod mini, but those are gone. And then some people said I wanted to stay away from the iPods, because you can only play things in iTunes format, and I could get more memory, more playtime, and more formats for less if I went with something else. So here's what I want -- pretty big memory, at least 15 hours play on a charge, the ability to download pretty much any format and play it (I use Rhapsody, but don't know if it's better/worse than iTunes), and comfortable headphones. Why? Because I need to have something to listen to at the gym and when exercising. I would like to be able to listen to podcasts and books and stuff off of BBC Radio. Otherwise, I can't see where I would use it. But I don't want to buy something that needs upgrading soon, so I'd like something that's good -- but preferably no more than $150, and that's pushing it.

Suggestions?

Oh -- if it turns out I get something mac/powerbook at SLAC, should that push me in the direction of a nano?

Today's Useful Link

Today's useful link

Humbul Humanities Hub

Where's the Carnival?

Next teaching Carnival?

Does anyone know where the next teaching carnival will be and/or if there's a host?

Sunday Link and Quiz

Sunday Link and Quiz Results

First of all ... Paul Halsall hath a blog! He's posting commentary, and also ... everything new to go up on the Internet History Sourcebook Project will be appearing there first. Also, I think I read that IHSP is looking for some volunteer editors, so you might ask about that.

Second (not nearly as important, but kind of cool, nonetheless ...

You scored as Storm. Storm is the seconday team leader of the X-Men. She has a peaceful personality but must be careful since her emotions control her powers. She loves gardening and is afaid of tight spaces. Powers: Control of the Weather Storm 80% Jean Grey 70% Rogue 60% Iceman 60% Cyclops 60% Wolverine 50% Colossus 50% Beast 45% Gambit 45% Nightcrawler 35% Emma Frost 25% Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

In lieu of an actual post

In lieu of an actual post

Since I have to:

• take back a pile of overdue books to the library at Flagship U
  
• clean my house
  
• do laundry
  
• decide on texts for next semester
  
• go through boxes of files and shred stuff so I don't have to move it
  
• prep the last week's classes (which means reviewing Roland)
  
• make appointments for the cats so they can be flown in The Move
  
• um ... pack
  
• move

Plus all those incidental things I haven't mentioned ...

I'm just posting links at the moment. Back to substantive stuff when the chaos of finishing the term, grading exams, and moving a couple of thousand miles in the next 3 weeks is all done. Wish me luck that I manage to have my internet connection set up as soon as I get to the new place!

Today's link --

This is kind of interesting. There's a new book out on Helen of Troy -- and it's history!

Oh -- and BTW, folks, I just noticed that the recent OUP Medieval Studies catalogue has the new Ward-Perkins, Heather, and Smith at fairly affordable prices. I think you can get all three for just under $100. The Wickham book is also marked down, but still out of my price range! But I will be buying the others.

Carnivalesque XV

Carnivalesque XV!!

XV is up at Siris. There's an amazing amount of good stuff there, especially on Ancient -- the Medieval seems to be mostly about Kalamazoo, oddly!

Go, read, be enlightened or otherwise procrastinate!

Also, needs a host for the next Ancient/Medieval edition in July. If you're interested in volunteering, email the Mistresses of Folly at carnivalesque AT-SIGN hotmail DOT co DOT uk.

Everybody Knows

Everybody Knows

Back when I was at school, I remember some story or other about the French having bailed out the Colonial rebels (at the time) during the Revolution. Some guy called Lafayette? At university, it was made clear that this wasn't necessarily because the French loved the rascally rebels, but that they liked the English even less than rebels did. But the bailout part? pretty much the same. Showing up in WWI was presented as a kind of "thank-you" -- a repayment of a debt of honor.

I'm teaching World War Two this week (doubtful I'm going to get past "and then the Berlin Wall fell"). I've noticed this before, but a reference to this article elsewhere made me think of it again. Here's my question, oh internets:

When did the common trope for US involvement in WWs I & II become, "the Brits and the French were a bunch of useless idiots who couldn't fight a war to, er, save their own bacon, so we (the US) had to come in and do it for them!"?

I just don't remember growing up with this. It wasn't in the movies I watched (and I've seen pretty much all of the big war films of the 50s, 60s, and 70s). It's not true in the newsreels of the time (although the Brits are often praised for their pluck in the face of adversity in a pretty patronising manner) -- at least not in the ones I've seen. And this is the even weirder thing to me: I get this from students who are taking a class that began with the French Revolution. We have discussed the Napoleonic Wars, second-wave imperialism/colonialism, and other things that might make a person think that France and Great Britain have indeed been forces with which to be reckoned. But we get to WWI, and it all goes out the window.

Does anybody have a clue on this one?

It is to laugh

It is to laugh

Not only am I a bit chuffed that Master G. Chaucer has added me to his blogroll, but he has reached serious blogcrush status. The Cipher of Leonardo! Take that, Dan Brown!


I do wish there were more GC shirts for women, though.

Life's Rich Carnival

Life's Rich Carnival

Hello all -- I am frantically dogpaddling through the next couple of weeks, trying to catch up from the conference weekend and a funeral weekend immediately following, finish up the term and get books ordered for SLAC, and get ready for the big move ... So, not so much on the blogging front for a bit, I'm thinking.

Except: Student, Please! The paper was due today. Your peer review was supposed to have been done when I was at K'zoo. No, you cannot get a friend to review it today before you turn in the final draft, just because you didn't have your rough draft done on time. You didn't do it? Not my problem. Also? Please review the criteria for online discussion before telling me your grade last week was too low. You made four comments. The minimum requirement is three substantive comments over the week, or at least one per thread. There were three threads, and one of your comments was a question asking for clarification and another was, "I agree." And you are complaining about a 70? Hmph. And yes, I am a grumpy medievalist. The Child may have bought me roses, but she ate my chocolate.

History Carnivals!

History Carnival 31 ia up at Airminded, the first, I think, from the Antipodes.

Brandon at Siris will be hosting the ancient/medieval Carnivalesque on about May 21. More details later, but you can use the Blog Carnival submission form to nominate good posts on ancient and medieval topics posted since the last edition (13 March).

Two Questions

But before I go, two pedagogical questions:

First, presuming that you use laws/law codes as primary sources, how do you address the assumption that, if a law exists, it must be in response to something? My most recent example is the assumption that Augustus promulgated his edict tolerating the Jews because they were "obviously the victims of persecution." Normally, they see it in terms of bestiality laws, but since we're doing the Lex Salica this week, I'm sure it'll come up again.

Second, anyone have any favourite textbooks for 20th c. Europe for an upper division class?

Thanks in advance!

Carnival Calls

Carnival(esque) calls

Brett at Airminded will be hosting the next History Carnival on May 15th. Please e-mail nominations for recently published posts about history (a historical topic, reviews of books or resources,
reflections on teaching or researching history) using Brett's contact form, or use the submission form provided by Blog Carnival.

The History Carnival is not just for academics and entries don't have to be heavyweight scholarship, but they must uphold basic standards of factual accuracy. (If you have any further questions about the criteria for inclusion, check out the Carnival homepage at the link above).

Nominations should include: the title and permalink URL of the blog post you wish to nominate and the author's name (or pseudonym) and the title of the blog. (I also recommend that you put "History Carnival"; somewhere in the title of the email.) You can submit multiple suggestions, both your own writing and that of others, but please try not to submit more than one post by any individual author for each Carnival (with the exception of multi-part posts on the same topic).


STOP PRESS: URGENTLY WANTED: HOST FOR ANCIENT/MEDIEVAL CARNIVALESQUE (to be held any time that's convenient for you before the end of May). Pseudonymous or named bloggers welcome: all you need is some interest in ancient and/or medieval history and blogs of that ilk. We'd particularly welcome someone who hasn't done it before (Mike Drout? Scott Nokes? Tony Keen? Steve Muhlberger? Heo Cwaeth?)

Leave a comment here or for Sharon here, or email Sharon AT earlymodernweb DOT org DOT uk.

Sorry, Sharon, for nicking your text ... The Kazoo blogging took way too much time!

Kazoo Retrospective, pt. 3

Kazoo Retrospective, pt. 3

Started kind of late on Saturday. Got slightly lost finding the building for the first session, as we came upon it from a parking lot and not from walking up one of WMU's many hills. Consequently, I missed the beginning of a very interesting paper on how scribes and writing were seen in Ireland. The paper was one of the most lucid I had the opportunity to hear, and was accompanied by the best PowerPoint (or maybe Keynote) presentation I've seen. Really neat -- whole pages of text faded into a lighter shade of script while the pertinent parts of the text remained dark and bright. Unfortunately, Since I'h had to crawl into a middle seat, I was not about to disturb people any more by digging my stuff out of my bag, and took no notes. But from what I can remember, scribes in Ireland = good and respectable. Ergo, it is absolutely not surprising that relatively high-ranking clerics should also have been scribes and that that should have been seen as part of their work and their worth.

The next paper was by a Very Eminent Medieval Lion. It was also very interesting. The delivery was fantastic. I think it would have been fantastic to have been an undergrad listening to the Lion's lectures. However. Er. There were many other eminent types in the audience. Some of them asked questions that indicated that they doubted the paper's premise. There were also comments in the hallway conversation afterwards to the effect of, "pull the other one -- it's got bells on." Me? I choose to remember it as very entertaining and, since I was unfamiliar with the documents in question (again, not so good at the A/S anymore), at least I learned something of use. Oh, and in case we'd forgotten, Rome didn't fall. Instead, there was Continuity.

Off to lunch with the people who managed to get me through Beachy U, plus a Senior Colleague and The Cranky One. Someone did mention that I seemed to have my support network around me. It was very close to being true. It's not often that one gets to have a meal with a group of people one has known for a varying number of years (from just over one year to over twenty -- added up, a total of 105 years, I think!) and to whom one owes quite a lot. Shucks.

Skived off the next panels, as I had not yet been to the book room or amber table. I really did want to hear CelandineB's paper, because it was on a really fun subject, but instead I talked myself out of many purchases. Had some of the books been still available, I'd have bought more, but the display copies of things I wanted were already taken. Still, I got one of the last two copies of TFX Noble's new collection of old essays (apparently including some heavy editing of typos) on Rome and Barbarians, which looks to be very useful. I've also not read quite all of the essays, so I've got catching up to do.

Then off to the blogging panel -- saw many well-known medievalist bloggers in action. The panel was generally good, and the panelists very good, but somehow it really took off for the audience during the Q & A session, when the subject of blogs for pedagogy came to the fore, and a bunch of us stayed around to talk before heading off to drink free, not-especially-good wine. There was the choice of the mead and beer-tasting, but the medievalist hates crowds and was happy to stand in the courtyard with friends.

Off to a local brew pub for dinner, where one of my companions said that the pot roast was fantastic. I tasted it, and it really was. Then back to the hotel, where masses of medievalists were gathering to catch the shuttle to The Dance. Although I have been known to be a dancing fool, and was mightily tempted by The Cranky One, I had no dancing shoes, blisters on my feet, and was verging on knackered. So with fond and regretful farewells, I retired to my room. There I watched most of the second Harry Potter movie, which entertainment was followed by the sounds of mad and passionate conference dalliance and some very loud and (not to cast aspersions, but I did have to hammer on the connecting door, finally, at 3:16 a.m. EDT) possibly soused medievalistas.

Off the next morning by train with two charming colleagues from the British Isles, with a very nice, if not entirely healthy, lunch here, and on to the airport and home.

Kazoo Retrospective, pt. 2

Kazoo Retrospective, pt. 2

Aha ... day two begins sans hangover. Yippee! And a darned good thing, because my panel was at 10:00. Oh -- and I'll say publicly here that, if they must add additional sessions, move the plenaries to evening sessions and have a few more papers in an early morning slot. But anyway ... caught a ride into campus with New Kid and CelandineB, and went on to my panel. It was really pretty interesting. Very gender-imbalanced, although the single male was not bothered by it at all. It was a really nice mix of disciplines -- three lit people, three historians. The audience was also very interested and interesting, so that there was a lot of good conversation during and after.

Lunch with a colleague I've known for a while, and another colleague whom I'd seen around for quite some time at early medieval panels, but never met. Both colleagues have a strong secondary interest in sf, and knew each other pretty well, so we got to kibbitz on all kinds of fun Tolkein-y and sf things while two of us ate very salty batter that ostensibly covered a piece of fish ... it was about a 3:1 ratio. Then off to a Late Antique/EMA panel, where we met up with The Cranky Professor.

The panel was interesting. A paper on Bede and miracles, which seemed very clear, but unfortunately, I seemed to have post-lunch dozes, so I had trouble following. Definitely a listener problem, because the notes I did take were very clear. Still, I think the paper was a bit overshadowed by the next two. The second paper was one of the two that particularly interested me (I'm just not an Anglo-Saxonist ...) -- ethnogenesis and Thuringians in the same paper! It was less new and stunning than I'd hoped, but there was a lot of great historiographical information, and the presenter made it absolutely clear where he stood on some of the issues. Still, I ended up a bit disappointed, because I'm really more interested in what happened to the Thuringians after Radulf took over in the 7th c. than I am in where they came from. On the up side, it was clear that the presenter believed that there was a clearly separate group of people who could be called Thuringians for whatever reason. But again ... where did they go? Are the Thuringians mentioned in the Annales Fuldensis at all related to the Thuringians who were ruled by Basinus? Or the Thuringians of Radulf? Or the Thuringians of Heden and the so-called Würzburger dukes? To me, this is a far more interesting question. As an aside, the question session for the paper was entirely predictable.
The last paper at the session was truly enjoyable. Vikings! Given by a very bright and entertaining British scholar, the paper raised some wonderful questions and the presenter made som excellent points about the limits of archaeology in dealing with the problems of secondary settlement in the Danelaw and elsewhere. One of the things I found most useful was the notion -- which really needs to be brought up much more often -- that migrants don't only end up somewhere, but they also come from somewhere. It is, after all a process, and we can't isolate the parts and do a good job. Even the somewhat hurried ending didn't hurt the overall impact of the paper.

Intravenous coffee, followed by rushing off by myself to join most of my Beachy U friends at a High Middle Ages panel (hey, I started as an Anglo-Normanist!) sponsored by the same group that had sponsored my paper. The first paper was really good -- and useful to me (yay!). Monastic donations again, this time mostly Marmoutier and a review of donation patterns and the occasional dual roles played by nobles who took up the monastic life. The second paper was a very nice discussion of types of lordship, that is, ways of categorizing lordship in terms of functionality and symbol. A good graduate paper by a student from Grad U on anger and chivalry and other such things. Again, the late afternoon doldrums were hitting, and I was unable to give the paper my full attention. Still, it was so different from the type of stuff I do that it was really refreshing -- all about what's in the texts and the language ... The final paper was a blast. The presenter took on the "F" word and really brought up some good points. Rather than dealing with the "did it exist?" question, the paper looked at when we can see evidence of the use of terms normally associated with the "F-word" in one very small area over a defined time, to see if there was evidence for an increase in usage. Despite some very good critical questions on types of source material and some very judicious caveats offered to the author, I think the ideas for methodology were very sound and might help to re-examine some basic issues without really disturbing the Brown-Reynolds-Ganshof-everybody else discussion.

After the papers, arrangements for lunch the next day, and off to the Avista reception, where a couple of my friends bought and assembled their own replica astrolabes. After that, two of us from the morning panel spent far too much time trying to find our way to the dreadfully mislabeled hotel shuttle and far too much time, once it arrived, waiting for it to get us downtown for dinner. Still, after quickly changing into more comfortable clothes and hitting the money machine, we joined the rest of our group at a very nice Bistro for a yummy dinner and great conversation. Home late to cope with overeating, and bed.

Kazoo Retrospective, pt. 1

Kazoo Retrospective, pt. 1

Well, this is the first conference I haven't tried to blog in real time ... partially because my hotel did not have wireless as promised. But here's Day 1 (Thursday). Got up. Breakfast with roommate and colleagues from the blogosphere. Paper panic. Attended a session on Late Antiquity, where two of the panelists did not show, nor did they send papers. Rude. But the papers presented, both by grad students, were good. The first one was on voluntary exile in 6th c. Gaul, i.e., exile used as a form of political coercion. It was very convincing. And I just remembered that I forgot to ask the presenter a question when I saw her at dinner later that evening. Must e-mail her. I wish I'd been that self-possessed as a grad student. The second paper was also good, with lots of fun questions about ethnicity. Some fairly well-known Late Antiquity types asked questions, and the presenter handled them very well. My only objection? Call me stuffy, but I tend to think that, the more junior one is, the better dressed one should be. That is, if you are a woman, wear some sort of jacket at least, and if you are a man, wear a damned tie. Either way, comb your hair! (only one of the two students was guilty of this particular set of sins, btw).

Second session. Missed two panels that looked to be excellent, because I was giving my paper. Survived. Got questions. Other panelists were good, and I especially liked the last paper, whose author I've known for over 20 years, but never heard give a paper. It was really interesting, and there were some good issues raised in the discussion. My favorite part of that was when she and I were jointly asked a question, and pretty much came up with the same answer, despite the fact that our topics were only thematically related. I also feel far less sorry for myself trying to pronounce complicated Frankish family names, now that I've seen a friend having to deal with Anglo/Saxon names! One of the best parts of giving the paper was that I knew almost all of the small audience, and the people I didn't know were friendly. On the downside, I think the other two panels may have diminished the audience. Not a bad thing, but trust me to keep thinking that it went so very well because most of the audience were 'family'.

Off next to another Early Medieval/Late Antique-y session. First paper, by an very amusing Lion, was pretty off the cuff, it seemed. Lots of metaphorical talk about Owls and Roosters, but the Lion never got to the Turkeys and Bats. You kinda had to have been there. Still, the central argument was interesting. Second paper was by someone I've seen before. Maybe it was the afternoon catching up with me, maybe it was that the first presentation went long, and so the presenter was talking like an auctioneer, but I was a little confused, and surprised at being so. The final paper started slowly (again, I was tired, the room was hot, and I felt a bit dozey), but ended really well, with a couple of very interesting points regarding the possible identity of the author of a well-known poem. It was so nicely done that I really had to sit up and take notice. The presenter really made some great points about gender and education under the Carolingians, and handled some pretty critical questions very well. Even if the presenter is wrong, the questions and issues raised really made me sit up and think about certain aspects of Carolingian renaissance/renovatio.

Wine hour. Caught bus to dinner with subfield group. Proportionately, there were few women. Was surrounded by really nice people (scary Lions from Toronto and places east were on the opposite side of the room) and only one scary one. But is was really nice, Lions on either side, but also some Cubs, so the conversations moved around a lot. Missed the blogger meet-up because of it, though. Went back to Valley whatever, where I was to catch the shuttle back to town, but instead saw someone from my panel, so we caught a cab together with another colleague, and went out for a couple more drinks. Possibly martinis? Still in bed fairly early, which was a good thing, since I had to be at a round table the next morning...

Kzoo Update

K'zoo Update

By the way, all, I thought I'd let you know that I have not actually fallen off the face of the earth, but it will seem like it for the next week or so!

I'm almost done with my handouts for the big K'zoo paper. And I've had two people give me edits. DV said that the paper would not embarrass me, and another blogger friend said that, although on the dry side, the paper sounded TRUE -- which is about the best thing I can think of! I've read it out loud twice, and the hard words were not the ones I stumbled over. But even with stumbling, I came in at 19 minutes. And yes, I read this to someone else, who said that I did not sound rushed. Yay for that. Now to fix the parts where it reads well for print, but sounds very awkward out loud.

About that round table? er ... It'll be done.

But I may be gone while I'm getting it done!

If not before, I'll see some of you at the 'zoo -- which will be kind of interesting, since few of us have actually met!

Monday Memeage

Monday Memeage

Nicked from New Kid



Accent: Pretty much Left Coast, with lots of regional dialect and European usage influence. Apparently, it's mild enough that I don't have an American accent when speaking 'foreign'
Booze: Hell, yes. Depending on my mood, single malt, beer, or wine. On a bad day? I'll take some tequila with that beer, please. Nothing Blue, nothing blended.
Chore I Hate: hairball and other animal accident clean-up
Dog or Cat: Cats. I've got nothing against dogs, but just prefer the slightly less needy attitude of cats
Essential Electronics: Computer. Without a doubt.
Favorite Cologne(s): Amarige is what I usually wear, but Givenchy used to make something called Indecence which I really love.
Gold or Silver:no real preference, although I tend to wear more gold as I get older
Hometown: Divided between Beachy Town with movie stars and Pretty Big City that's home of some serious R&B and Funk stars and next door to Funky U-Town
Insomnia: More than I'd like, but not all that much
Job Title: Instructor; Assistant Professor in August
Kids: One 24-y-o step-daughter, still in almost daily contact
Living arrangements: Very cool rental house. Built 1917, three bedrooms and one of the world's smallest bathrooms. Needs some work, though ...like that soggy place in the bathroom floor...
Most admirable trait: I honestly don't know. The best thing anyone ever said about me was that I had integrity. SOmeone else said I was really strong. said I was amazingly well-adjusted for someone who'd had my life. But honestly, I think I'm pretty average.
Number of sexual partners: Actual sex, as opposed to various kinds of fooling around? Not so many for someone who's spent most of her life single in the age of the Pill. But I'm single again, so I'm guessing the number may go up.
Overnight hospital stays: Two
Phobias: If phobias are irrational, none. Except maybe the 'sharks in swimming pools' thing. But stuff that makes my heart pound in a bad way? Crowds, taking off and landing in planes, small spaces, bridges and raised motorways (I've lived much of my life in earthquake country), public humiliation, high places, really big spiders, monkeys, parrots ... the usual
Quote: "Life is not a dress-rehearsal" or maybe, "I may be Love's Bitch, but I'm man enough to admit it"
Religion: None anymore, and aspects of many
Siblings: Sister, younger by almost exactly three years; Bella, younger by 12. There used to be a step-brother, but not anymore.
Time I wake up: As late as the cats will let me sleep! I try to be up by 5:30 most mornings, but generally hit the snooze button till about 6:15. Hence the not getting to the gym so much. 7:30 or 8 on the weekends.
Unusual talent or skill: I'm pretty good at learning languages and music. And I can imitate recipes without a cookbook. Not actually too talented, then.
Vegetable I refuse to eat: Candied yams and lima (or any similar) beans.
Worst habit: Some people say I worry too much. I like less the fact that I have to think about not being a slob (untidy, NOT dirty). And we won't go into the procrastination thing
X-rays: Teeth, chest, spine, foot, evil mammograms
Yummy foods I make: baked salmon with a mustard-dill sauce, dal, chili, apple crisp
Zodiac sign: Scorpio in western, Water Tiger in Chinese. Water Tiger seems more accurate, but who knows?

Procrastination ...

procrastination -- from Housecleaning

Yep -- not actually avoiding academic work (except for marking discussion boards and paper proposals). But I saw this at maggie may's and she says that luckybuzz says only the boys are doing it, so ...

Hey, it's a moral imperative (is that one on the list?)! I've bolded the ones I've seen, starred the ones I've loved.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick
"The 400 Blows" (1959) Francois Truffaut
"8 1/2" (1963) Federico Fellini
"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972) Werner Herzog
"Alien" (1979) Ridley Scott*
"All About Eve" (1950) Joseph L. Mankiewicz*
"Annie Hall" (1977) Woody Allen
"Bambi" (1942) Disney
"Battleship Potemkin" (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) William Wyler
"The Big Red One" (1980) Samuel Fuller
"The Bicycle Thief" (1949) Vittorio De Sica
"The Big Sleep" (1946) Howard Hawks
"Blade Runner" (1982) Ridley Scott*
"Blowup" (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni
"Blue Velvet" (1986) David Lynch
"Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) Arthur Penn
"Breathless" (1959) Jean-Luc Godard
"Bringing Up Baby" (1938) Howard Hawks
"Carrie" (1975) Brian DePalma
"Casablanca" (1942) Michael Curtiz
"Un Chien Andalou" (1928) Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali
"Children of Paradise" / "Les Enfants du Paradis" (1945) Marcel Carne
"Chinatown" (1974) Roman Polanski*
"Citizen Kane" (1941) Orson Welles
"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) Stanley Kubrick
"The Crying Game" (1992) Neil Jordan
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) Robert Wise*
"Days of Heaven" (1978) Terence Malick
"Dirty Harry" (1971) Don Siegel
"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1972) Luis Bunuel
"Do the Right Thing" (1989) Spike Lee
"La Dolce Vita" (1960) Federico Fellini
"Double Indemnity" (1944) Billy Wilder
"Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964) Stanley Kubrick*
"Duck Soup" (1933) Leo McCarey
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) Steven Spielberg
"Easy Rider" (1969) Dennis Hopper
"The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) Irvin Kershner*
"The Exorcist" (1973) William Friedkin
"Fargo" (1995) Joel & Ethan Coen*
"Fight Club" (1999) David Fincher
"Frankenstein" (1931) James Whale
"The General" (1927) Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
"The Godfather," "The Godfather, Part II" (1972, 1974) Francis Ford Coppola
"Gone With the Wind" (1939) Victor Fleming
"GoodFellas" (1990) Martin Scorsese
"The Graduate" (1967) Mike Nichols*
"Halloween" (1978) John Carpenter
"A Hard Day's Night" (1964) Richard Lester
"Intolerance" (1916) D.W. Griffith
"It's A Gift" (1934) Norman Z. McLeod
"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) Frank Capra
"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg*
"The Lady Eve" (1941) Preston Sturges
"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) David Lean
"M" (1931) Fritz Lang
"Mad Max 2" / "The Road Warrior" (1981) George Miller
"The Maltese Falcon" (1941) John Huston
"The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) John Frankenheimer*
"Metropolis" (1926) Fritz Lang
"Modern Times" (1936) Charles Chaplin
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam*
"Nashville" (1975) Robert Altman
"The Night of the Hunter" (1955) Charles Laughton*
"Night of the Living Dead" (1968) George Romero
"North by Northwest" (1959) Alfred Hitchcock*
"Nosferatu" (1922) F.W. Murnau
"On the Waterfront" (1954) Elia Kazan
"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) Sergio Leone
"Out of the Past" (1947) Jacques Tournier
"Persona" (1966) Ingmar Bergman
"Pink Flamingos" (1972) John Waters
"Psycho" (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
"Pulp Fiction" (1994) Quentin Tarantino*
"Rashomon" (1950) Akira Kurosawa
"Rear Window" (1954) Alfred Hitchcock*
"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) Nicholas Ray
"Red River" (1948) Howard Hawks
"Repulsion" (1965) Roman Polanski
"Rules of the Game" (1939) Jean Renoir
"Scarface" (1932) Howard Hawks
"The Scarlet Empress" (1934) Josef von Sternberg
"Schindler's List" (1993) Steven Spielberg
"The Searchers" (1956) John Ford
"The Seven Samurai" (1954) Akira Kurosawa
"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly*
"Some Like It Hot" (1959) Billy Wilder*
"A Star Is Born" (1954) George Cukor
"A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) Elia Kazan*
"Sunset Boulevard" (1950) Billy Wilder
"Taxi Driver" (1976) Martin Scorsese
"The Third Man" (1949) Carol Reed
"Tokyo Story" (1953) Yasujiro Ozu
"Touch of Evil" (1958) Orson Welles
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) John Huston
"Trouble in Paradise" (1932) Ernst Lubitsch
"Vertigo" (1958) Alfred Hitchcock
"West Side Story" (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise
"The Wild Bunch" (1969) Sam Peckinpah
"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) Victor Fleming*


And no, I don't know who made up the list. There are films that I'd definitely add as "should sees".
update: It's Roger Ebert's list, apparently. That probably explains why The Princess Bride, His Girl Friday, Real Genius, nor anything with Fred Astaire, nor anything by Mel Brooks or Blake Edwards is on it ...

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The conference is 13 days from today. I have completed a second and much-revised draft of my paper. I have not actually read it out loud yet, but think it's about right to hit the 20 minute mark -- about 3200 words. Anyone who knows me should probably be wondering what happened to the real ADM. I have never been this ahead of the game in my life. I kind of like it.

A Realization and a Question

A Realization and a Question

I fall behind in my Ancient/Medieval survey. Always. I just realized why. It's the Punic Wars. There is no good reason in a survey course to go into detail about them. The important things for the survey are that they help to solidify Rome's control over the Med and leave Rome with issues I need to talk about, like latifundia, the Gracchi and land reform, social upheaval, changes in the makeup of the army -- all that stuff. But ... Punic Wars, people!

How could I not talk about Punic Wars II: The Wrath of the Barcas?? How could I not talk about -- the war elephants??? How could I not talk about the brilliance of Rome's expanding through the quite sensible defense of her friends? How could I not talk about the political brilliance of granting proconsular imperium to P. Cornelius Scipio -- and the problems that tweaking the mos maiorum eventually causes??

Yes, it's a survey class. But you know, there should also be some good stories in history, because it's the stories that are part of the fun. Maybe it's because my research really is all about dry stuff and adding pieces to a puzzle -- intellectually, it's a challenge, and I find it satisfying. And I love teaching students to tease information out of primary sources. But although they will probably retain some of the skills I teach them, it's the stories that the non-majors will remember. So they should be good ones. I guess I should start planning time for the Punic Wars into my syllabus.

So I also have a question: Does anyone else find that there are some stories they just have to tell, even in a survey class?

Passing the Word

Passing the Word

According to Dr. Virago, there is some kind of 'blogger meet-up', whatever that is, planned for the Zoo. Details at her place, and everywhere. Depending on the timing of that evening, I may make it myself. Or maybe not, as I have a previous engagement that I can't miss. But whichever way, I hope to meet lots of you there, pseudonymously and not!

Word

Word

Perspectives article on contingent faculty pretty much sums it up.

Today's Lesson

Today's Lesson

It's possibly not the best idea to choose a family with a very difficult-to-pronounce name as the subject of a conference paper. You may now laugh at my discomfort. I will be practicing while re-writing.

ETA: And no, even if I Anglicize the name, it's not an easy one. Give me that Bavarian ducal family any time. Their name, I can pronounce.

Figures

Figures

Well, from my office, I can see both blue skies and bucketing down rain. Kind of a metaphor for my day. Finished a draft of the paper, got back comments with blinding speed. Apparently, I will now be doing some serious re-writes. Bugger. Oh well ... re-writing now makes for less craptastic embarrassment later.

Reasons Early Medieval is fun, pt 2

Reasons Early Medieval is Fun, part 2

Wheeee! I just got to write something about a guy whose name really was Ratbert. Scott Adams, eat your heart out!

Sometimes I crack myself up. And then I think ...you are such a geek!

Oh -- but I'm not the only one. In my fun survey class the other day, I shared with my class a little TMI -- a student's description of Kreon made me think for some reason of James T. Kirk. One of my very cool students immediately picked up on it and she did a very effective and funny imitation of Bill Shatner as Kreon doing the speech where he asks Antigone if she is trying to unman him!

That is all. I've dismembered and rewritten the paper. Mostly.

Update: The paper is finished, in the sense of having an introduction, body with lots of nice primary source stuff, and a conclusion that refers back to the actual subject of the paper and offers an answer to a very small question. It is now in the, 'sent to smart people who don't want me to embarrass myself in public' stage. I'm going to go have food. And a beer.

Sometimes I despair

Sometimes I despair

OK -- that's a bit strong. I do despair, but not about this so much. But I do wonder if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I can't seem to write anything without returning to some of the same damned books and articles over and over. And yes, I know that KF Werner's "Bedeutende Adelsfamilie" is seminal and all, but sometimes, I wonder where the line between relying on the seminal works and stuck in a rut is. And at what point does prosopography and reconstructing families just become useless ... the point where you realize that all of these people were intermarried? Because, well, most of them were. So then the question (and this is not new -- Werner talks about it, Bouchard crings it up when using Werner's methodology, and anybody with sense considers the problem) is 'does being related -- or interrelated matter?' That is, can we count on the importance of family ties if we don't know how conscious people are of them? And how can we find evidence of that conscious connection? OK, the last part is not a mystery -- we look at naming patterns and if people are donating lands for each other, etc., for a start.

Still, I sometimes wonder if I'm the only damned medievalist who keeps finding myself being dragged back to the same places. I really hope not. Maybe it's a sign that I've internalized the secondary literature? ADM asked hopefully...

Clarification

Clarification

In regards to my last post, I received the following comment:

I would like to clarify a few points regarding the article ‘First Knights Templar are discovered’ published by the Australian Daily Telegraph on 10 April 2006. The article was indeed an example of journalistic misrepresentation. I have never maintained that the human remains unearthed at Jacob’s Ford are ‘the first provable example of actual Knights Templar’. The castle of Jacob’s Ford was garrisoned by Templars when it fell in 1179, but it also contained many other soldiers, servants and builders. There is a strong possibility that one or more of the bodies discovered on site might be that of a Templar, but this could never be stated with absolute certainty. I am quoted in the article as stating that ‘never before has it been possible to trace their remains to such an exact time in history’, with the quote positioned to imply that ‘their remains’ refers to Templars, but, in fact, ‘their remains’ was a general reference to those engaged in the wider crusading endeavour of the twelfth century. Similarly, I am quoted as saying: ‘This discovery is the equivalent of the Holy Grail to archaeologists and historians. It is unparalleled’. When made, this statement did not relate to the supposed discovery of Templar remains, but to the discovery of the long lost castle of Jacob’s Ford. The story of this fortress is both fascinating and revelatory, but not for the reasons outlined in the Telegraph’s article.
Dr Thomas Asbridge
Senior Lecturer in Medieval History
Queen Mary, University of London

I think (or at least hope) most of my regular readers know that my complaints about the article were not about Dr. Asbridge, but rather about the amazingly inept presentation of the reporter and the ties to the Dan Brown/HBHG conspiracy theory nuts. And despite not having been asked for an apology for pointing out the stupidity of the article to which he was linked, I do apologise if my having done so put Dr. Asbridge in an awkward position. As I mentioned below, several colleagues said from the outset that he must have been badly misquoted, and I very much appreciate his having taken the time to write a clarification.

Er ... Not Really

Er ... Not Really

From the Daily Telegraph (Australia -- not the Torygraph):

British historian Tom Asbridge yesterday hailed the find as the first provable example of actual Knights Templar.

The remains were found beneath the ruined walls of Jacob's Ford, an overthrown

castle dating back to the Crusades, which had been lost for centuries.

They can be dated to the exact day -- August 29, 1179 -- that they were killed by Saladin, the feared Muslim leader who captured the fortress.

"Never before has it been possible to trace their remains to such an exact time in history,' Mr Asbridge said. "This discovery is the equivalent of the Holy Grail to archaeologists and historians. It is unparalleled."

Ok ... first, I thought we already knew that the Templars really existed. And second, No, it's not really like finding the Holy Grail at all. Because the only thing like finding the Holy Grail would be actually finding the Holy Grail. Which may or may not be the cup most appropriate for a simple carpenter and may or may not have been found in the 1940s in Petra by a sexy archaeologist and his father after many encounters with the Nazis. Because in this medievalist's world, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is every bit as plausible as the nonsense that Dan Brown writes, and far better because no one ever claimed it might be true. Sheesh.

Update: I've seen comments at other places from several colleagues that this is probably a case of an historian being horrendously misquoted. In terms of the coolness of the discovery, one of my Senior Colleagues points out that knowing an almost exact date for something might be a really good gauge for calibrating other, more traditional dating methods, and thus lead to more accurate dating for other sites -- and that is very cool. Just not pop-culture, Dan Brown, Michael Baigent conspiracy-theory cool.

Teacher ego

Teacher ego

Sorry folks, but its the class again. End of week two. And still, several students have not contributed to a single Blackboard discussion. I'm torn. I really want to take these students aside and just tell them to drop now, because they will likely not pass this class if they don't contribute -- it's just too big a part of their grade. But it's really too small a class to lose any students (am I a cynic because I'm pleased that, if they do drop, I still get credit for not having lost FTEs?). So I'm angry with them. And I feel terribly guilty that they won't do the work.

But they are supposed to be adults. They knowingly signed up for a class that has a significant online component. It's been made abundantly clear that this is not an optional part of the class. If they choose not to do the work, it is not my responsibility. So ... why do I feel so crappy about this?

Teacher ego.

I admit it. We all know far to much of my personal identity is wrapped up in my academic identity. Not that I'm different from a lot of us who have been fortunate enough to get to live the academic life. And you know, it's important to me that, even when students hate my class, they like me. I like the bit on the evaluations where the students say I'm always there to help, accessible -- all those mentor-y (and kind of traditional femme-y) qualities that seem to make a big difference even when they are complaining about the work load, etc. And when I can't get the students to play along, it feels like they don't like me.

I should worry more about whether they are learning, but it's hard. And if they aren't doing the work, are they learning? Hmph.

My other class, OTOH, is a joy. We've got a great conversation going on online (not as much participation there as should be, but far better) about ethnocentricm that I'm going to tweak into a conversation about presentism, since they are so closely related. It's a very oddly composed class -- one woman in her 30s, a bunch of much younger women, some wtill in high school, and four guys, two of whom are originally from (I think) East Africa and are probably Muslim (I'm going by the names). One question on sexuality in Classical Greece has provided so many good teaching moments, and I'm so impressed at how these students are willing and able to have what are clearly difficult conversations in such a gender-imbalanced, culturally imbalanced classroom. I feel no sense of success here -- the fact that they are good and involved and interested has nothing to do with me. So If I have no problem taking no credit for the good class, why is it so easy to take the blame for the bad class?

Teacher ego. I think. Maybe as I publish and present more, and broaden my own academic persona, these things will be more balanced, too. Something to think about.

Why do I bother?

Why do I bother?

I admit it. I am a compulsive overexplainer. My tendency towards TMI extends to my writing of syllabi and assignments. They are, in a word, wordy.

But here's the thing ...

the syllabus? It explains my expectations. It has a list of outcomes and how students will be assessed. It has (shock horror) a list of assigned readings and the dates on which they, as well as all the other assignments are due. It's kind of neat -- you can take the dates in the syllabus and transfer them to your own PDA or (if you are low-tech, like me) to your calendar!

So why is it that Amazingly Bright But Equally Clueless Student asked me today when assignment Y was due? I said, ABBEC, "it's in the syllabus." ABBEC said, "Oh, but I don't have that with me, so I thought I could just ask you." I said, "well, since we don't meet again this week, it's not this week -- which gives you time to look at your syllabus!"

My paper assignment? Includes a detailed description of the assignment and the questions the essay needs to answer. It's a review. The assignment sheet has outcomes listed in terms of what skills they will have mastered by doing the assignment. Stated clearly is my understanding that most students have never read a scholarly review, and instructions to go to the library (or JSTOR) and find a scholarly review from a particular journal, and to read that review first, so that they will have an idea of what their paper should look like when they are done. So why is it that a student asked me today if the assignment was to watch a film and summarize it????? "Have you read the assignment sheet all the way through?" "no" "Have you found an example of the kind of review you're writing and looked at it?" "no"

I did not ask why we were having this conversation, but I did wonder it. When I were a lad, professor told us to write paper. Not how, no specific instructions as to what was entailed in writing a good paper in a particular field. It could be a recipe for disaster. But why bother to articulate our expectations if students seem totally unaware that the instruction sheet is actually an instruction sheet?

*headdesk*

I'll stop ranting and go do something useful now ...

But by the way ... I also tell them, orally and in writing, that most of their questions on how to do things can be answered by reading the assignment sheets and syllabus carefully.

Last Quarter, This Quarter

Last Quarter, This Quarter

You know, what with all the hunting of jobs and trying to arrange my life after getting a job and panicking about conference papers last quarter (not that I've stopped with the panicking), I was pretty sure that I had not been at my teaching best. Got my evals, and the students disagreed. Apparently, they all felt they'd learned a lot. At least, the ones who stuck it out did. My favorite negative comment was that I assigned too much reading, but that I couldn't improve, because the student just didn't like to read. Most of the comments were more along the lines of High expectations/hardest/best class they'd taken. Woohoo!

This quarter is very different. I only have two classes (my contract is slightly less than full-time -- that way, they don't have to pay union scale, which would raise my salary about $13k). One of them is too damned early. The students in TDE class are almost all young women, and all of the students seem engaged and interested. Both the classes are hybrids -- 20% of the class takes place on the online discussion boards, and we only have 4 hours of actual seat time. The online discussions this week have been fairly lively -- not everyone participating, but most. They've responded to suggestions I've made on the boards, and look like they'll start responding more to each other ... I'm happy so far.

The other class ... small -- about 10. It's that class. The Spring term class we all know and dread. We will all have at least one in our teaching lives, but I still don't know how to deal with this dynamic. Most of the students are there to fulfill a requirement. Clearly, however, they haven't yet passed their math requirement, because not only is 20% of the grade based on online discussion, but another 20% is class participation, because, well ... they are supposed to do the readings before class and be prepared to discuss the primary sources. They're not supposed to know how to do this from day one. But I have given them questions to answer for each source (same questions, folks -- the ones historians start off with about authorship, audience, kind of document, etc.). They are required to bring their answers to class. And ... if they can't answer the questions, or if they don't get something in the document, they get equal credit for bringing in their questions!.

At this point, class two have mostly each logged into the discussion board once, to introduce themselves. One student has posted answers to the two substantial discussion questions. One. The discussion guidelines I hand out on how discussion is graded are pretty specific in what the minimum requirements are. I went over them in class and did the math with the students -- it is almost impossible to fail my class if you actually do the work. A person can turn in every assignment and bomb on it, but if they've been maxing out in class and online, they will pass the class. Conversely, if they ace every assignment, but blow off class and online discussion, they will get no higher than a D.

What are they thinking, and does anybody have a suggestion for how to engage them before it's too late? Yesterday there were far too many 3 minute silences while people refused to answer questions. And they were easy questions -- who was the author of "X"? What kind of a document is it? A pamphlet? OK -- what does that mean? What was the purpose of such pamphlets? (this is the modern course). And then, after teasing (well, more like dragging, kicking and screaming) the answers out of them, I asked them to help me re-cap what we'd learned. The same questions, mind. No answers.

I have not dismissed a class for wasting my time in a long time. I may be doing it next week. But really, I'd like some constructive suggestions, if you've got 'em.

Not a Cheery Post

Not a Cheery Post

But perhaps worth blogging for. Had you seen this article about the Duke Lacrosse team? I hadn't. Some of the best coverage so far is at Alas, a blog. You'd think that, with 46 suspects, there'd have been a bit more coverage. Not that race or class might have anything to do with it. Or the fact that the victim was a stripper.

Update: Ralph Luker has posted more at Cliopatria. Ralph, I'd forgotten about your Duke connection. And while I do agree that people are innocent until proven guilty, I have to say that I consider every person at that party who did nothing to stop the alleged assault, each person who has not come forward to either turn in a temmate or help clear a teammate, to be guilty. Obviously not of rape -- the victim claims that only three people actually raped her -- but the silence of the team makes its members complicit. Also, from what I can tell, this all happened on March 13 ... it didn't hit the nationals till almost two weeks later, as far as I can tell. I could be wrong -- after all, I didn't listen to the news as much while on break.

Two Confessions

Two Three Confessions

I have not read Chaucer since high school. I only know who John Gower is through inference. And I really don't mind.

Apologies to you late and/or lit types ...

Oooh ... Books!

Oooh ... Books!

Hello, the internets. I'm taking a few moments from my self-imposed, not-very-well-managed exile from blogging to pose a couple of questions...

1. If you teach World Civ, what text book(s)/reader(s) do you use and and what do you like about them? I'm going back to teaching World at SLAC, and the last time I taught World (last year), I used the new edition of Bentley and really didn't like it. I need to teach World in a way that meets new state's secondary teaching requirement, which still has an awful lot on Europe's Middle Ages (yay), but also major Asian and African empires and religions -- South America not presented as contemporaneous with Rome would be nice.
   
2. I get to help build the non-US collection in SLAC's library!!! If you have suggestions for books you think a solid undergrad collection can't do without, please tell me what you think. I really want to order the new Chris Wickham, but at $175, I'm thinking no. Also, since I will be teaching Historiography eventually, and also directing 300-400 level research papers, can you think of good medieval and ancient primary sources in translation?? My stuff tends to all be edited, but in Latin and German, and I really don't know what's out there for non-Carolingians anymore. I used Chibnall's Orderic as an undergrad, and was thinking that might be good ...

On an entirely other note, I saw V for Vendetta last night. I thought it was very good, with a couple of icky moments, and was OK with the updated historical context, although I can see how people might object.

OH -- and I need to buy an electric screwdriver. I'm just hanging curtains. What I want is a decent cordless drill/screwdriver, but I think that might be excessive and I'll just have one more heavy thing to move. Is a basic Black and Decker-type cordless screwdriver good enough to screw curtain rod hangers into wooden window frames? (Yes, I let X keep all the power tools -- he does actually use most of them).

But before I go

But before I go into semi-seclusion ...

This post at New Kid's, and the ones to which she links, is really good. I've thought about this a lot (if you read the comments, you'll know why), and I've figured out what bothers me about all this. It's about blame and fault and obligation. It's really the SD anti-abortion argument all over again (but not).

The author, Morphing into Mom, says:

“No, because some weight gain is inevitable with age. Five years ago when Husband and I married, I was 120 pounds. I now weigh 125. I would have to use extreme measures to get back down to 120. That’s not a weight gain I can control within reason. However, if I’d maintained the 40 pounds I’d gained during pregnancy, well, that would be unfair since I can actually do something about that.”

So, if a woman were to have a radical mastectomy, or one partner were to lose a limb or undergo some kind of horribly scarring and disfiguring experience -- or if a male partner became impotent due to some physiological reason (like, I dunno, prostate cancer? Hey, I've gone out with significantly older men, and it's something one thinks about), it would all be ok, because it's not the partner's fault??? And our love for each other would make it all OK? And if we couldn't deal with something that isn't our partner's fault, we're bad partners??

Me? I think those things would just be harder to deal with. And I think that people who love each other will try very hard to deal with them and probably will. But I don't know that it's natural or easy. Hell, if I had, for example, a huge scar running across my torso and no breast, I'd have a hard time with it and I'm guessing I'd want some serious counseling. How could I expect a partner to deal with it any better? The physiological is part of attractiveness. It just is. But compounding the difficulties in dealing with major physiological changes in a partner with whether or not the partner is responsible for those changes seems to be both wrong and ultimately damaging to any adult relationship.

I haven't said this as well as I'd like. But I really need to go away and work now.

Hee!

Hee!

Best. Pr0n. Spam. Name. Ever.

I just got a spam from a "Tiberius Erectus."

Sorry -- I just had to share.

Oh, and now I'm going into semi-seclusion to worry about and procrastinate write my paper.

Wish me luck and send good thoughts! I really want to get this done in time to beg Extremely Cool Colleague at Jesuit U to see if she can arrange a practice delivery session. Because I haven't presented to grown-ups on anything but pedagogy since defending my damned prospectus. Oh ... wait. That actually counted for something. THis time, it's all about the humiliation.

Random bullets #1

Random bullets o'Crap #1 (Punchy ADM Remix)

• Guess what? I'm sitting at my desk waiting for the web grade submission server to let me post. Because grades are due tomorrow at 8 a.m. I don't know if the server is down for regular maintenance (they bring it down at 10:30 most days) or if lots of other faculty people are madly trying to submit their grades.
  
  
• I might have got this done a bit earlier, but had a previous blogger coffee engagement that turned into coffee,grading, and a really nice Thai dinner. I gave fellow blogger, who is getting ready to head off for Mediterranean climes, a ride home, and it turns out she lives literally around the corner (two buildings over) from my friend The Mathemetician (btw, if you're reading this and still have my Pink Martini CD and that volume of Early Medieval Europe, can I please have them back? And The Librarian is up to see V for Vendetta, although she saw it with The Physicist last weekend.) Fellow blogger is pixie-ish in a wonderful way. Too self-effacing for someone as clearly smart as she is, and has the most amazing eyes -- they turn vivid green in the sun.
  
  
• Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to reading some Gerd Althoff -- in English!! and working hard in the library at Flagship U until the evening, when I will be going to play pub trivia for probably the last time before Kzoo. I hope it's crowded and that we win, because I could use the cash!
  
  
• I know it's probably sacrilege, but I prefer Linda Thompson's voice to Sandy Denny's.
  
  
• I've been trying to get onto the web grading thingy for 25 minutes now
  
  
• New Kid has good stuff to say about writer's block
  
  
• Don't Give Up : V for Vendetta :: ? : ?
  
  
• Is it better to go to bed now and get up really early to input my grades?? Or will that make me fall asleep in the library?
  
  
• I have made a deal with myself. No TV unless I am exercising or sorting through 10 years worth of filing and shredding everything I can in preparation for the move
  
  
• Oh. Maybe I should e-mail the realtor who's supposed to be helping me find a place to live?
  
  
• Did I mention that last week I got my first traffic ticket (speeding) in 26 years of driving? $132. Ouch
  
  
• One of my students actually plagiarised part of his final exam from the intro to the Guy Burgess translation of Roland. I assigned the damned book. Did the student think I hadn't read the intro?? Fortunately, the student in no way answered the question, so I didn't have to track down the plagiarism in much detail. It's not like the administration does anything about plagiarists anyway.
  
  
• Eric Clapton or Jerry Garcia? Gotta go with EC. But it's a tough choice. In a polytheistic society, it's not a problem. Hmmm. That's probably good for Offler the Crocodile god.
  
  
• Can you tell I'm getting punchy waiting for the server? I am now reminded of why I almost always get my grades turned in at least 24 hours before they're due.
  
  
• Two of my students somehow managed to include references to a certain aging Anglo martial-arts-guy-turned-actor-turned-adman-for-exercise-equipment in their final exams.
  
  
• Far too many of my students got the part where we don't talk about the f-word. Way far too many thought that serfs were vassals. Or that the more accurate term for the f-word is manorialism. But only one person wrote about 'surfs.'
  
  
• In other news, Gregory, Bishop of Tours and author of Historia Francorum, won the Battle of Tours. News to Charles Martel. Although I suppose if Santiago Matamoros can show up with a mystical banner and win, so could a gossipy and long-dead Gallo-Roman. Still, I don't think that's really Gregory's style. Sniping about strong-willed (yeah, and maybe a little murderous) Frankish queens? That's more like it. Oh hell -- Gregory wasn't a warrior bishop, was he?? I don't remember him being a warrior bishop. I really want to put my grades in and go to bed.
  
  
• I've been trying to post grades for over an hour now. It isn't busy. They've just brought it down the night before frigging grades are due. Oh well, with any luck, they'll screw it up the way they did last time, when I did submit my grades two days early, and they lost a bunch of them in the backup so that I had to submit paper grades after the deadline anyway. Bugger this for a lark. I'm off to bed.

Early Modern Grad Programs

Early Modern Grad Programs

Hello, the internets! Super-wonderful ex-student wants to go to grad school in Early Modern History. England, and most likely Reformation and/or recusancy. Student is giving a paper at a conference (yeah, still an undergrad ...) on the Jesuits and shifts in confessional culture sometime soon. Anyway, student is looking for programs where student could get a good PhD, good mentoring, and (duh) an eventual job. Obviously, student is looking for funding, otherwise grad school won't happen. So, anybody got any recommendations for where a very bright and affable student (madly working on the languages) should apply? Student isn't limited to the US or to any geographic area, as long as there's funding.

Best thing ever said by a student

Best thing ever said by a student

At least to me ...

"This was the hardest class I've ever taken here. But I enjoyed it more than any other class I've taken."

Sorry. Just had to share that. I am soooo basking in the love.

Don't worry -- we'll return to regular programming and I'll start worrying about being a fraud again any time now. But first, I might just have a small, self-congratulatory single malt.

Personality DNA

Personality DNA

Does this look like me to you folks??

Benevolent Experiencer

Oh my

Oh my

How can you not have a crush on this man? I'm just saying. Him, Jon Stewart, and Gary Cooper (yeah, I know he's old and dead, but have you seen Ball of Fire?).

We now return to being a boring academic.

Update: Well, this is annoying. Apparently Clooney said all of the things that were blogged under his name, but it kinda looks like Arianna Huffington kinda pieced them together herself. So he said those things, but didn't blog them nor did he say them as a coherent whole.

History Carnivals

History Carnivals Abound

The very kind Alun is hosting his second Carnivalesque, Carnivalesque XIII, which has a Women's History Month theme tied in with the main Ancient/Medieval theme. Still trying to tie down definite hosts for Ancient/Medieval versions in May and July!

Also, the latest edition of the quarterly Carnival of Bad History is up at ahistoricality's place.

Go, read, be entertained and educated!

Grateful Blogging

Grateful Blogging

I've been a blogging flake lately. What can I say? Job hunt, job acquisition, implications of job acquisition, end of quarter, and impending conference paper of doom have all mixed to make my world a very busy and crazy place. Anyway, I figured it was time to blog a little before another self-imposed semi-exile while I get all of my stuff taken care of.

On the job front, I've now signed the contract and returned it to SLAC. I've been sent all kinds of information on the department, accreditation reports, syllabi, course descriptions, etc. Each of my preps will be either a major overhaul or brand-new. Part of this is just the shift to semesters (yay!),and part is that I haven't taught upper division courses before. And (big surprise to me) the Modern Europe course is really new. Me, when I think modern, I think the long 19th c. Or even 18th and 19th. I've taught those. But this is Europe from the Great War to the present. That's like ... current events!

Despite the initial freak-out, it'll be fine. I'm just thinking that I will not have much of a break this summer. Also, I've received personal notes from the junior historians and dean, all offering help with realtors, a place to crash when I come out to look for a place, etc. And the numbers of the folks in IT so I can order my computer and people in the library so I can start to help build up the library. Can you tell I'm hugely excited???? I think I'll be really happy there. No lingering feelings of loss over not staying at my present job, either -- they cancelled the search on Friday!

That's not what I wanted to blog about, though. Mostly I wanted to say 'thank you.' I really don't know that I'd have come this far and got the job without my blogfriends and supporters -- I hope my RL friends who read this realize that they are included in this, too. You have all been incredibly kind and have made me feel a member of the larger academic community in a way that has really made me try to behave like a member of that community. You've helped me through a divorce, you've helped me to build my confidence enough to write again, and you've traded ideas in ways that make me feel truly alive. More practically, blogging actually made me the connections that have added me to two conference panels, got me a gig editing a list serv, and introduced me to a bunch of people who are now (and in some cases, again) RL friends and colleagues. It's funny -- one of the reasons I kept blogging and the place I made my first real blogfriends was through the Invisible Adjunct. She left the professorial track. I'm so very grateful that I don't have to make that choice. Despite the fact that women in general tend to attribute these things to luck rather than skills or talent, I still feel incredibly lucky. Thank you all.

Oh -- and from my student who asked about the Ottoman Turks? He says he's going to be doing some reading during the summer, and asked me to pass on his thanks. He was blown away by your generosity.

Carnivalesque

Submit entries for the next Carnivalesque on ancient/medieval history, by Sunday, to Alun for the Monday 13 March edition! Email carnivalesque[at]archaeoastronomy[dot]co[uk].

Sorry for the late call -- groveling explanatory blog entry to come.

Money Trumps Scholarship?

Money Trumps Scholarship?

Thank goodness for small favors. At least now the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail are no longer trying to claim it's historical scholarship.

Not that we didn't already know.

Mom! They're making me think!!

Mom! They're making me think!

I ask the internets for their opinion. Got this from one of my students, and thought I'd throw it open:

Do you think the Ottoman Empire would have been able to make a foothold in Western Europe if they consistenly didn't have to defend themselves to the East against the Mongols/Persians or maybe they had a hard time because European nations would form coalitions against them, in fear of a global empire? I think if they had been safe on their Eastern borders for much of the 14-17th centuries that they would have been able to expand into Western Europe especially during a time of political instability such as the Reformation. If yes, then do you believe that could have had major consequences in the centuries thereafter and do you think that could have changed the result of World War I where they were completely erased? I'm no expert on this and that is just an educated guess by me, but I was wondering if you could speculate with me because I find the vast empire of the Ottomans an intriguing and relatively unknown society in the sense that you never really ever hear about them compared to other great historical empires...

My initial impulse is to say that the Ottoman Turks did make the inroads that they made precisely for the reasons the student states -- and were stopped by many of those reasons, as far as westward conquest is concerned. But I really don't know enough about what was going on on the eastern borders. Anyone?

It's always something

It's always something

Via Sharon at Early Modern Notes, The Bayeux Tapestry online and why I probably won't be using it in class. Nice diagram of the feudal system ... Not! Well, except if it existed, England after 1066 is a better place than most. Hmmm.

Best. CafePress. Ever

Best. CafePress. Ever

Via medievalstudies ...

I bet my readers could spend a whole lote of money here. I know I could!

Still looking for a Carnivalesque host

Still looking for a Carnivalesque host

Really. For March. Any volunteers? It's Ancient/Medieval this time!! Classicists and Medievalists, I beg you -- it's not all that hard, lots of fun, expands your readership ...