I've begun designing the theme and course website for my Composition class in the winter. Here is a preview of the course banner. I'm going to take the class in a little bit of a new direction, focusing more on gender, race, and how it is important for us to study the rhetoric of identity construction.

This is going to be a very exciting term. I can't wait to start choosing the reading assignments and crafting the unit essays based on Susan Meyers' new curriculum suggestions. I think most of all I am going to really try shaping my students into fine critical thinkers. Those who choose to sit quietly will certainly have a tough time.

More to come.

John

Thesis revisions

I've officially begun the revision process for my thesis. The prep work for this endeavor took quite a while. I had to track down all of the original drafts of my work. This includes all of the hand-written copies scribbled on notebook paper, napkins, the back of old electricity bills, as well as scouring my computer's files for other versions, typed drafts, etc. It's interesting to see how some of the pieces of developed.

I compiled a list of all the drafts, and came up with a rough "table of contents" containing 33 poems. (This number was derived from a number higher than 50 poems....but some were cut/unfinished/unreadable, etc.)

I typed and printed a list of the poems with which I am going to work, and have no begun making changes and trying them out. I'm even posting some to Facebook to gather feedback from people in the outside world. So far....mostly unsuccessful. This is not because people don't offer good suggestions, but because I'm a relative nobody, and no one is interested in reading the work of nobody.

...Which reminds me, I thought I would post a poem here just for kicks. Think of it as a treat.......a treat for all of my non-readers. This is such a mind-trip, talking about my general unpopularity to...well, a group of readers that may or may not exist.

Either way, enjoy!

The Skipping Stone

Jonathan A. Peacock

George said living life is like hearing

the scraping of a stone bounding across

a lake, that between each hop is

uncertainty of what’s coming, or what

isn’t, that in those leaps we’re

falling, and at the end we’re sinking

beneath the ripples and we watch them

scuttle to the shore to make tiny

tidal waves where that stone was picked,

that this was why people scrape

their heels along the floor, that they

search for a way to hang on, that

one day they’d walk right through

that floor, worn soles and all, and tread

the dirt, and those who’re left to listen would

be lucky to hear anything at all: That

those heels take the place of the stone and

plunk and plunk and plunk and gone.

-John

My good friend, Patrick came to visit me this past week. I took him to see Multnomah Falls along with Columbia River here in Oregon, as well as the Oregon coast. It was my first trip to the falls. Here are a few experimental panoramic shots of the sites.

grading woes

I want to address something right now, and the few readers that I have that are interested and who disagree are welcome to do so...

This didn't seem like something appropriate to post to Facebook, so Blogger it is. I submitted my class grades for WR241 (into to poetry writing) yesterday. The grades were about what I expected: a nice spread, maybe 6 As, 13Bs, 4 Cs, 2 Ds, and 1 F.

Then the complaint emails roll in. "How could I possibly receive a C+???" and "It's POETRY WRITING! How could I get a B?"

I made it very clear early in the term that I don't really grade the quality of the poetry. I grade the students' understanding of fundamental poetry elements. I grade their revision choices. I grade their participation, most importantly.

The students who complained about their grades are the students who never talked in class. They never volunteered to read. Never opened their mouth during workshop. Never gave even one suggestion or comment the entire term. And this, after I placed much emphasis on the importance of participation in a creative writing class.

I just don't understand. Well, I do understand, but I don't understand how I could have been clearer! A creative writing class, a workshop environment, whatever you want to call it, simply cannot function without class participation. If you refuse to talk, and sit idly in your seat, seeming uninterested, not engaged, you will not get an A.

Will I have to explain this to every student who did not receive an A in my class? God, I hope not.

Venting complete.

Comment.

Love.

John out.

the last week and healthcare debate continue

I've been feeling a little under the weather the past few days. This is not a new development. I've felt this sickness coming on for a while. I feel fortunate, however, since most of the work for the term is completed and I can wallow happily in my sickness with a box of Oreos and The Price is Right.

I spent most of the weekend grading poetry portfolios. For a while I was concerned over grade inflation, not just in my own class, but in the higher education machine in general. I had my mind set to ease after engaging discussions with colleagues. I don't believe grade inflation exists as much as I believe the role and function of the grade changes from undergraduate work to graduate work. I know this to be true after seeing the grades of my undergraduate poetry students, realizing that creative writers can, in fact, land themselves outside/below/sub-"A" range.

A good friend of mine said on Friday, "in the field of creative writing, at least when you're an undergrad, it's important to be a good student first, and a good writer second. Because if you're a bad writer but you listen and try to learn, you can actually improve."

I think that's true. Then I wonder what type of student I was when I was an undergraduate. I generated mostly A quality work. Sometimes I would stagger by with a B, especially if I was uninterested in the course material, found it irrelevant to my field of study, or if I was unlucky enough to be in the presence of a professor who simply didn't agree with my polarized perspectives. Then I remembered, with my experiences over the past year keenly in mind, that I was not too different from my students I'm teaching now.

Very odd. This isn't much of a revelation. It's merely an observation. I think I was aware of this fact for a while, but either didn't want to admit it, or the pattern seemed to obvious for me to care.

Anyway, this term is winding down nicely. The house is decorated for Christmas. The tree is up and lit. And I have the sniffles/coughs/body aches. Evvvvvvvverything is falling into place.

I'll leave you with this clip from Countdown, since I'm always a fan of seeing Limbaugh grilled over things he obviously doesn't understand. I'm particularly drawn to Limbaugh's definition of the word "sheep." The healthcare absurdity, as I will call it from this day forth, rolls on...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Good day, all. Thanks for reading.

John

a long overdue update

Once again, I want to apologize for my absence and lack of posting for the last few months. Being in an MFA program consumes a large portion of my time.

After talking with some of my colleagues over the past few weeks, mainly Travis Margoni and Jeff Breitenfeldt, I've come to learn about a number of interesting web tools and platforms. I will be experimenting with these tools (Google Wave, Moodle, among others) during the upcoming winter term. I'll be sure to blog my findings.

In the meantime, please be sure to follow me on twitter (peacocjo) and facebook, (facebook.com/theangrybeaver)

If you're interested in a very interesting radio show on KBVR, out of Corvallis, please visit Travis' blog for podcasts (http://couriernewculture.blogspot.com/) or listen live at www.kbvr.com

Stay tuned.

John

Back to it

Hello everyone. I want to apologize for my lack of posting. I battled an illness for a few weeks, and have recently recovered enough to begin extra work again.

Point of thought: avoid excessive absences while in graduate school...particularly in the last term of an academic year. Incompletes, missing assignments, make-up work...all very bad, especially when you already feel like shit for abandoning your post to begin with.

With that having been said, I'll be making the 3000 mile journey back to Florida for summer vacation starting June 19th. I'll be sure to post a link to some interesting photographs.

In the meantime, catching up on some writing, constructing a (mostly) functional CV...that was depressing...and putting my critical thinking-cap on for some serious graduate-level literature (ooo..."seminar style") papers.

yay.

Good night all.

John

please check this out!

This video was featured on Countdown with Keith Olbermann this evening. It is from my hometown (Pensacola), and shows that a portion of the nation still sees the light with reason and logic.

Kudos to this man!

By the way...the background info for this story is this: "tea parties" were held around the country on Wednesday to protest "taxation," and other things that redneck republicans don't even understand. One of these "parties" was held in Pensacola, and this man...a stout progressivist and Democrat...stood in the middle of the crowd of Republicans and confused the HELL out of them.

Notice how all of the people in the crowd cheer for him until the very end, when they realize that they've been fooled.

racism

A while back, a colleague of mine asked me if things in the South really were as bad as people think. I responded that in order to answer that question, one had to experience the day-to-day life and make a judgment for themselves.

This newspaper article demonstrates that, yes, things really can be as bad as everyone thinks.



If this lady is LUCKY, the news and the story of her racist ass will stay confined to the deep south...but not if I have anything to say about it. She's a TEACHER, for crying out loud!

Anyway, I put up with stuff like this everyday of my life. In Oregon it rains, it's cold, there's dead trees and the occasional scent of rotten moss and fertilizer around every corner, but compared to Pensacola, FL...it's a bloody fucking paradise.

John out.

some stuff

I saw this story on the website of my hometown's newspaper. I thought it was absolutely hilarious, so I thought I would share with everyone. (be sure to check out the video on the right side of the screen for full enjoyment)

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090402/NEWS01/90402015

That will probably only be up for a few days, so get it while the gettin's good.

Also, "Transfer Cases" is now published and available at www.decompmagazine.com. Just look for my name. (there is a typo that I've email them about....a stray question mark. See if you can find it!)

Jedi edit: The stray question mark has been fixed.

John out.

published

A newer poem of mine, "Transfer Cases," has been accepted for publication in DeComp Magazine....an online literary magazine.

I'm quite pleased with this development. I'm told it will appear in the April edition. I'll provide a link when it becomes available.

My first major poetry publication during my residency at OSU....

I'm just really not satisfied with ANY of the work I've been producing lately. Very frustrating.


Many Fireflies Do Not Produce Light

I.

Fireflies raged in sets
of incandescence
beside the Rushdie book,
and I counted syllables
with my molars, left to right.

II.

I'm interested in watching
people in the natural state.
Were they nude? I believe so.
They did what happy people
don't do--the technical interest
of circling the lamp shade.

III.

They were thirty percent
of the known world, before
the continents divorced, long
before the dust collected
on the shelf, in the atmosphere.
They were tiny prisms dancing
amidst ambient sunbeams.

research topics

I started brainstorming in this area after generating a list of research topics that absolutely annoy me, either because they are quite over-done, or just plain boring. I plan on passing this list along to my 121 students as we move into their researched argument.

stem cell research
torture
music/movie piracy
lowering the drinking age
raising the drinking age
abortion
the war in Iraq
steroids in baseball (or any sport for that matter)
anything to do with Barry Bonds
ASPCA or PETA

The list goes on and on. Equally interesting, however, are a few suggestions I've heard my students talk about. I find all of these ideas, plus several more, to be intriguing:

the effect of technology on interpersonal communication (love this one!)
real estate law
tenant/landlord relationships
environmental law
the effect of The Academy on the movie industry
potential negative effects of AP classes in high school
the effect of the Vietnam War on pop/rock music
pursuing a manned mission to Mars
the positive health benefits of owning a pet

The list goes on. I found these to be some of my favorites.

I'm having my students each write a two-page rationale for their topics. Each will explain why they believe further research and understanding for their topic is important, as well as document what they hope to learn, what they already know, and specifically how they plan to use the information they find.

This is by far my favorite assignment.

John out.

google maps

This may be one of the saddest and most interesting things I've read/seen in a long time.

Fascinating what Google is able to do...and yet...the deer...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindseyweber/google-maps-ran-over-a-baby-deer-ru

THIS IS A MUST SEE!

This is a MUST SEE!

This is easily the most sickening thing I've seen in many many years. This man's testimony should blow the lid off of the Bush Admin's scandalous use of wiretapping.

Watch the whole thing.

Here are a couple of images from the construction of my first alternative processes project. I really love this class!

Hey Mac users, shutup!

I thought about this after observing the prices of mac books and mac desktops, and then comparing THAT baffling experience with the memory of one of my office mate's mac's swallowing her thesis manuscript (well, really imploding in on itself and regurgitating all of that pretentious mac-jargon and environmentally friendly computer components...but that's quite beside the point).

The 10 reasons that Apple must think is imperative for making the change from a PC to a MAC can be found on their website. Of course if you have the time to read through all of them you realize that these 10 features or reasons have been standard with the PC a long, long, long time. Some of the reasons are just plain myths that Apple invented. Probably because they ran out of fabricated facts.
So take the journey through the 10 commandments of a mac-enthusiast and enjoy their naive attitude towards personal computing.

1. The Mac... It just works

This is maybe the ultimate reason a mac owner will give you to explain why it's superior to a PC. The mac owner will tell you that all people that own macs are really satisfied with their computers and would never switch back. This is ofcourse not true. If you read our Real stories you will find all kinds of interesting stories about owning a mac.
The mac owner will also tell you that with a system from Apple you will never have to think about drivers, upgrades or anything. A mac is perfection itself when delivered. Atleast according to their standard. Many mac:s can't even be upgraded. So what you buy is what you get. Expect your system to be outdated within 1-2 years.
Apple also states: "Only with a Mac do you get an operating system built by the same people who built the computer it runs on.". Actually Apple's Mac OS X (the operating system) is not based on their own technology, but by the technology of freeBSD. Apple's own capabilities in form of creating an operating system have been demonstrated in previous versions of Mac OS. It took an operating system based on someone else's technology to get a Mac multitasking and not behaving like an oversized pocket calculator from 1985.


2. It doesn't crash (Bah!)

Yes it does! And it does it alot. The difference between a pc based on Windows crashing and a Mac is that on the pc the crash is in 99% of the cases caused by badly coded third party software, when the Mac just has a faulty operating system. Why else would Apple themselves run their india website on Linux RedHat?
There is another fun part about crashes on the mac, it's almost always impossible to trace the source of the crash. When your mac crashes you simply reinstall the system. Sounds like a fun thing to do on your spare time, well buy a Mac then!



3. Simply the best in digital music (*side note from me at the bottom)

This point is actually based on Apple's iPod. I must admit, the iPod is not an ugly creation. I'll give Apple credit for that. But as always, they exaggerate the benefits of their product. Apple was far from first with creating a portable mp3-player with a built in harddrive but on the other side they do offer the most expensive solution.
The iPod is about 40-60% more expensive than technologically equal products. Keep in mind also that it offers no recording option and no belt clip. Two very crucial benefits a portable mp3-player should have.



4. The missing link in digital photography

It's amazing! Apple has invented a program called iPhotos that will revolutionize the way we look at digital photos. Hear what they have to say: "Simply drag your mouse, and iPhoto magically grows or shrinks your photo thumbnails. So you can view individual shots in detail or see hundreds of photos on the screen at once...".
Maybe mac users are new to digital photos on the computer but on the pc we have a huge variety of freeware that does the job of iPhoto and more, to choose from. So when Apple says that they are "the missing link in digital photography" maybe what they meant was that iPhoto is the missing link of the Mac.
Windows users reached that stage of evolution ages ago.



5. Your own digital entertainment center

It seems that Apple thinks that they've revolutionized computing by developing mediocre software for viewing digital photos, editing video, burning CDs and DVDs and listening to music. Well they haven't!



6. Goes everywhere you go

You better sit down for this one, hold on to your seat and embrace yourself for some cutting edge news from Apple... they've invented the laptop, eureka! Not only that, they think they've made it superior to other laptops. Let's look at why and also try to answer their questions:

* Can your PC laptop go coast to coast with just one battery?
— Ofcourse. And if it only needs the performance of the Mac it could probably go around the world.
* Can you put the system to sleep just by closing the lid?
— Oh my god, a Mac can do that? Well, so can a PC!
* Does it wake up instantly?
—Duh!
* Can your PC laptop automatically switch between Ethernet,
dial-up and wireless connections on the fly?
—Without a doubt!
* Without a restart? (** again, special note from me at the bottom)
Is this a joke? This really proves that Apple has no clue on what their competitors are doing. If they never have used a PC running Windows it makes their tests and objective sayings about the Mac really credible. Oh, by the way, I was being sarcastic.



7. It's built for the internet

Apple makes a huge point about the ease of configuring an internet connection on a mac. All new Windows versions come with just as easy to use guides for connecting to the internet with modem, lan or anything else. They also brag about such obvious tools of communication like email, favorites and contacts. Yes Apple, this is really new and hot stuff, you are indeed innovative. Or maybe not.
The worst part might be that they lie about their under average video-plugin Quicktime. This might be one of the worst programs ever to install. Actually if some students at a university needed an example of a really poorly written program, this would be a perfect opportunity for Quicktime to step into the limelight.



8. Office is Office, and then some

Yes, the mac comes with Office and this is why you should make the switch from a pc to a mac:

"The transition to a Mac is easy in part because you’ll continue using the same applications you already know"

Ask yourself this: Why would I switch when It's the exactly same on the mac? -Beats me. Apple does speak of some mysterious features in this sentence:

"And thanks to exclusive features, the Mac versions improve on their Windows counterparts"

As you might expect they mention nothing on what these features are. Well they're probably just wonderfully, perfectly and amazingly non-existent!

(*** again, special note)



9. Works effortlessly with PCs

Apple thought for a long time that they'd be best off constructing their own method for network-communication. Everyone that has struggled with the glorious AppleTalk knows that they didn't do a great job. Now they have realized that it's better to use an already working technology that someone else created instead of poorly reinventing the wheel.

"Networking on a Mac is built on the same technologies used by PCs."

They also reveal amazing means of medias you can use on your mac:

..."you can also swap files via data CD, floppies or Zip disks."



10. It's beautiful

Apple emphasises that all their products are masterpieces of design. Their problem is that their focus on design hinders them from creating ergonomic and practical machines. If you have ever used the small round iMac mouse you have probably too suffered from aches in arm and hand.

"...ergonomic products that are the toast of the design world..."

It wasn't I who brought up the word toast into the debate. On the other hand it was I who drew the paralell to machines looking like plain household machines. Who wants a computer that look like a remnant from the 70's like the one on my right. You could probably achieve the same state of hallucination if staring long enough on this iMac, that you could by inhaling large amounts of heavy drugs.

So what have we learned from these 10 points that Apple provides for the potential buyer. We have learned that Apple likes to tell their future customers that the mac is built on technology they probably already are using on their PCs. They also lure the extremely naive buyers with words like internet, word-processing and cd-burning.

Please do not be fooled. You have nothing to gain by switching to a Mac. Apple has proved it on their own, with a little help from us.

*Also on this note, mac, despite hating PC and PC users, couldn't stand that idea of preventing PC users from purchasing the ipod, and therefore made itunes entirely accessible via the Windows operating system. With itunes and a fairly decent sound card, PCs actually surpass Macs in audio-capacity, flexibility, and performance. Thanks Mac! (No need for reason #3 I suppose)

**My PC laptop can have sex with your mom without restarting.

***Interestingly enough, all other mac devices (IE iphone, ipod touch, and the soon to be released LARGE ipod touch) do NOT have Office capabilities. In fact, the don't even have a comparable word processing program. (The ipod touch actually has a notepad device that looks like a sheet of yellow lined note-paper. No formatting, no fonts. Congrats Mac, you've pushed your PDA users back to the office tool equivalent of an uneducated construction worker taking job-site inventory!)

**** Another thing, mac. Those commercials! (Hello I'm a Mac!) Fuck off.

No, seriously, fuck off!

"Let's see, there are two types of people in this world: People who use Macs and people who use PCs. As a PR guy, I shouldn't be too concerned with people who already use Macs, because they're idiots anyway, and will continue to use my over-priced, wrongly advertised pieces of shit for as long as (revenue from the ipod) can keep our factories open!"

"No, we should REALLY try to recruit PC users. Bring them to our side! How can we do this?? Easy! Make fun of them, call them silly for using PCs, and claim them to be technologically deficient for NOT using our products!"

"Yes, yes that will do the trick! Soon, PC users will feel so bad about themselves, they'll be banging on our poly-flex-super-duper-environmentally-friendly Mac Store glass doors to spend $3000 on a new Mac!"

Or not.




Hey Mac,

I just ripped a full-length DVD screener, burned the movie to disc while editing photos, downloading music, and listening to a highly complex song by the Doobie Brothers.

Can your $3000 Mac do that??

My $1000 PC can.

Dear Mac,

Fuck off.

John

(parts of the preceding text..most..were borrowed from macs-suck.com. I didn't really cite properly, but neither did he...so I found it mostly ok. Kudos, though, to the author of that website.)

By the way, in case it wasn't obvious, I do NOT believe my IQ is really 155.


That was all an act.