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