Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Buick Enclave
Longtime readers of this blog know that some of my research concentrates on the design and performance of enclavic spaces. You can therefore imagine my delight at seeing spots for the Buick Enclave.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
What? How? and How Well?
Having just read an Atlantic essay entitled In the Basement of the Ivory Tower, I'm a little anxious about reentering the classroom in my formal role as an associate professor of communication studies.
It's not that I've been out of the classroom for too long. Just this spring I taught two Peer Mentor training seminars composed of bright, dedicated, and inspirational students learning to assume leadership roles on campus. Students entering those classes were selected competitively, and even course completion offered no guarantee that they'd become peer mentors. These folks wanted to be present and yearned to succeed.
Summer classes in my home field can be a little different, though. No doubt, many motivated students take these classes. But a sizable number of students show up for reasons that sadden me: The class fits their schedule. They're knocking out core requirements. They want to "get it over with" in six weeks (something like tearing off a bandage).
These folks deserve a useful, accessible, and (dare I say it?) reasonably interesting introduction to the field of communication studies. And yet many have not been adequately prepared for the challenges of an upper-level course. The writing requirements, the technical terms, the abstract theories, and the demand for precision will test students in new and even frightening ways.
That's why I'm spending time rethinking fundamentals about this course. What are its objectives? What are its obligations? What must students be able to do when they complete COMM 101? Providing clear answers to those questions is, I think, the first step for both my students and me. To that end, I'm toying with the following parameters: Students (and professors) should be able to articulate "what," "how," and "how well."
"What" refers to the following question: What are the contexts of communication studies? Contexts include sites of communication such as organizational settings, interpersonal settings, familial settings, and the like. Contexts also include media such as speaking, writing, and online communication. I should add that the most fundamental "what" -- what is communication? -- may be usefully defined as "shared sense-making." Communication, therefore, is the creation of some shared sense through some medium in some context.
"How" refers to the following question: How do we practice effective communication? "How" is tricky because it occurs on at least two levels: the level of the practitioner and the level of the theorist. To practice is to do with purpose and repetition; to theorize is to speculate on the outcomes of that practice. At some level, it's hard to imagine a person who is not both: a person practicing the art of communication in the moment and a person theorizing about what manner of communication will be effective, either now or at some other moment.
Lower division classes such as Fundamentals of Public Speaking focus on practice: how to manage anxiety, how to organize main ideas, how to avoid fidgeting with your hands, and the like. These classes are based in theories that have evolved since the beginnings of human civilization. Yet theories float hazily in the background of most Public Speaking classes. For students at least, doing this speech is the primary concern.
At the upper division, it's more appropriate to explore "how" at a theoretical level. How, for example, does Kenneth Burke's notion of dramatism help us select strategies in various speaking contexts or anticipate the strategies used by others? These questions demand more than an understanding of practice; these questions demand an understanding of method, a way of practicing that exists apart from the practice itself. At this level, "how" refers both to the doing of communication and the doing of communication theory, what we call research.
"How well," finally, calls for us to judge communication in terms of utility, aesthetics, and ethics. Is it practical? Is it artistic? Is it good? "How well" questions invite us to consider communication as more than the mere application of words to problems or theories to words. These questions challenge us to measure our choices according to some standard of quality. Answering these questions, students of communication are invited to explore, articulate, and employ standards that connect doing well to doing right.
I'm cautiously optimistic that "what," "how," and "how well" will help my students get something from Introduction to Communication Studies. It's not so much that these questions are the ideal articulation for the class. There are many other approaches that might work more effectively. But I believe they are clear enough to provide even reticent students some orientation to the purpose of this class. And with purpose comes motivation.
I've seen it work before. I'm sure that students who took COMM 149: Rhetoric and Public Life (here are my blog posts on that course) have probably forgotten our discussions about General Motors at the 1939 World's Fair or Thomas More's attitudes on religion in his Utopia. But I'll bet that most remember the three questions that organized that class: "Who's in? Who's out? Who decides?" Those questions helped students make sense of an admittedly strange experience, one built around a convergence of departmental objectives and personal passions. The questions guided the students, and they guided me.
Maybe these questions (new to me, but hardly new) will accomplish the same goal in COMM 101.
It's not that I've been out of the classroom for too long. Just this spring I taught two Peer Mentor training seminars composed of bright, dedicated, and inspirational students learning to assume leadership roles on campus. Students entering those classes were selected competitively, and even course completion offered no guarantee that they'd become peer mentors. These folks wanted to be present and yearned to succeed.
Summer classes in my home field can be a little different, though. No doubt, many motivated students take these classes. But a sizable number of students show up for reasons that sadden me: The class fits their schedule. They're knocking out core requirements. They want to "get it over with" in six weeks (something like tearing off a bandage).
These folks deserve a useful, accessible, and (dare I say it?) reasonably interesting introduction to the field of communication studies. And yet many have not been adequately prepared for the challenges of an upper-level course. The writing requirements, the technical terms, the abstract theories, and the demand for precision will test students in new and even frightening ways.
That's why I'm spending time rethinking fundamentals about this course. What are its objectives? What are its obligations? What must students be able to do when they complete COMM 101? Providing clear answers to those questions is, I think, the first step for both my students and me. To that end, I'm toying with the following parameters: Students (and professors) should be able to articulate "what," "how," and "how well."
"What" refers to the following question: What are the contexts of communication studies? Contexts include sites of communication such as organizational settings, interpersonal settings, familial settings, and the like. Contexts also include media such as speaking, writing, and online communication. I should add that the most fundamental "what" -- what is communication? -- may be usefully defined as "shared sense-making." Communication, therefore, is the creation of some shared sense through some medium in some context.
"How" refers to the following question: How do we practice effective communication? "How" is tricky because it occurs on at least two levels: the level of the practitioner and the level of the theorist. To practice is to do with purpose and repetition; to theorize is to speculate on the outcomes of that practice. At some level, it's hard to imagine a person who is not both: a person practicing the art of communication in the moment and a person theorizing about what manner of communication will be effective, either now or at some other moment.
Lower division classes such as Fundamentals of Public Speaking focus on practice: how to manage anxiety, how to organize main ideas, how to avoid fidgeting with your hands, and the like. These classes are based in theories that have evolved since the beginnings of human civilization. Yet theories float hazily in the background of most Public Speaking classes. For students at least, doing this speech is the primary concern.
At the upper division, it's more appropriate to explore "how" at a theoretical level. How, for example, does Kenneth Burke's notion of dramatism help us select strategies in various speaking contexts or anticipate the strategies used by others? These questions demand more than an understanding of practice; these questions demand an understanding of method, a way of practicing that exists apart from the practice itself. At this level, "how" refers both to the doing of communication and the doing of communication theory, what we call research.
"How well," finally, calls for us to judge communication in terms of utility, aesthetics, and ethics. Is it practical? Is it artistic? Is it good? "How well" questions invite us to consider communication as more than the mere application of words to problems or theories to words. These questions challenge us to measure our choices according to some standard of quality. Answering these questions, students of communication are invited to explore, articulate, and employ standards that connect doing well to doing right.
I'm cautiously optimistic that "what," "how," and "how well" will help my students get something from Introduction to Communication Studies. It's not so much that these questions are the ideal articulation for the class. There are many other approaches that might work more effectively. But I believe they are clear enough to provide even reticent students some orientation to the purpose of this class. And with purpose comes motivation.
I've seen it work before. I'm sure that students who took COMM 149: Rhetoric and Public Life (here are my blog posts on that course) have probably forgotten our discussions about General Motors at the 1939 World's Fair or Thomas More's attitudes on religion in his Utopia. But I'll bet that most remember the three questions that organized that class: "Who's in? Who's out? Who decides?" Those questions helped students make sense of an admittedly strange experience, one built around a convergence of departmental objectives and personal passions. The questions guided the students, and they guided me.
Maybe these questions (new to me, but hardly new) will accomplish the same goal in COMM 101.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Ready for Summer
I just paid eight bucks for a day pass, forgetting that it's still May and I have a monthly bus pas. I'm so over this month and the semester it represents, so ready for summer, that I'm trying to mentally project myself into June. Who cares what the calendar says?
Memorial Day weekend was dedicated to backyard BBQ (with a new smoker!), catching the new Indy flick, enjoying a nice dinner in Santa Cruz, soaking in the hot tub, and generally enjoying California life. Jenny and I also began planning our summer roadtrip, set for this August.
Between now and then I have a few tasks to tackle. The Omnitopia book is in press, at the copyediting stage. At some point I'll likely need to work on (hopefully) minor revisions and begin translating my images into print-ready digital files. I'm also teaching a COMM 101 class, which is always a challenge to cram into six weeks. I'm fulfilling a commitment to complete an essay promised for a special issue of Critical Studies in Media Communication. And I'm helping to represent the Office of Undergraduate Studies at various summer orientation activities through the end of July. Along the way, I have a year's worth of notes from my work as Peer Mentor director to condense into action items for my second year leading this program.
Happily, the first two weeks of August are all about family time on the road. We plan to visit four national parks and monuments: Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Yellowstone, and Devil's Tower. We'll also check out some cool motels, diners, BBQ joints, neon meccas, and other must-see spots in the West. Since gas prices are well above four bucks a gallon around here, I'm sure that costs for the summer driving season will be correspondingly crazy. Folks are talking seriously about ever-higher prices, particularly if we've crossed the so-called Peak Oil threshold. And not knowing just how grave our current economic problems may or may not be, I find myself wondering just how many more long roadtrips I can expect in the future.
But that is an unknown tomorrow. Now I simply yearn for more summer days. I've convinced Jenny to see the races at Ocean Speedway next week. We've got a twentieth wedding anniversary to celebrate. And we're making preparations to send Vienna off to college in late August. Good times and rough days, no matter the mix, It's going to be a memorable summer.
Memorial Day weekend was dedicated to backyard BBQ (with a new smoker!), catching the new Indy flick, enjoying a nice dinner in Santa Cruz, soaking in the hot tub, and generally enjoying California life. Jenny and I also began planning our summer roadtrip, set for this August.
Between now and then I have a few tasks to tackle. The Omnitopia book is in press, at the copyediting stage. At some point I'll likely need to work on (hopefully) minor revisions and begin translating my images into print-ready digital files. I'm also teaching a COMM 101 class, which is always a challenge to cram into six weeks. I'm fulfilling a commitment to complete an essay promised for a special issue of Critical Studies in Media Communication. And I'm helping to represent the Office of Undergraduate Studies at various summer orientation activities through the end of July. Along the way, I have a year's worth of notes from my work as Peer Mentor director to condense into action items for my second year leading this program.
Happily, the first two weeks of August are all about family time on the road. We plan to visit four national parks and monuments: Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Yellowstone, and Devil's Tower. We'll also check out some cool motels, diners, BBQ joints, neon meccas, and other must-see spots in the West. Since gas prices are well above four bucks a gallon around here, I'm sure that costs for the summer driving season will be correspondingly crazy. Folks are talking seriously about ever-higher prices, particularly if we've crossed the so-called Peak Oil threshold. And not knowing just how grave our current economic problems may or may not be, I find myself wondering just how many more long roadtrips I can expect in the future.
But that is an unknown tomorrow. Now I simply yearn for more summer days. I've convinced Jenny to see the races at Ocean Speedway next week. We've got a twentieth wedding anniversary to celebrate. And we're making preparations to send Vienna off to college in late August. Good times and rough days, no matter the mix, It's going to be a memorable summer.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Shameless Media Plug - Asheville Citizen-Times
Recently I was interviewed by Mark Barrett for the Asheville Citizen-Times for a story on the Forest Manor Inn, another motel giving way to more lucrative land-use. Owner Loyd Kirk is quoted as saying that "[h]e and his wife, Leone, have 'had a good life here, but it's time for progress to take hold.'" My quote is pretty basic, my typical lament about people preferring consistency to idiosyncrasy.
The story, "Old-style motel gives way to market forces," was published on May 23, 2008. Sadly it is now only available for a fee.
The story, "Old-style motel gives way to market forces," was published on May 23, 2008. Sadly it is now only available for a fee.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Route 66 Rock Cafe Goes Up in Flames
I'm sad to learn this morning that the historic Rock Cafe, the beloved Stroud (OK) diner built in 1939, was gutted by flames last night. Only the stone walls and a collapsed roof remain of the central structure. The sign and an adjacent souvenir shop were untouched. Locals suspect a grease fire, but the fire marshal is checking to be sure.
I'd heard of the Rock Cafe for years, but I didn't visit until this March [here's the web entry]. I was lucky enough to meet Dawn Welch, the literal inspiration for Sally the Porsche from the movie Cars. She grilled up a burger so juicy and so tasty that I knew at once why the Rock had been so beloved by Route 66 road-trippers. I can't believe I only had one.
Ron Warnick from Route 66 News, the site where I first learned about the fire, tells a sad story of a fellow who missed visiting the Rock by just a day - and for a pretty pathetic reason: "I ran into an older gentleman who was traveling Route 66. He expressed regret that he didn’t eat at the Rock Cafe the day before. He had decided to watch 'American Idol' in his motel room instead." I'd feel pretty awful if I'd decided to pass the Rock by that day in March.
No one knows yet whether Dawn will try to rebuild [Update: she now plans to give it a go]. The structure seems basically sound; it's the inside that was ruined. That's a lot of photos and paintings and signatures and knickknacks, not to mention thousands of dollars of kitchen equipment, but something tells me that if she tried to reopen, the entire Route 66 community would help fill that place up once more. Here's hoping that this genuine highway treasure isn't lost to the ashes.
Learn More: Route 66 News, UPDATED: Rock Cafe destroyed by fire
I'd heard of the Rock Cafe for years, but I didn't visit until this March [here's the web entry]. I was lucky enough to meet Dawn Welch, the literal inspiration for Sally the Porsche from the movie Cars. She grilled up a burger so juicy and so tasty that I knew at once why the Rock had been so beloved by Route 66 road-trippers. I can't believe I only had one.
Ron Warnick from Route 66 News, the site where I first learned about the fire, tells a sad story of a fellow who missed visiting the Rock by just a day - and for a pretty pathetic reason: "I ran into an older gentleman who was traveling Route 66. He expressed regret that he didn’t eat at the Rock Cafe the day before. He had decided to watch 'American Idol' in his motel room instead." I'd feel pretty awful if I'd decided to pass the Rock by that day in March.
No one knows yet whether Dawn will try to rebuild [Update: she now plans to give it a go]. The structure seems basically sound; it's the inside that was ruined. That's a lot of photos and paintings and signatures and knickknacks, not to mention thousands of dollars of kitchen equipment, but something tells me that if she tried to reopen, the entire Route 66 community would help fill that place up once more. Here's hoping that this genuine highway treasure isn't lost to the ashes.
Learn More: Route 66 News, UPDATED: Rock Cafe destroyed by fire
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