Walls and Fences

It strikes me that in Frost’s poem, Mending Wall, fence is a term used somewhat loosely. There’s a difference between a wall as border and fence as border. I’d suggest that animals are more tied to fences than borders and that walls imply more of something permanent. A border fence is a dumb idea, I think, and that for the future, other kinds of impulses need to be the call of the moment. What about human trafficking as a simple question of consequences?

The 2,000 mile US-Mexico border is complex. It’s more than just a magnet and playground for drug cartels. It’s a metaphor for relations. If this is so, then words have to be more powerful than chain-link. In this case, poets are more important than polititians. Friends more than enemies.

Updates and Rethinking

One of the problems with updating this space for the last couple of weeks is that I’ve been working elsewhere, behind the scenes with another weblog, in front using one as a course hub, and doing a whole bunch of thinking about RSS, library research work with some fabulous colleagues (R and A), and Ability-based education work–and all of this has taken me away from thinking through the weblog.

Now there’s more to think about. bbPress is moving and WP Multiuser is something to now reconsider. I’m also in an ecclectic space: where a common theme is difficult to organize thinking into. Hypertext, learning approaches, alternative approaches to classroom presentation, storage, novels–what is the common thread, if any?

One common issue is with the weblog as an effective organizer for teaching and its relation to other organizations at the college, such as the library. Feeding information out to college held weblogs is a good idea and can be done even at the research database level since we’ve been able to do pretty well placing search alerts from EBSCO into Vista course shells.

By the way, could someone send me Neha’s new URI?

Idea Flows

Ray Hudson in the October Progress in Human Geography writes in “Regions and place: music, identity and place”:

‘Places’ can be thought of as complex entities, ensembles of material objects, people, and systems of social relationships embodying distinct cultures and multiple meanings, identities and practices. As such, places are contested and continually in the process of becoming, rather than essentialized and fixed, open and porous to a variety of flows in and out rather than closed and hermetically sealed (Hudson, 2001: Chapter 8 ). How then can music be thought of in relation to the (un)making of place?

I’m less interested in the question than I am in the use of the word “flow.” It’s a nice metaphor here given that a weblog can also illustrate the notion of in and out flow, much like a neighborhood, whose streets one year may bring in a succession of different families, thus contributing to the continuity and change of a place.

Sidebar note: in rhetoric, we should try to eliminate the givens and thus leave space for what may not be known or assumed. Knock out the assumed. “ensembles of material objects” = yikes.

Chambers

In the United States we now have a concrete star chamber. It’s all about trust, right. The press, in mind, hasn’t done enough to inform and evaluate citizens about the language of 3929. If this can be said

SEC. 106. HABEAS CORPUS MATTERS.

(a) In General- Section 2241 of title 28, United States Code, is amended–

(1) by striking subsection (e) (as added by section 1005(e)(1) of Public Law 109-148 (119 Stat. 2742)) and by striking subsection (e) (as added by added by section 1405(e)(1) of Public Law 109-163 (119 Stat. 3477)); and

(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(e)(1) No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who–

`(A) is currently in United States custody; and

`(B) has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.

This language “exists” outside reviewable scrutiny, doesn’t it? In other words, other than principles, who would be able to evaluate “properly detained” and “is awaiting such determination”? This last bit just kills me: “detained by the United States who . . . is awaiting such determination”?

Remembering the Size of the Universe

Sometimes I worry about the direction we’re taking at the college. But then I remember how big things are–I think remember is the right word–out in the real world (see title) and calm down a little. The direction we’re taking shifts things fundamentally and I think for the better when it comes to the learning experience, the approach being to focus on creating opportunities to do, learn, and practice things and to offer people a chance to keep up the learning process in whatever way they may find profitable.

New Media has done a lot for this effort since many years ago J, B, and I began a program idea built around what we thought people should be able to do after completing a series of courses. Out of this effort came four courses that draw from growing abilities in several areas and put them to work on a common, team-based product. This semester we’ve been able to run New Media Perspectives to, thus far, interesting results since we have the first go around to learn from. Hm, there’s that word learning again. The first four weeks have lead to a synthesis of major foundational issues we think are important, as well as a means of assessing students’ growing awareness of aesthetics, connection, interconnection, analysis, and dynamics. Vagueness can easily enter in here, but not when Velázquez relates to Alan Moore and Harold begins to rear his slick head in the tool bar of Flash 8. With Flash, it’s easy to make sweeping generalizations about the power of computation and graphics. It’s just as easy, however, to illustrate why and how computation and graphics function affectively.

The students will have presentations already that illustrate their ability to express and explore a possible reaction from a usable object, control perception, and build a dynamic experience with media . These are “abilities.”

Current Law

I’m throwing out S.3929 which can be found via search of Thomas. Citizens should read this sort of thing and learn how to read legislation, in my opinion. But we need better disentanglers. The bill is made for hypertext and is almost impossible to read on paper because links are literalized. No habeas corpus here.

Weird Places

I find myself in an odd place. I’m projectless. That’s not the right word and its not really true. I have a new novel in the works, but I can’t really get to any of it at the moment. We have the comp game to work on but that’s too complicated to even look at without total concentration. The Ability-based learning model is basically on a roll and now just demands normal proceedings. The hardlabor kitchen stuff is done, cabinets in, floor laid, so now it’s time to enjoy. AS work proceeds, but I have nothing large or challenging to do with it and Masters of Flash isn’t really getting the juices going.

There’s student work to evaluate, but that’s part of the normal proceeding. I have no games to play, nothing to sit and work through at the moment, and this is just an odd feeling. There should be something to do, but I’m stuck. No hypertext to write or edit. Lots to read, but that just means there’s lots to read.

So, I’m writing this post as “the something” to do at this moment. AI seems to be something to go after with ActionScript, but at this moment, right now, I’m wondering what.

So there.

On Purchasing a Car

Soon I will be “in the market” for a car. This is what I want. Something small, light, and with excellent turning radius. I don’t want it to run on gas, but on solar power. The paint should be mixed with some sort of photovoltaic resin. Mucho sun power will be required for this so I’d like someone to do something about pollution and New England’s yellow sun. I want the thing to know when I’m in it, just as my computer knows when I walk into the room and thus reverts back to the desktop, and will start on it’s own. It will remember where I go, so that steering is easier or unnecessary. GPS will anticipate clogs. Controls should be on the steering wheel but no VW nuance please.

The words gas mileage will not be an issue, so this kind of language should be removed from stickers and marketing materials. I don’t care about color but would prefer dark green (for better light absorption.

In addition to this, I’d like not to drive on blacktop but “something else” that will absorb water, flow it to where it’s needed, and can change shape to accomodate traffic or yank at the tires of speeders, which, of course, would need to be made out of some other material that doesn’t require oil in its manufacture but could still be yanked at.

Now, I’d like all this done by January when I should be just about close to making a decision.

Is it morning yet?

Film Criteria

S and I are trying to come up with movie categories that can be both fun and informative. Here’s what we have thus far:

1. Hated but watched anyway: ex: The Skeleton Key, Munich (S)
2. So bad it was good: ex: Equilibrium, Weatherman
3. Good but hated it anyway: Capote, Sin City
4. Just loved it: ex: Lost in Translation
5. Intriguing: ex: Munich (Me)

Of course, mine and S’s list will differ. She disliked Munich. I thought it intriguing.