FYI

Miscellaneous links and personal entries.

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As a creativity challenge, I recently signed up for THE FICTION PROJECT, sponsored by The Art House Co-op. Registrants (before Feb) will be mailed a Moleskine sketchbook in which to tell and show a story using words and art, based on a surprise random theme. Most participants scan and share their work-in-progress, with commenting available much like a weblog. The deadline is in April, when sketchbooks are returned to be put on permanent display in the Brooklyn Art Library.

The length of the experience nicely fits into a college semester-length calendar for the coming Spring, so I thought I would recommend it to others who are considering a creative class project for their art or writing courses. The "rules" are flexible enough to allow collaborative creations for the class as a whole, or to allow individual entries. The site offers an educational discount for groups over 10.

Visit my profile and feel free to friend me if you sign up. I don't know what I'll be doing for this project, or if I'll even succeed, but I know it will be very weird.

My colleague down the hall, Dennis Jerz has been awarded the John Lovas Memorial Academic Award from the journal, Kairos, for his Literacy Weblog. Visit his site, browse around and drop him a note of congratulations.

He joins a list of other interesting academic weblogs in honor of late blogger John Lovas worth following:

2008: Alex Reid: "Digital Digs"

2007: Elizabeth Losh: "VirtualPolitik"

2006: Clancy Ratliff: "CultureCat: Rhetoric and Feminism"

2005: Collin Brooke: "Collin vs. Blog"

2004: Jenny Edbauer: "Stupid Undergrounds: I Found It on the Street"

The latest issue of DISSECTIONS: The Journal of Contemporary Horror just went live online. The theme this time around is "Teaching Horror" which emerged as part of a series of panels at the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts in March 2008. It includes a few spectacular articles from a panel I was on with Doug Ford and Frances Auld. My article from that panel ("The Unlearning: Horror and Transformative Theory") went on to be published at a journal called Transformative Works & Cultures), but I wrote a new essay for Dissections in its place: "Horror and the Responsibilities of the Liberal Educator" . Here's a sample:

....Luckily, the teacher fully knows what the students want to ignore: that horror is inherently an educational genre. The very notion of a ‘cautionary’ tale is predicated on the notion of teaching someone a lesson. And while not all horror stories and films are cautionary in nature, they are always stimuli that aim at generating a dark emotional reaction which - when all the screaming stops - one inevitably attempts to manage with enlightened intellectual reasoning: whether it's in the mode of investigation (‘what's really lurking in the shadows?’) or metaphysical inquiry (‘do alternatives to God exist?’) or logic judgement (‘why did her baby have to die?’). Our rational minds are still at work when we contend with the most irrational of fictions. Indeed, even when a horror narrative - such as the work of Lovecraft - attempts to obliterate logical reasoning and symbolic systems altogether, it needs to construct them first.

What all this means is that, despite the naysayers, horror provides an excellent context for learning. It raises the serious questions that allow critical inquiry to transpire.

Go visit Dissections to read on, or to see other essays on issues related to integrating the horror genre into the classroom by Ford, Auld, Brock-Servais, Schnopp-Wyatt, Wisker, and more!

Public Service ALERT:

The following search on our campus -- for a published mystery author qualified to teach creative writing -- has been extended, and will continue until filled. Candidates interested in this position should apply immediately, as we will be considering applicants over the summer. Please pass along or post this information as you see fit:

Assistant Professor of English

Application Due: Open Until Filled
Type: Full Time
Tenure-track, starting January 2010.

Seton Hill University seeks published novelist of popular fiction (preferably mystery/suspense), to teach and to mentor novel-length theses in the graduate low-residency Writing Popular Fiction program (half-load), and to teach undergraduate courses in creative writing and first-year composition. Background in journalism, publishing, and/or editing a plus. Teaching experience at graduate level desirable. MFA required (Ph.D preferred). 4/4 course load.

Seton Hill University is a Catholic, liberal arts University, serving undergraduate, adult and graduate students. Seton Hill is located 35 miles east of Pittsburgh. Visit setonhill.edu for more information.

Send a letter, C.V., official transcripts, statement of teaching philosophy, sample publications, and three letters of reference to Michael Arnzen, Ph.D., Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA 15601. The review process will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Seton Hill is committed to a diverse faculty; women and persons of color are encouraged to apply. AA/EOF.

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Feel free to e-mail me with questions.

[NOTICE: The deadline for applications has ended and we have begun vetting a parcel of strong contenders. Should a viable candidate not be chosen, I will repost.]

*** A Public Service Announcement! ***

FACULTY WANTED TO TEACH WRITING OF POPULAR FICTION

Assistant Professor of English
Location: Greensburg, PA
Category: Faculty - Liberal Arts - English and Literature
Posted: 11/10/2008
Application Due: Open Until Filled
Type: Full Time

Seton Hill University seeks published novelist of popular fiction (preferably mystery/suspense), to teach and to mentor novel-length theses in the graduate low-residency Writing Popular Fiction program (half-load), and to teach undergraduate courses in creative writing and first-year composition.

Candidates should hold a Ph.D. in English, MFA considered. Background in journalism, publishing, and/or editing a plus. Teaching experience/potential at undergraduate level desirable.

Send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, official transcripts, a statement of philosophy of teaching, a writing sample, a teaching portfolio, and three letters of reference. The review process will begin February 15, 2009 and will continue until the position is filled.

Seton Hill University is a Catholic, liberal arts University, educating traditional and non-traditional undergraduate and graduate students. Classes are offered in a variety of formats - day, evening, and weekends. Seton Hill has a student-centered campus culture based on Catholic values, acceptance, community and service. The campus is located 35 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Postal Address: Dr. John Spurlock, Chair
Humanities Division
Seton Hill University
Seton Hill Drive
PO Box 507F
Greensburg, PA 15601
Email Address: spurlock@setonhill.edu
http://fiction.setonhill.edu
http://www.setonhill.edu

***
[NOTICE: The deadline for applications has ended and we have begun vetting a parcel of strong contenders. Should a viable candidate not be chosen, I will repost.]

Dennis Jerz's Literacy Weblog today points to the new Humanities Resource Center and "a major study that aims to establish benchmarks for assessing the humanities" from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This looks like a terrific resource for guaging the Humanities and a good assessment tool to delve into at a later date. I have agreed to chair our Humanities Division at our university starting in the Fall, so I definitely appreciate this lead.

"Buried in Paper" by writer couple Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem was recently posted at Storytellers Unplugged. It uncannily reflects my own recent resolution to declutter a lot of the paperwork that's piling sky high in my home office. I've been meticulously cataloguing and reorganizing my home bookshelves for months, and still haven't gotten it perfect, with stacks of books here and there still on the floors in offbeat categories that don't "fit" on shelves with others in a tidy way (I keep vacuuming around these stacks, secretly hoping the vacuum will suck them up and solve my problem).

I often go through bouts of decluttering in the early summer, right after classes end. It gives me a feeling, quite literally, of a 'clean break.' But whenever I've invested a little time during the (ever so short) winter break to do this, I've had a more enjoyable spring. Wish me luck.

A few related reading to pass along and note for later reading, should I fail to meet my resolution:

• Advice for clearing literary clutter from metafilter
• Pittfalls of Creativity Clutter from the great organization site, unclutterer.com
• Lifehacker: portal to tips and downloads for getting things done
• Zen Habits' Massive GTD (getting things done) Resource List
• Conquering Clutter an article on compulsive hoarding from David Dudley, AARP
• Sharon Crosby's Mind Over Clutter articles

The National Education Association is celebrating the election of Barack Obama. The American Federation of Teachers is celebrating the election of Barack Obama. My students and many of my colleagues are celebrating the election of Barack Obama.

I cheer along with the crowd. But the confetti is thinning out in the air, and realism is settling back in. Already the pundits on tv news are asking Obama to "show me the money" when it comes to the economy. I hope we will remember how and why education matters even when the accounts run low.

Education Week has an article surveying Obama's challenges on the education front, once he gets in office.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term,” said Mr. Obama at a rally in Chicago’s Grant Park.

But Mr. Obama said in the past month that he considers education an important ingredient for addressing the country’s long-term economic problems. In the Oct. 8 presidential debate, he rated education as a priority on a par with expanding access to health care, reforming entitlement programs, and developing new forms of energy.

Indeed: Education is a health issue, it is an energy issue, it is even a war issue. It is not simply a childhood issue. It seems patently obvious to me that we need to combat ignorance worldwide if we genuinely seek civility, peace, unity and understanding.

Obama's education agenda is pretty clear cut and reasonable. The challenges he faces will mostly be financial, but the pay off will be attitudinal. There will simply be less anti-intellectualism in government than there seems to be now (in my view) and more support for both early development and college learning -- fundamental ways of repaving a foundation for the future. And virtually any reform to No Child Left Behind his administration proposes will likely be applauded by teachers everywhere.

Education.com gives a clear overview of Obama's plans for reforming education at present, but to get a deeper sense of Obama's thinking about education in America, read his July 5, 2007 speech to the NEA, where he discusses something he terms the 'these kids' syndrome and outlines why we need to reform No Child Left Behind. It not only encapsulates his promises (which he may or may not be able to fulfill) but also his accurate perception of the problem in schools.

Nevertheless, as Education Sector points out, Obama wasn't necessarily elected on an public mandate to change the education system and the current economic crisis will still drive his attention. Even so, Education Sector recommends the top 8 Education Ideas for the Next President.

As for the thoughts of college professors on the future, Scott McLemee's latest IHE article, "Turning a Page" surveys teachers by asking them what book they would recommend to the future US president and why. (In comparison, here's W's official reading list...and the unofficial, as well).

Halloween is fast approaching, so horror literature is in the air. If you're teaching it, you might want to look for the "Writer's Talk" series on WCBE (Ohio's NPR station), which will be airing interviews with horror writers Michael Arnzen, Gary Braunbeck, Lucy Snyder, and Lawrence Connolly each Wednesday in October.

The topic is "The Business & Life of Writing Horror" and all of us had a blast together answering questions about this crazy genre of dread and terror, from how to write it, to what it means for today's culture. The Arnzen session airs tonight on WCBE (10/8/08) at 8pm, and I think it turned out really well.

If you miss it, don't worry:  you should be able to hear the podcast online, provided by Doug Dangler and the Ohio Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing. In fact, you can stream a copy of it on your computer right now here:

Writer's Talk with Michael Arnzen

The full interview will all four horror writers will soon be available on OSU's CSTW website -- which you can also subscribe to on iTunes .

A profile on my writing and teaching career, called "Horror Writer Does his Best Work Having Fun" was just published in the newsletter of the Textbook & Academic Authors Association. Their web site is for members only but they've kindly shared a .pdf file of the feature story that the public can read.

Here's a short excerpt:

Arnzen also credits his success with taking creative risks. “This is another way of saying I don’t mind embarrassing myself,” he said. “Genres rely on conventions and expectations, so many writers err on the side of repeating what’s been done before.” Arnzen said he’s “always thrown caution to the wind and tried to be as weird and experimental as I can. I try not to censor myself too much.” Horror itself can be taken too seriously at times. Arnzen balances this seriousness with humor. “I don’t hold back the humor. To me, a lot of the appeal of horror is its absurdity,” he said. “I find much of what I’ve read or seen in horror quite laughable.”

Anyone who writes instructional books will find the TAA organization a useful hub of information. Their introductory membership rates are reasonable. Check them out.

Want to know where the US presidential candidates stand on education issues? Compare the education web pages of the current top two front runners:

Barack Obama | John McCain

You can also compare ALL the candidates positions on education (and other key issues) across the board at ontheissues.org.

I'm building a new weblog called THE POPULAR UNCANNY. It's a supplement of sorts for my upcoming non-fiction title from Guide Dog Books by the same name.

The book is a critical study of theories of the Uncanny/"das Unheimliche" as they appear in advertising, film, bestsellers, and online. Chapters include examinations of such topics as the icon of the dismembered hand in the history of horror cinema, and a treatment of the advertising world's "Doublemint Twins" as uncanny doppelgangers. (The Popular Uncanny, btw, was originally my doctoral dissertation at the University of Oregon.)

While the entries in the new blog will tend to lean toward the "academic" side and may refer to theories not all readers will be familiar with, my hope is that the blog will keep my research fresh and fun while also giving me a place to muse about the weirdness in pop culture -- in addition to raising awareness about theories of the Uncanny. As a horror writer as well as a scholar of the horror genre, I think the blog will also help me merge these two interests in new ways. The site design and structure is still under construction, but posts have already been released on such things as the "gaze" in The Ring and the uncanny in a new 'singing robot' art exhibit by Talking Heads frontman, David Byrne. Comments and recommendations are always welcome.

Pedablogue, of course, will continue. I'll post news here about the book when its publication is imminent in Spring 2009. For now, I invite you to come on by the new weblog, anytime.

[See also: "Uncanny Teaching"]

I'm humbled to be featured in the June issue of Pittsburgh Professional Magazine, and they've kindly given me permission to post a .pdf of the article on my horror website. To check it out, visit:

"Ghoulish Goals: Seton Hill writing professor keeps collecting awards for his horror fiction"
by Kathleen Ganster (photos by Jim Judkis).

If (and only if!) you enjoy weird twisted horror stories, then you might want to drop by the new incarnation of my horrror writing blog, The Goreletter.

I received a message recently from a teacher who hadn't received her order from Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and wondered if I knew how to help.

I did a quick search and discovered that ECI -- Educational Communications, Inc. -- ceased all operations in 2007! This came as a surprise to me. I'm not sure if another company has already stepped into their place, but the post on their main page, honoring.com, reports:

Educational Communications, Inc. has ceased all operations, including discontinuation of its publications for Who's Who Among American High School Students, Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and The National Dean's List.

Please note - All students who have already been named as previous scholarships winners through The Educational Communications Scholarships Foundation will remain eligible to collect their funds at anytime during their pursuit of higher education.

If you have any questions about the status of any order, you can call 877-843-9946.

A post I made back in 2005 about this 'who's who' recognition has to my great surprise continued to be one of the most popular entries on Pedablogue. I think that recognition for students -- like The Nat'l Dean's List -- can potentialy be a strong motivator for some students, but my position on these awards for professional instructors hasn't changed since I first mulled over the significance of this award. Perhaps many agree.

I haven't learned yet why the company has ceased operations (it's been in business since the late 1960s), but I did a little research to see if I could find out more. I discovered that ECI is currently listed as part of the American Achievement Corporation, which also has subsidiaries that sell class rings, make yearbooks, and more. This Austin based company might be contacted if you're a teacher or student trying to hunt down the status of your order or award.

[COMMENTS CLOSED ON THIS POST.]

And...scene!

I'm back. Have been returned to campus after sabbatical, actually, for about six months so far -- I just haven't been blogging, and I apologize, but I've been rather busy. I will likely talk more about sabbatical and such later on. But for now, here's something fun that I found: professor's responding to ratemyprofessor.com comments on video for MTVu.

I found this immensely entertaining for some reason, and spent hours watching profs react, respond and vent about the open-to-the-public online teacher evaluation service. It gives a lot of insight into how teachers see themselves, their profession, and (some of) their students.

Here's an example, from a science fiction writer/professor I admire, Paul Levinson:

I actually like the responses and comments I've received on RatemyProfessor.com -- and on the myspace.com equivalent -- and while I don't actually thing RateMyProf is the best avenue for student feedback, it opens up to us another way of understanding our students, whether via their praise or their protest.

[Is it just me, or are students not using this service as much as they used to? Maybe I've just been away too long....]

POSTSCRIPT: Browsing around, I discovered that ratemyprofessors.com has become a little more proactive about allowing professorial rebuttals across the board. I decided to join up and register, despite my better judgment, simply because I support this move on their part... I don't think I have any rebuttals to file with them, but there you have it.

I am going on sabbatical for the full 2006-7 academic year, in order to secure time to develop my next novel.

While I intend to keep researching and reflecting on teaching during that time, I've decided to put Pedablogue on hiatus until August 2007, when I return to full-time teaching. If I write about teaching before then, I will likely do it for traditional publication, and if anything appears in print I will alert you through a comment appended to this post.

If you're a regular viewer of this site, or if you want to be alerted when it relaunches (because, believe me, you will forget), please enter your e-mail address in the "subscribe" box on your right. This will add you to an announcement list, which will automatically send you a message whenever a new post is made to Pedablogue. Alternately, you could simply add the site as an RSS feed to your aggregrator, if you have one (if not, I recommend FeedDemon).

I want to thank everyone for visiting, reading, and referencing Pedablogue since 2003. I don't consider this page a dead site by any means -- I've simply "gone fishing" at the Isle of Sabbitcus for a year -- and I look forward to returning to this place to exchange ideas. Since I'll be focusing mostly on creative writing for the year to come, I will continue to post regularly to my other blog dedicated to horror writing, The Goreletter. If you like offbeat humor or bizarre horror, please subscribe!

It's been a great year for me: my second novel was published, tenure was approved, my classes were wonderful experiences, sabbatical was awarded, and I've got a poetry book presently on the final ballot for the the Bram Stoker Award (decided in June). I've also learned a LOT about teaching by maintaining this site and reading pedagogy and edublogs across the net. I will still be out there, reading along with you. As a final post, I will simply share some good links about sabbatical (which is often misconstrued as simply a "paid vacation")....

• "And on the Seventh Year..." by Mark Shainblum is an excellent explanation of what taking a sabbatical really means.
  
• My colleague at Seton Hill University, Lee Tobin-McClain, has written a fantastic series of "first person advice" columns for the Chronicle of Higher Education on the sabbatical experience.
  
• The Teaching and Learning Center at Truman State University offers a good compilation of Tips for Writing a Sabbatical Proposal
  
• Inside Higher Ed's running column on What They Don't Teach You in Graduate School by David E. Drew and Paul Gray is chock full of hard-knocks advice that you could probably use, generally; they offer a few tips on taking sabbatical, as well.
  
• Sabbitcal Overview Basics at Hays Recruitment
  

Keep teaching well. No matter how hard it might seem, or how little you feel you're accomplishing, remember that it always matters. -- Mike Arnzen

The Christmas issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an excellent, front-page feature story on educational blogging, called "Freedom of Speech Redefined by Blogs". Featured prominently is our college's New Media Journalism program, led by my colleague, Dennis Jerz. It's really a great -- and quite accurate -- piece.

[I will be in attendance as respondent to this panel, so I thought I'd help Dr. Sandner get the word out by posting his Call for Papers here...]

Call for Papers:
Paper Session: “Michael Arnzen: New Directions in Horror”
The 27th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, March 15-19, 2006.

Responding to the conference’s focus on “the fantastic in other media,” “Michael Arnzen: New Directions in Horror” attempts to define the impact of new media on popular literature by exploring multiple award-winning author Dr. Arnzen’s literary experiments producing horror for such media as palm pilots, email, electronic texts and his Stoker award winning website, The Goreletter (as well as traditional print forms). Dr. Arnzen has already agreed to act as a respondent.

Deadline: Nov 15 for paper abstracts to dsandner@fullerton.edu. ICFA deadline: Nov 30. Presenters must be members of IAFA at the time of the conference.

On Dr. David Sandner:
My paper, “Meat Shots, Gorelets, Severed Hands and the Uncanny in your Inbox: Michael Arnzen’s New Directions in Horror,” will interrogate the intersection of theory, new media and the traditions of the horror field in Dr. Arnzen’s texts. I am a Assistant Professor of English at California State University, Fullerton. I recently edited Fantastic Literature: A Critical Reader, currently available from Praeger. I also wrote The Fantastic Sublime and co-edited The Treasury of the Fantastic. My fantastic fiction and poetry appear in Realms of Fantasy, Asimov's, the collections Mammoth Book of Sorcerers and Baseball Fantastic, Weird Tales, and elsewhere.

On Dr. Michael Arnzen:
The Bram Stoker Award is the horror field’s highest honor: Dr. Arnzen has won for Best First Novel (Grave Markings, 1994) and Best Alternative Forms (2003) for his website; he has been nominated four other times for Fiction Collection (100 Jolts, 2004), Poetry Collection (Paratabloids, 2001 and Gorelets: Unpleasant Poems, 2003) and Alternative Forms (The Goreletter, 2004). As an Associate Professor of English at Seton Hill University, Dr. Arnzen has also brought to his work an extraordinary theoretical grounding for his experiments in form.

Forgive the intrusion, but I just have to share my excitement: my second horror novel, Play Dead, is now shipping! The first draft of this book served as my Master's Thesis at the University of Idaho, but I have to warn you this book is, as Cemetery Dance magazine put it, "...a fast-paced, brutal, gritty, and unflinching" work of horror. It's entertaining and full of literary play based on my playing card research, but it goes for the gut. Not the typical grad school thesis! If dark fiction is your cup of tea, then check it out. Play Dead is available at booksellers everywhere, but I recommend either shocklines.com (for a signed edition) or amazon.com (for a discount). You can learn more about Play Dead on my horror-oriented weblog, The Goreletter.

Forgive the annoying pause to brag a little, but I've been smiling since Sunday, when I learned my short story collection, 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories, is on the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Fiction Collection. The Bram Stoker Awards -- arguably the highest literary accolade in the horror genre -- are given each June by the Horror Writer's Association. Other nominees this year include Stephen King, Peter Straub, Chuck Palahniuk, Douglas Clegg, and Christopher Fowler, and more.

Out of all the publishing I've done, this book has also really been useful for me as a creative writing teacher. For one thing, writing one hundred short-shorts sure did polish up my editing skills and I bring those to my paper commenting. But it's in flash fiction workshops where it's paid off the most. Shortly after 100 Jolts was published, I performed a reading to my class from the book and asked students to critique a few stories. I like to think it worked nicely because putting my own "neck on the line" by offering my work up for criticism helped students to see that no fiction is perfect, even after its in print, and that even a teacher and professional writer can learn things from workhshop. I've also used prompts and strategies from the teacher's guide to go along with stories I've copied out of the book for my classes and graduate writing workshops our MA program in Writing Popular Fiction, too. Overall, this book has really been a success and regardless of how the Stoker nomination pans out, I'm very proud of it.

(I guess I should add for any horror fans reading this that my dark alterego's weblog, The Goreletter, is also a finalist for the Stoker award in "Alternative Forms" -- an award it won last year!)

I just received the local tax forms in the mail -- something that always gives me an unwelcome wake-up call -- an uncomfortable reminder that there's extra work to be done. And math's involved!

I'm a little ahead of the game this year, if only because I got TaxCut for Xmas (only slightly more fun than wool socks) and my copy of the brand new AIS Tax & Financial Guide for College Teachers arrived in the mail. The latter is a highly recommended book that covers the entire tax law and it has lots of case studies for what is and isn't deductable (especially good on research, grants, and home office information).

Other books and information on teachers and taxes that are worth browsing (see last year's entry for more):

• 2005 Teacher's Pocket Tax Guide
  
• Teacher's Tax Service
  
• NEA page on the Teacher's Tax Breaks
  
• Jackson Hewitt's overview on teachers' tax returns
  

As though an aftershock of that horrifying tsunami that hit Asia yesterday, another great thinker has died today: Susan Sontag. Her work on photography, illness, and camp deserve to be remembered. Particularly "Illness as Metaphor" -- a book that really helped me to think allegorically about what I do from time to time as a horror writer, as well as a critic of pop culture. Although I didn't enjoy her fiction as much as her aesthetic criticism, I respected the way she was able to bridge the divide between fiction writing and theory, as well.

Her cause of death has yet to be determined, but sources suggest that it was cancer or leukemia. "Cancer is a demonic pregnancy" she wrote in "Illness as Metaphor," analyzing the way that it has been represented throughout history as though having a monstrous life all its own. I've never forgotten that.

This evening I jazzed up the site a bit by adding a small handful of pithy quotes to the ever-present sidebar of various pages in the archives. In my hunt for pith, I came across many more aphorisms than I could ever hope to use on Pedablogue, so I thought I'd share a few more here, along with links to a few major websites that collect famous sayings on education, pedagogy, and learning:

Good sites:

• Illinois Loop
  
• The Really Big List of Education Quotes
  
• NEA's list for National Education Week
  
• NSWPPA Principle's Inspiration
  
• Eric Wearne's List of Education Quotes
  
• Hoagie's Gifted Education Quotes
  

Some favorites:

• "Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only that the cat died nobly." -- Arnold Edinborough
  
• "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." -- Alvin Toffler
  
• "Learning from a teacher who has stopped learning is like drinking from a stagnant pond." -- Indonesian Proverb
  
• “Instead of the difficult task of educating a child, I now undertake the easier task of writing about it.” -- Rousseau
  
• "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." -- Thomas Carruthers
  
• "Research is what I do when I don't know what I'm doing." -- Wernher Von Braun
  
• "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." -- Abraham Lincoln
  
• "That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way." -- Doris Lessing
  
• "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -- Aristotle
  
• "Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover what a pupil does not know whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose to discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing." -- Albert Einstein
  
• "The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder."
  -- Ralph M. Sockman
  

This collage appears in Eye Contact, the literary magazine I advise at Seton Hill University where I teach. The theme for this particular issue of the magazine was "truth." I clipped words and phrases out of Weekly World News to create this piece. When I began, I thought I'd build a collage of freaky and bizarre headlines, but I found myself instead pulling out the more "normal" terms and assembling them in an abnormal way. The "shout out" style of the excessive typography, I'm hoping, renders everything strangely familiar. I believe the "left behind" phrase at the center originally referred to that whole "Left Behind" Armageddon novel series phenomena, but for me it seemed to progressively suggest something entirely different about the No Child Left Behind Act as I built this collage around it as a centerpiece. I'm still not sure what it all means, if anything at all, but I had education and today's kids in mind as I built up the layers. I'm happy the students accepted it into the magazine (blind jury process). I'm looking forward to seeing the weblog for the magazine develop next year into a full-fledged online version of the mag.

"We declared war on terror. We declared war on terror—it’s not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I’m sure we’ll take on that bastard ennui." --
John Stewart's commencement address at William & Mary College

***
Congratulations to all the graduates.

Want to know where the presidential candidates stand on education issues? Compare them:

John Kerry | George Bush | Ralph Nader

You can also compare candidates on the issues across the board from the 2000 election. You can also read the political party platforms in an earlier pedablogue post.

Grading like mad as the end of the year approaches? Lighten up for a moment and take a look at Randy Glasbergen's education cartoons for teachers. Some of these really hit the nail on the head. Like the one where a teacher speaks to the confused child who stands at the front of the classroom, having been asked to solve a math problem for the class: "There aren't any icons to click," she says. "It's a chalkboard."

TV probably worth watching:

Primetime Thursday (news program) on ABC

Thursday, April 29 at 10 p.m. ET
"Charles Gibson investigates the cheating crisis in America's schools — from plagiarism to high-tech gadgets, students are using old methods and new technology to beat the system. "

== UPDATE: I just learned from a press release my dean passed along that this episode of PrimeTime will also feature a look at turnitin.com anti-plagiarism software, which we've discussed in Pedablogue in entries past.