Monday, September 19, 2011
When Stuck, Switch
When you get stuck for a while, it's helpful to switch to another kind of writing or to another project for a while. I'm temporarily stuck on my chapter so I've been writing some poems and movie reviews, which you can check out on the other blog.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Brown M&Ms
I tell my students I don't like the cliché "time immemorial" beginning to a paper. "Ever since Adam and Eve..." or "From the beginning of time..." Yet they continue to do this. I also don't allow them to use the word 'importante." Yet many insist on using this word.
We might call these my brown M&Ms. Van Halen stipulated in their riders to tour contracts a bowl of M&Ms without the brown ones. This has often been taken to be typical rock-band high-maintenance narcissistic self-regard and self-indulgence, but this clause actually served a deeper purpose, serving as a marker of attention to detail:
If students use the word "importante," if they haven't put a title on their paper, if they use the "time immemorial" beginning, then I know they haven't been paying attention to my very explicit oral and written instructions. Sure, an otherwise good paper might use the word importante in every other sentence, but usually this means that the student will also not apply recently reviewed grammar points in revising their writing. They will probably use the passive voice in a paper a week after I told them simply not to use the passive voice at all in Spanish.
Of course, the consequence of messing up a Van Halen concert might be very serious: death, if a stage collapses because a promoter has not paid attention to how much weight it has to support. The consequence of brown M&Ms is less severe. In writing, the consequence of messing up the small things is that the reader will lose faith that the writer is to be trusted in the communication of scholarly knowledge.
We might call these my brown M&Ms. Van Halen stipulated in their riders to tour contracts a bowl of M&Ms without the brown ones. This has often been taken to be typical rock-band high-maintenance narcissistic self-regard and self-indulgence, but this clause actually served a deeper purpose, serving as a marker of attention to detail:
If brown M&M's were in the backstage candy bowl, Van Halen surmised that more important aspects of a performance--lighting, staging, security, ticketing--may have been botched by an inattentive promoter.
If students use the word "importante," if they haven't put a title on their paper, if they use the "time immemorial" beginning, then I know they haven't been paying attention to my very explicit oral and written instructions. Sure, an otherwise good paper might use the word importante in every other sentence, but usually this means that the student will also not apply recently reviewed grammar points in revising their writing. They will probably use the passive voice in a paper a week after I told them simply not to use the passive voice at all in Spanish.
Of course, the consequence of messing up a Van Halen concert might be very serious: death, if a stage collapses because a promoter has not paid attention to how much weight it has to support. The consequence of brown M&Ms is less severe. In writing, the consequence of messing up the small things is that the reader will lose faith that the writer is to be trusted in the communication of scholarly knowledge.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Depression as a Cultural Norm in Academia
Half the academics I know have been on anti-depressants or in therapy at one time or another, including este servidor. The other half probably have too, but haven't told me about it yet. The manual of psychological disorders (DSM) contains some that are culturally specific. That is, they are disorders bound up in cultural definitions that are not recognized outside of that particular culture. This does not mean that they are not real. I would point out that all psychological disorders are culturally constructed. Why call "mal de ojo" culturally bound but not Western ailments like "nervous breakdowns"? The sufferer suffers the same ill effects whether there is a culturally specific name that has no purchase in other contexts.
Academics are knowledgeable about treatments and seek them out. They don't tend to see depression as a stigma, so they seek out help. What is stigmatized is happiness, satisfaction. You are supposed to whine and complain a lot, participate in the culture of "college misery." If you look too happy, as Z has pointed out, people will start wondering whether you are working hard enough.
Of course, I don't mean to say that people get depressed because of this culture, that they should just opt out of their personal depression by realizing that it is culturally constructed. That is easier said than done. Also, to say that something is constructed does not mean that it is not real. Also, to say that something is constructed does not mean that it is not real. Also, to say that something is constructed does not mean that it is not real. I cannot say that enough times. Our very reality is cultural, that is the air we breathe, our psychological reality.
I would also like to separate the genuine concerns afflicting academia from the cultural norm of misery. In other words, there are really serious problems that have to be worked on, since academia is under attack from right-wing politicians and corporate-minded administrators. We should put our efforts into constructive work to fight back. The cultural norm of depression is a more general malaise that is not particularly useful, since it make us not want to get out of bed in the morning. This malaise also makes us think our own work in not valuable, and hence makes us weaker in the fight against idiot politicians and administrators.
Academics are knowledgeable about treatments and seek them out. They don't tend to see depression as a stigma, so they seek out help. What is stigmatized is happiness, satisfaction. You are supposed to whine and complain a lot, participate in the culture of "college misery." If you look too happy, as Z has pointed out, people will start wondering whether you are working hard enough.
Of course, I don't mean to say that people get depressed because of this culture, that they should just opt out of their personal depression by realizing that it is culturally constructed. That is easier said than done. Also, to say that something is constructed does not mean that it is not real. Also, to say that something is constructed does not mean that it is not real. Also, to say that something is constructed does not mean that it is not real. I cannot say that enough times. Our very reality is cultural, that is the air we breathe, our psychological reality.
I would also like to separate the genuine concerns afflicting academia from the cultural norm of misery. In other words, there are really serious problems that have to be worked on, since academia is under attack from right-wing politicians and corporate-minded administrators. We should put our efforts into constructive work to fight back. The cultural norm of depression is a more general malaise that is not particularly useful, since it make us not want to get out of bed in the morning. This malaise also makes us think our own work in not valuable, and hence makes us weaker in the fight against idiot politicians and administrators.
Not Writing Is Hard
Not writing, being away from my research work for a medium-size stretch of time, is difficult, taking me away from the sources of my strength and self-confidence. I feel myself getting stupider and I forget what I am supposed to be doing. Why did I choose this job again? I have plenty of time to blog and take care of personal business and chat with colleagues, but the job seems oddly unrewarding.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Revision
Some of my students (advanced comp and grammar in Spanish) revised their papers and did not get better grades. That is because the implicit standard for a revision is a half grade higher than for the first version, so to improve they have to get a full grade higher.
On weaker papers, the issues tended to be basic vocabulary and grammar, and so I could barely deal with issues of composition proper at all.
My goal is to get all of the students to write at the upper division Spanish level, (where some of the students are starting from). A student who starts at an A level should be able to write convincingly and with elegance by the end of the semester.
On weaker papers, the issues tended to be basic vocabulary and grammar, and so I could barely deal with issues of composition proper at all.
My goal is to get all of the students to write at the upper division Spanish level, (where some of the students are starting from). A student who starts at an A level should be able to write convincingly and with elegance by the end of the semester.
Nobody's Genre
My colleague likes to say that the MA exam is nobody's genre. In other words, the exam is a hurdle to be overcome. Studying for the examination is useful, because one has to read the works on the list and organize one's knowledge, but performance on the exam means very little. Very few people excel, beyond showing that they have read the list, and many students underperform. If the exam was one's best genre, that would be very sad, in a way, because nobody reads the exam except to see whether someone passes or fails.
Even the PhD exam is almost nobody's genre.
The dissertation, though, should be everyone's genre. This is a time to progress, not regress. At this point, the student has been trained to do nothing else except for writing a dissertation.
Even the PhD exam is almost nobody's genre.
The dissertation, though, should be everyone's genre. This is a time to progress, not regress. At this point, the student has been trained to do nothing else except for writing a dissertation.
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