Reflections of a Quaker Librarian

Nonfiction about the Amish

2012-01-06T07:50:00.002-05:00

If you are inclined to read about the Amish, everything by Donald B. Kraybill is excellent. I also enjoyed Visits with the Amish by Linda Egenes. Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer's Journal, by David Kline, is one of my all-time favorite nature writings. Why I Left the Amish: A Memoir by Saloma Miller Furlong will break your heart--it describes in detail all of the bad parts of a closed culture, as does Ira Wagler's Growing Up Amish: A Memoir. On the other hand, I found David Wagler (Ira's father) to be long-winded and egotistical.

Amish Romances (Inspirational Fiction)

2012-01-05T17:54:00.006-05:00

Since I've had pneumonia (Happy New Year's Eve!), I've been having extraordinarily vivid dreams & feeling a little philosophical, despite not being able to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time.

I've been thinking about the Amish romances I have enjoyed, those I haven't, & how nonfiction studies about the Amish have influenced my feelings/thinking. My usual criteria apply: there are those that are well-written, fairly true to what I understand about the culture, and tell a good story.

Bender, Carrie (pseudonym). She is an Amishwoman (Old Order) given permission to write under a pen name. Her series are light and joyous.
Cameron, Barbara. Her series The Quilts of Lancaster County are fascinating books.
Cramer, Dale. His Paradise Valley is the best of the Amish romances! Well-written, historically accurate, & with an excellent romance.
Ellis, Mary. The Miller Family series were quite entertaining, yet there are so many inaccuracies that it makes it very distracting.
Hoff, B. J. The 2 Riverhaven Years books are about the Underground Railroad, so I enjoyed that aspect. These are the only 2 Hoff has written about the Amish.
Perry, Marta (Pleasant Valley series). Perry seems to have a solid understanding of the Amish and Mennonite, is a good writer, and mostly tells a good story. My favorites so far are the 1st & 5th: Leah's Choice & Katie's Way. Leah's Choice deals with those who choose to leave the Plain community, their interactions with those they left behind, and the common birth defects among the Amish. Katie's Way shows the negative effects of gossip in small communities & positive interactions between Amish & "Englisch."
Roper, Gayle. Undecided...Amish are background, not the focus of her stories.
Wiseman, Beth. She occasionally shows her lack of deep understanding of the culture, but overall writes fairly good romance. Unfortunately, she uses stereotypical expressions which the Amish don't really use, such as "wunderbaar gut."

One of the writers overuses the word "shuffles," but at the moment I can't remember which. It's very off-putting and distracting!
OK, the writers I haven't enjoyed so far, though I wouldn't want to keep others from reading:

Brunstetter, Wanda: Amish good, English bad, every time.
Clark, Mindy Starts & Leslie Gould: Another case of Amish vs. Mennonite vs. English, in which "exciting drama" gets more attention than getting the details of Amish life correct. Although I admit I am going to try their 2nd novel, to give them a fair chance.
Clipston, Amy. Bad writing, using cliches & words repetitively, e.g., "snatched."
Eicher, Jerry. Contrived plots, strange details, 1-2 sentence paragraphs....
Fisher, Suzanne Woods. Poor plotting, caricatured characters, & trite language with overuse of adjectives.
Keller, Cynthia. Caricatures of both English & Amish in An Amish Christmas. But maybe I should try the 2nd novel: A Plain & Fancy Christmas.
Lewis, Beverly: dislike. The couple of novels I read by her seem to imply that it is better to convert to the more evangelical forms of Christianity than to be Old Order Amish; they seemed preachy and unbelievable.
Long, Kelly. Odd characters, plotting, resolutions; romance unlike the Amish culture.
Woodsmall, Cindy. I read 5 of her books before giving up. My favorite was The Sound of Sleigh Bells.

Unknown/to try: Patricia Davids; Tricia Goyer (Big Sky series); Hillary Manton Lodge.

LGBT People's History film

2011-09-26T11:19:00.003-04:00

November 17, 2011, 6:30 p.m.: the premier screening of A People’s History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids takes place at the downtown campus of GVSU, Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos building E.

LGBTQ People's History of Grand Rapids Project from Girbe Eefsting .

Research Papers?

2011-05-05T16:27:00.002-04:00

In Whither the research paper?, Maura Smale (ACRLog, Feb. 18) questions the value of formal research paper assignments. It is the comment by Joan which has the most insight: "It’s really hard to present your own ideas when you’ve read all the experts’ thoughts. What are your own ideas at that point? Even as a graduate student in English studying in a relatively new area, after a thorough lit review that covered all the questions I had about a piece, I wasn’t sure what was left to say."
...
Her solution?

"Perhaps a remedy would be this: get the students to choose the topic and write about it in-depth and thoughtfully *before* they do any research. Then, they research and review the important articles and learn what the experts have to say; they write this up as a lit review. Then, they write a third piece explaining how their thoughts have evolved or changed given what they’ve read. So they write about their own perspective, but bolstered and informed by research. (And, as a former writing instructor, I would probably toss in a fourth piece where they reflect on the whole process, reading their original essay and final essay and comparing them.)"

I wholeheartedly agree.

Birds & flowers

2011-04-24T15:06:00.001-04:00

Today was very exciting at Blandford Nature Center. Along with the blooming wildflowers previously mentioned -- cut-leaved toothwort, spring beauties, Dutchman's breeches, the last of the bloodroot -- were also trout lilies and false rue anemone. And along with the usual birds -- downy woodpeckers, white-throated sparrows, red-bellied woodpeckers, etc., -- were both a ruby-crowned kinglet and a yellow-crowned kinglet! There was also a very small bird creeping up a tree with a brown back (more or less solid, not like the pics of the brown creeper in my books), light belly/throat, and a black stripe through its eye. Any suggestions for what I should look up, birders? Also, do thrushes ever stick close to the ground, snatching up dead leaves with their beaks, and poking at whatever they uncovered? Didn't have any field glasses, but it definitely wasn't a young robin. Or is it more likely a thrasher?

April 16 wildflowers

2011-04-19T15:37:00.001-04:00

I attended the meeting for our community garden at Blandford Nature Center. Afterward, I walked home through the damp woods, and spotted the following flowers: Bloodroot, spring beauties, skunk cabbage just finishing flowering, cut-leaved toothwort, Dutch breeches, lots of violets of all colors. The may apple leaves are whorling, and trillium buds are showing white. At home, our goldfish survived the winter in the little pond, and hyacinth and mini-daffies are blooming.

Of course, it has snowed since then, but everything seems to be just fine. I hope the community garden farmer plowed the snow into the acreage for the nitrogen!

Civil War Reenactments

2011-04-13T15:19:00.003-04:00

Wouldn't it be better to reenact war from the field hospitals instead of battles, to give people a real idea about what war is like? To lie on a dirty tarp in a tent open to the air so as not to choke on the stench, listening to moaning and screaming, watching your friends and neighbors die all around you? Suffocating from pneumonia, dying from bacterial infections or viruses, having limbs hacked off to prevent gangrene and then dying anyway? Instead of cooking over an open fire, to go for days without fresh food or clean water and experiencing all of the awful diseases which result?

I understand trying to make history real to kids, but I don't understand the sanitizing and celebration of war.

10 Greatest Poets & more

2011-03-23T11:34:00.000-04:00

Dean Rader's "The 10 Greatest Poets: My List" from SFGate.com City Brights Blog, posted March 03 2011, is a must-read for anyone interested in poetry.

Closer to home, MLive - Kalamazoo Gazette has this:
Former Poet Laureate Kay Ryan to talk about public role, private pursuit at KVCC Published: Sunday, March 20, 2011, by Mark Wedel. In it, she says,
“I’m a person who lives a quiet life. I ride my bicycle a lot. I stay in my county a lot. I live simply. I don’t run around with poets. I read, I write. And I seek a — what shall I say — a limited sensory input.” ... On a long bike excursion in 1976, Ryan said she had an epiphany to write poetry. “It’s exactly the story of a calling,” she said. “I simply couldn’t avoid it. It was the thing that profoundly and endlessly occupied me.”
And finally, “The next really deeply interesting poet is going to come from a farm outside of Kalamazoo,” she said.

From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp

2011-02-22T12:58:00.002-05:00

Interesting reading: 4th ed. in pdf.
Related story: Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook By Ruaridh Arrow

Albert Einstein wrote the foreword to his first book - Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power: Three Case Histories - published in 1960
His 1968 Oxford University D Phil, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, formed the basis of a book with the same title, published in 1973
Founded the Albert Einstein Institution in 1983, a non-profit organisation advancing the use of non-violent action in conflict around the world

Ruaridh Arrow's film, Gene Sharp: How to Start a Revolution, will be released in spring 2011 - keep an eye out for it!

Tourism in Philadelphia

2011-02-12T16:10:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I turned the wrong direction when exiting the Reading Terminal Market after lunch (12th Street Cantina - a cold salad of spicy chicken chunks with plaintain & red bell peppers) & ended up at the Quaker Books/FGC/Friends Journal building at Arch St. & 13th. I had been asked to get a copy of Faith & Practice from the Philly Meeting, so I went in--took advantage of the 10% off sale, which covered sales tax, & got it for under $10. Outwardly, I was calm & friendly. Inwardly I felt awed & giggly--look--real Quakers who do Friendly work for a living!

From there, I hiked to the Free Quaker Meeting House Museum ("them are fighting words" - they were Quakers who were "read out of" meeting (dismembershipped) for fighting in the Revolution; also Betsy Ross joined them after being "read out" for "marrying out"). Passed by the Christ Church Burial Ground, wherein lies Benjamin Franklin, & went into the Arch Street Friends Meeting House. I was surprised by how large it is. I sat in silence for a few minutes before viewing the exhibits, which are miniature-diorama like. Visited the Betsy Ross house, Elfreth's Alley, and viewed the Liberty Bell (ordered by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges, Pennsylvania's original Constitution) from outside its building. There is Security. I had my backpack.

More on eating at Reading Market--my favorite bakery is Beiler's, from which I've eaten cherry & blueberry pies & a cinnamon roll for breakfast, & took away an apple pie for tomorrow's brekkie. Next door to them is the Dutch Eating Place, where I consumed a large & utterly delicious hot apple dumping this morning. Around the corner is Miller's Twist, which features hot, soft, buttery pretzels--okay, I ate these for lunch every day except yesterday's Mexican. The Pennsylvania General Store includes Hope's cookies & Hank's rootbeer. There are lots of other stalls but these are the ones I patronized.

I enjoyed seeing & hearing Peter Richard Conte at the Wanamaker Organ in the Grand Court at Macy's last night. I went with an organist, who patiently answered my questions about the 6 keyboards, hundreds of color-coded stops, bizillions of pipes, etc.

This morning I visited the National Constitution Center to satisfy my former gov-docs-librarian self. Yes, I studied the Constitution & Bill of Rights, etc., in high school, but the exhibits also delineated the many struggles for rights of those who, oddly enough, were not included in "We the People," in The Centuries of Citizenship: A Constitutional Timeline. The full-size bronze statues of the signers of the Constitution are also impressive.

Tonight is the MLA Big Band concert at the reception prior to the banquet. Tomorrow I'll attend meeting for worship at Arch Street, then fly home. Homesickness has been a constant pressure here.

Music Library Association conference 2

2011-02-12T15:22:00.002-05:00

In Plenary II on Licensing, we heard from a couple of copyright lawyers, Corynne McSherry & Kevin L. Smith, who believe that more often we will be licensees, not owners, of informational materials, & thus, that first-sale doctrine doesn't apply. Corynne advocated for librarians to follow the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) blog. Kevin explained that there are 3 relevant issues:

digital-only release (e.g., Dudamel + LA Philharmonic's recordings) prevents (re)sale, (archival) back-up, ownership, etc.
physical release with license restrictions on first-sale
digital bundles (e.g., Naxos) prevents us from exercising professional quality control on collection development.

We need a music digital archiving system like LOCKSS or electronic archiving service like Portico. Because contract law (which governs licenses) is state law, & copyright is federal law, we also need to ask for special library contracts & advocate for federal copyright law to trump non-negotiable end-user licenses. The Uniform Commercial Code governs the sale of goods & should apply to music.

What we librarians can do: work with our music faculty who are composers and performers to emphasize that if music is released only in digital format, it cannot be collected by libraries for use by their students or be used in their own teaching.

"Music Librarians & Emerging Technologies"
Jing allows you to show someone how to do a task online, record it with voice, & email the screencast. Although apparently you have to create an account at screencast.com too to edit & share the videocast or embed it in a website. It uses Flash as the output type. There is a limit of 5 minutes per screencast. You can add arrows, text, & save as a .png. Yahoo Pipes is another interesting mash-up creation tool but complicated. To ask Matthew: Is there an app like foursquare to use for mapping the exact shelf location of items by using their rfid tag?

Music Library Association conference

2011-02-10T15:20:00.002-05:00

While this is a small conference, with about 500 attendees plus about 100 vendors, I am still at somewhat of a loss because I don't know anyone at anything more than an acquaintance level. However, that said, I am meeting a lot of people & learning quite a bit, so the conference comes at a "just in time" place of need. Here are some tidbits:

InstantEncore is a repository for live classical music & recordings of concerts & recitals. Note: added to Music LibGuide.
In the session "Born & Reincarnated Digital: One Course Management System-based Solution to Providing Copyright Compliant Streaming Audio Reserves," I learned that they use a CMS like Blackboard by creating a "Media.Reserves" instructor (who may add content but not access grades), & the librarian/CR staff use this to add listening modules to courses. They use mp3 files which are uploaded. They also use 2 different software programs to edit the metadata (PA Software ID3) and make it searchable (GEMM). Seems unnecessarily complicated, if ARES is working well enough for GVSU.
In "Educating Music Librarians in the Digital Age," I realized that what I most need right now is:

instruction & exercises in using Grove via Oxford Music online to find music in our collected works,
help with acquisitions of non-book materials--when to use which vendor and why
what is a uniform title: tutorial from Indiana University
Why doesn't Naxos index the titles on their CD covers (I have to go downstairs & ask them)
to download Jing to use for screenshots
get a mentor to guide me in the above quests.

I also learned about:

the Music Treasures Consortium, Performing Arts Encyclopedia from the Library of Congress - digital images of manuscripts (note: added to Music Guide)
MILT: Music Information Literacy Tutorial from Cleveland Institute of Music.

I toured the Free Library of Philadelphia's reading room in the Music Department, the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music (the world's largest lending library of orchestral performance material), and the Rare Book department (saw treasures like 5000-year-old cuneiform and cuneiform seal, the first hymnals printed in this country, Beatrix Potter original paintings, illuminated medieval manuscripts). I've been all over Reading (pronounced "redding") Market (oh those soft, buttery, hot pretzels!), and saw City Hall (with the statue of William Penn atop it) and many sculptures & murals on the way to the Free Library. And I've successfully ridden the SEPTA train. It is sunny & very windy, but warmer than Michigan.

Silence in worship

2011-01-17T14:56:00.002-05:00

Silence is a difficult discipline--the most difficult for me, anyway. There are various ways to approach "centering down" as Quakers say. I borrow from other traditions as needed.

One is to think of a saying, in "lectio divina" style: an example is the verse, "Be still and know that I am God." ... wait with it for a few moments. "Be still and know that I am." Wait.... "Be still and know." Wait.... "Be still." Wait.... "Be." Wait.... "Be still and know that I am God."

Or use a single word, whatever you feel you need most at the time.

Another is to observe your breathing--just pay attention to it.

Or hold people in the Light (a.k.a. praying for them, in whatever fashion works for you). Sometimes I start with the people in the circle, then expand it. When I get to the whole world, that's as centered as I get! If I get that far, and "come back to myself" that often seems to correspond to others' sense of a "gathered" or "covered" meeting -- when we are communally filled with the Spirit.

There are many books, pamphlets, & blog posts for those who want to read more.

Love as a discipline

2011-01-11T09:39:00.002-05:00

These passages seem particularly relevant to me lately, speaking to my heart, especially in view of recent events.

"Love must be a kind of discipline. If we love only with our feelings, we're sunk--we may feel love one day and something quite other the next. ... I realized I must learn to love with my will, not my feelings. ... And so I enjoyed the warm feelings, the stuff of the heart, when it was present between us, as it sometimes was, ... And when it wasn't, there was the will to love, something like...a generator kicking in, a backup. ... Wounded people use a lot of smoke and mirrors, they thrust the bitterness and rage out there like a shield. Then it becomes their banner, and finally, their weapon. But I stopped falling for the bitterness and rage. I didn't stop knowing it was there--and there for a very good reason--but I stopped taking the bullet for it. With God's help, I was able to start seeing through the smoke. ... It's all in increments.... Healing came as little drops of water, and never the mighty ocean when you need it.... There's no way to deal with their suffering, except through love. ... Trust that, believe that, as hard as it is to believe right now. Act as if it were true, it can change things. ... Go in where there's common ground. Do whatever you can to find common ground, and if you do nothing more, forgive...and pray.... Whenever she [substitute the other pronoun if needed] lashes out, whenever she draws away, pray and forgive, forgive and pray."

Karon, Jan. In the Company of Others. NY: Viking, 2010. 239-241.

Bring your whole self to Friends Meeting

2010-10-10T17:43:00.002-04:00

If you are struggling with anger, bring that to Friends meeting for worship, and engage with your issues and God while surrounded by Friends. What safer place to do so? Since one of the qualities we value is integrity, we feel that one can be angry and still be Quaker. I'm certainly angry fairly often...and who fails to be in an unjust world, surrounded by narcissism and greed? If you feel unworthy, bring that too. We also value equality--God values all of us, and so do we also try to love our neighbors as ourselves. Who feels worthy, or deserving? (oh, those previously-mentioned narcissists!) Yet we are all equally worthy of God's love and the love of our neighbors. Bring your whole self to Friends meeting for worship.

Student Evaluations

2010-09-28T14:02:00.003-04:00

At the end of last week I had a rotten day, made more so by reading student evaluations from a first-year writing class, in which several students commented that I was "too dry" and that I should be "more entertaining." Meh. I hate student evaluations.

When I went back and looked at the ratings they gave for how useful the session will be as they do the research required for the course, they were consistently 4-5 with a few 3's thrown in, on a 1-5 scale. OK, not so bad after all, if I focus on their perception of learning.

Today, I made more of a conscious effort to move around while I talked, making eye contact, and varying my voice pitch and tone. One of the students wrote, "she was the best instructor I have had since I have been in college" (this from a 5th year student). Pretty affirming. Still, I remind myself that student evaluations are very subjective, and wonder why they elicit such strong feelings in us. After all, can an evaluation form get at whether or not students really learn in these sessions? No, not really. So it's about the sense of self, and ego.

Yet this form is a required part of assessing "teaching effectiveness" at GVSU along with self-evaluation and peer-evaluation.

As far as assessing learning, professors who teach semester-long courses also have tests, essays, etc., to measure learning (if it's possible), and assessment to take an overall look at student learning within a program. The library isn't quite there yet. There just isn't a good way to assess student information literacy in the context of single instruction sessions. We have tried the SAILS test a couple of times as a program assessment but see some problems with it. There are now newer assessment tools and I'd like to know more about them.

In the meantime, I realized that it's also time for me to get some feedback from disciplinary colleagues again. What are their perceptions of my teaching effectiveness and student learning?

This journal forms part of my self-evaluation. This fall, I've been making more of an effort to write down the learning objectives and talking those over with instructors and students. Other than that, I just reach into the "bag of tricks" (aka "teaching toolbox") developed over 20 years and do my best....

FGC Gathering

2010-07-13T17:32:00.003-04:00

Last week we attended the Gathering ("Quaker camp" in church terms) for the first time. This year it was at Bowling Green University in OH. It was a mixed experience.

The best parts were: the plenaries (pre-talk singing, George Lakey, Phil Gulley, mini-concerts); the week-long workshop (mornings 9-11:45; we attended the workshop on non-violent communication); and the people we met.

The worst parts were: the distance between buildings (7/10th mile from the dorm to the main building; 2 miles to the parking lot where our car was); the heat & un-airconditioned dorm; Amy's & my own injuries. I have a stress fracture in one foot, which is painful but not horrible; still, it swells after a day of walking around. On Monday of the Gathering, we were riding on a golf cart from our dorm to the dining hall for dinner; we were on the backwards-facing seat. My hat wasn't secured with the chin-strap & flew off my head. While I was contemplating options, Amy stood & stepped off the cart, went down onto the concrete sidewalk on one knee & bounced off it onto her back, hitting the back of her head (i.e., her superhero cape didn't work!). Results: a strained ankle, twisted & abraded knee, & mild concussion, which we didn't realize at the time. She insisted that she was okay enough to go on to dinner & the plenary, not to a doctor, & I wasn't insistent enough until Thursday that she see a doctor. We did get her knee cleaned up, & an energy-worker sought us out before the plenary. I felt guilty about my hat (& kept the strap on after that!), embarrassed about needing to ask for help, miserable with the heat, & grouchy about the noise & chaos of the dining halls. On Thursday afternoon, the doc wrapped her ankle & told Amy to stay off her feet & keep the ankle elevated & iced. We came home a day early, after our workshop concluded & we ate lunch on Friday.

I was grateful for the healing center, the volunteer doctor, the organizer who got us into an air-conditioned dorm (even if it was only for 1 night), the volunteer golf cart drivers (yes, we kept riding!), & those who helped me move from one dorm to another.

Our "lend a hand" volunteer gig was a couple of hours in the healing center (massage & energy workers had 10-12 tables set up in the room; compassionate listeners could use the loft). We "held the space in the Light" (aka prayed & meditated & concentrated on the energy flow of the space). I experienced really deep worship/meditation, & afterward experienced a couple of hours of serious grouchiness. Does this happen to others? Why?

The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day

2010-06-16T14:45:00.002-04:00

The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day is by Sigve K. Tonstad, published by Andrews University Press in berrien Springs, MI, 2009.

The idea which touched me the most was that the sabbath is a "relational marker" (32) between God and the creation/humankind. It is God enjoying intimacy, feeling the world, recognizing, loving, and being affected by the created (34-5).God is expressing commitment to being with us as a priority, as a beginning. "The Sabbath brings a message of togetherness instead of separation...God's presence...wholeness instead of disintegration, other-centeredness instead of arbitrariness...." (514)

Also appealing is the idea that the sabbath interrupts clock time and returns us to observing the natural light (382), resetting our priorities from productivity and consumption to reconnecting to God, community, and the earth (384-5). "The need for belonging, the necessity of rest, and the encounter with something larger than oneself all find expression in the blessing of the seventh day" (505). It is "a missing zone of quietude and community, a time protected from commerce and commotion...." (502-3).

Finally, "entertain the possibility that God was singing at Creation" (515), especially as God "blessed the seventh day and hallowed it."

WILU 2010 Conference: Lightning Strikes/Birds of a Feather

2010-05-20T14:08:00.007-04:00

"Lightning Strikes" were 7-minute presentations to the whole group. I liked the format.

"Building educational video games for non-programmers," Sarah Forbes, U-T Scarborough.
They used gamesalad.com (mac-based). The gamesalad creations can also become apps for the iPhone/iPad. Game Maker (Yo Yo Games) is the equivalent pc-based software.

"Legal Research Literacy--blended learning & learning community strategies," Julie Lavigne, Univ of Ottawa Law Library.
Use 2 models:
Learning community--in an upper-level course on legal research & writing-- team-taught by librarian, professor, and local practitioner (lawyer).
Blended learning--web self-instruction modules in Blackboard.

"Digital classroom for information literacy, " Janet Goosney, Memorial Univ.
Cutaway computer tables (I have asked her for an image to give to our new building committee).

"Birds of a Feather" were self-selected table topics.

Student-designed curricula discussion--could the students in CAP 115 create LibGuides themselves, one per section of the course? (No, unfortunately.)
At Dartmouth, a Library Resources box similar to that which Laura created for Blackboard is automatically added to all of Dartmouth's BB course sections. Could ours be?

One library has a student advisory committee to the library which reviews the website, etc., and they receive letters of recommendation from the library dean (or designate/s). To get student participation on the committee, they put a note on the library's website, advertise through Student Services, etc., and provide food at meetings.

WILU 2010 Conference: What I really learned

2010-05-20T14:03:00.008-04:00

18-20-year-olds don't have long-term planning skills.

To Do: match the ILCCs to my library instruction sessions from Fall 2009-Winter 2010 & make a chart by department & course of where ILCCs are being met.
School | Department | Course # | ILCC
___________________________
SoC | Photography | CPH 279 | ILCC....

Also, add the ILCCs to my libguides.

Take a look at the LibGuides stats for my pages--which links get used the most? Re-order items according to this info.

Ask students for feedback on the LibGuide itself during the library instruction session, using the Comment link.

Since deep learning means that learners use their new knowledge and skills in a new context to solve a problem (extrapolation/transfer of knowledge to a new situation), then assessment has to employ problem-solving (as in the CLA), not be a typical standardized test such as SAILS or the JMU test.

In CAP 115, how can I apply deep learning and activity theory? After students have annotated their topic & research tool handouts (or groups' blog/wiki entries on search engines/websites), have them trade handouts (or blog/wiki entries), use the tool the student noted on the handout/blog/wiki entry, and see if it provides something useful to the person reading the handout/blog/wiki entry.

In Writing 150, have students trade essays/papers to see how the quotations or referenced items actually contribute to the point of the paragraph and overall thesis? Is it clear how it changes or adds to the student's thought?

McMaster University has a training program for COTs on the single-service-point desk. I passed the info along.

One library used their graduate library-school intern to organize the internal staff wiki. The intern made a 3x5 card to represent each page, and another card for the various headers, and asked the librarians individually for feedback about which pages went under which heading, and took notes as the librarians talked and/or moved the cards around.

WILU 2010 Conference: Sessions

2010-05-20T13:34:00.004-04:00

2B: "Good, better, best! - in peer learning." Karen Hering, Grant McEwan University.

"Polishing Diamonds" is a tool for fostering professional development in teaching excellence. It is a non-evaluative self-assessment through reciprocal peer observation. They ran a parallel program for librarian teachers under the FTLC (equivalent).
Time commitment=1.5 hours/week for 7 weeks.
Ground rules:

4 people/group ("diamond")
only 1 observer/instruction session
make only positive observations, not judgments--reflect on things you saw which you could use to improve your own teaching (don't comment on the librarian's teaching!).

Buy-in came from the library director encouraging the librarians to participate. Run program every 2 1/2 years with different groups each time. Meet at beginning of semester with all participants to go over ground rules. Each diamond meets after everyone has observed a session to share reflections. All participants met at end of semester to wrap up.

3A: "From active learning to activity: Getting beyond busy work and into deep learning." Wendy Holliday, Utah State University

Students were engaging shallowly with information in writing classes & perceived their assignments as busy work. Activity theory--deep learning requires a contradiction or bind in which your current tools don't work. Learning is a social/joint activity.

4B: "Sources as social acts: Using Genre Theory to transform information literacy instruction." Joel Burkholder, York College of Pennsylvania.

Use social purposes to define & classify:

language used by a community to accomplish tasks
guidelines for participating in community.

Evaluation should expose context. Is it useful? Not? Helpful? What's appropriate & when?

5A: "From pre-defined topics to research questions: An inquiry-based approach to knowledge." Michelle Allen & Benjamin Oberdick, Michigan State University

"Cephalonian" method. Inquiry-guided learning. First-year writing students "read" & regurgitate without processing material in any fundamental way when doing traditional research papers.

Inquiry-guided learning:

questions, problems, issues
investigate, create new knowledge (this is the model Wendy Nelson used)
show a 1-2 minute YouTube video to spark curiosity or show a picture (e.g., Climatechallenge.gov.uk)
have students write a question during the video & volunteer them ("those are all great questions")
get to the researchable questions; pick one
tell students to use this process to analyze & develop their own research questions
give a few minutes to search however they want to
each group sends 1 person to demonstrate on the instructor pc/display
ask: what can we learn from this (article, etc.)--access, evaluation--then guide them to parallel library resources

WILU 2010 Conference: Keynote address

2010-05-20T13:00:00.004-04:00

Keynote speaker: James Paul Gee.
Libraries should be the interactive space for 21st-century learning. Games like Yu-Gi-Oh, Sims, & World of Warcraft optimize:

play
analysis of theory & practice
fun
learning ultra-technical language (despite gamers' reading level academically)
problem-solving
technical skills development
interaction between people of varying ages--the best learning communities are not age-related or age-limited
interest-driven learning--when learners design their own curriculum (as they do games)
role trading (leadership is distributed; eroded distinction between amateurs & professionals/experts
distributed knowledge --the community is the expert, not individuals
personal responsibility for the learning
clear, concise, instant, & community-based feedback
high tolerance for frustration and for community feedback & mentoring
play/learning in either virtual or physical space.

This type of learning can't happen in schools because of societal inertia & because schools are organized to create a bell-curve (i.e., some learners succeed & some fail). Schools emphasize individual, not communal learning. But libraries can facilitate 21st-century learning: libraries were behind the surge in 19th-century literacy; libraries include many learning tools; librarians are designers, team leaders, organizers of play & cooperation; they provide resources.

From gaming we know that reading levels are directly correlated to interest & knowledge. Learners can be organized by their passion for something, not age or race, etc. Everyone has a passion for something & a deep skill in it. This is a different model from the curricular model of everyone knowing the same thing.

library instruction for upper-level students

2010-03-31T11:09:00.003-04:00

I worked with an upper-level Spanish class last week and since I thought that many of them had had some library instruction previously, I asked. Only 1 student had, so then I asked how many had used the Library Guides for doing research. A couple had. I asked the student who was closest to the front of the classroom if he would like to "drive" the computer and show us his research methods. He seemed shy but delighted, and did a wonderful job. I chimed in, and he also reminded me of some important elements. We used both his and other students' topics. I had more fun and the students seemed to pay attention.

Two weeks ago, I worked with the Photography senior thesis class. All of them had had library instruction previously, most with me. So I handed out a quiz which asked them to complete various tasks (based on the Photography Library Guide). I was amazed that none of them were able to complete all of the tasks "correctly" and all but 2 did not do well--I looked over each completed quiz as they finished. Then we went over the questions and answers (asking for their responses) and I reminded them of the research methods. I didn't feel very successful, but earlier this week, one of the students brought me a thank-you card signed by all of the class members, and said how helpful it had been. Hmmm. Food for thought--using a task-based assignment as a quiz to focus attention on the previous learning and present research needs.

Is it acting or does praxis become self?

2010-03-30T09:07:00.002-04:00

Su Penn wrote in Tape Flags and First Thoughts, "I thought, ... God might transform me from a whining, self-pitying, over-sensitive complainer into someone with something meaningful to offer, an agent of grace." I empathize, and recognizing my wishful thinking, attempt to figure out where I'm at.

Peace:
At one time I felt called to ministry and eldership. I felt connected spiritually, and blessed with the kind of wisdom that comes from being distanced from issues and not knowing people well. More typical now is a sense of struggling to establish connections, aggravation with everyone’s shortcomings (including my own—my neighbor as myself), and general gloominess. Often I have trouble settling in worship. I remember, “Be still and know that I am God.” I let myself drift. I think. I look out the window. I tried an anti-depressant but don’t like side-effects; it’s summer—I feel better when outside, I work with a therapist, and read.

Integrity:
Do the work. Impatient with what I term “Quaker chaos,” I took on the coordination of scheduling and training greeters and helping as needed. I try to post queries, announcements, and schedules on the blog and website calendar in a timely fashion. I ask for advice then try to tactfully address issues with individuals and in meeting for business. I wonder if I should offer to be the back-up to the recording clerk. I try to process my frustration with the chaos afterward and breathe through it during. Sometimes reading a bit of Friends Journal helps me center down and recall what this is all about. I try to recognize and talk about my feelings with my wife before they become a Big Thing.

Equality:
I decided to try to learn a new kind of ministry: outreach—being welcoming (coming out of a shy and reserved self) and learning how to be strong and steady (while feeling quixotic and pessimistic). I like getting cards so am learning to write cards to those who have been bereaved, who are ill or suffering, or who are new to meeting. I don’t know if practice will help words come more easily or not, but the “Dear Abby” column is useful(!) in addition to my wife’s experience and wisdom.

Simplicity:
Petting the cat. Playing with the cat. Being part of two CSAs. Exercising.

Is it acting, or does praxis become self?
“I am who I am becoming.”

March 2010 Friends Journal

2010-03-24T08:47:00.002-04:00

"Clashing with the “B” Word: Homophobia in Liberal Quakerism" by Alvin J. Figueroa was heartrending for my wife and I, as we experienced only love and support from our Meeting when we asked to be married under their care. I was especially astounded and appalled by Alvin's experience of liberal Friends using the Bible to oppress. How contradictory, ironic, and two-faced that seems to me. However, I have chosen to study the passages often quoted, in context of their surrounding text and the culture/time of their writing. I went to lectures, read essays, and made the effort to address the passages myself. How many of the liberal Friends in Alvin's current and former meetings have done so--especially those who used the passages in a hateful way instead of in love? How do their actions demonstrate "meeting that of God in everyone?"

Depression as a peculiarly Quaker spiritual discipline?

2010-02-10T13:47:00.002-05:00

In The transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907 by Thomas D. Hamm, I read that Friends thought of depression as a very necessary part of Quakerism and that these dark times were welcomed.

I decided that a lifetime of depression was enough, especially if an expression of a genetic tendency; I've joined those who believe in better living through chemicals. I miss the creative urge and general contentedness that I have felt in the past. I'm tired of complaining all of the time. (oops, that looks like a complaint in and of itself.) I want to feel energetic.

Also despite the Friendly emphasis on not fighting back, I am taking a 15-week class on "Self-defense for women." I don't believe that I should allow someone to harm me, if I can create enough time or opportunity to get away.

SDA memoir

2009-12-31T07:52:00.002-05:00

No movement on the memoir about my time with the Seventh-day Adventists--I have one more publisher to whom I'll send a proposal in January, then I'm out of ideas. On the other hand, I've been energized by my conversations with Andy Hanson & the guest posts he has facilitated in different Adventist blogs about my experiences. I'm glad to be part of the SDA conversation on the future directions of their church, especially regarding how they deal with gays and lesbians. It's interesting reading more about Quaker history, too, especially on the splits between the "liberal" Friends and the more evangelical branches. I had wondered why, with similar prophets, the Adventists and Quakers were now so different. It is because Quakers have themselves gone in different directions--in the 1800s during the revivalist period when Adventism was also founded. The Friends' pastoral branches are much more like the Adventists, and were influenced by some of the same theological movements (Wesleyan, Finney, etc.).

Guest post #2

2009-12-11T09:10:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Andy Hanson for posting an essay I wrote called, "God-given Nature" in his blog Adventist Perspective on Thursday, December 10, 2009. It is set in the midst of his passionate discussion of Andrews University's Conference on the Adventist Response to Gay Marriage. I am grateful to see my voice added to the Adventist discussion.

Also, I've been really excited by the forthcoming book on Ellen White (Ellen White Project) and the follow-up talks (Ellen White in a New Key - LLU, part 1 and part 2). I'm sorry I missed the conference in October!

re: Convergent Friends

2009-12-01T09:10:00.002-05:00

On 11/16/09, Robin M posted The Convergent Conversation Continues and on 11/23, Liz Opp wrote about "how the Convergent conversation addresses certain topics." In the comments on the latter there was discussion about digging into the Quaker tradition & whether or not that is helpful. I've found that among our liberal meeting, most are "converts," i.e., we come from other denominations or spiritual practices or from no practice at all. So, learning about Quaker tradition has helped me, & seemingly others, to be more open to the Spirit and its leadings. Sometimes simply learning the language (Quaker and/or Christian) helps us talk openly with each other.

Guest Post

2009-11-16T09:31:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Andy Hanson (Adventist Perspective), an abridged version of my article in Friends Journal (Sept 2009) appeared as a guest post on the Reinventing the Adventist Wheel blog. I had been wondering if I should continue trying to get my book published and have also been thinking about a more scholarly article about Friends and Adventists. As I feel my intellectual and creative energy returning, Andy's message is such a timely blessing!

"New" music

2009-11-05T09:15:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I attended a concert by GVSU's New Music Ensemble. They performed "In C" by Terry Riley, a "minimalist masterpiece" completed in 1964. Their new CD, "In C Remixed," got a great review in the Newsweek (October 12, 2009). The composition was printed on the back of the program--it is 53 measures long & each musician must start at the beginning and go forward in order, but is free to decide when to begin playing, how many times to repeat the measure, what octave to play it in, what variations to play, etc. What could be chaotic is instead richly layered, both rhythmically & harmonically, sometimes sounding like John Adams, sometimes like whale songs, sometimes just like itself. It was beautiful.

When I returned to the office, I realized that we didn't own the cd, & am ordering it for the Library. Thus what was originally just an ordinary liaisoning event became a collection development opportunity.

Commanding compassion

2009-11-05T08:57:00.003-05:00

I've had my gallbladder out & am making a good recovery. Just after my surgery, my wife was told by someone that my wife should go to that person's house to help her with her chores, to take my wife's mind off her own troubles. I found that particularly insensitive, as my wife was doing her best to run our household, take care of me, and keep her head above the water with her own inner turmoil. Did that person offer to bring us a meal or otherwise help us out? No.

A week later, this same person announced that she thought that certain folks should be making more effort to attend their committee meetings. She also denounced dual memberships in the sense of going to other meetings or churches -- which takes people away from our meeting -- and why can't that be done on Saturdays? (BTW, this is a person who is consistently late for M/meetings, who demands that others help her yet doesn't seem to make much effort to help others.)

I am angry, wanting to elder this person. Who is she to question our Meeting's discernment about memberships? I find strength comes from these connections, not diminishment. Why does she feel free to demand so much time & energy? Why doesn't she ever step up to the plate to organize the events she would like to see us doing?

I need help finding relief from my anger, and help finding compassion. I realize that I probably react so strongly because I would rather complain than act, & I see how this behavior is defeating both to myself & others. I have a hard time loving myself, let alone loving others as myself.

Playing It Straight by Milt Ford

2009-10-02T16:10:00.002-04:00

Playing It Straight: Gay Men and Heterosexual Marriage by Milt Ford, has just been released. Milt interviewed many gay & bisexual men and conveys their experiences in the context of orientation & identity, childhood & adolescence, marriage & children, coming out, & religion.

Congratulations, Milt!

Teaching web searching & evaluation

2009-09-28T13:56:00.002-04:00

I revised the way I teach this session for the Advertising & PR class.
The students' question/problem=any topic related to (advertising or PR) and GVSU.
Which search engines will give the best results? Are any better than Google or Google Scholar? Set up a blog (in BlackBoard) for students to fill in answers to the questions on worksheet below.
1. Evaluate each website according to Virginia Tech's criteria[http://www.lib.vt.edu/instruct/evaluate/(open each link in a new tab; work with others sitting at your table; write thoughts under each site below)
a. SolarBotanic :[http://www.solarbotanic.com/ - artificial trees]

b. Honeywell Wind Turbine http://www.earthtronics.com/honeywell.aspx – GVSU Engineering students developed this]
2. Use a search engine [http://libguides.gvsu.edu/content.php?pid=65643&sid=484921#1493450] other than Google to search for wind turbines and colleges or universities.
Compare results with your neighbors.
a. Name of search engine used:
b. Note helpful/useful features of the search engine & quality of results:

Summon

2009-09-23T12:40:00.002-04:00

The GVSU Libraries have implemented a single box which searches all of the periodicals to which we subscribe and our catalog. I teach several sections of Advertising & PR about database searching. Since Summon is new, I am soliciting their feedback about what features they found helpful in it or the databases (the latter have the advanced search screen as the default), & which they preferred. First, they search Summon with only 1 keyword from each of their ideas, all strung together without Boolean ANDS or ORs. Next, they use the various databases with synonyms & full Boolean. After they have completed their assignment, they will also turn in their worksheet with feedback.

Should we offer a single search box as the database default screen? Should we offer Summon with the advanced screen? Where were the most useful results found?

Foreword

2009-09-18T14:25:00.003-04:00

I went for a brief walk in the woods this afternoon, trying to find some calm by listening inwardly as well as to the forest sounds. I've been wondering what to do about the foreword for the book. When I was on my way back to the office, I met up with a friend who asked me, "What do you want readers to do?" (I.e., take away with them)

Connect to their own spirituality. Be open to people of other churches & faiths. Listen for, discern, & act on God's will.

"You know, I didn't know anything about Quakers before I went to your wedding." My friend's next question was, "Who represents that for you?" Instead of thinking of the marketing value of the foreword, who knows me & would write something that represents my journey? Think more simply, my friend said.

Oh yeah. Quaker simplicity.

L'Histoire du Soldat

2009-09-16T13:08:00.002-04:00

I enjoyed the performance of Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale" on Monday night. It was an interesting way to combine the historical piece with contemporary technology--it was performed by a small group of GVSU faculty musicians and dancers, with a student dance ensemble and a guest narrator. Also, various scenes were projected on a large screen at the back of the stage. A little difficult for me to follow all of it (sensory overload) but I'm sure the whole appealed to the students. The program notes put the performance into context--this piece reflected the lack of resources in post-Great War of 1918--being written for a small group and being staged quite simply. And it ties Faust's story of "the man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for riches, power, youth, wisdom," etc. & the Biblical questions of riches vs. soul by using jazz, tango, & a street band. Stravinsky was an early minimalist in some ways.

Music Resource Room

2009-09-11T13:45:00.002-04:00

Today I spent some time with the Orchestra Conductor and 5 student assistants discussing how to list the books, scores (sheet music), & cds held in the Music Resource Room, 1211 PAC, in an excel file. We talked about working from the title page & verso instead of the cover, & included fields for author (compiler/composer/editor), title (skip "a", "an" or "the" as the 1st word), publisher, date (most recent copyright), format/s (book, music, cd), instrumentation (e.g., piano, orchestra, band), copy #, notes (e.g., v.1). For borrowing/circulation, we entered fields for ID #, name, & date due. Items will be filed by author's last name then title, within categories (still to be defined).

This room is different from the room for band music--seemingly aimed at music education more than large ensembles.

LGBT Resource Center Advisory Committee / Palooza

2009-09-11T10:41:00.005-04:00

Yesterday the LGBT Resource Center's Advisory Committee met. The center has become one of the most successful in Michigan & perhaps the nation. They received the prestigious Arcus grant last year, have arranged amazing programming, have a good start on their library collection, have staffing which includes: a faculty Director, an administrative professional Assistant Director, a clerical Office Coordinator, a graduate assistant, and undergraduate student workers. They coordinate with Allies & Advocates, Out & About student organization, a graduate student organization, the LGBT Faculty & Staff Association, other GVSU offices/centers/services, & many area community organizations. They provide many useful links, a speaker's bureau for classes, the Lavender Graduation ceremony, film screenings, & a mentorship program for new students.

As a librarian, I have developed policies, advise them on their collection, & keep a wish list for donations. As a senior faculty member, I provide input for various issues and help with strategic planning.

Also, back at Zumberge Library later in the afternoon, I took my turn with helping at the Library Palooza. It's a marketing event that also includes some useful learning objects.

Scholar Works

2009-09-10T10:27:00.003-04:00

Yesterday our Collection Development Librarian & I met with the Photography department to discuss putting their senior students' theses in our institutional repository, Scholar Works. While there are some questions to be answered (how to maintain the best control of intellectual property/copyright of the photos--so they can't be stolen--while still providing good quality, and wording for the release form), I think it will be a go. It'll provide a more permanent repository place (url) for the work & be more searchable from both the web & our catalog. Photography will be able to link to the collection without having to provide the server space or risk losing the files when the university's web pages change.

Quaker defamation lawsuit

2009-09-04T13:52:00.004-04:00

I am dismayed by a Friend who has chosen to pursue (indeed, re-open) a defamation lawsuit, "seeking justice," which sounds very close to seeking retribution. Yes, Friend Scott Savage was unjustly attacked while suggesting books for the first-year reading list at Ohio - Mansfield. The books he suggested certainly would have provided fodder for discussion & opened up learning opportunities, even if he did suggest them "tongue-in-cheek." Yet it has been reported that no one spoke up about academic freedom (a.k.a. the right to free speech) or in opposition to censorship. All lamentable--all of which OSU faculty & staff need to address. Those who wrote the hate-filled emails should apologize publicly & in written form. Yet Savage chose to take a leave of absence and to resign.

As Friends, we are urged to abstain from lawsuits, and to try to settle disputes by arbitration. We strive to live simply, & to reflect on the ways in which we gain our income. Why would a Plain Friend seek $150,000? I pray that Friend Scott will strive to make his yea be yea and his nay be nay, providing an example for his former colleagues who were not able to do so. Many lawsuits are a type of interpersonal violence. Whereas Friends try to overcome the emotions that lie at the root of violence and instead nurture a spirit of reconciliation and love.

Ohio Yearly Meeting's 2nd Query includes: "Do we cherish a forgiving spirit, and strive to 'walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us'? Is each one of us careful for the reputation of others? Are we ever mindful to love our neighbor as ourselves?" [http://www.ohioyearlymeeting.org/discipline.htm#General%20queries]

Reach out to the other parties in the conflict with courage and love, Friend. Seek an apology, not monetary compensation. Seek reconciliation, answer that of God in thy former colleagues.

"Faulty Ching" conference

2009-08-26T14:39:00.003-04:00

That is, what I learned at the Fall Teaching (& Learning) Conference:

Use formative assessment to inform my understanding of student learning. (check)
Use journaling to record successful/effective teaching and things upon which to improve. (check)
Ask students, "How will this impact your future practice?" (or "What will you do differently now?"). (check)
Use collaborative journaling with colleagues, especially across institutions, to find common themes upon which to build the basis for presentations and/or articles.
There are 9 intellectual standards for critical thinking (we should get the Set of Twenty One Thinker's Guides): clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, fairness.
Techniques for achieving critical thinking:

dialogic questioning (use students' answers to foster discussion)
Socratic questioning (requires your questions to be specific & detailed, students' answers to be interpretive or making new inferences, & your follow-up to summarize & talk about what has not been resolved)
make the application of knowledge in new & different contexts transparent
have the class debate the pros/cons & then switch perspectives with a follow-up discussion on the evidence for which side was more persuasive
give examples that challenge assumptions
have students explain the essence of the readings by using metaphors
have students back up their answers with page numbers or a website or quote from the readings
have students assume the characteristics of something non-human (like a virus and bacteria in the health sciences or gravity in physics)
have students explain concepts to different audiences/levels.

the book; liaising

2009-08-24T13:47:00.003-04:00

On the book: I talked to the reporter last week & she provided me with some helpful insights about interviews. I also made my 1st choice in authors to ask to write a foreword and sent a note out. After I hear back, either I'll need to approach others, or can start soliciting blurbs. One retired prof graciously offered to edit the introduction & conclusion (free of charge!) & I'm grateful for that. I have another person in mind to ask to review the entire manuscript, based on another colleague's recommendation. Plus, one of the profs to whom I had sent the mss is very excited about it & wants to chat. It's all very exhilarating.

On liaising: today I attended the start-up meeting for the School of Communications--did my 2-minute spiel, handed out cards, answered a myriad of questions, met new faculty, & lunched with photography colleagues. They're entirely willing to work with us on putting student capstone "theses" into our repository. In fact they have been wondering how to get these already-digitized photos & essays online, so timing is everything.

preparing for interview questions

2009-08-11T12:17:00.004-04:00

I am preparing to market the book (this should be done well before it is published) but I felt so much anxiety about the question, "How did the book evolve?" that I just sat with the anxiety for awhile. I realized that I hate answering questions about myself. The good thing about being a librarian is that questions are rarely personal. As an academic librarian, I haven't done book talks or even reviews, so this is a new area. So a change in perspective: take a step back to look at the book as a librarian, academic or public, might. Oh, time to ask a librarian to read the mss and write a review! I have the names and contact info for reviewers in the spiritual memoir genre but I'm not at the point of asking for formal reviews. Volunteers or suggestions?

Back to the topic at hand. Can I talk about myself as if I were talking about an author (not me) yet not in the 3rd person? What are the things which might interest readers and which I'm willing to divulge? Oh, I know a reporter. It's not her area exactly, but maybe she'd be willing to help me out, since again I'm not at the point of asking for a newspaper article to be written. And who knows, maybe she would write an article when it is time. Are there other hints/helpful advice?

library instruction assessment options

2009-08-07T14:22:00.003-04:00

Pre-instruction: ask students a week before the session what questions they have about library research (in BlackBoard or by way of the faculty member). Use this in the conversation with the faculty member about the learning objectives and to structure the activities.

Post-instruction: ask students & faculty, "Should this session be taught for this course in future semesters?" and "In which other courses should a library research session be taught?"

(This would be to supplement the minute questions of, "What was the most important thing you learned in the library session?" or "What will you do differently in your research process now?" and "What questions do you still have about finding information to support your paper?")

Gall

2009-07-27T12:49:00.002-04:00

Yes, I have a few gallstones, but after the blood tests & ultrasound, the Dr. had the gall to tell me that no treatment will be pursued & I can go back to eating what I want. Huh--I don't know what to think. Well, I've lost a couple of pounds eating low-fat, which I think is a good thing--since I don't fit into most of my work pants since sabbatical. Hold the fries, please.

UP travels

2009-07-21T12:23:00.002-04:00

We went to Tahquamenon Falls which were roaring tannin-brown & I spotted a Blackburnian warbler & a yellow-rumped warbler. I went back the next morning because it was so beautiful--giant ferns in the woods, 8-foot-tall thistles, multiple falls, etc. At Seney National Wildlife Refuge, spotted Sandhill cranes, a yellow warbler, ospreys (flying & nesting), loons with chicks on their backs, trumpeter swans & cygnets, a kingfisher, cedar waxwings, an Eastern kingbird, & a Northern Flicker. We also heard a Hermit Thrush singing away, saw a beaver swimming, & spotted a ruffed grouse sitting just outside the preserve. Gorgeous. I also enjoyed driving through the Keweenaw Peninsula, including Agate beaches, Brockway Drive, the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, & Canyon Falls (wow, flat rocks in MI, & maple-syrup-colored spume). Visited Ed Gray at his studio in Calumet & some other art galleries. Enjoyed the views & architecture in Marquette.

It was neat to see lots of bedrock, stamp sands from the copper mining, white birch & cedars in abundance, thimbleberries, fireweed, harebells, & wild parsnip amongst other wildflowers blooming. Oh, & to eat baked goodies from the monks at the Jampot!

Now I'm home, with the recurring gut pain waiting to be diagnosed officially as gallstones. What next?!

NOT clerking the GRFM

2009-07-07T15:52:00.002-04:00

Sunday, Joy & I decided jointly that we were not able to take up the responsibility of co-clerking the GRFM at this time. Speaking on my own behalf, I have just returned to work after a 6-month sabbatical & am finding my energy in short supply. I don't have the emotional energy to do justice to our Meeting. Before Sunday, I woke up dreading the idea of clerking, dreaded attending meeting for worship, dreaded the idea of extra phone calls, snail mail, & emails. I don't think dread indicates a leading. I wasn't nominated but was on the Nominating Committee & said I would clerk when I saw that no one else was stepping up as I talked with people about their committees. I think I have some skills which would be helpful to the Meeting but...just not at the present moment. Not now.

Co-clerking the GRFM

2009-06-13T10:53:00.002-04:00

Along with Joy, I'll be co-clerking the Grand Rapids Friends Meeting for the year starting July 1. Here are the questions I believe we need to start with as a Meeting.

• Who are we as a meeting? (& my own addition/take on this:) What spiritual belief [if any] do we hold in common?

• What does it mean to be a member of this meeting? What is the responsibility of the meeting to its members? What does an individual or family have a right to expect of their meeting? What is the responsibility of the member to the meeting? When there is disappointment of expectation on either side, what is a creative way to deal with this?

• Are we satisfied with how we are there for each other in times of need? Does each of us feel comfortable in sharing his or her need for help and support with the meeting community? If not, why not? How can we as a community grow toward greater trust in dropping our masks and in sharing our vulnerabilities?

Sabbatical

2009-05-05T09:28:00.000-04:00

Finished another 2nd tier proposal; fixed errors in manuscript pointed out by a new reader.

Sabbatical

2009-04-24T16:34:00.002-04:00

Finished and emailed another proposal. Received an almost immediate reply: declined. Also received another rejection letter. Well, that's 3 down, 1 no-reply after 8 weeks, with 3 left in the top tier of chosen publishers. Then I'll send out 2nd tier proposals.

Sabbatical

2009-04-15T10:21:00.002-04:00

Ran spell and grammar check. Found several errors & fixed them!

Received a personal note back from one editor declining the project as “the imprint is moving away from spiritual memoirs or reflections.”

Finished reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published (4th ed) by Sheree Bykofsky and Jennifer Basye Sander. NY: Alpha Books (Penguin Group), 2006. Studied the contract info and added items to the Marketing Plan.

Worked a lot on the marketing plan: wrote to a couple of well-known Quaker bloggers, asking them if they would read the manuscript with an eye toward providing endorsements. Both agreed. Also wrote to several libraries asking about whom to contact for future author talks. Added contacts for newspaper reviewers and columnists, and listed some radio stations (to give interviews).

Found another publisher for the 1st tier. Will do the proposal.

Finished reading Author Law A to Z: A Desktop Guide to Writers' Rights and Responsibilities by Sallie Randolph, Stacy Davis, Anthony Elia, and Karen Dustman; ordered it along with The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published and The Fine Print of Self Publishing: The Contracts & Services of 45 Self-Publishing Companies Analyzed Ranked & Exposed by Mark Levine. All have excellent advice & there is too much to photocopy. The self-publishing book says to avoid Xlibris!

Publishing in the Ministry

2009-04-10T10:12:00.009-04:00

In response to a post titled "Travelling in the Electronic Ministry" by Richard M in his blog A Place to Stand:
I realized that I had done things kind of backwards by sending proposals for a manuscript to publishers before I asked for the blessing/encouragement (or something) of my Meeting. Since the book is about having been a Quaker studying and worshiping with Seventh-day Adventists for a couple of years, & during that period I was recorded as a "Minister of Ecumenism" by the Meeting, & while I did a program for the Meeting about our 2 denominations, I hadn't released the manuscript to them...I gave it to Ministry & Nurture a couple of days ago, asking for guidance! I'm grateful for Richard's thought-provoking post.

RichardM replied that he was glad it was helpful to me, & that North Carolina Conservative (Meeting) has preserved more of the old traditions of Friends than most other meetings. Quaker Quaker lets us remind each other of our traditions.

Sabbatical: publishing process 1

2009-04-09T12:41:00.003-04:00

Things I did long before I began to seek publishers: checked with the Human Research Review Committee to see if my project fell under their domain (it didn’t). Had various people read & comment on the drafts, so that I had material to edit, & eventually, a solid manuscript in hand. Since I felt “called by God” to document my journey as I lived it & then to get it “out there” for others to read, I had a draft in hand before I began to seek publishers. Most writers get a publisher interested before completing their project!

The process I used for choosing publishers:

First, I thought about my potential audience: probably Christians first & foremost; those interested in ecumenism; laypeople or maybe clergy but probably not scholars—so not an academic press. (Later I revised my audiences to include students & scholars, but still chose not to try academic presses.) This project is a combination of a layperson's spiritual memoir with an inclusion of the academic and religious literature as it applied to what I was learning.

Then I looked at one of the Writer’s Marketplace books & realized that there was one called Christian Writers' Market Guide. I borrowed the most recent edition from the public library & read it.

I read the advice & the publisher descriptions. Things I took note of: did they take unsolicited manscripts from individuals or did they only take submissions from agents? Did they take first-time authors? What were their specific areas of interest & genres? (My book fit into the “spiritual memoir” category, a.k.a. biography/autobiography.) Did they have a really narrow or specific focus (e.g., in my case, were they strictly denominational; did they do only “inspirational” items; were they evangelical; anti-gay)?

How many titles did they publish per year vs. how many submissions did they receive? How many copies did they typically print, & did they reprint? Or were they an e-book publisher? How long did the publication process take? Did they allow simultaneous submissions, & what was their response time? Did they do “subsidy” (vanity) publishing? Were they a “self-publishing” house? What length of book were they seeking? Who was their parent company? (Don’t submit to different imprints of the same publisher!)

I looked in WorldCat to see how many titles came up for the publishers I chose, how many libraries owned the titles, & what types of libraries bought the titles. I made sure that the publisher was really still in business by finding their website.

On the publisher’s websites, I took a look at their catalog titles to see if any were similar to my project. (I took note of these for the “competition” section of the proposal & for searching WorldCat.) Did the website have a section for submission suggestions? Did they want a query 1st, or a full proposal, or the manuscript? Did they accept an email, fax, or require items to be mailed? Who was the correct (acquisitions) editor? If I couldn’t find the name that went with the title, I called the publisher.

Initially, I chose 5 publishers for my 1st tier, then added one to make 6. My 2nd & 3rd choices varied as I got into the process--& I moved them around between the tiers. Currently there are 8 in my 2nd tier, arranged in order of preference, & 5 in the 3rd tier. In addition to using the Market Guide, as I came across interesting books in the libraries or in reviews, I looked up the publisher. I kept track of self-publishers, subsidy houses, & all others not appropriate—with the reason/s (e.g., only accepts manuscripts from agents, has gone out of business, does not accept unsolicited submissions, no autobiography or memoirs, too off-topic or narrow).

The next step, which I did out of order, is to read books about writing proposals! I sent my 1st proposal off before I did this, & I regret it. The other proposals are better since I read the books and revised the proposals accordingly!

As I developed the proposals, I had to write: a short and a longer description; Table of Contents with short descriptions; purpose, need, & contribution; description of the audiences; a list of potential reviewers/endorsers; marketing ideas (website, blogs, bookstores, speaking venues including conferences, churches, bookstores, radio & TV); my qualifications. As each publisher poses different questions & wants a slightly different format for the proposals, I learned a lot by doing several at once & by taking time to revise them as I learned, instead of sending each one out as soon as I thought it was done. Thinking about speaking venues gave me the idea to re-write the intro & conclusion of the book to create an article for a Quaker magazine, in response to a call for articles for a special topic issue. If it is accepted for publication, and if the book is accepted by a publisher, I’ll have to put a note on the verso: “Some of the material in this book has appeared, in different form, in the following publication….”

The books or sections about self-publishing are very helpful with the marketing portion. If all else fails & I don’t get a commercial publisher, I will go with a self-publishing option!

New Kitty

2009-04-02T11:53:00.003-04:00

We have a new addition to the household: "Dawn's Choice" (Choice) is an 8-year-old American Shorthair, silver shaded, retired-from-the-beauty-queen-circuit, female (spayed) cat. Photos at Picasa. (Or try the Picasa link at the upper left and click on the Family album.)

Sabbatical

2009-04-02T08:54:00.002-04:00

Read Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into Literature by Bill Roorbach with Kristen Keckler. Cincinnati,OH: Writer’s Digest Books, 2008 (fully-revised 2nd edition). In an appendix, it lists memoirs in the form of journals and diaries, so I looked these up in Amazon and the libraries to see their form and publisher (May Sarton’s journals use a similar format as Nouwen’s and the sabbatical journal of John Royston Coleman (Blue-collar journal: a college president's sabbatical), which I then used for my manuscript). None of the others were really appropriate to list as “competition” in proposals. None of the publishers appropriate for my manuscript.

Faith Adiele, in Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun, (NY: W.W. Norton & Company 2004), used the margins to comment on her diary entries and to put quotations relevant to the entries. Not really a format I aspire to, but interesting.

Also read The Autobiographer’s Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir by Jennifer Traig (ed.). NY: Holt Paperbacks, 2008. It listed a memoir about faith, Jesus Land, from Counterpoint LLC (http://www.counterpointpress.com/about.html). I can’t see if they accept unsolicited mss. Wrote an email to them to ask. The 2 relevant titles from them are:
• The Scent of God: A Memoir. BERYL SINGLETON BISSEL
• Jesus Land: A Memoir. JULIA SCHEERES
Received an answer from Counterpoint Press: they do not accept manuscripts from individuals, only from agents.

Revised all proposals, sample chapters, & the manuscript itself by removing double spaces & replacing with single spaces. Wrote 1st proposal in 2nd tier of publishers. Wrote 2nd proposal in 2nd tier of publishers--I'm not too hopeful about this one as it seems be be primarily focused on Baptist materials.

Because it has been 6 1/2 weeks since I sent the very 1st proposal out (the only one in my 1st tier that did not want simultaneous submissions) & they haven't responded (they say they respond in 4 weeks; a directory said 4-6 weeks), I sent out the other 5 proposals in my 1st tier (all allow simultaneous submissions).

Sabbatical

2009-03-26T08:39:00.003-04:00

Finished the journal article and wrote to the editor again, who said to send it along, so I did.

Read The Art of the Book Proposal: From Focused Idea to Finished Proposal by Eric Maisel. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2004. Then modified the proposals according to its suggestions. Read several other books like this one...they all say the same things.

I'm working on a website for the book; have received many good suggestions for making it better.

Worked again on the list of publishers, moving names between the 2nd & 3rd tiers, in preparation for writing the proposals for the 2nd tier.

Sabbatical

2009-03-19T08:37:00.002-04:00

A journal to which I subscribe sent me a call for articles for special issues earlier this year, so I proposed an article: "I spent 2 years studying and worshiping with the Seventh-day Adventists as a Quaker in their midst, and was recorded as a Minister of Ecumenism in the Grand Rapids Friends Meeting (MI) for this period. I documented the "particular challenges" and how I met them, as I "strove to keep my outward life in harmony with my faith" as a recorded member of the Friends. I propose an article on what I learned and how I grew through these encounters: how we might meet each other within Christianity and across denominations, crossing boundaries in order to learn about the other, but not violating the integrity of either practice."

This journal ask writers to send a query email before submitting an article. I finished writing the article but haven't heard back from the editor--it's been 10 days. How long do I wait for a response?

James Cowan

2009-03-12T17:28:00.006-04:00

The lecture called “Art as Spirit among the Australian Aborigines” by James Cowan was great!
First, I got to meet him before the talk.

Second, the talk was fun. He said a couple of things that really stuck in my mind: "the land is the mythic hero," and that this is essentially "spiritual ecology." Also that the Aboriginal painters weren't creating "art" but ritual, that they were telling the story of their Dreaming. He had many slides of the paintings.

Third, I was in the group that went to lunch with him after the talk.

Fourth and best of all, I drove him back to the place he is staying--so we got some time to chat privately. We talked about mysticism in spirituality/religion. I asked him how we live the connection to God/live the Dreaming and still live in the world, especially when we as a society are so cut off from the earth? We talked a bit about that (Quakers have a mystic religion and try to take the leadings we receive from the Spirit into the world--a continuous cycle; he is Greek Orthodox and finds this to be the most mystical of the Christian denominations). We have to live a more ascetic life, he said--live with restraint. (Simplicity to Quakers.) We also have to live out looking for the gem ("that of God" in Quaker language) in each person we meet. He is trying to convey this mysticism in his writing--especially in Desert Father. He sees some movement in American society moving in this direction (the "emergent church") yet also sees the backlash from those who are trying to hold onto the past tradition of needing to have answers for everything. He said that the "cave" of the desert fathers/abbas has to be in our mind, not a literal ascetic shelter. He suggested that I read Desert Father and email him with my thoughts (email supplied).

How cool is that?

Sabbatical

2009-03-12T09:45:00.002-04:00

This week I looked up yet another set of publishers & added 2 publishers to the list and weeded out several possibilities. Also created a draft marketing plan.

Finished my 6th proposal.

Read a book by Herman, Jeff. Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents: Who They Are! What They Want! How to Win Them Over! Waukesha, WI : Writer Books, 2009 ed. 19th ed. ISSN: 1548-1344.
Based on that, I then modified the proposal letters for 2 of the completed proposals according to Herman's guidelines, & finished modifying the other 3 proposals.

Today I'm off to a lecture called “Art as Spirit among the Australian Aborigines” by James Cowan (1942-). I know I've read at least one of his books, and he has had shows at GVSU--his collections of Aboriginal art are fantastic.

Sabbatical

2009-03-05T06:36:00.002-05:00

Worked on adding to & refining the publisher list. I found that some are subsidy/self-publishing presses of larger publishers, so I put them at the end. Others require agents or are have too narrow of a focus, or are just not right for this project. Finished the 5th & 6th queries/proposals.

Sabbatical

2009-02-26T10:46:00.002-05:00

Finished 2nd, 3rd, & 4th proposals, ready to send if I get a negative back from the 1st. One publisher on my top list has disappeared; must have gone out of business. Another does not now accept unsolicited proposals. Several publishers in 2nd priority group do not accept e-proposals, so am putting them further down the list.

This dratted cold is slowing me down.

Conservative Friends Mtg

2009-02-17T09:23:00.003-05:00

Sunday I had a very Friendly day. First I attended a joint meeting of the Ministry & Nurture and Advancement committees in the Grand Rapids Friends Meeting, so we could begin to address some needs of our Meeting. Then I went to Bible Study and Meeting for Worship of the Crossroads Friends Worship Group (under the care of the Stillwater Monthly Meeting in the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends). I had been feeling the need for Bible Study since I have been away from the Seventh-day Adventists, and as soon as I wrote this in a letter to my sister, the Crossroads meeting was announced. Well, put the need out there....

Some (about half, perhaps) of the Conservative Friends are also "Plain Friends" -- they dress similarly to the Amish or Old Order Mennonites as a testimony to simplicity. Yet they drive cars and have electricity in their homes. Conservative Friends differ from Liberal Friends (Friends General Conference) in their Christocentrism and more devoted study of the Bible. Like Liberal Friends, they have silent meetings for worship, waiting upon the movement of Christ through the Holy Spirit for spoken ministry. As a "convergent" Friend, I found much joy in this meeting of F/friends. As they meet in Flint, I may not be able to be present with them often.

Sabbatical

2009-02-16T15:29:00.003-05:00

Received permission from one prof emeritus, one current prof, and a layperson to have their names listed as contacts (to supply positive comments later that could be used for publicity purposes). This was what I needed to finish & send the 1st publisher proposal! Now I have to wait until I hear back from them, as they do not accept simultaneous submissions. Then I'll send out other proposals en masse.

Am almost finished with a 2nd proposal.

If this book is supposed to be published, I suspect it will happen, despite the economy, this being my 1st book, etc. I am doing all of the work I can to make an excellent manuscript and well-done proposals to the right publishers. The rest is up to the Spirit.

IL reflection Q's for teaching

2009-02-11T14:23:00.003-05:00

Just read the following article, which had some great ideas for facilitating critical thinking & reflection in information literacy. It's important to allow the students to answer the questions, not to jump in & answer them yourself as the instructor.

Wallace, Amy. "Information Literacy Instruction: Beyond Measurable Outcomes." LOEX Quarterly. Volume 35(2). (Summer 2008)

"As librarians that facilitate learning, we need to think about the questions we ask students, how we react to the answers, and reflect on who answers them. I believe that there are some fundamental questions, not dependent on discipline or level, which can help with reflection" (8). ...

"...who has a stake in the information you are seeking? This question gets people thinking about how information is produced, housed,controlled, and then of course why there is not yet a one-stop shop to efficiently locate information.

...how would you describe the perfect piece(s) of information you are seeking? This will help people think about how they might go about evaluating format, relevance, and content along the way instead of finding unrelated items and trying to make things work" (9).

Wallace also gives some reflection questions for teaching plagiarism, including this last, "Ultimately, the students are asked to consider what happens if the stated author is not really the author." E.g., what if one world leader wrote the article instead of another; what if a team or writers was responsible rather than one person; & unasked but understood: how would your prof feel if you submit work that you didn't write (10)?

Sabbatical

2009-02-09T16:09:00.002-05:00

Almost finished with the proposal for the one publisher I chose which does not accept simultaneous submissions. My plan is to send this one 1st as it has a very short response time, then to send the proposals for those that accept simultaneous submissions all at once. I wrote the summary, description, Table of Contents, & author description, & had a Baptist layperson read it. She said she would be interested in reading the book based on the proposal. Finished the section which asks for a list of similar books already in print by the publisher & its affiliates and an explanation of how mine will differ from them and, more importantly, improve on them. Wrote to 4 faculty colleagues asking if they would be willing to either have me list their name as a possible contact or supply positive comments that could be used for publicity purposes (1 said he’d rather not as he has several projects going; 1 asked for the mss; 2 have not yet responded). Filled out the section on the readership(s)/audience/s I envisage for the book, and courses for which the book may be suitable.

Sabbatical

2009-02-03T16:19:00.001-05:00

Removed the last email quotation as it wasn’t really necessary and reworked manuscript without it. Explained why the 7th day Sabbath is important. Finished putting bibliography into RefWorks and produced Works Cited list for manuscript.

Florida trip

2009-02-01T08:15:00.004-05:00

The "travelogue:"
We drove to Kentucky on Jan. 6, stopped for dinner in Louisville at a place called Lynn’s Paradise Café, recommended by a “Road Food” book lent to us by friends—the best food on the trip, especially the delicious fried apples—& then drove a couple more hours to stay the night in Cave City. On the 7th, we spend the day at Mammoth Cave. On the morning tour, we had the ranger to ourselves, so we could ask all of the questions we wanted & go at our own pace, which was great! We learned a lot of history about the cave. In the afternoon, we were in a fairly large group, so not as fun, yet the rock formations & colors were so much more interesting--& we saw cave crickets & hibernating bats.

On Jan. 8, we drove to Montgomery, AL. We drove around the capitol area that night & I found it an odd juxtaposition of Confederacy & Civil Rights history. We ate dinner at another place recommended by the book—pretty good food—a ton of it—but the people were definitely not-so-friendly. The next day at the rest stop in Huntsville, AL, I saw a real rocket, Saturn 1B. On the 9th, we finished the 1st leg of the trip & arrived at Panama City, FL. It took us several tries & phone calls to get to Amy’s sister Lori’s house—it’s really out in the boonies. But it is in a really pretty area, & she has palm trees in her yard & other tropical Florida trees like live oaks & long-leaf pines. Amy & her mom both made a huge effort not to drive each other crazy & mostly succeeded. Lori & I hit it off, had some good walks & talks together. On the lake near their house I saw a lot of coots nesting. We went to Tallahassee one day to have lunch with Lori & Pete's son Ben, & then watched his baseball practice. He is a starting pitcher for Florida State & has a unique pitching style, almost underhanded, aptly named the “submarine.” We also walked around the old state capitol building since we were there & had a few minutes (more history lessons). Another day we went to the beach & felt the soft, ultra-white “sugar sand.” Also ate something I’d wanted to try for years—boiled peanuts—you put the whole shell in your mouth & bite it—hot salty brine, then scoop out the soft peanuts with your teeth—messy & very delicious! I ate them through the trip until I was sick of them.

We started the next leg of the trip on Jan. 14 by going to the center of the state to a town called Lake Wales, where some Quaker friends stay for the winter. They had invited us to stay in their camper—it was really tight quarters but ok for one night. We saw several sandhill cranes. Our friends took us to the Bok Tower carillon & gardens the next day—on the highest point in Florida at a whopping 284 feet above sea level. I learned a lot about carillons--they have the largest collection of books about carillons in the country, which GVSU's carillonist Julianne Vanden Wyngaard had told me. The gardens & walking trails were beautiful & reminded me of Australia. The lush tropical plants & then the dry desert with scrubby trees, cacti, & lizards. Late that afternoon, we drove down to a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Weston, to stay with Amy’s ex-brother-in-law & his wife. The road there went along miles of sugar cane fields—I’d never seen it flowering before & it just looks like tallgrass. Had a nice visit with the Proni’s and then went to the Everglades on the 16th. Oh wow. We went to the Royal Palm station & saw alligators galore (from the safety of a boardwalk), some as close as 5 feet or so. They are so prehistoric. And we saw amazing birds, new to me, like the Anhinga (& nestlings), white ibis, snowy egret, wood stork, tri-colored heron, little blue heron, green-backed heron…. Also saw many cormorants & great blue herons up-close-and-personal. Then we drove down the Keys to our other Quaker friends from Holland, who are staying on Big Pine Key. What a ride, from island to island, over the 7-mile bridge with only miles of water on either side, seeing the train trestle which was destroyed by the 1935 hurricane so that huge chunks are missing from it, seeing the little mangrove trees which seem to sprout in the water & create new little keys from themselves. On Big Pine, there are tiny deer called Key Deer, which wander around in people’s yards. They have been there since at least 1575 & are small because of their environment—they’re a variation of our big white-tailed deer. There were many brown pelicans everywhere. On the 18th, we took a ride in a glass-bottomed boat to the Florida Atlantic Reef, but when I tried to look down through the glass bottom at the fish & reef, urp, I felt very seasick & had to go back up on deck to look at the horizon. Once we got going again & the wind was in my face, I was fine. But I surely didn’t feel well for awhile. Amy said my face went white then green. I did see a few pretty fish, and then a ballyhoo when on deck. That fish went flying by us like an arrow skipping over the water! We also had another 1st in birdwatching--a brown booby (really!).

One oddity in Key West at the public library was the sheriff who worked at the Circulation Desk. Made me wonder why....

We had perfect weather, colder than I had expected. Even with 70 sunscreen every day, I got a little tan. I saw billions & billions of stars at night, more than I think I’ve ever seen before. Orion was especially bright, but the dippers were so low on the horizon they weren't visible most nights.

On the way home, we stopped at Rock City ("See Rock City!"), where there are paths through the huge limestone boulders (as big as houses), & some of the paths were very narrow tunnels so that Amy was scared of getting stuck. But it was beautiful, despite the hokey gnomes & piped-in music. We also stopped at the Kentucky Derby Museum for an hour, which was long enough to see the exhibits & have a tour of the grounds. No horses since they are all in California or Florida training! I had Amy take a picture of me on a horse (statue) in the starting gate. I also tried sitting in the saddle in the jockey position for the 2 minutes it takes for a race but my thigh muscles wimped out so I lost the race.

Got a lot done on the sabbatical project while there. Good to have a laptop & wifi in many places!

sick day

2009-01-28T16:56:00.002-05:00

I came down with a cold last week Wednesday & thought that I was all better yesterday. Woke up this morning feeling rotten--blew my nose for an hour & a half, then took some cold medicine & went back to bed. Finished reading 2 novels I was in the middle of--one a story I will give to a young friend who is 13, Time of the Eagle: A Story of an Ojibwe Winter by Stephanie Golightly Lowden, about a 13-year-old Ojibwe girl in the 1870's after smallpox wiped out her family band. The 2nd was also a YA novel, Blown Away! by Joan Hiatt Harlow. This told the story of a 13-year-old boy living in Islamadora in the Florida Keys during 1935 & the horrific hurricane. It was very moving since I was there & saw the devastation--the railroad bridge with huge chunks missing, & drove on the highway they had been in the middle of constructing. It gave me a good feel for that period of history of the Keys. Now time to return to bed.

Sabbatical

2009-01-26T11:37:00.002-05:00

Went through the manuscript & removed all named persons from whom I do not intend to seek permission to quote. Added to both introduction and conclusion to address more of Reader C’s comments/questions: Explain more about Quaker beliefs & how they resonate with me, and then, if this is home, why are SDAs drawing me? Why is confusion valid—why is being Quaker not enough? How to reconcile Quaker discussion on all days holy versus 7th day? The journaling was a response to the call from God but the book is how to communicate the lessons learned. Why am I being compelled to speak right now—what am I trying to tell people: The point is that “live & let live” or tolerance, is not enough; have to seriously grapple with each other’s beliefs & move to love and acceptance even of differences & uniquenesses.

Sabbatical

2009-01-17T12:29:00.001-05:00

Created an Acknowledgments page & added material to the introduction to reply to Reader C’s comment: “Add more about the challenges and frustrations of living in these times, giving a little more body to the person/location from which I have dialog and journey with the Friends and SDAs.” Also started working on the 1st publisher's Proposal form.

Sabbatical

2009-01-07T20:27:00.001-05:00

Working on “close editing” to remove any reference to GVSU, Library, or work in the manuscript, based on Reader B’s recommendation. Slow going.

Sabbatical

2009-01-05T08:21:00.002-05:00

Talked with a faculty member (who has had books published) to discuss the publishing process. She advised me to simply submit proposals to publishers without adding more “framework” in to the manuscript, and to stick with my vision of the book in journal/diary form, not to re-write it in chapters or essays. Also advised me to take suggested changes from publisher editors/readers.

Dec. 25

2008-12-25T08:56:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing that you may have the ability to give up hope for a better past, find forgiveness, and from there create reconciliation and peace.

Blizzard Tantrums

2008-12-19T11:28:00.002-05:00

I am having a tantrum-y day. Our driveway plow hasn't come but the garbage & recycling still had to go out. At 6:45 a.m., it was still ok--about 4." I carefully placed the bins well out of reach of both the street & driveway plows, I thought. Later I looked out of the window from my "control center" as I was working, and saw that both bins were tipped over into the driveway & recycling was scattered. So I bundled up & went out. The garbage bin had filled up with snow & I had a struggle to right it & move it to the other side of the drive, even farther out of the paths, I hoped. The recycling was worse, as bits were everywhere & picking them up with thick mittens was difficult, & trying to cram it all back into the bin.... Later, I saw the garbage picked up. Watching the grabber arms come out of the truck sides gave me an idea about how far apart the 2 bins need to be in the future. About 11:00, after I prepared some correspondence to be mailed, I bundled up & went out. The recycling bin had been sent flying yet again by the street plow, I guess. I had a full-fledged tantrum out in the blizzard, trying to pick it all up & beating the junk into submission. Pulling the garbage bin back to the garage was a several-minute hike in heavy, wet snow now up to my knees. I wonder where our driveway plow is? Good thing I decided not to go to campus today. To work off my tantrum, I shoveled the sidewalk & path to the utility boxes, then righted the squirrel-tipped bird-feeder. Soon I'll go back to work on my annual activity report. I am not good with feeling cooped-up.

Still, this has given me a chance to do a "dry run" on using my new desk & office space. I need a mousepad, & for warmth, my fingerless gloves, felted hat, & thick slippers over wool socks. I need a small container for pens & pencils. I'll be glad to have my office computer set up at home, with the separate keyboard & monitor for ergonomic comfort. Otherwise, I feel ready to go!

Annual Query from Lake Erie Yearly Meeting

2008-11-25T08:17:00.002-05:00

Am I open to the other? What keeps me from connecting with those who are different from me? What fears cloud my vision of the Light in all beings? How can I listen with my heart, willing to be vulnerable?

I wish I were open. Anger and fear keeps me closed and clouds my vision. I am not willing to be vulnerable yet.

Still, I am going to Meeting, and meeting new people. I am willing to acknowledge that there is that of God in all people, whether or not I can perceive it. Isaiah 45:5-7 “I am the Lord, and there is no other…. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”

I'm reading Evelyn Underhill, an "ordinary" English woman who was also a mystic. She struggled with these queries, married and living in the world while all the time wishing she was able to live as a solitary, in perpetual retreat. She suffered from her perceived failings, from depression, from illness. And yet she was able to convey the idea that a mystical connection with God is open to the ordinary lay-person, not reserved for prophets or saints.

MLA Conference & more

2008-10-24T16:25:00.008-04:00

This week I attended the Michigan Library Association's Annual Conference. At the MEL update, I learned that (kid's) InfoBits will read articles out loud. MEl has a section on Content Expectations for K-12 Teachers in MI, and under LearningExpress News, there are practice tests for the ACT, along with the new citizenship test and Grad school entrance exams. The NoveList database had a "describe a plot search" that I would like to try, and I want to explore the "Michigana" tab.

WMU is moving to an product which sits on top of the Voyager catalog called VuFind (like the Encore product for III?). This seems to make it easier for students to find library resources. They conducted usability exercises & will modify the product based on the results.

Of course I went to Amy's talk on the future of cataloging, posted at researchrangers.com. She did well, especially for a first-timer. Bottom line is that she doesn't think that RDA will come about any time soon, that libraries do have to take advantage of other info producers' & consumers' data (like Amazon.com, user tags, etc.), and that no matter what, catalogers will find ways to "muddle through."

Jeffrey Trzeciak, dean of libraries at McMaster University (in gorgeous Hamilton, Ontario) spoke at lunch about the innovations during his 2 years there. Amazing, interesting. See the ACRL website for details in the documentation for the award they got. Also watch Library Journal for a column by McMaster's gaming librarian.

Attended a session on digitizing the Great Lakes Maritime collection which includes the NOAA Sanctuary in Thunder Bay: see www.alpenalibrary.org and www.greatlakesships.org. Fascinating project/s...huge amounts of materials digitized, which took tons of grant money & staff time & other collaborative resources.

Fun final keynote speech Jim Van Bochove on "Laughing in the HOT Seat: Living Life with Extreme Enthusiasm and Extraordinary Service!"

The other important meeting I had was outside of the conference, with an independent information professional/entrepreneur, Liga Greenfield, CEO of BioMedPharmaIS. The funny thing is that she was my 1st babysitter, 39-44 years ago! The last time I had talked to her was 20-22 years ago, when I was interested in both the Upjohn Co. libraries (where she had worked) & the Upjohn Institute library (they aren't the same company!).

I was fascinated at this meeting to hear Liga's insights on working alone, working with a spouse, working from a home office, how different working alone & from home was from working in a group in a large company, the state of the info business in the current economy, competition, pricing, approaching potential customers, specialization, associations to join & meetings to attend for solid support, etc. I went with Amy so I can better understand and support her business, and of course because I wanted to catch up with Liga. That was great.

Molded or molding? Or just moldy?

2008-10-20T10:57:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, some of the Grand Rapids Friends joined the Holland Meeting for worship and a worship-sharing facilitated by Mary Ann Downey, a traveling minister from Atlanta. Spoken ministry during worship centered around being willing to be molded by God (submitting to God's will) and/or molding oneself according to the leadings one receives from God. I believe in a combination of the two. I can mold myself again & yet again according to the principles of integrity, equality, simplity, and peace. Yesterday, I made a resolution to apply the principles of nonviolent communication & conflict management. Listen, affirm (find common concerns), respond, add. Define the issue/s, identify stakeholders, draw them into the conversation, get the history (if need be--sometimes people can get stuck in negativity on this step), brainstorm solutions, evaluate possible solutions & choose one to implement, define who/what/when/how of the implementation, lay out to evaluate it, and follow up with the evaluation and discussion of the process. These are also the ways of dealing with diversity. Following these principles means waiting rather than jumping in with emotion. Really, really hard for me.

Let the adult self comfort the inner child. Don't let either personality get moldy.

Life Cycle of a Church & Government

2008-10-03T13:51:00.004-04:00

I'm reading If I Were the Devil: ... Contemporary Challenges Facing Adventism, by George R. Knight (Review & Herald Publishing, 2007). In chapter 4, he wrote, "In many ways, if not most, the early Sabbatarian Adventists would find themselves distinctly uncomfortable in Adventism as we know it today" (43). Makes me wonder how George Fox would find the Liberal Friends (Quakers) today -- perhaps comfortable with our silent worship, but wondering why we aren't traveling around the world spreading the word? I know others have written about the stages of church development and church history as applied to Friends...so why did Friends stop evangelizing? And perhaps one response to the often-expressed feeling that we are diminishing in numbers relative to the world's population is reflected in the Convergent movements?

I'm also thinking about an analysis I read that said that Pennsylvania didn't survive as a "Quaker state" despite being an ideal model for government in many respects, because its citizenry was threatened by Native American, British, and French violence. The pacifist Friends refused to deal with this issue--leaving the settlers unprotected and being decimated--and also refused to allocate funds for a militia. The non-Quakers in the government went ahead and formed the militia....

Since this particular book is a brief history of religion in the U.S., I'm left wondering what peace-making measures were taken, if any, by Pennsylvania Quakers?
More to research when I have the gumption to take me past idle curiosity.

Underground Railroad Conference

2008-09-30T10:04:00.003-04:00

I attended day 1 of a 2-day conference on "The Underground Railroad in Michigan: A Decade of Discoveries." The 1st panel included a series of court cases having to do with the Fugitive Slave Act vs. abolitionists who resisted slavecatchers. The next speaker was Karolyn Smardz Frost, an archeologist who wrote I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad, delineating the story of Thornton and Lucy Blackburn. They escaped from Kentucky and got to Detroit, where slavecatchers eventually caught up with them. During the trial, the African-American community protested, allowing the Blackburns to escape to Windsor. This sparked the first international court case between Canada & the U.S. over fugitive slaves, Canada refusing to extradite escapees to certain re-enslavement. The Blackburns moved to Toronto and started a successful cab (originally horse-drawn) business, and are buried there.

Allen Guelzo spoke on the Lincoln-Douglas debates, apropo to the current debates. Veta Tucker spoke briefly about Cass Co.'s history and the gift of documents to GVSU's Libraries collected by a local historian on the URR, Sondra Mose-Ursery. Mary Edmond from Grand Rapids told the story of Isaac Edward Bailey, a runaway from Virginia who was sent to Quebec but returned to Michigan to live (to the age of 105!).

David Boers told about his research on Carolyn Quarlls, the first identified fugitive slave to go through Wisconsin (she escaped from St. Louis to the Sandwich neighborhood of Windsor). Quarll's great-great-great-granddaughter, Kimberly Simmons, emphasized the necessity of integrity in relating these histories, as they are the stories of living descendents' families. As such, they don't need to be changed or embellished, but told as correctly as possible.

The conference was engaging and at some deep level, enraging. That slavery happened; that humans treat each other as animals; that these horrific abuses still happen in the world. Made knots in my gut.

p.s., here's an interesting book which describes how historians piece together their narratives from various types of documents:
Freedom roads: searching for the Underground Railroad by Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan. Chicago: Cricket Books, 2003.

Teaching & Learning

2008-09-04T08:15:00.003-04:00

In May 2007, I attended WILU, a Canadian conference on information literacy, with a focus on Web 2.0 / InfoLit 2.0. Cameron Hoffman spoke on the corresponding learning theory, Constructionism: creating an underlying philosophy with an overarching framework through discovery with co-learners. I.e., teachers design/create activities which lead to skill development and reflection. Social software (web 2.0) should lead us to discourse analysis--asking: who is speaking, who is absent, what is the power base, what are the cultural relationships, what are the vocabularies? He addressed the use of many web 2.0 tools in terms of information literacy formation.

My notes to myself included these suggestions:

Set up a blog for myself. Results: this is it.

CAP 115: set up a wiki for students to fill in answers to the exercises on web searching & evaluation. Results: in BlackBoard, a wiki only allows 1 user at a time, so we set up a blog instead in one section; I read each group's responses aloud to the class. This year I set up blogs in all sections of CAP 115 & will have students write responses as a prep for then responding aloud, instead of me reading (boring & pointless!).

CAP 115: use Flickr tagging to teach keyword brainstorming & subject access. Results: I did this, using a photo in Flickr & having them brainstorm search words, talking about the title & tags, & using a comparison photo from Library of Congress. Students don't seem to know what Flickr is (they use Facebook); so am not continuing that exercise.

Rick Salutin spoke: Standards & competencies try to prescribe/formularize a process for something interpersonal & human--it is presence that matters most. We get more from re-reading something & going deeper (especially in small-group discussion) than from reading something new all of the time. Humans are good at thinking, not knowing; we mistake the urge to think with the urge to know.

Sheril Hook, Esther Atkinson, & Andrew Nicholson spoke in a program entitled "Practice Makes Perfect: Applying and Adapting Best Practices in Information Literacy."
In embedding info lit into course curricula, emphasize the library vision--the availability of resources, & the enhancement of student engagement & critical thinking. Three discipline-oriented outcomes examples follow.

Social Sciences: identify & locate statistics needed; evaluate stats (time period, geography, characteristics of subjects, etc.); analyze stats (e.g., create a cross-tab table & draw conclusions); communicate results; cite (acknowledge sources/materials used).

Sciences: evaluate research by scope--does it include citation tracking stats & periodical impact? Check "reputable." Locate & interpret citation info--review the cited references; check the # of times cited (yields the impact factor of the article in the discipline); check for the journal's rank in the discipline.

Humanities: compare/contrast the sources of a myth & how the myth changed over time; identify changes & context; interpret changes in meaning. E.g., look at primary sources of art or music, biographical info on the artist/musician, & context in society, events of the period, culture.

Don't teach how to search but more on thinking about how sources are used & what the various tools provide. Change the focus from "tool-based" to "conceptual-based" library instruction & info lit. Only teach "how to do X" when learners ask, at the point of need.

Info Lit program evaluation includes looking at various factors.
A. market penetration:

# of students reached by year & semester; departmental contact (# students per department); # unique sessions per department; # sessions per course level (100-600).

B. reflection on current teaching practices:

How do we gain access to departments which are underserved? How add new depts? Abandon classes when there is little impact? Develop stronger vertical integration (per course level). Keep tables on tools taught, e.g., catalog, databases, library website, etc. Bring this to librarians' consciousness so we can reduce tool-based instruction. Develop strategies to meet goals. Build class profiles. How to abandon courses: if we engage students at a deeper level in 1st or 2nd year, don't do a basic catalog session at the 3rd/4th year level. For the few who haven't had the catalog instruction, point to a learning object (tutorial) for them.

Also, take a look at the entries about "Teaching on the Edge of Chaos: Dynamical Systems in Library Instruction." The main point I took away was: don't lecture but have students complete a task; by giving students experiences rather than lecture, we use "incremental complexity." WILU Blog. New Jack Librarian (scroll down to May 19, 2007).

Collaboration with Faculty

2008-08-26T13:26:00.002-04:00

I've been asked how I achieved the collaborations I've engaged in at GVSU.

Through lots of conversation & gentleness. Passion led me to try things I was afraid of, like doing workshops for faculty & using new teaching & learning techniques in the classroom. Honesty & directness, caring & compassion, tact & trust helped me tell colleagues, "I'd like to try this with your classes, will you give me some feedback at the end?" I made small revisions--not too many at any one session--& kept a journal to track what worked & didn't. I learned to teach from the person I am (see Parker Palmer's Courage to Teach), & to use technology. I read a lot about teaching & learning, brain development, higher education, information literacy, assessment. I struggled with being open to students despite being afraid. I participated with faculty in workshops & discussion groups, & faculty governance--especially university-wide task forces. I persisted despite annoyances, frustrations, disappointments. I learned to talk the language of the disciplines and higher education.

Fall Conference on Teaching & Learning

2008-08-21T12:09:00.004-04:00

The Pew Faculty Teaching & Learning Center at GVSU hosts an annual conference. This year's keynote speaker was James Zull (Art of Changing the Brain). His Power Point presentations are linked from this page.
Zull's primary emphasis in the morning's talk was that teachers need to create conditions in which learners' brains change, by engaging the major regions of the cortex: sensory (visual, touch, hearing), integrating (e.g., seeing an object & identifying it in speech), and action/movement (includes speech, reading, writing). Zull listed 4 pillars of learning: experience (get info), reflect (make meaning), create-solve-conceive, and act or test. Teaching begins with linking new knowledge to learners' prior knowledge base. When students have misconceptions or make mistakes, don't repeat their misconceptions or point out errors but build on the misconceptions by saying the correct thing.

Memory evolved to solve problems--remembering comes from action, working with new ideas/knowledge.

In the afternoon, Zull's talk was about "Brain, Emotion, Learning." Zull stated that the brain evolved as an organ of emotion, that reason is dependent on emotion (!) and that all actions are a result of emotion. "We are always being emotional--it's a matter of degree, balance, and the specific chemicals being released."

The emotion sparked by the Amygdala gets integrated into cognitive meaning. So fear can be integrated into memory, and that is why the memory itself can spark the actual physical reaction of fear. In smaller amounts, fear can focus our attention, increase energy, and help us remember clearly. At the other end, fear can lead to stress, not being able to think at all, and can actually damage memory. So find a balance on the positive side of fear by providing challenges (new tasks) at just the right level for the students, then supporting students until their interest progresses into hope, confidence, success, and self-motivation. When they get to a place of inertia, disinterest, or frustration, provide additional challenges. Support is not explanation, but could be an illustrating example, or a reference to written material such as an article, etc.

Another workshop I attended was about Student Responsibility. How do we help empower students' learning? Ask them to do the work, ask them to share their knowledge, connect to and build on their knowledge, build reflection into the class session, build in application of newly-acquired knowledge to new situations in the session. Hmmm, that sounds just like what Zull said.

So, what will I do differently?
1) When teaching databases to first-year students, in order to build on their prior knowledge, ask them, "When you've had a question and successfully used a computer to find an answer, what did you use? [some responses I might expect to hear are: search engine, Facebook, email, database]
2) To encourage responsibility, after having students create blog entries to answer a set of questions during an in-class library instruction exercise, say to them, "So now that you've written some responses, you can refer back to them, add, revise, see classmates' responses.... During the rest of the class, let's talk about what you found out...."
3) To encourage reflection, use minute papers with the question "What was the most important thing you learned about library research during the session?" more often, even if I don't need feedback for myself.

The vacation trip

2008-07-16T08:08:00.005-04:00

Was awesome. I had little idea of how dry California actually is, even at the coast. The sequoias were so immense & gorgeous! They don't die of old age but fall over eventually. Kings Canyon is several thousand feet deeper than the Grand Canyon...beautiful rocks & roaring river & Grizzly falls; we enjoyed the attention of the Stellar jays. Point Lobos was fantastic: harbor seals basking on rocks breaking crashing waves, flocks of brown pelicans cruising by, black Cormorants & Oystercatchers on the rocks.... Then the trip from Monterey down to Gorda was hair-raising: the Pacific Coast Highway 1 was closed because of the fires, so we went on a hairpin road following the arroyo between the mountain ranges, at about 15-30 mph the whole way. We saw only a few firefighters' vehicles; there were no sideroads & only 1 turnoff--with a trooper guarding it--right where I was watching not only smoke but also flames from the fires. Of course this was the road Amy wanted to turn on! Eventually we found the Hunter-Liggett army base, went through it to the National Forest road, & began an even more twisty-turny, up & down, 5-10 mph drive. We did see Acorn Woodpeckers, a new species for us. We were exhausted by the time we arrived at the Treetops Resort, the Yurt place, which was great. Round tents with a clear roof to see stars, wood floor, running water; the lodge had great food & clean bathrooms; we heard elephant seals from dusk to dawn, saw a golden eagle, Western Scrub Jay, Spotted Towhee, quail, & turkeys. We visited the Hearst Castle, which has amazing artwork: sculpture from ancient Egypt, banners from the Palio in Sienna, Italy, wood ceilings from medieval Spain, famous tapestries from France, etc. Enjoyed our visit to San Luis Obispo, with the airy public library (our one chance to catch up on email) & the Natural Cafe. Then there was Malibu, with more hair-raising canyon roads & driveways, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and the Getty Museum, where Amy got us a private tour of the largest art history library in the world. There they not only measure the books' size, but also weigh them: shelving goes up to 15' & staff have to know ahead of time if they'll be able to handle the weight when an item is requested; they also use cherry pickers besides the stair-step ladders. They had a whole large room full of files about provenance, and scroll-holders for architectural drawings which are too large for flat files.

My photos are at the Picasa link on the upper left; Amy's are here.

Back from California

2008-07-14T21:20:00.003-04:00

New photo album at Picasa with the trip.

American Library Association Annual Conference:

re: chat ref--about 30% of users are in the building but won't leave their computers to come ask questions, so it is reasonable to ask if they're present & if we may come to them.

RUSA Codes--liaising with users--the point was made that librarians from ALL departments teach (yes, including tech services). Based on their survey of all types of libraries across the US, time spent on liaison work ran from 11% to 31% of the workload. Liaisons would like more training; there is not clear standard on what liaison responsibilities should be. Liaisons should meet in small groups to share their current practices, challenges & strategies (e.g., how to establish trust as a new liaison, how to set boundaries). While there is no one way to do liaison work (varies by institution, academic discipline, personality of librarian), it is helpful if groups establish responsibilities & expectations in written form, and share these with each new librarian.

Media Literacy [Copyright & Fair Use]--owners retain the rights to "derivative use" (e.g., thumbnails of websites) but not to "transformative use," which adds value & uses the product for a different purpose than the original (e.g., using an entertainment film snippet in the classroom to increase communication skills & critical thinking by commenting on a social aspect of the film). Fair use is not supposed to stifle creative uses of that expression.

LITA Top Tech Trends--small literary journals & presses are going open access because it is less costly for them; we need to become better at manipulating data, visualizing it, using it; libraries can provide technology like scanners for circulation, provide in-house podcasting booths, etc.

LITA - Joe Janes--People are "in the library" when they are on our website, asking a chat ref question, renewing a book online, in databases, etc. They are interacting with info provided by the library or with staff. A library is all 5 of: place, stuff, support, interaction, & values. Libraries have to be somewhere (specific physical place) & everywhere. We need to ask: when don't the users want to be "in" the library? What is the library "in"? The user is the library, not the librarians or staff. [My, Kim's question for us: How do we make it easier for users to be the support & interaction & values?]

Monday we trooped to the Orange County Court to get our marriage license, with our conference friend Mara and our friendly Justice of the Peace Ken; had our brief ceremony; & are now legally recognized in CA, a few other states, & a few countries (Canada, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark?).

Off to ALA

2008-06-26T10:12:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow morning, early, we'll be off to the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Anaheim, then up to see "big trees" at Sequoia National Park & King's Canyon, then over to Monterey & Big Sur, then home again. While in Anaheim, we will pick up our marriage license and be legally married (recognized in California, Connecticut, New York, Canada, & Spain). It's very exciting!

Vacation

2008-06-16T12:57:00.002-04:00

I went to see some long-time friends in Seattle. I had more vacation than Amy, so I went alone (& we missed each other like crazy!). The coolest parts were going all over Vashon Island with Alice--woods & beach walks, "downtown" shopping & lunch--and going to Bainbridge Island with Carrie--to Bloedel Reserve which was very quiet & peaceful. The gatekeepers said it takes a couple of hours at a leisurely pace; we took 4 hours. Carrie read aloud from the guidebook & I pointed out the plants/flowers they mentioned, as much as I knew. We ate twice at a great bakery, fabulous desserts! I also enjoyed driving along Lake Washington, along a wooded trail-like road with beautiful views of the water. Carrie & I got caught up with each other's lives after 5 years of short letters...I feel more rested & relaxed.

Young at Heart

2008-05-21T08:26:00.002-04:00

Great documentary about a chorus of folks from age 73-93. They do fairly contemporary rock songs, which take on a new meaning: "Do I stay or do I go?!" For a night, in this life, or...? Lots of laughs, some sniffling, & some very profoundly moving scenes.

Go see it, no matter your age. It provides a realistic & hopeful look at aging & is also cathartic.

D.C. visit

2008-05-09T08:03:00.004-04:00

Thanks to ams & mas, and ps for suggestions, to my intrepid & agreeable hostess jl for accompanying me everywhere. Also thanks to host gl for his sense of fun! To both of our hosts, many gratitudes for their care & hospitality, & interesting conversations.

The dogwoods & redbud were in full bloom during the trip--this has been an extraordinarily gorgeous spring so far.

We went to the National Cathedral first, on a very rainy day, negotiating the Metro train & bus. The stained-glass windows were fantastic--I could have spent a whole day wandering around looking at them. We stayed for the organist's talk & brief concert at 12:30--a rush of sound in the choir where we were sitting. J & I had interesting conversations about Judaism, seventh-day sabbath, & the belief that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene--as he wouldn't have been allowed to teach children if he had been unmarried after a certain age.

The next day we went to the National Museum of Women in the Arts. I really liked the photos of Cheryl Ito, paintings of Rosa Bonheur, Joanna Boye, Fanny Churberg, & Anna Boch. Then we walked down to the White House & I took photos of buildings, statues, churches.

On the 3rd day, we went to the U.S. Botanical Garden at the back of the Capitol--I liked the jungle part of the Conservatory best because it reminded me of Australia. Then walked around the Capitol building--beautiful but heavily guarded. One can't go into the building at all any longer except by getting a tour pass months ahead from one's congressperson; it is frightening to see men with big guns standing at the ready on the steps. Then onto the Native American Museum, which is larger than I had thought, so we just saw a portion of it before eating in the cafeteria--lots of interesting Native foods from around the country. Back to pick up Amy & on to the National Zoo, to see the pandas & the beautiful plumage in the Bird House.

4th day--walked around the National Mall, photographing the Smithsonian Castle, seeing the gems (Hope diamond; immense copper sheet from the Keeweenaw) in the Natural History Museum, walked around the Washington Monument, Lincoln & Vietnam War memorials.

5th day--took it easy, walked in a riverside park where Jack-in-the Pulpit & Indian strawberries were blooming, & saw an immense Copperhead snake sunning itself on a rock in the middle of the water. We were safely on a bridge overlooking the river, I'm glad to say.

On the way home, stopped at Magee Marsh about halfway between Sandusky & Toledo, where we saw many Great Egrets, a Black & White warbler, a Palm warbler, dozens of Martins, Tree & Barn swallows, & Killdeer.

Update

2008-05-08T11:23:00.003-04:00

Went to D.C. for vacation as a tourist, which was interesting; stayed with friends who were absolutely lovely & hospitable.

Re-read a favorite SF GLBT novel called A Paradigm of Earth, by Candas Jane Dorsey, a Canadian whose writing is as good as Margaret Atwood's and less depressing, though still dystopic. To me, it's about grief--feeling a sense of "otherness," living with it, coming back to life slowly, connecting with others, the slow renewal of hope.

Lots of grief lately--the Michigan Supreme Court's decision that no partner benefits may be offered by public institutions, A's recent illnesses. I feel "other" & depressed, tired, uncertain.

Worrying again

2008-04-21T12:15:00.003-04:00

Well, hope can be dashed.

Responsibility for Hope

2008-04-08T16:02:00.000-04:00

I was reminded today that we often can’t see our own patterns of behavior. I was also reminded that it is important to look for the best in people, to give them the opportunity to prove themselves to be good, honorable, just, etc. To look for the best possible outcomes, not to be so pessimistic, worrying about negative possibilities, assuming the worst. It does seem that we draw toward us that which we most fear, by the energy we put into it. So, let’s hope that someone who has said several times that s/he “wants us to succeed,” truly means it and will act compassionately and in accord with that statement. I fear my own woundedness and tend to look for woundedness in others. Well, I can make art out of that woundedness, and spend my energy on looking for goodness instead. I hope.

Still more tension

2008-04-01T10:39:00.004-04:00

Had a good chat with my sis last night--I feel much relieved, supported and loved. Want to sit with things for awhile before I talk to the middle sis.

What happens to folks who call themselves religious yet do not practice "love your neighbor as yourself?" Well, I have theories about how well they love themselves, based on their actions toward others.

What is intended for us in our situation, trying to do our daily tasks as they come to us, trying to make meaning? Perhaps to realize the love pouring to us from friends, perhaps to fight an injustice being done. Definitely to turn to each other with love. To listen for that still small voice in the midst of anguish. Hard to let go of the "why are they doing this?" question. Hard to keep in mind that they are wounded themselves and so are deserving of some compassion -- even as we are setting our boundaries by refusing to take into ourselves the results of that woundedness.

Birding on a cloudy Sunday

2008-03-30T13:31:00.002-04:00

It was an exciting morning at Blandford Nature Center. Before leaving the driveway at home, the male hawk I've been trying to identify landed in a tree across the road; I walked to the area where I'd seen the pair and now have positively identified them as Northern Harriers. OK, birders, maybe pretty commonplace to you, but very exciting to me. I had seen the smaller gray male with yellow eyes, but the female was very different--larger, brown with a cream breast; their calls didn't seem to match up with the bird CD. Finally I could see the white rump patch when they flew. I could see 3 large nests in almost adjacent trees (no, not squirrel nests) but apparently the harriers nest on wetland ground. Also positively identified a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers (I had only seen the female previously at our feeder; today saw the male as well in the park), a male Golden-crowned Kinglet, & American Tree Sparrows. Also there were bluebirds, catbirds, house sparrows, house finches, juncos, chickadees, cardinals, robins, etc. We have loved seeing the red-breasted nuthatches this year along with the white-breasted at our feeders. Yesterday I heard phoebes & yellow-throated vireos in Aman Park--the vireos always remind me of whistling for the dog. Also heard the bird which says (in my mind anyway), "hurdy-gurdy-gurdy', hurdy-gurdy-gurdy'" (emphasis on the last syllable)...if you can point me in the right direction to identify the bird from its call, let me know.

Tension

2008-03-26T11:19:00.002-04:00

March 26, 2008

I’ve been praying that I might be filled with Spirit instead of hatred and my own will. It’s a tough business when I feel so threatened. I still wish that Pat Parker were still alive to make me laugh. I miss her dreadfully some days.

It was great to see my aunt & uncle, cousins, youngest sister, brother-in-law, and nephews last Saturday. It was not great to see mom, but I mostly ignored her. “I wish you would be more compassionate” said my sister. But she doesn’t know what an effort I do make. It has been 7 years since I understood what my nightmares, anxieties, and body were telling me. My mom’s dementia is increasing and seems worse each time I see her. I still have nightmares after she phones and when I anticipate seeing her. I try to give myself extra care.

Many of our friends have been giving us extra love & concern. They are touchstones, landmarks in a murky landscape. I’m deeply grateful.

Winter Twigs

2008-03-26T11:16:00.000-04:00

March 5, 2008

I feel like the winter twigs—bare, leafless, hibernating. Not sensing God. Maybe a bud of hope will come again in the spring. Maybe I’ll find my heart again. Seems like parts of myself need repairing. I react to every barrier and criticism (whether perceived or real) by feeling overwhelmingly frustrated, and very young and powerless. I feel the weight of others’ expectations and needs as heavy burdens.

Pain & Fear

2008-03-26T11:15:00.002-04:00

February 27, 2008

I’ve been in so much pain and fear lately.

(Former?) friends: I’m still upset about a fellow who has taken the opportunity to tell me what a bad friend I’ve been over the 17+ years we’ve known each other, and that he wishes that my wife, sisters, other family members, friends, acquaintances, etc., weren’t so b*!@&y to him. I’m unwilling to put any energy or effort into trying to communicate with him further.

Family: I hate it when my mom calls.

General: I seem to feel paralyzed by decisions.

Post-Review Comment Form

2008-02-20T09:46:00.003-05:00

After it’s over for this year, here’s what I am struggling with: to feel my judgment and anger and express them creatively, through music, through writing, by getting out the crayons to scribble a picture of my feelings, through complaining (!). But not to let the feelings take me over, nor to feel ashamed by them. To remember that vengeance is not to be mine, that I don’t believe in the duality of enemies or hatred. To act with civility at the very least, with courtesy, with collegiality when possible.

How do I define courage in my job? Being present for the personnel reviews. Going into the classroom to teach, when I dread it each time. Courage is deciding to do these things anyway, and learning how to do them well. Preparing, practicing, learning techniques for asking clarifying questions and describing behaviors, providing encouragement, coping with the anxiety—mental, emotional, physical. Oh yes, spiritual. The last-gained, first-to-be-forgotten “leg” of sustainability.

What is sustainable economically, socially, environmentally? Spiritually?

Are personnel reviews, at 45 minutes for each person under review, for the 21 full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty present, financially sustainable? When do we split the process into sub-groups? Does it make more sense for only tenured faculty to participate?

Is public criticism sustainable socially? Is this our way of shaping our colleagues? Is it effective in creating a cohesive and collegial culture? What are the emotional costs?

What kind of carbon footprint does the process leave, literally? Items trashed but not recycled: styrofoam and plastic cups, plates, silverware. A lot of food was consumed nervously and compulsively, and probably unnecessarily.

And what of the spiritual? How does each of us cope with the urge to get revenge for perceived slights by the reviewee or reviewers? Do we wait for the Spirit to speak through us, do we bring intellectually-prepared statements, or some combination of both? How do we love our neighbor as ourselves (do we love ourselves at all!) during this time of high tension?

As usual, I have questions, not answers. However, I do think it is too bad that we rely on an ego-infected majority vote instead of practicing spirit-infused discernment.

Integrity

2008-02-15T05:54:00.003-05:00

What to do when the rules do not let you recuse yourself for conflict of interest?

My wife conducted herself gracefully in a difficult situation...she kept her calm, stuck to her plan, answered hard questions without a tremor in her voice, and accepted compliments graciously. I am so proud. She kept her dignity and acted with integrity. She is a good cataloger, a good librarian... she looks at and understands the big picture: librarians are educators. What she does is to make resources accessible (findable), balancing the restraints of time and energy against perfectionism. She finds ways to decrease the labor of her colleagues. She educates herself so as to be better at her specialty. She constantly consults colleagues in other libraries in order to make the best decisions possible for our situation. She admits her mistakes and tries hard to make things right with other people.

My sense of integrity feels tired and battered. I was present to support my wife; I did my best. Now I hope to find some sense of peace and forgiveness, but I tell you: the heavy bag took a hard beating last night. Yet I feel right about my decision.

Submission or Solidarity

2008-01-25T14:29:00.000-05:00

A friend wrote to me, both in response to something I said about having tried to find my way among the Seventh-day Adventists and a news item about Muslim women choosing to wear the head covering: "I totally don't understand making a choice to fit into a community that limits one's ability to grow, make choices, enforces submission for some over others. Does submission become a comfortable habit? Or is there a sense of safety and freedom in not having to make choices/take responsibility?"

The thing that I see emphasized in what I have been reading is that submission is a deliberate choice, made each and every day (and several times a day, some days--being neither a comfortable habit nor freedom from responsibility). Many religious writings, Quaker included, talk about submission to God being a conscious giving of oneself to God and giving up of one's ego-driven will--a deliberate and constant seeking for the inward "still small voice"--tempered by the community also seeking the will of God. So how we define "submission" varies! Some religious groups believe that women must submit to their husband's decisions. Yet liberal Quakers do not (nor do Adventists seem to). Wearing the head covering in conservative Christian and Jewish groups, along with wearing plain clothing, is seen as part of both following God's law and maintaining the sense of community. Maybe this is true also for Muslim women? And as with families--when one member is attacked by an outsider, isn't it usual for the others to show solidarity and a united front? Wouldn't re-claiming a visible identity be part of that?