Sunday, November 13, 2011

writing (in) contacts

Exigence for this post brought to you by my bi-annual attempt at wearing contact lenses. At first, I went to simply check my email. Then, I saw that only one loyal reader had stopped by kind of ... today, and then I realized how long it had been since I've written here. A-n-d ... to be honest, so much of my writing now happens in Final Cut Pro, Prezi, and other venues that enable multimodal texts to *resonate* rather than to *direct* or *impose* meaning that I am frankly uncomfy just now as i "write" ... so much so that i can't avoid wondering if this return to linear text-in-a-box-making isn't accompanied by the very discomfort that brand new writers (as in, grade school) experience when they first "learn" to produce linear text. Because, let's face it, up until then, they've likely been drawing on walls, sidewalks, in piles of cake frosting, on frosted mirrors, in the sand, ... and they've probably been "writing" with images, shapes, and gestures at expressing emotion, desire, exuberance, frustration, and so on. 

So but to keep on generating, I'll go with the lowest common denominator of writing exercises ... the "catching you up" list (it goes by other names too embarrassing to reproduce). So then, s
ince my trip to NYC for our panel at MobilityShifts, I have been trying to "restabilize" (as if), respond to student drafts and ongoing projects, and instigate new projects. Regarding the latter, these projects include: 
  1. Catching up with the E-Portfolios discussion as part of my work on the Gen Ed Committee on which I now serve. So far, I've generated a vast Prezi through which I am hoping to come to terms with the nature of the project, its history, scope, worries, and plans for evolution.
  2. Attempting to actually use Canvas to pilot a Canvas-embedded E-Portfolio in my current English 1010 class. This latter is mindfreakingly dull and a sort of timeslaking vortex of user unfriendliness (really? new input for each and every Learning Outcome, Outcome Grouping, and THEN a rubric?). No wonder faculty resist. Hopefully, though, my efforts will help us to tweak our system for user friendliness, but for now, I'm down in it.
  3. More inspirationally, my MoMLA installation for MLA 2012 ... the work continues, including a flurry of inspiration today ... flashes of heartshaking joy ... 
  4. Ongoing health tweaks (thyroid medication, "unmentionables," and, probably also in the category of "TMI," ; a new "toof" in the form of  incisor crown that is still pretty wonked out -- we refer to it as my "tusk" and are hoping my dentist will get me in this week to "refine" it. To tell the truth, who knew how traumatizing it could be to "lose" a near-front tooth? It is practically your FACE. no fun. On the bright side, my back therapy at the Wellness Center is keeping me sane and relatively unstricken w/ pain (can't quite say "pain free," but hey ...). Oh, and WINTER IS HERE ... which means one wicked cold/flu (so far), but also, ... fabulous coats and scarves and dramatic skies (all very good for my emotional health).
  5. Letters, grad school recommendations, more letters, travel requests, and so on.
So that's what I've got. I'm very excited about several projects, and I am grateful for my space, here, to keep me writing ... even "just" linear text, for it motivates me to get back to several lingering projects that long to rise (up above it).

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