Month: September 2014
Writing Challenge: A Tanka – In memory of my unknown grandfather
I tried to remember when, if ever, I have written a tanka, but the brief haiku always seemed to flow first.
Guardians of the Galaxy and Howard the Duck
Nostalgia is an entity that brings great happiness from the memory but when revisited may not still provide the same punch.
I have not read Howard the Duck comics nor have I watched the film, but I planned to do both after watching Guardians of the Galaxy – three times – in theaters. I am currently progressing through a compilation of Guardians of the Galaxy comics starring the original Guardians of the Galaxy and not the individuals portrayed in the film.
I am grateful to live in an age with technological advances so that I can find and consume copious amounts of electronic books and comics without lugging them about with me.
Before I saw Guardians of the Galaxy, the latest box office dreadnought from Marvel Entertainment, I read in the Huffington Post about a post-credit sequence featuring Howard the Duck. “As fans might remember,” the article pronounced, “”Howard the Duck” was first released in 1987, and would become a giant bust for Marvel and producer George Lucas.” But that’s not what I remember. What I remember is that Howard the Duck was an incredible comic book written by Steve Gerber, one of the only comics outside of Mad and Cracked magazines that I read as a boy.
I also remember that the Howard the Duck of the movie, the Howard the Duck who came from “Duckworld,” a dreadful place where no duck-themed pun was too low, the Howard the Duck who romped through second-rate science fiction in the name of anemic political satire, was the Howard the Duck of writer…
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I appreciate my students’ contributions from their laptops
My distracting laptop
I’ve updated this post after discussing the issue with my class.
I can think of no journalism professors I admire more than Clay Shirky and Jay Rosen. But I (so far) disagree with them on the subject of whether to allow students to use laptops and mobile devices during class.
Clay has explained in a blog post why he bans computers from his classroom. Jay chimed in his agreement:
Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away https://t.co/WG3EOCaGW8 by @cshirky. I’ve come to the same place.
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) September 10, 2014
They both have notably more classroom experience than I do, and they might be right. I encourage you to read Clay’s full explanation and won’t try to summarize it here, but he cites research about how multitasking can interfere with learning.
My limited experience is different. I was very…
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The Cycle
Apparently the easiest way to start blogging again is to say you’re done blogging. Kind of like writing. Kind of like running. Kind of like everything. Last time I said “I’m done with men!” I got married. See how it works? Anyway. Yesterday. The whole Ray Rice video thing. And here I am.
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When I was 16, my high school boyfriend backhanded me across the face, with a beer bottle in his hand. We were in his baby blue car, on our way to his house, and his father was the first to look up from watching golf on TV and notice my newly forming bruise, the swelling next to my eye. His father lost it. My boyfriend cowered and slunk down to the basement; his dad, apologetic about his son, drove me home.
It was never mentioned again.
But we dated for another year. Because, of course, I “loved”…
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