Rabbit-Proof Fence

We finally got around to watching Rabbit-Proof Fence last night - it’s been sitting by the TV for over a week (thankfully, Dais has Netflix so we weren’t in any rush). Though it didn’t strike me as great, I enjoyed it; the actors, for the most part, were little-known (which is refreshing) and did a very good job. The story, based on a true story, is quite fascinating - though I mostly was irritated by the condescension and closed-mindedness of Mr. Neville (played by Kenneth Branagh)… but I suppose that’s the point.

To summarize, over 75 years ago Australia adopted a policy of “caring” for the half-caste (read half-white) children being born to the aborigines. This policy effectively gave the aforementioned Mr. Neville the legal power to remove them from their families and “civilize” them. They were placed in an internment camp with other young half-caste children and it was run quite strictly (in the movie, at least, by nuns). The heart of the movie revolves around a girl’s attempt to return to her home - over 1500 miles away - on foot, with her sister and cousin (the eldest was 14). The rabbit-proof fence of the title is what makes this possible, as it stretches nearly the entire length of the land in an effort to separate the ballooning rabbit population from Australian farmland.

Thinking about my reaction to this movie has reminded me of something M-mv blogged about recently. She said, “I hate writing, I love having written.” Now, in all fairness, she clarified that what she really hates is having to write, but my point is this: I sometimes don’t feel in the mood to watch some movies, but I love having seen them. I guess I’m sort of a cataloger - I want to know it all and see it all, even though perhaps it’s not the most interesting or exciting thing out there.

…and STILL so little time!

Way back at the beginning, I confessed that I do the procrastination thing and, as you can probably tell from my three blog entries today, I’m very, very busy! 

One of the ways I cope with stress is to clean my In-Box.  Before I began this cleaning session, I had accrued 30 “New” messages (mostly these are old ones that I leave new so I remember to do something with them) as well as other, less-important “keepers” that I leave in the In-Box, yet labeled “Read”.  Am I confusing you, yet?  It works well, yet gets unwieldy once I reach a critical mass of about 60 messages lounging around.

Anyhow, in the process of cleaning I come across this list pointed out to me by my brother that I would absolutely LOVE to read, yet have practically no time for at the moment…  and I think to myself “Self, what are you going to do here?  Are you going to archive this message and never again peruse this list (unthinkable!)?  Are you going to leave it cluttering your life (and, consequently, providing fuel for more episodes of distractability)?  A-ha!  You’re going to blog it, so that it’s preserved for posterity’s sake!” And here we are, folks…

okay - I’d really better get back to writing my Geometry test.

Doomsday Book

I haven’t read this in a while, but just wanted to sort of comment-at-a-distance re: M-mv’s blog entry on this book. I do remember thoroughly enjoying it - I enjoyed imagining the period involved (the Middle Ages, specifically the time of the Black Plague), and I just love sci-fi in general. On the other hand, a friend to whom I recommended the book was less than impressed, so it’s good to see a positive reaction.

Interestingly, I just got my wife to read To Say Nothing of the Dog (also by Willis) and it seems like she might be enjoying it, though not nearly as much as I did. I guess it just means that my tastes are a bit out of the mainstream (I’m figuring my wife to be more of a mainstream reader than myself). However, while I’m on the topic of Willis, I also remember really enjoying (what I think was) a short story, entitled Blue Moon. If you get a chance (and like sci-fi), check it out.

addendum: while double-checking my facts (that Blue Moon truly is a short story), I discovered that another short story exists (Fire Watch) that also deals with time-traveling Oxfordians (Oxforders?). I’ll have to give it a try.

Deliberate Practice

I’ve written before about this topic, both here and here, but I thought this article from Freakonomics relates well and shows that the process of becoming expert at something can apply as easily to sports as it can to music or chess.

And it was good for me to revisit this concept - too often the day-to-day grind wears away at the idea that “effortful study” can outweigh natural talent, and the feeling that I’m struggling against the tide sets in.  But, according to this concept, it’s the effort that my students put in that matters most!

Drumroll, please…

The man (er, blog…) formerly known as ‘Nice Dais’, is now simply known as ‘Dais‘.  Not that any of you necessarily know him, but there it is.  You might want to give it a gander from time to time.

His first post (in this incarnation) is a rant against crappy textbooks.  Repercussio, you might just have some insight into that.

Trippy

Can you imagine walking through your daily routine and stumbling across this?  Half of me wishes I was on the improv side (to be in the know, observing all the reaction), while half of me wishes I could capture the feeling of oddity at trying to figure out just what was going on.

Either way, I think it was a great idea!

Discipline

So I asked a girl to move to her assigned seat today… she was one seat removed (and thus occupying someone else’s seat), and apparently this was just too much to be asked of her.  She instantly blew up - complaining, muttering under her breath, and in general just causing a stink because of my temerity.

I caught the words “…only one tripping about these stupid-ass seats…,” and quickly realized that this was only going to grow worse (Not to mention, I would soon lose my temper right back.  Not a pretty picture.) , so I told her she should leave.  Standard protocol calls for me to fill out paperwork and process her through our in-house detention, but this class is full of a dozen more just like her who will lose it if I don’t keep them occupied every waking moment.  So I just let her disappear and trust she’ll not get into too much trouble, wherever she’s going.

As she walks by me, she’s still muttering - I catch, “… your four-eyed ass.”  Well, that makes me feel better.

I’ll process her on Monday (now that I’ve had a moment’s silence to process the requisite paperwork) and hopefully will have a day or two more sans said student.  But I’m wondering if I can somehow keep her out until I get an apology.  I mean, she just lit into me like I’d verbally assaulted her or something.

The funny thing is (and I don’t mean hilarious)  that I just had another incident with her earlier this week (milder, however) and tried to explain to her that she should keep silent until she’s calmer and then discuss with me whatever has her so irate.  Somehow, I’m figuring she didn’t catch my drift.

TGIF?  I wish it was summer!

A Cravat Caveat

I recently noted an article dealing with a dress-code for academia…

and then came across this.  It almost (almost, I said) makes ties worth it…  for a day or so, I figure.

George Lucas In Love

A number of years ago, while searching for that one gift that Stephen would a) enjoy and b) not already have, I stumbled across this great little short film. I bought it for him, we watched it (and I loved it), but then I eventually forgot about it… until today. Somehow I got off-topic in my Calculus class (not uncommon - they’re good kids, and make for good conversation) and I was reminded of a math course I took once in which my professor tried to make the tests a little light-hearted by spicing up the word problems. This may sound rather lame or geeky, but

Shoot the Man Who Invented Neckties

I’m actually going to post this in reverse of how I discovered it. I came across this article suggesting that college professors pay more attention to their level of dress, which alone makes for a pretty interesting read. I’ve always been of the opinion that if clothes are having an effect on the learning going on in a given class, then there’s a deeper problem somewhere. I can recall many courses with quite casually-dressed profs that I enjoyed, learned a great deal from, and never once questioned the “authority” of my instructor. In fact, in some circumstances, I’d say that I enjoyed seeing professors “dressing down”, just because it humanized them a bit.