his master's voice

today in my classes the students were reading an essay by maya angelou title, "champion of the world." it's taken from i know why the caged bird sings, and is about listening in a group to joe louis fight.

in the essay she uses the phrase "master's voice" in an apparent allusion to the old rca promotional slogan "his master's voice" featuring the dog sitting and listening to the old timey phonograph. anyway, i had the students answering a question about the phrase and its context in the story. as the students were discussing it became apparent that some were familiar with the ad, and some were probably even unfamiliar with rca as a company. for the sake of disclosure, i actually own an rca television, but i'm not sure they're still making them.

during my second class i decided to draw the ad to aid their discussion:



so, i was an art major in college, but i was working with white board markers, and wasn't all that concerned with perfection. however, when i started drawing the dog i realized that i didn't really know how to draw a good dog. i put up what i thought might look like the dog in the ad, but when i looked at the finished product it reminded me more of a chihuahua.


i also thought i'd share a pic i took last night. rademacher played @ audie's olympic for free, and i had been told they'd be playing around ten. i thought it would make for a nice evening. unfortunately, rademacher didn't actually go on until 11:43. the good thing was that it was a really nice set. and, a song that that has felt pretty slow and dragging during recent sets, arkansas, popped up in pace. not quite as fast as it appears on the live album, but maybe a hair faster or at pace as it is on stunts. overall good set. the picture is eli's new drum head (adam bought it) that features a print of animal from the muppets on it that i screened. looked pretty good in the club, if i do say so myself.

not my class but i want to kill someone

so, as some have gathered, i don't have a class currently @ one of my jobs, so i'm on a "vacation" for five weeks (this is week 3 of it). but, that doesn't mean i'm not working. i'm doing a bunch of sub work, mostly in what's called the student center. it's a computer lab where students can work on papers, get help with math & english work, etc. but, it's also used by classes for lab time.

due to this, i get to watch the interaction between instructors and their students. one particular instructor has a very different class management style than i do, and that's fine. but, some of his students treat him with such disrespect that i want to slap them. really. i've mostly bit my tongue, but today a particular student got the best of me.

he came to class an hour late, and then went to use the restroom. then, he basically sat and did nothing while he pretended to work. as the instructor explained an upcoming paper, he asked what double space was. is it pressing space twice after each word or each line?

i had enough. okay, i actually had enough when he came to class and then announced he was going to the restroom. i challenged him with, "really, you come to class late and then go to the restroom?" so when he asked about double space i asked him if he really didn't know. he said he didn't because he doesn't use windows. he uses mac. to which i explained that double space is pretty much the academic format for everyone, everywhere. windows, mac, doesn't matter.

so, instead of jumping up and trying to kill this fool, i'm blogging about it.

so, if i don't pick up the phone

it's getting hectic. well, as least for a few days.

today and tomorrow i'm teaching a weekend class.
next week is the final week of the term for my j.c. class - this means a paper, a final, and a bunch of scrambling by students.
next week is also the naia national championships for track. so, we're going to have our hands full as we finish prepping for the event. i'm in charge of weights & measures again, so i'll be spending almost all of wednesday through saturday over at the track.

but, when the week is all done, it's a whole lot of free time on my hands. i don't have another weekend class until mid-june. i'm not teaching @ the j.c. for the next 5 weeks, although i'll be doing some sub duties. and, track will be done for the year.

what's happening

tonight is the last night of teaching in my 6 wk evening course for the university. it's gone pretty well. so, now i've got 4 upcoming weekend course between now & july for them.

but, next week i'll start teaching 2 courses in the mornings for the jc during the next 5 weeks.

and we've still got track season going on. wtf = women's track and field, not whatever jay thought it meant.

and my bike is over 1100 miles now.

unexpected blossoms on the flower

last night was a very good night for me. first of all, it was the end of a term that i was teaching. so, i knew i would be finishing up my current night class. i didn't mind teaching nights, but i know i prefer to sit at home at night and watch tv with my wife.
the next thing that had me excited was my impending art show. i always enjoy art shows, but this one would be different. it was my first group show, as well as first show without serving wine. these both bring different dynamics. for a solo show, i know that if people come in, they're only seeing my stuff, and i don't have to feel like i'm rushing them, or stopping them from seeing other artists. with the wine, i usually hang out near the wine because i know people will go there. it's an automatic entrance for me to say, hey, i'm the artist, would you like some wine? do you have any questions? so, i knew this would be a different challenge.
so, as the night went on, i tried to force myself to interject myself into people's conversations to let them know that, yes, this was my work and i'd be happy to answer any questions. you may not know this, but this isn't the easiest thing for me to do. i love talking to, and meeting new people, i just hate having to introduce myself. i prefer someone else to say, "hey, this is ed, blah blu ble blah blah." then, i'll talk all night or whatever. but, i just tend to stand @ the edge of the crowd if i've got to introduce myself.
fortunately, i introduced myself to the right two people. within a few seconds, i had answered a question or two, and then they hit me with the good stuff. "i'd like to buy that piece."



sold! this is a piece titled drip. it's oil on wood, i think it's 6" 18" (i should know the dimensions but whatever).

this is my newest piece, and frankly, i wouldn't have thought it would sold before pieces that i enjoy more, and maybe think are better. but it did. so, this was the first unexpected blossom.

the next blossom came later in the evening. after my show, i went to work. the class finished up well, i entered my grades and what not, and was out. next on the agenda was a little show @ tokyo garden. every month, rademacher and a few other bands play. so, i try to check it out, i love live music. anyway, the show had some problems and i came home before rademacher actually went on. i figured i'd check my email one last time on the night while watching some kimmel. booyah! blossom number 2.
i've mentioned it before, i'll be teaching this semester @ the university i attended, and i was pretty excited about this. but, i thought i may only have one or possible two classes. in my email was a lovely little notice, four classes! three of them are two unit courses, and the other is a 4 unit. so, i've got some work scheduled between now and mid-june. and, it looks like only one will interfere with my job as an assistant track coach.

good stuff to go to sleep to.