Reading Week

I spent the majority of my Spring Break at Yuriko's house in Reading. Unfortunately, Penn State Berks already had its break, so Yuriko had to work during the day. Still, it was nice to be able to see her every evening and not to have to make the hour-long drive up from West Chester every other day. I tried to make myself useful while she was at work -- walking the dog, taking the recyclables to the recycling center, grocery shopping, cooking, washing dishes -- all manner of manly tasks.

The big challenge was introducing my cat (Tess) to Yuriko's dog and cat (Baylor and Darcy, respectively). We tried to do it gradually. Tess was set up with her own private room in the front of the house, separated from the other animals and the rest of the house by a gate. After everyone was used to everyone else's sent, we tried allowing a little more interaction. When the gate was removed, Baylor made his way toward Tess, hoping to get a better sniff. She felt threatened, hissed, and made a really weird, deep growly-type noise. This prompted Baylor to become a little more aggressive, and he lunged at her, barking. She stood her ground, wacked him with her claws, and then bolted. Baylor snapped his jaw at her as she fled, but no one was hurt. Tess spent the next few hours hiding under Yuriko's bed. I finally lured her out with some food and got her back into her private room, with the gate restored.

Darcy and Tess never had so dramatic a confrontation. Tess clearly didn't want to have anything to do with her, either, but Darcy was willing to check her curiosity and concede to Tess some personal space. The two cats seemed happy enough to leave each other alone. Baylor, however, really wanted to get back into Tess's sanctuary. I let him back in a couple times, but carefully supervised. Tess was still not happy, and she kept on hissing when he got too close. Will they ever be friends? Seems doubtful, but you never know. What is certain is that it will take longer than one week. Anyone out there have any suggestions for introducing an old cat to an old dog, both of whom seem pretty set in their ways and resistant to change?

If the weather had been nicer, I would have taken Baylor for some long walks in the woods. There are some big county and state parks outside of Reading that I am eager to explore. Most of the week, however, was pretty chilly and damp, so I stayed inside more than I would have liked. I caught up on my grading and blog-reading, filed my taxes, and read Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the novel that inspired the Showtime TV series Dexter. I've been fascinated by this show for a little over a year, so I was excited to check out the book that it was based on. Surprisingly, I now think that the TV show is better than the book. Usually it's the other way around, right? The book is not bad -- and many of the things I love about the show are also present in the book (and they were in the book first), but I really think the show improved upon the strengths of the book in interesting ways. I love the inventiveness of the book's basic idea -- feeding America's appetite for serial killers and vigilantes with the same character -- but the show develops many of the supporting characters in much more interesting ways, and it also has better dialogue than the book.

One last note about my break -- Yuriko and I took a couple fun day trips. One was just to King of Prussia, which might not sound too exciting, but it was my first time there. Ooh, and I bought a vest! I'll try to remember to show it off soon. We also took a day trip to New York, which was a lot of fun. An aunt of mine, who is a painter and photographer, had an opening at a gallery on the lower east side. We went to her show, which was really cool, and also did some other fun things: walked along the High Line (a park converted from an old elevated train line), visited the FIT Museum, and had 2 delicious meals (crepes for lunch, Indian curry for dinner).

This weekend we are taking a slightly bigger trip, to Charlottesville, VA, leaving Friday and returning Sunday. I hope it's a little warmer there!

The Enemy Within

Peter King, a Congressman from Long Island, New York, has rekindled a controversial debate over the place of Islam in America. This debate was ongoing for much of 2010, especially in regard to the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque," and the extremist preacher (from Florida I think) who was threatening to burn copies of the Koran. The issues raised then are resurfacing now that King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has arranged a series of hearings to investigate the radicalization of mosques in the United States.

According to the NY Times, King has recently asserted that "85% of leaders of American mosques hold extremist views and that Muslims do not cooperate with law enforcement." Critics of King (myself included) find such statements alarming, not because we fear his claims are accurate (there is no evidence to suggest they are), but because such talk is likely to intensify already dangerous levels of Islamophobia in American culture. This "othering" of American Muslims attempts to undermine the very meaning of the phrase "American Muslim" and the identity of those who fall in that category by implying that to be a Muslim is to be peculiarly vulnerable to un-American sensibilities.

This week, my students in ENG 100 are turning in critical analysis essays in which they respond to and critique works of opinion journalism. I'd love to know what your thoughts are on the opinion pieces written about Congressman King's hearings. I'm sure there are a bunch out there, but here are a couple from mainstream American news sources: CNN and FoxNews.

Yoga Matt

Apologies to any of my students who have been checking this thing, wondering why their professor, who constantly harasses them to update their blogs each week, hasn't done so himself. In my defense I have only the lame excuse that I've been really busy--but at least I've been doing a good job of reading blogs. After all, I do have about 50 of them to check on every week.

Not only have I been putting off blogging, but I've also not been exercising very much this semester. Aside from a few dancing lessons with Yuriko, I've been living a rather sedentary life. I keep saying to myself that spring will be here soon enough, and then I can take my bike out of my closet and put some miles on it. But carrying that attitude through January and February has not done much for me. That was clear enough when I tried to get through a 90 minute Yoga class last night. Granted, since I had never done Yoga before, it was probably going to be a struggle anyway, but hitting the mat for the first time at my most out-of-shape didn't make things any easier. Overall, I really enjoyed it--I was sore and exhausted afterward, but in the best possible way. It made me think I should have been doing this all winter.

As for life on-the-job, my Comp I students are finishing up their "critical analysis" papers, in which they must write a 1,000 word rebuttal to a recently published piece of opinion journalism. For many students, the first step--finding an article that they feel they can intelligently dispute--presented quite a struggle. The problem was not a lack of material or a lack of critical intelligence, but rather a widespread feeling of being uninformed about world events, politics, and current public issues. Many of these students have admirably taken the initiative to read up on an issue or two, and I applaud them for it. "If you don't know enough to write a rebuttal," I keep saying, "find out more about it!" College is as good a time as any to figure out what is going on in the world around you. I'm not about to tell my students what issues to care about or what to think about the issues they do care about, but I feel it is my obligation to encourage them to care about something--something bigger than their personal lives--and to reflect on its importance, to research its complexity, and to articulate an informed perspective on it.

This brings me to a final point. I've recently signed up for my first academic committee here at DCCC. The committee, called the "Academic Renewal Committee," will be trying to reform the college's general education requirements. I know many students feel frustrated with their gen-eds, and they often wish they had the freedom to take whichever classes they want. In light of that, I hope we can reformulate the gen-eds in a way that will more closely fit students' needs and make these classes more meaningful for everyone. If any of my students are reading this and want to comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the issue. What kinds of courses--if any--do you think ought to be required for all DCCC students in order to graduate?