Archive Fever

Somewhere Over Montana

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:33:00 +0000

In my effort to profile up and coming airplane poets, I present the latest by chinook...I believe in her.

Somewhere Over Montana

Somewhere over Montana: over Bozeman, just south of Missoula (waves at Jeff). Crossing into Idaho shortly…

Ground speed 466mph

Headwind 78mph

36,000 feet.

One hour 12 minutes left in flight.

Reflection on Presentations

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 01:20:00 +0000

Ok, think back to last week's presentations. What particular presentations still remain with you, that is which ones are memorable? Why so? A presentation may stick out in your memory because it was "good" or "bad"...share accordingly. Please give some details, and maybe even respond to one of your classmates as they remark on presentations that impacted them.

Response for Thursday 3/29

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:24:00 +0000

Briefly describe similarities that you see (or would have like to have seen) in the two articles, "Mapping Everyday" and "Indigenous Resistance". Feel free to expand/expound on themes introduced by others on this post.

In-Class Writing 3-8-12

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Read Bill McKibben’s blog post at http://tinyurl.com/7yav953.

Next, identify one sentence that seems to characterize a main point that Mckibben is trying to get across to readers. Write this sentence below.

With this sentence in mind, answer the following two questions in 1-2 sentences each. Post your remarks to the class blog or use the space below to do this.

Who is MciKibben’s intended audience (or audiences)? What statements or characteristics exist in the blog post or blog that suggest this audience?

In what ways do you find McKibben’s argument to be compelling (or not)?

Where did the trees go?

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:46:00 +0000

What are we educating for? And, how do we answer simple questions?

Peace and Consciousness

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:29:00 +0000

I love the holidays. Yesterday I saw three different people cut off an elderly woman three different times for three different parking spots AND at least two of the perpetrators saw the others ace this woman. The older woman was waiting for a parking spot at a local shopping area in Carrboro, NC. I actually said something to the last person who snaked her and the response (she was a college-age female) was that she was "here" before the woman was. Of course, there was a parking/security guard watching all of this; he intimated to me that his role was to make sure cars did not get broken in to, not to regulate traffic. Now for context, this is a very small lot (maybe 60 spaces) in a small "progressive" town next to Chapel Hill. The stores there are anchored by a local co-op (i.e., Weaver Street), an outdoor shop, and a fusion restaurant that's owned by the co-op's president. I could go on and on about these places and what irks me about them, but I won't. Suffice it to say that this is quite often thought of as a spot where "hippies", "liberals", and "individuals" hang out. From my experience it is local grocery store for wealthy residents of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, as well as a culturally sanitized space for white college kids to try their neo-liberal starter kits out.

For all practical purposes, it's a consumptive space with attendant ethos and consciousness. It's not anti-hegemonic and it's actually quite normative. Everyone gets along if they make purchases, don't feed the birds, and don't dance on the grass (I'm serious about this one). And, I'm not really sure why it's called a co-op, other than "members" occasionally get discounts on wine tastings and baked goods overstock. Shopping for holiday gifts amps the neo-liberal penchant for consumption just like everyone else, only the gifts are "green", expensive, and destroy resources "sustainably". It's still a violent act and attitude.

What would be a peaceable and peaceful alternative? And, how might a consciousness that's different spring to life in place of what we've got? Quite possibly, it has to happen in schools and other institutions (though these are still apparati of the dominate culture)...again, back to my question of "What are we educating for?". Nel Noddings' new book, Peace Education: How We Come to Love and Hate War, is an incisive treatise on the very psychosis that consumer culture gives us. I'd extend her analysis to suggest that this system of relating to others, the world around us, and the environment pretty much sets our consciousness up so that all there is to do is to objectify, consume, and desecrate. Philosophically, epistemologically rather, the frenzy/frustration/panic that makes one snake parking spots, flip drivers the bird (I got that one today too), rape, kill, ignore genocide, and bomb multiple countries simultaneously is the same consciousness that makes the ideological systems of our world function. It also makes us OK with destruction of the environment and the very land base that supports us.

Just some afternoon thoughts and ruminations as I try to figure different ways to be, and to think through what curriculum should be doing. More peaceable attitudes seems like a better inclusion than learning how to cite in APA format or what new ways tablet computing can be using to support digital humanities. Grinch out.

Consciousness

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:07:00 +0000

I start with a simple question: What sort of consciousness does it take to change the world? Yes, we need a changed world, now. But, too, what sort of consciousness has it taken at various times throughout time and space? And, how might we map such paradigmatic shifts in thought onto current times? One could even posit that, with 2012 mere days away (and 12/21/12 about a year away), this is an extremely apropos time for such meditations and (conscious) actions.

For me, it's this critical preoccupation with the environment and the ruin we are currently inflicting upon it. But, too, one can't simply say I want to stop environmental and ecological violence but neglect other atrocities (that are most always inextricably linked to our assault on the natural world and non-human others). It's a matter of social justice, if you will, where one cannot choose to dismantle certain forms of oppression (e.g., racism) while letting other forms of oppression slide (e.g., sexism). It's all things at once, all directions at the same time...better yet, seven generations forward and back...all our relations.

All that said, what would be the practice, beliefs, and texts and that would make this happen? What would not be? For me, pretty much everything our dominant culture is doing currently falls in to the "don't do this" category. Historically, there were other ways of being and ways of knowing that seemed more sustainable, but there were transformations or cataclysms or colonizing/colonializing that shifted or obliterated these paradigms. In broads strokes the eraser was imperialism and materialisitc conquest, but there' s a deeper seed---one that maybe was created to support imperial pursuits or vice versa. That seed is ideological in nature and had the effect of committed violence upon cultures and religions, peoples, non-human others, our natural world and its possibilities. This ideological seed (e.g., rationalism, Christianity, etc.) became a consciousness, a pathos, a contemporary compulsively destructive and violent psyche. It's a consciousness that will end us, probably sooner than later, if there's not some rerouting.

For next few blog posts, I'll try my hand at ruminating on how we might alter our consciousness and I'm open...I'm open.

Sustainability Polls and End of the Semester Iterations

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:52:00 +0000

It's the end of the semester and my dutiful students are crafting their final research papers analyzing behavior and environment. Supposedly all eyes are trained on how students' chosen environments might be made better, maybe even "sustainable" (for whatever that word means now and in the future). To that end I came across this article in the Oregonian and am wondering what thoughts may be.

I like it because of the slouching toward social science inquiry (our final course unit). There's a poll to assess the effectiveness of the Rose City's sustainability efforts...some of my students have used similar survey methodologies themselves and I'm interested in their comments.

Some Impromptu Iterations on Eco-Spirituality

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:41:00 +0000

Eco-spirituality is a problematic moniker. It's construction intimates a (false) partition between spirituality and the environment...which, to me, seems quite bogus. I would assert that for any spirituality to be viable, just, and essentially "good" it must include (maybe even privilege) the ecological/environment.

Brand and Big Tent Environmentalism

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:48:00 +0000

Stewart Brand has always been an environmental thought leader and progressive iconoclast. In this video he suggests a shift in the environmentalists' dogmatic approach, and describes a process of reasonable debate and experimentation. His iconoclastic proposals include transitioning to nuclear energy and ecosystem engineering, and are sure to provoke widespread debate. He has helped define the collaborative, data-sharing, forward-thinking world in which we live. Brand is the founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, the Global Business Network, the Long Now Foundation and the Well. Check this out!

Thoughts on 1491 (10/17/11 HW)

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:24:00 +0000

What is Charles C. Mann's central premise in his article, 1491? Provide a quote to illuminate your response. And, to wit, what does Mann's article suggest about the state of what we have historically considered (Western) knowledge? What is the relationship between scientific revolution and re-evaluation of Western knowledge and "development" (compared to the pre-Columbian Americas)? Feel free to suggest or link to outside sources or web sites.

Ill-Informed on Climate Change? What up, yo?

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Why do Americans still resist the consensus among research organizations that humans are warming the globe. Check out this piece in Scientific American...it's a good example for our upcoming unit. Make some notes on belief in science, etc. OR post a comment below.

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Bill & Dave

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:24:00 +0000

Bill and Dave...

Colorado and Environmental Literacy

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:07:00 +0000

This seems really cool, and much needed. Colorado has an environmental literacy plan, a coordinated strategy between PreK-12 teachers, environmental education providers, and leaders that aims to:

Restore and increase field experiences as part of the school curriculum
Improve state-wide access to existing environmental education programs and materials
Make connections with Colorado Academic Standards and 21^st Century Skills to support classroom instruction
Create opportunities for enhanced and ongoing professional development of educators

Willie Nelson and Non-Factory Farmed Carnitas

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Willie Nelson covering Coldplay for Chipoltle....cool and weirdly unsettling at the same time. All that said, it is basically good music, (really) nice animation, and shoots for a the supremely reasonable cause of eliminating factory farms.

Derrick Jensen Video (8/25 HW)

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:13:00 +0000

So, what do you think? Like? Dislike? Are there points that you dislike, but seem to be good points? Why do you feel this way? Post remarks below.

In Class Writing 8-25-11

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:23:00 +0000

Directions:

Read Bill McKibben’s blog post at: http://tinyurl.com/ydxo5v6 .

Next, identify one sentence that seems to characterize a main point that Mckibben is trying to get across to readers. Write this sentence below.

With this sentence in mind, answer the following two questions in 1-2 sentences each. Post your remarks to the class blog or use the space below to do this.

• Who is MciKibben’s intended audience (or audiences)? What statements or characteristics exist in the blog post or blog that suggest this audience?

• In what ways do you find McKibben’s argument to be compelling (or not)?

What questions do you have after reading the article?

Jedi Sincerity

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:22:00 +0000

Panel on Clean Energy Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:51:00 +0000

A worthwhile view...below blurb excerpted from energyNOW!

energyNOW! Correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan moderates a discussion on clean energy innovation with Grist.org's David Roberts, McKinstry CEO Dean Allen, Ross Macfarlane of Climate Solutions and Bill Rebozo of GridPoint. The event was co-sponsored by energyNOW and Grist.org.
Panelists discussed topics including the definition of clean energy, whether government can spur innovation in energy, the reliability of various energy sources and the smart grid. They also took some questions from the audience.

Video for Climate Change and Natural Disasters-Make the Connection

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:32:00 +0000

Circulated by Onward Oregon, please watch...

Rushkoff at WebVisions 2011 Jousting the Hegemon

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:10:00 +0000

WebVisions was over a month ago, but Rushkoff's talk is still apropos. Critical theorists out there you'll note the fellow traveler in Rushkoff's rant. You'll also note that he missteps in thinking that there can exist an easily identifiable counter-hegemony, one that he (critical theorist that he is) can "see" completely. Envision the fatal flaw of my beloved critical theory paradigm here, but swoon anyway.

Gary Snyder and "text"

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:07:00 +0000

On a more useful notion of text for these times:

“One of the formal criteria of humanistic scholarship is that it be concerned with the scrutiny of texts. A text is information stored through time. The stratigraphy of rocks, layers of pollen in a swamp, the outward expanding circles in the trunk of a tree, can be seen as texts. The calligraphy of rivers winding back and forth over the land leaving layer upon layer of traces of previous riverbeds is text.” (p. 71)

Snyder, G. (2003). The practice of the wild: Essays. Washington, DC: Shoemaker & Hoard.

Tom Cruise's Passion for Pedagogy

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:15:00 +0000

Tom Cruise...critical composition pedagogue!

Thoughts on Theory and Messy Penpersonship

noreply@blogger.com (hilltaylor@unc.edu) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:29:00 +0000

I'd be interested to see an outline of proposed social science inquiry based on this chicken scratch...non-industrially farmed, of course.