Ben, you are only right on fleek with the pop culture! Man, I've been looking at that dress all morning. I don't think it's even a dress! Can't reach Terry for 2 days. Not answering his email or his Skype. It's not like him. His last email was despondent about the page. I just looked at the stats and February already is the biggest month since the reboot last September, 130,000+ views. But he says he gets no mail at all. Poor bastard.
Fuck you, Cal, you worrywart. I'm fine. But there's no mail and we went 14 hours yesterday without a comment. I have a hard time motivating myself to keep it going because it's simply not being used. I saw the hit counter, too, and you're right. But it's just folks checking for content. I promised I wasn't just going to put links up and create material. As most have surmised, I put up mascots, maps, and poorly designed memes just so that the days aren't empty.
Ben said something a couple of days ago about blog traffic and the fragmented nature of it all, and I think he's right. It's not 2005 anymore, you know? And in my conversations over the years with Cal, I KNOW I cannot put the kind of time he put in to the RYS years. Nor can I be as thoughtful as Fab or as driven as Les. So, it is what it is, and that's about it.
It may be dead, as least compared to what it once was, but nobody should shed a tear. It's quite an odd accomplishment. Go back to RYS and the early years of CM and see the number of voices who got to speak. If you only think about this year, it seems like a tiny group, but we were a multitude when it was busy. I hope it had some impact on some faculty; I know it changed lots of people and how they viewed the profession. It changed me.
Hiram wrote me one day last year and summed up everything: "This is the only place I can be totally who I am, Hiram the Misanthropic Proffie who loves the job as much as the job hates him."
Terry P.
(If anyone cares, I'm within 6 months of the end of my fucking sabbatical. I've accomplished nothing. And I'm okay with that.)
Does anybody ever accomplish anything on sabbatical, other than, maybe, recovering from everything (s)he had to do to get the sabbatical. I know it happens sometimes (historiann seems to be having a pretty good one), but I suspect it's rare. I suspect the best-case scenario for many people is returning from sabbatical with enough energy to juggle working on their "sabbatical" project and their regular duties for however many years it takes to finish the darn thing (and, if one has tenure, returning with enough energy to face one's regular duties probably counts as a win).
But what do I know? I've never taken a sabbatical, and quite possibly never will. Which is yet another reason I appreciate your giving up part of yours to keep this place going, Terry. Hope you're having at least some fun. Don't let the stat counter/comment count get you down.
The students' surroundings are getting blurrier. I don't know whether that's supposed to represent her state of mind, or the graphics are simply degrading in keeping with CM tradition.
And I still think that's my campus, even though I know it isn't.
Although, come to think of it, there's more than one student in the picture. But I, like Hiram, was fixated on the central figure, so it's still wrong.
This blog is not dead. Dead things don't make me laugh like Frod's last comment did. I'm sorry I don't pull my weigjt around here by contributing more.
What is real? Looking at someone you like, only to catch him having been looking at you and quickly looking away. And slowly coming to acknowledge, wordlessly, that you're looking at each other. That's real.
(People of other preferences or genders, substitute the personal pronouns of your choice.)
When you hear the click of the handcuffs and feel the cold steel on your skin, that is real.
ReplyDeleteIt's black and blue.
ReplyDeleteBen, you are only right on fleek with the pop culture! Man, I've been looking at that dress all morning. I don't think it's even a dress! Can't reach Terry for 2 days. Not answering his email or his Skype. It's not like him. His last email was despondent about the page. I just looked at the stats and February already is the biggest month since the reboot last September, 130,000+ views. But he says he gets no mail at all. Poor bastard.
DeleteHe's probably too busy watching llama videos.
DeleteFuck you, Cal, you worrywart. I'm fine. But there's no mail and we went 14 hours yesterday without a comment. I have a hard time motivating myself to keep it going because it's simply not being used. I saw the hit counter, too, and you're right. But it's just folks checking for content. I promised I wasn't just going to put links up and create material. As most have surmised, I put up mascots, maps, and poorly designed memes just so that the days aren't empty.
DeleteBen said something a couple of days ago about blog traffic and the fragmented nature of it all, and I think he's right. It's not 2005 anymore, you know? And in my conversations over the years with Cal, I KNOW I cannot put the kind of time he put in to the RYS years. Nor can I be as thoughtful as Fab or as driven as Les. So, it is what it is, and that's about it.
It may be dead, as least compared to what it once was, but nobody should shed a tear. It's quite an odd accomplishment. Go back to RYS and the early years of CM and see the number of voices who got to speak. If you only think about this year, it seems like a tiny group, but we were a multitude when it was busy. I hope it had some impact on some faculty; I know it changed lots of people and how they viewed the profession. It changed me.
Hiram wrote me one day last year and summed up everything: "This is the only place I can be totally who I am, Hiram the Misanthropic Proffie who loves the job as much as the job hates him."
Terry P.
(If anyone cares, I'm within 6 months of the end of my fucking sabbatical. I've accomplished nothing. And I'm okay with that.)
Does anybody ever accomplish anything on sabbatical, other than, maybe, recovering from everything (s)he had to do to get the sabbatical. I know it happens sometimes (historiann seems to be having a pretty good one), but I suspect it's rare. I suspect the best-case scenario for many people is returning from sabbatical with enough energy to juggle working on their "sabbatical" project and their regular duties for however many years it takes to finish the darn thing (and, if one has tenure, returning with enough energy to face one's regular duties probably counts as a win).
DeleteBut what do I know? I've never taken a sabbatical, and quite possibly never will. Which is yet another reason I appreciate your giving up part of yours to keep this place going, Terry. Hope you're having at least some fun. Don't let the stat counter/comment count get you down.
This is my favorite kind of student, one walking around on campus, always, aimless, never making it to my classroom.
ReplyDeleteIf you staple one foot to the floor, they go round and round, Hiram.
DeleteThe students' surroundings are getting blurrier. I don't know whether that's supposed to represent her state of mind, or the graphics are simply degrading in keeping with CM tradition.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still think that's my campus, even though I know it isn't.
eek. that should be student's. This is what I get for correcting that unknown administrator's writing on the other thread. Pride goeth before a fall.
DeleteAlthough, come to think of it, there's more than one student in the picture. But I, like Hiram, was fixated on the central figure, so it's still wrong.
DeleteThis blog is not dead. Dead things don't make me laugh like Frod's last comment did. I'm sorry I don't pull my weigjt around here by contributing more.
ReplyDeleteWhat is real? Looking at someone you like, only to catch him having been looking at you and quickly looking away. And slowly coming to acknowledge, wordlessly, that you're looking at each other. That's real.
ReplyDelete(People of other preferences or genders, substitute the personal pronouns of your choice.)
What's real?
ReplyDeleteWell, multiply by the complex conjugate to find out.
Yeah, complex conjugation. That's what I'm talking about.
ReplyDelete