tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post5125242983906660009..comments2024-01-24T18:33:04.790-08:00Comments on Smythologies: RoadsKarin Spirnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-13428089099349767482010-06-30T11:52:16.944-07:002010-06-30T11:52:16.944-07:00Glad to hear the New Yorker cartoonists are like-m...Glad to hear the New Yorker cartoonists are like-minded with me. I keep thinking we should just set the tea-baggers free already, and let them opt out of taxes and all public services, but then I remember one of them might live next door to me when his house burns down.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-13114103753949680262010-06-28T21:41:17.535-07:002010-06-28T21:41:17.535-07:00Mackey's a nut. the passage you selected was h...Mackey's a nut. the passage you selected was him at his most bitingly idiotic. a recent New Yorker cartoon shows a firefighter arriving at a man's burning house: 'no thanks', says the homeowner. 'i'm a libertarian.' -k.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-6850313451498252032010-06-20T09:14:10.776-07:002010-06-20T09:14:10.776-07:00Nope, not on Octavia Butler. On race in postmoder...Nope, not on Octavia Butler. On race in postmodern American literature.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-75794119663025275752010-06-19T07:52:14.972-07:002010-06-19T07:52:14.972-07:00Did you do your doctoral dissertation on Octavia B...Did you do your doctoral dissertation on Octavia Butler? If so, what was your focus?Joseph Smigelskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11732074670867382565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-12950107703374135242010-06-18T08:37:49.210-07:002010-06-18T08:37:49.210-07:00Hi, Joe! Glad to hear from you.
I have read Kind...Hi, Joe! Glad to hear from you. <br /><br />I have read Kindred--I agree, it's fantastic. I considered writing about it in my dissertation but didn't end up including it. <br /><br />I haven't read the King novels. It's interesting how many writers pick up on this idea of what strange things freeways are and how odd they'll be once the cars stop working.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-4961696524659385092010-06-17T23:12:11.437-07:002010-06-17T23:12:11.437-07:00The metaphor - or metonym - of the road was also m...The metaphor - or metonym - of the road was also made good use of by Stephen King in his "Dark Tower" series. Characters walk along on freeways on which the only cars are abandoned and broken. ... And have you read Octavia Butler's "Kindred"? It's a superb novel.Joseph Smigelskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11732074670867382565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-30137781183168523182010-06-14T15:52:57.981-07:002010-06-14T15:52:57.981-07:00Hi Karin,
Yes, in some classes, including our wor...Hi Karin,<br /><br />Yes, in some classes, including our work in Blackboard, we have talked about Thelma and Louise; it often gives my native speakers an opportunity to practice summarizing because we will have generation 1.5 students or English learners who are unfamiliar with the movie. I have used the movie _Transamerica_ as well; it fits really well into the curriculum. We often start our discussions with _The Odyssey_ because a student will ask if it belongs to the road trip genre, which it does. We also talk about who has access to mobility, which takes us to slavery in the United States, the Treaty of Guadelupe Hildago, The Great Migration, and other historic places where race and gender shape who travels and how. Richard Dry's _Leaving_ is a great text to use when exploring race and road trips, as is Sandra Cisneros's _Caramelo_, and Sherman Alexie's _Reservation Blues_. I also enjoy using Joy Kogowa's _Obasan_ for exploring the Japanese internment in Canada. So many good books! There is great value in analyzing and comparing forced road trips to those made by choice. I fear I have too much to say on this topic. <br /><br />Lately, my students have started reading arguments for and against the "grand tour" of the eighteenth century. The arguments mirror those about their lives now. My students are often surprised to see find themselves having something in common with folks living three centuries ago. There are often heated discussions in class about whether or not women should travel alone on a road trip, discussions that mirror discussions about women traveling in the eighteenth century. These discussions (often Blackboard threads) become our curriculum as we explore how deductive and inductive reasoning are used when folks make implicit and explicit arguments. We also use these arguments to start our work with Toulmin's schema. I have been developing curriculum on this theme for sixteen years, and I am a road trip freak. Karin, if you got the the following URL http://www.daleireland.net/wst_page2.html and look at the top-left picture, you will see my best buddy who taught me, when I was sixteen, how to drive his VW bus--the road trip never stopped.<br /><br />I love the picture your created for this post; I want it on a tea mug--hm, make that travel mug! Thank you for the invite to write something. I hope that Emma takes you up on the idea. I would really enjoy reading more of what Emma and you have to say on this topic. If my work this summer develops into something that might fit, I will happily share it with you. Karin, thanks for your thoughtful blogging.<br /><br />DaleDale Katherine Irelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01134228673520049639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-15067330031329966172010-06-14T11:48:31.433-07:002010-06-14T11:48:31.433-07:00Emma, thanks for your thoughts. I'm so sorry t...Emma, thanks for your thoughts. I'm so sorry they got erased, and thanks for reconstructing them! <br /><br />You're right about the gendering of the road--as Dale's great examples show. Do you guys discuss Thelma and Louise, Dale? And what about the movie Transamerica--I love the gender dynamics in that movie. Also, I'm curious how race factors in.<br /><br />If either of you would like to write a post on gender (or race) and roads, I would love to have you as guest contributors!Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-61855016471382926472010-06-14T09:44:27.278-07:002010-06-14T09:44:27.278-07:00I like what Anonymous said, and I do hope that Kar...I like what Anonymous said, and I do hope that Karin posts a Road II. My students love talking about the gender, race, and the road. We often start off talking about _The Odyssey_ (including the film _O Brother Where Art Thou_) and end up in amazing places, such as the media coverage of gender and race during the last presidential primary road trip.Dale Katherine Irelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01134228673520049639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-54235021688521940452010-06-13T09:39:30.964-07:002010-06-13T09:39:30.964-07:00This one goes in the "Best of..."! I lov...This one goes in the "Best of..."! I loved your turn to civilization--it was so evocative for me. the contrast between our culture's idealization of the road and road as ruin is beautiful here--sort of heartbreaking. I also find the narrative parallels between road as connector and road as engendering connection (friendship) moving. that long tradition (dating back to oral) resonates with what you have to say here about community etc<br /> <br />I hope you write a Road II (one road leads to another)--one that might further explore the gendering of the road. it's such a masculinized concept, and/or is a concept used to masculinize other concepts (ex. "freedom").<br /><br />xo e <br />sorry this is so choppy--i'm so sad my first response got erased!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-82192760626115613232010-06-11T20:22:31.293-07:002010-06-11T20:22:31.293-07:00Katie, you might be interested in _Twentieth-Centu...Katie, you might be interested in _Twentieth-Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape_, which touches on the idea that "the freeway as freedom masks the inequalities that persist in our democracy." Happy sumer to you, Katie!<br /><br />Karin, I keep rereading your post; thank you!Dale Katherine Irelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01134228673520049639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-24736665942286114272010-06-11T17:07:23.645-07:002010-06-11T17:07:23.645-07:00Hi Katie! I (obviously) had our conversation in m...Hi Katie! I (obviously) had our conversation in mind when I wrote this, so I'm extra glad you read it. <br /><br />I would definitely recommend both the McCarthy and Butler novels highly. The Parable of the Sower is kind of like a less minimalistic, less bleak version of The Road.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-83149814922658747592010-06-11T16:00:49.048-07:002010-06-11T16:00:49.048-07:00Love it! Now I'm thinking about how freeway w...Love it! Now I'm thinking about how freeway walls fit into your metaphor of freeway as freedom--in a way, the sound walls are reminders that our concept of the freeway as freedom masks the inequalities that persist in our democracy--as Michelle pointed out, the sound walls protect those who could only afford to buy a house by the freeway--traveling a freeway feels a lot more liberating than living by one. Interesting to think of the freeway metaphor, too, alongside train tracks as a metaphor for different levels of privilege--the other side of the tracks, etc. <br /><br />My sister is nuts for The Road, so I guess your co-endorsement will finally get me to give Cormac a try. I've also got to read Octavia Butler--thanks for the reminder! Hi to Dale, too!Katienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-68071287454622607752010-06-11T08:36:36.633-07:002010-06-11T08:36:36.633-07:00So cool! The students will LOVE making podcasts! ...So cool! The students will LOVE making podcasts! It's a great way to think about an essay; This American Life is one of my influences in essay writing for sure.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-37292655272924678512010-06-11T08:02:31.367-07:002010-06-11T08:02:31.367-07:00Karin, thank you for allowing me to bring your wor...Karin, thank you for allowing me to bring your work into my class. I did hear "This American Life" on road trips, and I am working it into my curriculum. I am thinking of inviting my students to create their own podcasts with transcripts that they will post in Bb. I would like students to study the podcasts as they develop the following skills from the course outline:<br /><br /><br />1. distinguishing between fact and inference;<br />2. identifying logical inferences;<br />3. identifying logical fallacies;<br />4. recognizing denotative and connotative language;<br />5. evaluating diction;<br />6. exploring rhetorical uses of writing;<br />7. identifying stylistic choices in a text;<br /><br />I love summer because it gives me time to develop my curriculum for my fall classes. Your post was an unexpected treat!Dale Katherine Irelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01134228673520049639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-88415589568537086852010-06-10T22:27:21.876-07:002010-06-10T22:27:21.876-07:00Dale, I would be so honored if you shared this wit...Dale, I would be so honored if you shared this with your students! <br /><br />Have you heard the "This American Life" on road trips? It was just on a couple weeks ago.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-19169336980385854482010-06-10T22:01:21.792-07:002010-06-10T22:01:21.792-07:00Um, I would like to change "rad" to &quo...Um, I would like to change "rad" to "read"--not that you are not rad.Dale Katherine Irelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01134228673520049639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-80588531787107489672010-06-10T21:59:28.933-07:002010-06-10T21:59:28.933-07:00I like this one Karin! What would you think about...I like this one Karin! What would you think about me printing it out, with proper attribution, and using it to augment my critical thinking class that is themed around road trips? You offer many insightful ideas on the concepts of road--ideas with which students would enjoy engaging. Of course, I would understand if you rather that I did not bring the piece into class. <br /><br />Thank you for the enjoyable rad; you have me thinking.<br /><br />DaleDale Katherine Irelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01134228673520049639noreply@blogger.com