Spring Break

Well, Eastern's spring break is about to end soon. It's been a quiet week here in Chucktown.

I've always loved breaks in college towns. Whether it was Kirksville, Tuscaloosa, and now Charleston, the places become so sedate, so quiet.

Here in Chucktown, over half of our population left (12K students), and we 10K+ "regulars" stuck around and enjoyed good weather for a change. As I looked northward from my front stoop this evening, the high rise dorms of Lawson and Carman are conspicously dark. I like that.

I remember back in the 'ville when three-day vacations came into effect, and a number of us would hang around to do our usual antics. Just like the parking lot of Hy-Vee during spring break in Kirksville, the parking lot of County Market here had a whopping three cars in it.

I also remember coming back from the spring break one year with the UAV loaded with a number of cases of longneck Schlitz and Schlitz 40s. That party after spring break was fun.

It's gonna be a good summer.

White People

In honor Geraldine Ferraro's recent comments about Obama, I humbly provide this link to a wonderfully satirical blog, Stuff White People Like.

Enjoy.

Link: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

"Man, I hate Tennesse."

For a thought provoking interview, punch the link below. This young man speaks the truth.

From Every Day Should Be Saturday:
http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2008/03/05/eloquence-has-a-thousand-forms/

The iGeneration

I don't know if any of you have read the article linked below, but it's an interesting read that merely reinforces what many professors could easily explain to you about this generation of college students.
They think they deserve above average grades for doing average or below average work. The "gentleman's C" has been replaced by the "gentle person's B." (must avoid gender-specific language, of course)

This generation is increasingly narcissistic and is more focused on whatever affects them, rather than focusing on what's going on in their communities, cities, states, and the US. Forget politics; Facebook is more important.

I read this article after a somewhat heated discussion with a student who was bitching about how he's not making the grades he wants on his professional writing documents. After explaining to him to him that, at the end of the day, I have to evaluate the written product above everything else rather than "how hard he worked," he still has a sense of entitlement, a sense that, "Hey, this professor isn't giving me what I want." The main problem with this particular student is that he wants me to do the critical thinking and writing for him instead of doing it himself. He has a brain and needs to use the damn thing. End of story.

Such misguided attitudes from students such as the one above leave a mark on student evaluations at the end of term, especially when some professors grade heavily (sometimes a third of the overall grade) on "participation," an amorphous category that lends itself to a great deal of grade inflation. We don't want to hurt people's "self esteem," now do we?

If there are symbols of this generation, I can give you two: 1) The response "whatever" merely is an anthem that denotes this: "I don't have anything really intelligent to say, but I'm going to be vaguely sarcastic because that seems to make people look smart." 2) And surely the "participant" trophy that is given to all competitors at various sporting events sums up the idea that no one can "lose." We're all winners.

People lose. And people do poorly on exams. And people write poorly from time to time.

Welcome to reality.

What's perhaps even more interesting about this article is that it lucidly points out how we all are being influenced by this thinking, which is scary as hell.

Anyway, enjoy the read. Thus endeth my rant.

The link to Dan Zak's "Me: If It's All About You, You're in Trouble. Why a Sense of Entitlement Can Wreak Havoc on Happiness":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022803315.html

The Pant Suit Has Not Left the Building

Once again, Billary has proven me wrong. Damn her/him all to hell.

I had hoped that this primary death match would finally end last night.

But it's on to the Keystone State.

@#$%.

It's Desperation Time

With Clinton now behind in the polls in Texas, the fear-mongering ads have begun.

See "The Fix" on the 3 a.m. ad:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/02/hrcs_new_ad.html?nav=rss_blog

Also, her campaign is threatening legal troubles because of the way the Texas showdown is arranged.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_on_el_pr/texas_caucus_challenge

You know, I never really disliked HRC all that much, and I never really got why the GOP had such a distaste for her. I think I've caught the anti-Hillary bug now though. And it's tough to shake.

The two links provided show a campaign that's desperate to win the nomination, a campaign that's been that way for quite a while.

Her head advisors must be giving her Belushi-logic advice: "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

I can't see how she can limp on to Pennsylvania if she loses Texas. But I feel for Vermont and Delaware not getting any love.

Predictions: Obama wins Texas; Clinton narrowly wins Ohio. The Clinton campaign goes on.

V-P

While there's talk of V-P picks for the candidates on "The Fix," this insignificant blog hereby tentatively supports the candidacy of General Zinni.

Link: http://www.generalzinni.com/

Thoughts on this choice?

Who will McCain select?

R.I.P.

If you haven't has the pleasure of watching the excellent HBO series, The Wire, you need to get your butts to the movie store to watch the past four seasons.

It was with a heavy heart that I watched the second to last episode of the this season on Monday (On Demand). One of the best characters I've ever seen in a show, Omar, finally got "got."

If there ever was a fictional crook that I could root for, it was Omar. That cat had a code of fair play in a gangster sort of way.

R.I.P. Omar

Ah...Spring Training...

and hope springing eternal.

With that hackneyed phrase out of the way, I hereby predict that this will be the year of the Cubs. It's the hundreth anniversary of their last world championsip. It's destined to be. We win the series THIS YEAR.

Every pro sports franchise is entitled to a bad century, right?

Right?

In addition, I will win my fantasy league this year. I came close last year, but ended up in third after my pitching collapsed along with my brain. I'm still repressing that last two months of that season--something a fantasy baseball counselor named Tom Tyler has helped me with.

The Schlitzophrenics will not be denied.

I am the music maker. I am the dreamer of dreams.

Happy Valentine's Day

Or as some folks like to refer to it: National Single Person Awareness Day.

Link: http://www.politico.com/cartoon/index.html

So will it finally get resolved when Texans and Ohioans Vote?

Obviously, Obama will win Hawaii, and it's likely that he'll also win Wisconsin. However, the Clintons are girding themselves for the primaries in Ohio and Texas.

So does Obama win one of those two and keep it close in another to put her away?

What are your so-called thoughts?

In my opinion, I think Clinton hangs around until Pennsylvania at least. Many thought she was destined to lose in New Hampshire, and they were wrong. I was one of those "they."

An Edwards endorsement would help in Ohio. So would a Richardson endorsement in Texas.

So Let Me Get This Straight...

Limbaugh, the postmodern Boss Tweed, now is saying that McCain needs to have Huckabee be the VP in order to bring together the GOP? At an earlier date, didn't he say either McCain or Huckabee would be horrible candidates for the Republican party since he was obviously backing Romney? So Boss Limbaugh is flip-flopping.

How interesting.

In other news, after a guest on a MSNBC made the weird comment that Chelsea Clinton is being "pimped" to campaign for her mother, one source close to the Clinton campaign simply stated, "Pimpin' ain't easy."

Not really. But I couldn't resist.

O Happy Signing Day

One of the best days of the year for college football recruiting junkies like myself is signing day, which is today.

It appears that the Crimson Tide has one of the top, if not the top, rated class in the country this year. Fans (short for "fanatics") can complain all they want about Alabama's mediocre season this year, but Coach Saban is bringing in some of the highest quality players not seen at the Capstone since Coach Stalling was stalking the sidelines.

For your viewing pleasure, here's a link that provides Alabama's commitments.
Alabama's 2008 Signing Class: http://alabama.rivals.com/commitlist.asp

And here are the team rankings from rivals.com: http://alabama.rivals.com/teamrank.asp?SID=885

Detailed Bios on RollTide.com: http://www.rolltide.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8000&ATCLID=1376886

Of course, a lot of how this signing class pans out depends on whether some make grades and buy into Saban's often noted "process" of developing talent and the buying into the team concept.

Apparently, close to a dozen of current players on the team from last year haven't bought into "the process," and they won't be back next season. Call it what you will--culling the herd--but I expect the Tide to become even more relevant on the national college football scene in the near future.

Roll Tide Roll.

Happy Super Tuesday Everybody

I always love a day when you get to go out and vote.

On my way to work this morning, I stopped off at the Newman Center to vote and very quickly made the average age in the hall spike a decade at least.

Si, se puede!

Meanwhile in one of my colleague's classes, most of the students didn't know much about Super Tuesday. As one related, "I don't care about politics."

Whither democracy?

Perfect Timing

I'm feeling old today.

And a couple of lines of a Drive-By Truckers' song sums up my perspective on a Friday evening:
"I used to hate the fool in me, but only in the morning
now I tolerate him all day long"