partsofspeaking

Woody Allen:  I was born into the Hebrew persuasion, but when I was an adult I converted to narcissism. (Scoop, 2006).

Talk about the Good Samaritan.  Not. I'm driving home from church.  I make a major turn to get to my comfortable home and eat my choice of lunch. Across the street from a gas station, in a more or less vacant lot, a young woman is standing with a make-shift sign on the remains of a cardboard box asking for money so that her children can have Christmas. My first response was anger. 1.  I am generally disturbed by panhandlers.  Especially in an economy with a low employment rate.  I have been employed since I was 16--almost 48 years.  I have done all kinds of jobs.  I worked 4 jobs at one time when my husband was unemployed.  Gender doesn't matter.  Women are more likely to get jobs nowadays than men.  2.  I am generally disturbed by panhandlers because they are so often scams.  3.  Christmas presents for her children (a month away) are not a necessity.  If she needs food, there are ways to be fed.  If she needs a home, that's a different matter. 4.  I get angry when

Let me start with the observation that I am not a dilettante when it comes to Emily Dickinson.  My senior project in college, a 45-minute memorized presentation, was about Emily Dickinson.  I visited her home in 2013.  I use her poems in my own work whenever I can.  I can quote several of them by heart.  I admit to not having read any recent scholarship on her, since that is not my primary field, and I can't say I've read more than a fraction of all 1800 poems (that's a bit daunting). So when I saw that the 2016 movie A Quiet Passion was available on Amazon Prime, I jumped to watch it.  I am not sorry I did, but it is more argument than cinema, an argument for a certain interpretation of Emily Dickinson as a person or historical figure or change agent than a celebration of her poetry.  I could have stood for more poetry and less polemic. There were many things to like about it.  The sense of the closeness and claustrophobia of her family life was very real.  The sense

Yesterday I was grading outlines for persuasive speeches for my freshman public speaking class.  I have taught this class for 40 years and still like doing it (but only one section at a time).  She was arguing against students taking online courses and was trying to persuade the students not to choose that option.  It was a speech an 18-year-old would give, and these were my comments. I have been teaching online since 1998 and started doing it before it was cool because I saw it was the future.  I am a certified peer reviewer a national organization and have designed several courses.  So I would be the hostile person in the audience. And I agree with you. Also, you could add that online courses are more expensive (we charge an extra fee for them here, you should look into that because you could use more arguments).  I am not sure about the retention rate (people who pass with a C in the course) here but it's definitely not better than the regular classes. I would not s

I realized a few years ago that when the time changed in the November it began a four-month battle for me. Well, I should say seven weeks, really.  Once December 22 hits and the days lengthen, I start to improve.  But the lack of light in November is really a problem. Answers: Get up earlier so you have maximum daylight. Pack all your activity in before 6:00.  Exercise.  Be careful about eating because your body wants carbs.  Tell yourself this is natural and that there is nothing wrong with you. 

My husband and I saw Casablanca on the big screen Sunday night.  What I learned: 1.  Only in movie land would a woman like Ingrid Bergman prefer to go with Humphrey Bogart rather than Paul Henreid.  What was the appeal of Bogart in comparison? 2.  The only thing that has really aged in the movie is that she calls Dooley Wilson "that boy at the piano."  What were they thinking? 3.  It pays to see the whole movie.  I had never watched it from beginning to end without getting up for the backroom or being distracted.  I saw how brilliant it is and how tight the story (even with #1). 4.  The French can outsing Germans. 5. I think Claude Rains steals the show when he's on screen.

The thing I dislike the most about this is his attempts to get Christians (who should know better) involved in his sin and drama by saying it's a spiritual battle.  It may be, but it's yours with your own flesh, not mine, bro. 

The play The Crucible is an interesting study in group hysteria.  I was rather late coming to appreciate the play (largely because I was told I had to love it and I am contrary), but once I really studied it, I saw its brilliance. The House Unamerican Activities Committee in the early 1950s is supposed to be the impetus for the play; perhaps.  I have posted recently on that period after watching an interesting documentary on it.  There were problems on both sides; witch hunt or not, civil rights were violated.  At the same time, I have to wonder why any American who benefited from capitalism and the constitution would defend the Soviet Union then or now So we come to the last two months:  Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Louie C.K. (whom I don't find all that funny, but whatever; he's not Seinfeld, and apparently Seinfeld kept the zipper up).  Seemingly, ad infinitum. And now Judge Roy Moore, whom I have never quite understood and don't think would be a good Senator bec

I tried to explain to a 23-year-old intern at the church I attend that many older people in the church do not have access to apps, downloads, and email attachments.  He didn't understand.  I found an adult and got help with my problem. I think this shows the inherent problem:  the young millennials or generation Z-ers lack the empathy to understand a generation that has adapted to technology or has been unable to (and perhaps can't even afford it). 

A year ago tonight I stayed up to watch the train wreck  It was fascinating and conflicting to say the least.  I had railed against Trump as the representative of the party I thought I sort of belonged to (I'm enlightened now), I was appalled by his behavior, and I was mortified that Christians fell for him and put aside the belief that a leader should be moral.  Millions of so-called evangelicals who wouldn't vote for Mitt Romney because he was a Mormon decided to vote for a con man and sexual harasser (and much worse). But. . . Hillary lost, and I was so mesmerized by this turn of events from what we had been told was inevitable that I just couldn't help it.  I think I finally went to bed at 3:00, making for a problematic day at work, since I was tired but keyed up and everyone was in despair, which I actually thought was a little funny.  I still do, although I put a sign on my door that said, "I did not vote for Trump.  Don't assume," which others thoug

Interesting how the English language has this play on words, 2 and too.  So that explains my title. I finished watching the second season tonight.  It took me a week; I can't binge watch (well, more than 3 episodes).  I liked it; I'm not going to freak over it.  I confess to not understanding all of it, and getting my son to explain it. I even succumbed to reading a fan site or two about it.  Fans have theories.  Well, I say just watch the show and let the creators do what they do.  Fans think they know more about film making than the film makers nowadays. The best part was seeing Sean Astin.  The worst part was Sean Astin.  Samwise deserved better. His whole character comes off like a plot device rather than a person, which normally the show does well. The second best part is that Hopper is getting to be healed from his grief. Equally good to see a conflicted but strong manly man character in a show. The third best part is Steve as leader (not babysitter). Very smart w

I am watching part of a documentary on TCM about the House Unamerican Activities Committee in 1951.  A good example of how fear (legitimate) can lead us to violate the constitution.  It also made me wonder if, had this not happened in this way, Hollywood today would not be so leftist.  I think this event made Hollywood types feel like martyrs and gave them sympathy for themselves. Now they are reactionary against anything they see as "conservatism," although Congress going after them was not essentially conservative or constitutional. Just to be clear, here is the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Much misunderstanding has grown up around this statement, one of which is that we have freedom of thought and conscience

Our pastor preached one of the best sermons on giving I ever heard.  No guilt.  Worship is the core of giving; worship is "giving someone what they are due."  So simple.  We don't need discounts on Jesus, the church, or Christian experience. 

I admit to being a coward and not liking conflict, but sometimes I just want to post "devil's advocate" statuses on Facebook as an indirect way of saying to people, "Lay off.  You're annoying.  Stop being a moron with your opinions." I just did that.  I will probably make some enemies, because I defended someone in Trump administration. I am floored by the hate.  Trump is appalling and I would have wished for many other people to be president (other than HRC) but some people just need to get over it and look for who they can get to defeat him in 2020.  It doesn't look to me like the Dems have a deep bench on that one, at least not an appealing deep bench.  The Republicans have hurt themselves with a lot of people (me included) by kissing Trump's rear.  He should have never, ever been the nominee of the "conservative" party.  Trump is not going to be impeached any time soon, unless we get a Democrat-majority Congress.

In early September/late August I decided that it was time to learn Twitter.  My main reason is that I am the chair of an academic department that teaches courses in social media, so I believed I needed to be more informed. So I revitalized my account, starting getting followers and following everyone and his brother and sister who looked remotely interesting, and started tweeting.  I tried to get out 10 a day at the beginning (retweets counted) but I couldn't keep that up. I especially couldn't after the Las Vegas shootings; I was too upset to go to social media, and I've been too busy.  I also am just not clever enough to tweet all that much. So in two months (let's say 60 days, a round number) I tweeted 317 times which is an average of 5.3 a day, thereabouts.  Not too bad.  I have accrued 631 followers and follow 1583, which is a 40% percentage or 2.51:1. So, what do I take away from this? (notice I am writing like tweets--fragments, fragmented phrases--to mock