Hello from my office on a Sunday evening,
The past week felt like I was hanging on by a thread and the single strand will be stretched and possibly frayed before the end of the coming week. I thought the fall was the busiest of the semesters I have had here at Bloom, but it seems like this semester has already outpaced that one. I have not really added a single thing to my list, and, in fact, I have lost some things in the process, but that will be for a different time and posting. I am wondering if some of it has to do with the fact that this winter is certainly a winter of one’s discontent . . . and it has decided to stay for an extended period. Saturday it was a day with actual sunshine and reasonable temperatures. More importantly, it was understandable to me (as I know myself) that I felt energized, but it also caused me to realize how depressed I was by the continuous winter. I do not dislike the snow; in fact, I find it quite beautiful, but as I look at my house and the green of the yard, I am realizing the early summer is more appreciated by me than I might have given it credit.
My Foundations students are working on their Visual Argument papers and I am pleased by the seriousness that many of them are working to find primary source material. They are required to work on contacting a number of people who have some specific roles in the creation of the video. I am continually astonished by the ever-increasing integration of sound, image, and language. It is nothing new and I understand that, but our realization and subsequent development of it as a important art form is really interesting to me.
This past week I got a copy of a new book, which I cannot find at the moment (the moment is past, and I have found it. It was right in front of me). It is titled Writer/Designer and is authored by three of my graduate colleagues. I need to dig through it because I think I am going to employ it, but I have to figure out to get it digested in a day or two. I think there are some things that can be really interactive and might work to help both students and me accomplish what I have laid out in my Writing for Multiple Media class. I am continually caught a bit off guard at how quickly things seem to add up. I hear my students say it, but it is not really any different on this side. I think part of that is because I am never satisfied with how things are going. I always want them to be better. Yet, I must note, and I am quite pleased, I might add, that the great majority of my Foundations students have seemed to have turned a corner. Their memoir packets come in tomorrow and that will give me a lot of work over the next couple weeks. I cannot even get to their papers until Wednesday to start. I have other things I have to manage for the program, for my department, and for the committees I am on. There is something wrong with that statement because we are here first for the students, but I have that much on my plate at the moment.
That being said, I did get some significant things done over the past three weeks, so I am in better shape on some things. However, I need to keep the little nose to the grindstone as they say. I am afraid at the rate I am going I will not have much of a nose left. Maybe I should put some of my more extensive flabby parts to that grindstone. Of course, that is an entirely different issue that I need to get back to managing more effectively. Perhaps I need another significant bout with my “Crohn’s Diet” as I call those times. My weight is not where it was, but I feel as out of shape as I ever have. It is depressing. However, I know too well that bemoaning it, will not change it; it requires something more substantial.
That being said, I need to sit at my desk a while longer and get more done here first. So . . . I am listening to music, reading about music, considering image in a number of different genres, and working away. At the same time, not far from my thoughts is Lydia, whose picture graces this entry.
Thanks for reading as always,
Dr. Martin (aka: Miguelito)
thewritingprofessor55 
It is fascinating how the blog has changed in 9 years. Do you ever reread these older blogs? I feel like I would get a kick out of rereading the things I thought 9 years ago, at 13 my thoughts would have been pretty dull. It seems as though you were up to your neck with things to do, did you have more or less work in these days than you do now? The purpose of this seems to be to catch the blog reader up on the things you have be going through. Its like an update, unlikely the modern blogs this one covered many topics. Talking about things such as your diet and different assignments you had going on.
The audience of this would be someone who had an interest in your blog and would care to know the details of your life. The newer blogs feel more like a story focusing on only one topic. Were students assigned to read and reply to these? The older audience may have been a more curious internet surfer. In 2014 blogs were becoming more niche due to how popular vlogs were at the time. This blog uses simple rhetoric to appeal to all audiences, playing into the curiosity of the viewer. I feel as though the newer blogs are definitely better to read being more focused and developing one topic.