My Teaching Philosophy

I’ve had the pleasure of teaching in the classroom as well as the internet classroom; and both experiences have influenced my style of teaching today. In my composition classes, my aim is to choose real world materials and topics in conjunction with rhetoric, grammar, and logic to provide a modern, comprehensive trivium in which students develop critical thinking and writing skills. In my world literature and Shakespeare courses, my hope is to combine the required reading with my students’ interests by making the material relevant to their lives. My classes are interesting. My style is engaging. My students are my most important consideration.

I’ve always enjoyed scholarly inquiry and writing, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that teaching is my true passion. My philosophy might be best summed up in one word: Adaptability. I find out what my students read, what they don’t, what they like, and what they won’t. I learn where they’re from and what languages they speak. I encourage them to read newspapers not only for the editorials that might get their argumentative urges pulsing, but also to bring earlier literatures into modern events and perspectives. I use technology and the internet to my students’ advantage, not only connecting with them in a world they feel comfortable, but also to allow them to connect what they learn to the world around them.

A Feminist Call to Action

Feminist frameworks have been baseless because of the classification of a dichotomous sexual preference system. We must now move to a nullification of all feminist theory based on these systems.  They're the same as if we were using science based on the idea that the sun revolves around the earth. But now we must start over - only this time with the truth.

True feminism is honorable. The power of the feminine is not in the shadows or secret places - no, its true power is in the fearless examination of the real.

In the past, there was no such thing as heteronormity because there was no such thing as homosexuality. How convenient those labels became as people sought to control more and more of the population - and what better way than to judge and classify based on a false shame of what one does with one's genitals. (How very Victorian.)

It's because of this that the so-called Queer Theorists should have been initially regarded as conspiracy theorists - at least by those holding patriarchal power.

What was once called "Feminist Theory" disintigrates when held up to the light. Its ephemera is its very history - made of lies based on lies, based on lies.  We have to be transcendent and transversal to the old waves of feminism. We have to stop presupposing what a woman is or is not. The feminine is in everyone, everything. The feminine honors individuality; and it is in this that the feminine is the pathway to true power.

Now, living in the truth offers us great opportunities for transgression. When all rights become equal we can go back to being people who are judged on our character and not our holes.

Burger-Up in Nashville - My tummy is stuffed

We just had lunch at Burger-Up on 12th. Wow.

I had the L burger and some Tomato Basil Soup. YUM. I suggest you try it. I also liked the fries....the ketchup was a little sweet, but still good.

Water Main breaks at Big Red - Pics and Video

First day of 2011
Pics and a few videos of the event.

Sunday Morning Nashville

Sunday morning Nashville

Listening to Ol '55

Got to get in the car and drive

Got to get out of my mind

To pretend

I'm alive

So tired of getting yelled at in the mornings

Saying sorry after don't mean a thing

You think it's nothing to forget what I remember

But I got plenty of reasons to leave

Nashville has the morning

And lots of people like me

Not all sad songs are country

And I got plenty of reasons to leave

A Trip to the Country - a Show in the City

There are many sides of Nashville - many more than I ever imagined. Yesterday was a great example of that.

First, we headed out to east Nashville to drop off one of the BF's amps to get fixed....lugging it up a flight of creaky stairs to a tiny apartment in the attic of someone's house. The repairman, who of course will remain unnamed, seemed a solitary genius packed in a couple of tiny rooms and surrounded by electronics and/or possible bomb making equipment - I couldn't tell for sure.

Next stop - my favorite store so far: Happy Japan!
We picked up some Christmas gifts and candy. I love the fun Bento Box supplies and the sushi erasers.

After some shopping, we went to Lebanon - my first trip there.

We had to make a quick run to the liquor store to pick up some bourbon for the people we were visiting there and happened upon Bettie's Books and Things while we were stopped.  At first I thought it was a used book store just for romance novels. UGH. However, in the back, there are all kinds of used books.

Finally, we got to our destination out in the country. It was so nice to see horses again! (I miss my Chico who is staying in Alabama until I find a place for him here.)  It was so cold that our host gave me a blanket to put over my legs as we rode their John Deere Gators around the property. And I got to play with their pit bulls - Boots and Pete!!

Later that night I got to see my first show at The Rutledge.



I had fun with my friends and watched a singer who had exceptional enthusiasm and proprioception.  Like most evenings in Nashville, I ended up totally exhausted.

Notes from Big Red 4

Random notes:

I just picked up two new blogs that I'll be writing and updating monthly for a media company in Louisiana.
That should be fun work!!

So far, I have one tutoring student in Franklin.

And I've been Christmas shopping and baking cookies while getting organized.
I have yet to get my TN Driver's License (oops) or my library card (a must).

My reading list this week:

Dune
Feminist Social and Political Theory
The Republic