Here We Go Again

We've been in the midst of two simultaneous faculty searches here on campus. Unfortunately, it turns out that, despite having two candidates visit for one of those positions, the search is not yet over. This means more work for everyone on campus and a delay in finding a new faculty member. Not so groovy.

I'm relieved, however, that the big rush on SCWP projects has subsided as I got the last of the mailings out on Monday. There are still plenty of projects lined up, but those have less pressing timelines. The exciting part is that, thanks to new and creative recruiting efforts for the Summer Institute this year, applications have been pouring in. This is the biggest number of applications that have been submitted for any SI at this site so far, and it's very cool to see the volume of interest. The downside is that there are a limited number of spots and not everyone who applied will be able to be in the SI. Given the interest, though, we're sure to have an excellent SI this year.

Well, hopefully the other candidate search will turn out more smoothly. The committee has begun making final decisions and in the next couple of days I may be able to announce who our new faculty member will be. For confidentiality reasons, Katherine can't say anything to me about the committee's selection and so I'm just as in the dark as anyone else on campus (save the committe, obviously). If only I didn't have to wait. I'm excited, having met all of the candidates, to find out who will be our new person.

The Blur

Katherine: Is that enough to keep you busy for the next week?
Me: Or month, even.

It's recruiting time for the writing project which means brochures, postcards, mailings, press packs, and various other kinds of packs that need to be assembled, counted, sorted, stuffed in envelopes, tracked... well, you get the idea. The office is coated with a layer of various papers and mailing supplies, and I'm working my way down the list of what needs to be done. I'm almost out of breath just typing it.

On the bright side, the brochures I helped put together look good and in the past couple of days we've been able to make a visible dent in the To Do list.

Although, in the midst of all of this, we've begun to have candidates (those interviewing for two faculty openings) flying in and visiting/interviewing. The first candidate came yesterday. I was able to do lunch with her as one of the campus representative-type folk and go to her presentation to staff/students (i.e. the sales pitch). I'm ideally situated for the search because my schedule allows me to help out with making candidates feel welcome - I'm already slated for lunch will all of them - but I don't have the stress of being on the search committe or having to actually organize the visits. Lots of chaos on that front because there's just so much to do.

Today Katherine asked me if I'd be willing to pick one of the candidates up from the airport on the 14th, so I'm going to do a bit of chauffering as well. I'm looking forward to it. So far, having seen the search for David's replacement and having met the first candidate yesterday, I've met some really intelligent and interesting people. The rough part about the process is that out of the group of candidates, all of whom are great, they can only hire one. Tough call.

In any event, between SCWP recruiting, the candidates visiting, having classes, and teaching a class of my own, days on campus are flying by.

When the Internet Has Teeth

All right, let me warn you, I'm going to keep things vague here. You'll see why.

Between school and both of my jobs, I come into contact with a ton of teachers and professors. I mean oodles. This contact has been an eye-opener and has impressed upon me that, in the teaching sector there are some stunning, innovative, brilliant folk, and some that are... less so. Katherine knows many of these same folk since she knows just about everyone in the education sector through SCWP. This morning, Katherine calls me to say she's running a bit late and sending me a file to make copies of, and oh, by the way, did I read the paper yesterday?

I don't get the paper, much less read it (I know, bad me for not keeping up on current events). She says, "X was in it. Check it out."

I go to the paper's website and there it is, an article about how X is currently on administrative leave while people who do these things investigate. Why?

MySpace strikes again. Public sphere, people, public sphere. Granted, not quite so public in this case as X's profile is private, however X gave some students a password to access the account, which contains some suggestive/not-so-appropriate material for sharing with one's students.

Katherine's comment: I talk about this in class. When I talk about Blackboard (our campus's online forum platform) I talk about this. Any time we talk about using this kind of technology, I talk about this. You've heard me talk about this.

Me: Yeah. Some people listen louder than others, though.

So, at the moment, I have no idea what X's fate will be. However, I just don't see how getting one's name in the newspaper where the story is about how you've been inappropriate with students is any kind of good sign.

Now, getting a bit reflective: I write SCWP posts from time to time. This means this blog pops up if you search for SCWP. See where this is going? Notice how my SCWP posts are especially carefully worded? Next semester I'll be teaching, with a number of students I could talk about. I won't. Anything you hear about class will be, like the SCWP posts, carefully worded.

I'm all for having free expression and not having to hide who you are. I'm also all for having audience awareness and appreciation for what it really means to put who you are online. Let's face it, sometimes too much personal expression comes back to bite you.

Okay, I'm stepping off my soap box now.

SCWP Photos

I realize I've been on a major streak of beading posts, so here's one to change things up a bit. With all my talking about SCWP, you may have wondered what everybody looks like. Well, SCWP has a flickr account, it's http://www.flickr.com/photos/scwp/. Now you know.

Phone Calls Are Funny

Me, answering phone: Southern Colorado Writing Project.
Male voice: Yeah, I'm calling about the racket ball club.

I'm entertained.

The Weekend of Much Eventfulness

"Thank God."
-Me, internal thought (but really, what's an external thought?) upon seeing the box full of copies of the nightmare anthology

Yup, the books came in. I went to an SCWP leadership meeting on Friday to help take notes, and I spotted the box almost as soon as I walked in. What a relief. There are no more problems to fix, no more edits to do. The book is completely done. As an added bonus: it looks really good. I'm so happy at how they turned out (not to mention relieved). Katherine's also happy with the result, which makes me happy 'cause she's my boss. It's always good to make the boss happy :)

Saturday was also eventful as that was the day of my just-for-the-hell-of-it-party. I woke up much too early in the morning, especially after working at the bar until 2:00 a.m., because of the feeling that I had a lot to do. I'd already done most of my cooking in advance, so I had pasta salad, bread, and spinach and artichoke dip all ready to go. I still had plenty of veggies and a pineapple to butcher, and a bit more cleaning. So, I got to work.

Fast forward and people start arriving, including my brother who made it after all. Fast forward again, and it's 2:30 a.m. and the last two people are leaving. Despite the sleep deprivation, I'm very, very glad I did it. It was very good to have a handful of my favorite people filling up the house, even if I did get more than my share of ribbing. I guess that's part of being the host - getting ganged up on. Oh well, I tried to pass it around as much as I could and Mishell even stuck up for me, much to the disappointment of those picking on me. So now I have a fridge full of leftovers, including a dozen ears of corn that got grilled and no particular idea what to do with them, and the thought that maybe I shouldn't wait another year to do it again.

And the Light's Not an Incoming Train

"Your books are shipping 8/15. It's 3 days ground to CO."
-Publisher sales rep.

I can hardly believe it. By the first part of next week, we'll have the anthologies in our grubby little hands. They'll be here in physical form. Egad, is it real? The nightmare anthology is officially done.

Fortunately, creating the next two anthologies will be much easier since I've already gone through the whole process and found out all the places where I should've done something different. Now that the pain is over, I'm kind of excited about the next one. The next anthology will be the writing marathon anthology and we're already in stage two of editing on that one. It's even conceivable that, if there aren't too many delays, the WM anthology could be done by the end of this semester. That would be exciting.

Maybe It's Almost Done

"I will get this job moving forward."
-Publisher rep.

Can it be? Is it possible? Is the nightmare anthology about to be printed? Gimme some water, I'm feeling faint. After about a year of pulling my hair out over this thing and a few weeks of, "Okay, I fixed that problem, now can we print it?" I think it may be ready.

The latest hitch: ISBN. The publisher said, "Hey we're getting ready to print it, but where's your ISBN?" To which Katherine and I said, "Huh? I though you guys supplied one." Today we decided to skip the ISBN entirely (which is okay since we're distributing the copies ourselves rather than retailing them). Thus, I may be done with the editing end of this thing. Maybe. We'll see. Let's just hope I get no new e-mails or phone calls from the publisher - unless they say, "The books are done and shipped, you'll get them Friday."

An Ominous Feeling

"You're computer is scheduled to be upgraded."
-Campus Computer Tech Guy

Tomorrow the tech guys are going to come to the office to upgrade my computer. I have a bad feeling about this. After the recent file-wiping debacle, I can't help but wonder if there's some deja-vu right around the corner. Fortunately, I have my nifty CDRW to back up files, but I keep thinking something's going to go wrong. After all, I have two new anthologies I'm working on, and the original isn't printed yet.

Tonight, when you say your prayers to the computer gods, would you mind putting in a good word for me?

Why Does it Have to be So Hard?

"So, I admit that I'm a bit confused."
-Me, e-mail to Fidlar-Doubleday rep.

Another delay in the publishing process. Egad, will this book ever be printed? This time the delay is because of payment. I spoke with the gal about using a purchase order for payment, and she said that'd work. Then, a couple of days ago she asked where our credit application was. But, we're doing a PO for payment, not a credit card. Huh?

A handful of e-mails and a couple of phone calls later, I spoke with someone in customer service (the rep. I'd been talking with is out of the office for the next couple of days) and finally got it cleared up. The credit application (which requires a credit card number) is a safeguard for them, to make sure they don't get ripped off. Fair enough.

The next hitch - the woman who had the P-card for the English department (i.e. the department credit card) is out of the office until next Wednesday. More waiting. I'm tellin' ya, sometimes I wonder if this book is ever going to happen. And now it's time to start working on the next one already...

One of these days we'll get a nice big box full of the finished product, and I think I may die of shock right on the spot.

New Anthologies

"I got your submission. Thanks for contributing."
-Me

Well, the last of the April WM anthology submissions are in. Now comes the part where I start editing things, then send them off to Kathleen, then look at them again, then give them to Katherine for breaking the ties where Kathleen and I disagree.

Oh yeah, and the SI anthology submissions are about to roll in. So, it looks like this summer I'll be working on two different anthologies at the same time. Man, I tell ya, by the time I graduate and stop working for Katherine, I'll be an old hand at making anthologies.

Speaking of which, the one I've been sweating and bleeding over for the past forever is oh-so-very near the point of being published. The paperwork for paying Fidlar-Doubleday is being created/processed and as soon as it's ready, off the PDF goes to the publisher. Then we okay the galleys, then we have the hardcopies in our grubby little hands. Hoorah! I can almost taste it.

Play the Hallelujah Music

"Alright, I think it's done."
-My Email to Katherine

It's hard to believe, but I think the 2005-2006 SI anthology is ready to be sent to the printer. This anthology, which I've been editing, transcribing, re-transcribing, editing again, formatting, and compiling for what seems my whole life, may be finally ready to send off. Whew. Now I just have to hope the computer doesn't crash and wipe everything all of a sudden, again. *Crosses fingers, toes, and eyes*

SI 2007

"My name is Ali, I'm a grad student here on campus, and I'll be making all your copies."
-Me introducing myself yesterday

This year's Summer Institute has officially begun. We have fifteen participants, including a gal named Olga who came over all the way from Russia, which I think is pretty nifty.

Today is day two of the SI and I've already burned through about 3,000 copies, thanks to all the various documents that everyone needs and handouts for demonstrations, and assigned readings. Whoo-boy, we're smokin' now.

On a nifty note, it's been decided that this year's SI will end with a writing marathon, instead of a visitor's day. Katherine invited me to participate and I'm looking forward to it. WMs are fun and there'll be free food. It's a win-win. Right now I've been on and off the phone with folks at Angelo's Pizza Parlor and Cafe Zajj scheduling room reservations and food. At the Cafe, we're going to get to binge on pastries and desert crepes, mmm... I can't wait for the SI to be over!

Writing Marathon

"Hello Writers!

I hope that you all are well! Attached is a flier announcing our upcoming Writing Marathon on April 21 from 3:00-7:00."
-Part of an e-mail Katherine sent out

This weekend we're having the 5th or so Writing Marathon. This'll be the first one for me. I'm excited. I've been slacking on my non-school writing lately, and this will force me to do some. Since I'm the one taking reservations, I know who'll be there and I'm looking forward to hanging out with them. Besides, there'll be free food at the end of it. Hoorah!

A Visit and Computer Hell

"Speaking of death, Tim has cancer."
-Peg, September 1999

This morning as I lay in bed, telling myself it was time to get up, my phone rang. My friend Tim is going to be in town (from Virginia) unexpectedly - one of his friends he met while being treated for cancer has passed away and he's coming back for the funeral. I haven't talked to him since before he moved out east, almost a year. He's still doing okay, for the most part, which is good, but this'll be a tough trip for him in more ways than one. Fortunately, though his schedule is tight and filled with gobs of people to see, we'll get a chance to have lunch Wed. It'll be good to catch up.

Also this morning, I came to the office, logged on to the computer, and found out that all of my files since I've started as Katherine's assistant last June - were gone. Absolutely, completely disappeared. That includes the anthology, contact lists, institute documents, the whole she-bang. I called the IT guys and tried not to panic. They said, "Yeah, we started something new where all non-network files are deleted every time you log off." Super.

The SCWP log-on has no way to save to the network, so how the hell was I supposed to save to the network? Grr. Anyhow, they came in, pulled the hard-drive out and did what they do, then brought it back. About half the files I lost I can retrieve. Most of the others Katherine has too, so she can send them. It's just the pain-in-the-assery of finding out which I can open, which are corrupt, which Katherine has, and which I have to do-over from scratch. *Sigh*

I'm so glad to be back from spring break.

Final Cover

“What kind of veto power do I have on the cover design?”
-Me

I sent covers to Katherine, she forwarded them to the co-directors, who replied with “Change this, I don’t like that font” stuff. At first, I got frustrated. Some of the suggestions were things I specifically decided against – like, Papyrus font would be damn hard to read against the textured background. After I got a chance to let my gall settle, I realized Katherine is the type who’ll let me have some executive power. Sure enough, she answered my question by saying I can take their suggestions or leave them as I see fit.

So, after some playing with font, here’s the design that I want on the cover.

P.S. Dramamine is a beautiful thing. While it hasn’t completely obliterated my Vertigo symptoms, it has greatly, greatly reduced them. Hoorah for Dramamine!

Surveys Are Fun

“Given me more tools for more actively engaged”
-Anonymous teacher response to survey question (that’s all there was, I kid you not)

Life as the SCWP assistant is multi-faceted. One of the most entertaining, yet disturbing facets, is transcription. Katherine is very enthusiastic about feedback and surveys, most of which are responded to by local public school teachers. While many educators have no apparent trouble answering questions such as, “How has this inquiry group process improved your understanding of student learning?” Others respond in varied and inexplicable ways, such as “For sures!” or [indecipherable scribbling, looks like “goat ran duck vroom”].

Two key things to remember when filling out surveys and/or response forms.

1. Write legibly. Unless your cursive is very neat, use print. Please remember, also, that transcribers do not use a microscope or magnifying glass – please, no 5pt writing.

2. Answer the question(s) asked - bonus points for complete thoughts. If a question begins with “How,” it is not an yes/no question. Thank you.

This ends this public service announcement. Have a nice day.

Final Covers (Maybe)

Whew, that was a lot of messing about. I finally found Microsoft Photo Draw on this computer and got that going for cover design. Ugh, if only I'd used it from the start. Oh well, I'll just chalk it up to blonde-ness and move on. I'm ready to send Katherine some covers and either get a decision on which to use, or get suggestions on what else to try.

Here are some of the finals:

This one is my favorite:

Designing the Cover

"You'll have to buy Adobe Photoshop, I can't just download it."
-Tech Help Guy

What a pain in the ass. I have no photoshop programs on this computer, nor is buying one an option. Thus, I had to scramble and do some trial and error to figure out just how in the hell I was going to design the Anthology cover. Finally, I figured I might be able to pull it off in Word.

Converting from word to PDF creates problems, but at least I have something to work from. Here's my first prototype cover (includes front & back).

Dumbass Undergrads

"I'm looking for the office of __"
-Undergrad

Okay, yes she has office hours here. But, this is not the time for her office hours. Then, he asks me when her office hours are, like I keep track. All I know is that I don't come in until 11:30 on Thursdays so I won't interrupt them. The brilliant thing is, though, every professor in the world has this nifty thing called a syllabus, and guess what? That's where their office hours are listed. Pay attention, it helps.

See? Still a bit grouchy. I really want to go home, not to the bar. Ugh, again.