This week college-level members will gather for the 57th Annual Convention of CCCC. Program Chair Akua Duku Anokye asked attendees to consider the question “How do we work in the middle spaces with integrity and conviction to clearly and loudly address the literacy needs of a diverse society?” as one issue that might shape their proposals for the Convention. One answer to this important question is to foreground the many literacies that students bring to the classroom. The Ideas Section from this week’s Inbox will get you started.
CCCC 2006: Day Minus One and Counting
So I managed to get to the Palmer House after a minor driving error that took me through downtown Chicago at 5 PM. Note to self: do not arrive in Chicago at 5 PM again. Second note to self: Pay more attention to road signs.
Saw Susan Lang and Janice Walker in the lounge early then met Will and Michelle for drinks at the Exchequer. There’s been no end of trouble with the Internet connection in the room and the ice machine on this floor doesn’t work; but it’s been nice to see people whom I haven’t seen in 3 or 4 years.
Travel: Burdens of the Modern Beast
I saved Burdens of the Modern Beast on March 4; but I didn’t get around to writing the entry. I never seem to get around to the things I’m supposed to these days. Yesterday, while I was at Saturn waiting for the oil change, etc., I reread the article and mused on how I had spent most of the last 24 hours trying to figure out how to cram my belongings into their various suitcases for the trip. I never seem able to pare things down enough. I’m not sure why I always have too much with me. When I look at it all, it seems perfectly normal, though I know that I have a tendency to pack for emergencies and other anxieties. Oh well, time to get the packing finished and get on the road.
Daily Work: Prepping for the Trip
So here I sit at the Saturn dealer with the huginormous laptop on my lap. Fortunately
Saturn now has wifi. Unfortunately, my mac’s battery died last night. Or at least
I discovered it last night. I noticed that it was unplugged on Sunday when it
went black screen on me. I’m not sure who twiddled the power cable. Since then,
the battery holds only 3%. It shutsdown and loses all sense within 5 minutes
of having been turned on. I’m less than pleased, but it is a very old laptop.
I think that I’ve had it for 5 or 6 years, well beyond the usable life of the
thing. I guess I really am going to have to find teh money to buy a new mac now.
While I’m sitting here, my car is receiving updates so that I can drive to Chicago
in a bit for CCCC. It needs an oil change, traansmission service, and brake fluid
flush (and presumably replace). $221. After this, I’m going to Target to see
if I can find a more usable bag. I can never manage to pack properly. I’m going
to have to rethink everything again : ( But regardless, since it would make no
sense to bring the mac, I have to take a rolling bag for this win machine. That
puts my stuff in really inconvenient places, so I need to find a purse or tote
or something so that I don’t have to get down on the floor every time I want
a pen.
After that little trip, it’s home to finish packing and off to Chicago. We have
a snow day today, so I don’t have to go to the office (woohoo!). According to
my NPR meteorologist, the weather north of here is fine, just blowing a bit;
so the drive should be okay. Possibly a little slow. Regardless I"m bound to
get out of here sooner than I originally thought since I don’t have to go in
to the office at all. I thought I’d have to work today and then leave after work.
It will be nice to get a head start on the trip during the daylight hours.
I must have a million partially done entries for this blog. Maybe I’ll have some time this evening to catch up once I’m in Chicago.
Daily Work: A Million Things to Do
Okay, maybe not really a million, but it feels like a million. I went by the post office to stop my mail before going to work—one to do done. Did a ton of little things for work: edited a professional development newsletter, did the Inbox for tomorrow (on composition for CCCC), did preliminary work on the June calendar revisions, reviewed a lesson, and wrote notes for another lesson author. Plus I managed to go to Target for things I needed for the trip, got gas, and got money at the bank. Now I just have to figure out how to smash the right things into the right suitcase.
Daily Work: Crying and Hair Color
Fortunately in unrelated events.
Holli and Kelli packed up and left around 12:30. They even helped get some garbage out of the basement before they left, even though I told them to forget about it. I hate the leaving part, where I walk down the drive with the car into the front yard sobbing and waving. And even worse, I hate the long walk back into the house, sobbing and alone in the yard and then singularly alone and sobbing in the silence of the house. I actually cried for quite a while; but I managed to pull myself together and do something: I went to the closest drugstore and bought the hair color that Holli decided was closest to the color of my roots. Came home and doused myself with “Coastal Dune,” which is apparently dark neutral blonde. It feel slightly dark, slightly more brown than it should be, but it’s definitely close to the real color and in the right light it seems reddish rather than brown. I probably should have begun packing for CCCC, since I need to leave on Tuesday; but instead, I took my tearful depressed self to bed and slept from 6:30 to 11:30. Just got back up, took my meds, checked e-mail, and now I’m going back to bed.