A Ghost of Daisies

This chapter explores using encyclopedias as reference sources. When I was in fifth grade, the elementary school principal gave our family the 1976 World Book Encyclopedias. I used them for looking up Aristotle and Plato for sixth grade papers. Other times I would just flip through the pages, consuming knowledge on whatever I alighted upon. They were heavy and smelled funny and people wore funny clothes in the pictures. I pressed flowers between the pages. We kept them till about three years ago when I donated them to a thrift store.

I don’t think Wikipedia or e-readers can match the joy of browsing through a physical encyclopedia.

This time we’re covering the curriculum and the principal. In summary: as school librarian you need to integrate yourself fully within the school environment since you have a unique view of the entire curriculum. You then need to convince the principal of this. :-)

Chapters two and three in First, Break all the Rules is about how a manager looks for the right person to do the job. A person is defined by their talent. More about this can be found in my notes.

So the big news out of my camp is that I was awarded a graduate assistantship (GA). There are a lot of duties involved and I report directly to my department’s director which is a huge honor. She’s been very understanding of my shyness! I’m a regular blabber mouth when I get comfortable, but so silent until I’m comfortable with my surroundings. :-)

My duties are being the lab assistant for at least one shift a week, assisting the director with her project in International Comparative Librarianship (which admittingly I don’t know much about right now), help redesign the department’s website (but not code! Thank goodness since my degree is in new media, not computer science!), lead a focus group with the Charlotte cohort on how the program is doing, and whatever duties necessary to help with the accreditation process.

Today I did an inventory on all the equipment in our computer lab. There was some ancient stuff in there! I was especially amused by the digital camera that saved to a floppy disk! I then reorganized the locked compartments in an order that made sense. Tomorrow I want to write out a proposal for a borrowing policy since there is not one currently in place. Also I want to brainstorm on how we can advertise that we do have equipment available for checking out. Maybe a five minute showcase in a few classes so students are aware of them?

Next was phone duty which meant navigating the poorly chosen answering service to filter the voice messages. You could not delete a message until it specifically told you that you could. Times this frustration by how many times I had to replay the message to get a spitted out telephone number. Argh! I then made two calls and got to utter, “a graduate assistant” when I called potential students. I’ve noticed that several emails I have received from other students have their position in their signature. Should I add it to mine? Right now all I have is a link to my blog as my signature.

Finally there was the meeting to address the accreditation process. I took minutes on my netbook (she’ll be one in March!). I’m not really sure how those notes panned out since it was difficult to follow the conversation and type in coherent sentences at the same time. However, it was nice to just email them directly off to the group as soon as the meeting adjourned. I only tentatively put my name forward for one project since I’m still not sure how demanding my normal GA duties will be. I am kinda jealous that another GA is getting to organize the department’s paperwork.

I am so infinitely grateful to have been given this opportunity. Last week I was musing in a broken down fashion that it was time to apply for a minimum wage cashiering job in order to take care of Dollbaby’s needs, but then the life changing email came along! I feel much more secure now with this income coming in. Plus experience! Resume building! I am beginning to feel like an adult. It’s the first time sole responsibility has felt good.

P.S. Did you see the snow storm over the U.S. right now? We’re scheduled to get 5-8 inches while Asheville is looking at 6-10.

I just read about this incredibly traumatic experience known as birth rape. Specifically it’s where a woman is held down and forced to have vaginal exams or other actions performed on her while she’s in labor. These range from dozens of hands going to the birth canal to being cut upon without permission (or anesthesia!) to being tied down as people force her legs wider.

Just…oh my God. And to top it off, here’s a report out of Canada about how it’s common procedure for unconscious women to have pelvis exams while they’re under without their permission. The exams are done by students for practice.

BRB, ordering a chastity belt.

I live-blogged President Obama’s State of the Union Address (video or transcript) in a casual way with my friend. However, here were my main favorite and surprising points:

• Ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
• Bringing home the troops from Iraq by the end of August
• Ending tax breaks to companies that send our jobs overseas (NAFTA devastated NC when our jobs slipped away to foreign shores)
• Graduates wouldn’t pay more than 10% of their income towards their school loans per year
• The smackdown on health care reform being dragged out. We NEED health care in this country!
• JOBS JOBS JOBS

Below is a selection from my final paper as a Multimedia undergrad with the full-text available here.

Of all our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language. ~Walt Disney

Over the last thirteen years, the American animation landscape has been in an upheaval divided between two very different camps: traditional two-dimensional (2D) and computer graphic (3D) animation. The supporters of each group are very vocal proclaiming their medium to be the best in terms of animated expression. Putting personal feelings aside, economic figures have to be taken into consideration about the success of each medium in regards to the reception it receives by American audiences. Money has played a big part in the dismantling of classic American 2D animation and the rise of computer animated movies. The lack of quality domestic traditional animated films then led American audiences to look outside the United States for 2D movies. This movement led to the emersion of Japanese 2D films. However the commercial success of 3D animation cannot and has not replaced the value of 2D animation as a more natural and communicative storytelling tool in animation.

Today’s lesson was about the different materials we use in reference.

…can be found here.

They’re shorter today because we did a lot of activities. I have LOTS of notes for that stuff, but I’m not sure how understandable they are to an outsider.

I snuck in some time between homework and attending class to practice using the tablet.