Archives for category: praxis
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live blogging the second presidential debate

Oct 7, 2008 //
My Debate Command Station

My Debate Command Station

Some might be asking “What’s up with this post….” My PhD work is in the area of Journalism and live blogging debates is something that amateurs and pros alike have been doing this US Presidential Cycle. So, livin’ the anthropologist’s life, I thought I’d give it a try.

It’s not as easy as it looks. In fact, Twittering is much easier that trying to write anything substantive. This, believe it or not, was better than my first, unpublished attempt during the VP debate. Balancing watching, thinking, typing, and keeping watching is a lot harder than it seems. So without further adieu, my rather weak ramblings on the proceedings:

  • 10.34 pm — Gotta love what happens when the candidates block the teleprompter. And we go to hand shaking…
  • 10.24 pm — So much for yes or no. McCain’s “maybe” was the perfect response on that one. And we heard the audience on that one.
  • 10.17 pm — For an interesting view on the debate, check out Intrade’s tracking page for the debate.
  • 10.13 pm — Whelp, it’s official Brokaw should just get up and leave at this point.
  • 10.11 pm — Twitter looks to be down from the traffic
  • 10.03 pm — I want a doctrine! The Bernius Doctrine…
  • 10.00 pm — Ok, Brokaw is absolutely toothless.
  • 9.54 pm — I wonder if the audience is miked? McCain, whose cracked more jokes so far… But if there isn’t the sound of chuckles from the audience, it just sounds like the jokes are dying on the floor.
  • 9.49 pm — Brokaw really needs to start cutting these guys off…
  • 9.37 pm — Ballston Spa NY — Central NY Represents!
  • 9.29 pm — Interesting production note — is it me or are both candidates wearing lapel mics? If so then why the hand helds? Are they even on? Or is it just for the look?
  • 9.27 pm — The Hack the Vote live twittering is lagging way too far behind the debate. It’s interesting, especially since there’s a healthy amount of tweets from both sides of the aisle. But I think I’ve seen enough… let’s try some live blogging…
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Categories photo, praxis

back in Ithaca with a working clutch

Oct 2, 2008 //

2 months rent down the drain, but the car is running better than ever!

I’m back in Ithaca at the Library and watching/taking part in a meeting on Social Advocacy that’s taking place in Ohio at the excellent Midtown Brews forum. After that its on to the Debate. All of this will be watched online — it’s a brave new world.

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Categories personal, praxis

i think i finally get marx and hagel!

Sep 8, 2008 //

Today was the type of day that makes the past few years of theory worthwhile.

Before I go any further, a brief digression: I’m not good with philosophy. Not in the “I don’t see the value of it” way. Nah, I’m at the more fundimental “I don’t understand it” way. I wasn’t trained to read it. And stuff like Marx’s “negation of the negation” stuff just causes my eyes to glaze over. It’s not for lack of trying mind you. But its been a stuggle since I dove into the social sciences.

Digression completed, my exciting news is that I think I finally “get” Hagel’s dialectic — the key to unlocking a lot of stuff. After an excellent lecture in my Professional Seminar class, it’s making a lot more sense. My professor, Dominic Boyer, gave an amazing lecture that really connected a number of dots for me (not the least of which was getting me beyond “thesis, antithesis, synthesis” to “becoming, negation, sublimation”).

Have a lot more to write about this, but I need to cut it off here so I can hopefully get in a proposal for Siggraph 2009.

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Categories personal, praxis

one week down…

Sep 5, 2008 //

Since this is Friday, it means I’ve made it through the first week of PhD studies and my shifted role at RIT. So far things are going well. I really appreciate the “breathing room” that the semester system is giving me to study. At this point at RIT or Chicago I’d be thinking “oh crap, we’re already 10% of the way through the class!” 1/15 doesn’t seem anywhere as bad (also because I know there are days off in there).

I’m in the process of preparing to meet with this week’s colloquium presenter — Adam Reed of St. Andrews University. He’s published two good articles on blogging and, reading them, I realized that I haven’t posted since school began.

Um… so… that’s about it. Things are going well. I’m starting to get the rhythm of this down. Which is good.

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Categories martial arts, praxis

“so, are you a sophomore?”

Aug 28, 2008 //

I think I could have hugged the undergrad who asked me this earlier today, as we sat waiting for the class to start. From professor to sophomore. What could be better than that?* Definitely an advantageous start to the quarter… oops, semester. I don’t quite know what to do with myself given 15 weeks of classes instead of the usual 10.

[*Note that I’m going to ignore the possibility that she might have been thinking “man that’s a haggard looking second year!”]

So one shopped class down. Definitely won’t be taking that one (The Psychology of Social Computing). It seemed interesting, but the room was packed and apparently the waiting list was 15+ deep. Next up is my first Anthro PhD class. It’s one I began to take last year, so I’m pretty familiar with what will be asked of me.

As a total aside, yesterday, while driving back to Ithaca, I stopped off at the Thirsty Owl Winery on rt 89. I cannot accurately describe how great it is to drive alongside a Finger Lake on a sunny day, so I’ll let the picture do the talking (there’s more on Flickr.)
100_1580

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Categories personal, photo, praxis
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