Talkin' About My Generation

When you're hearing two published authors bag on your generation, it can be a bummer. It can also be illuminating and produce a kind of "ah-ha" moment in which you realize that the irritating and superficial behaviors you've witnessed your fellow Generation Y'ers engage in aren't just insignificant trends--they are part of a larger historical mechanism.

For example, check out this chart:

Who here is being labeled as "Narcissistic"? Who is being heralded as "the 'me' generation"? Despite what Raina Kelley and Judith Warner report about you and your peers, these terms are actually being applied to the Baby Boomers, a group that predates you by almost forty years!

And even though I land on the cusp of Gen X & Y, I relate more closely with Gen X; most of my formative, early memories and family life align with those "defining experiences." Look at how my generation is being labeled: "skeptical," "alienated and confrontational," and "not considered capable of rallying together to improve the state of the world." Doesn't paint a pretty picture. It makes us out to be anti-social a-holes who believe in nothing and can't work with others. If you want a pretty accurate depiction of my generation, here you go. Yet, there are exceptions, just as you all pointed out in your responses to these articles: true sometimes, but not all the time and not for everybody.

So, why do I want you to think about your generation? Part of it is that I want you to consider what it means to be part of something larger--a group, a community, a "time." But, I also want you to feel the freedom to think about and communicate the ways you are different than the stereotype. Ask yourself, "How do I want to be known? To be remembered?"

And just for the record, I never thought in a million years that the 90's styles would become popular again. It all just seemed so atrocious to begin with. I do love it when people make fun of it though, kind of like they do on Portlandia. Like this:

Teacher Rant: Stupid Mistakes

I live the majority of my life in the presence of writing. I almost always have a foot-tall stack of student papers staring at me from across the room; I have a teetering tower of books at my bedside; I belong to two writing groups; I love words. I love that my job puts me in direct contact with the expression of people's ideas and imagination. I generally give my students many chances to draft parts of their paper before the big grade comes. I am patient and I want people to do well. That's why I get really pissed when I am reading a final draft of someone's paper and I find stupid, mindless mistakes. I'm not talking about a misplaced comma or a misspelled word. I'm talking about someone who ends their paper in the middle of a sentence. I'm talking about the person who writes in 20-pt font or tries to quadruple space their paper because they didn't meet the length requirement. Do you think I'm blind? Do you think I can't look at your paper and compare them to the other eighty papers that are spaced properly? Not to mention the person who turned in a paper with three of the pages repeated, or the one who cut and pasted an entire article into the assignment. Last semester, a student thought a two minute video from Fox News would count as scholarly research and when quoting a Congresswoman, kept calling her "that girl." When I pointed out that this might be construed as being condescending, he stormed out and slammed the door. Come on. Common sense and the fact that I have functioning eyes tip me off to most people's lazy mistakes, but the fact that some think they'll sneak it by me is more than disappointing--it's insulting. My business is Words. You can assume I am paying attention.

Civility in "The Other World"

In our discussions about the articles, "Why I Like Vicious, Anonymous Online Comments," by Matt Seitz and "Make Our Ugly Discourse Better: Join the Civilogue," by Jeffrey Weiss, the idea of personal accountability played along the margins. While we centered around the ideas of how people are currently being mitigated by online discussion sites (linking to profiles, flagging abusive users, reporting systems) we never really got to the harder question of why people are choosing to communicate in these ways. I don't claim to know the answer either, but find that to be the more intriguing line of questioning, as we see this level of toxicity seep through the seams of the internet into our interactions with those we come face-to-face with in life. Maybe it comes back to the Golden Rule we all learn in Kindergarten, "Do unto others as you'd have done to you."

As an English teacher, my job is to guide you back to the place that connects all of this to writing. Here are a few thoughts I had over the course of our various conversations:

• All of this takes place in the realm of written communication. The online life is growing and expanding, as this report illustrates, we spend a quarter of our online life immersed in social networking, which necessitates both reading and writing to participate.
• Much of what we read and contribute to these online discussion or blogs is anchored in argument and personal opinion. To respond to or create an argument, we must be savvy to the rhetoric that surrounds the issue, as well as create an articulate and educated response in order to be taken seriously.
• Part of being a successful writer is being able to recognize and adjust to the shifting audience, purpose and context of a given text or writing task. This is similar in some ways to the idea that Seitz forwards about "the mask." That we all have different "faces" for different groups is assumed; being able to hold an awareness about when the context shifts and what that means about your choices as a writer, is what matters in the development of your "writerly" identity.

As well, I said I would share the link to the NY Times article about internet trolls. If anything, it reiterates the message, "Don't feed the trolls," in that it illustrates the varying levels of ill intent that this subgroup holds. And here is the article that correlates trolling and drunkenness.

Recently, I read this article about Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who committed suicide after being unknowingly videoed via web cam by his dorm roommate. Throughout the article, the journalist is able to track the communication between these two college students in stunning detail. Yet, even with all of this minute information, in the end I felt like there was still something deeply unknowable about these people. It challenges Seitz when he says the online self is the true self.

I keep having this reoccurring thought about how the internet is the closest thing we have to a literal parallel universe--one that holds everything this world does: images and videos of landscapes and street views, families, romance, conversation, libraries, universities, theft, commerce, entertainment, etc. Yet, as a society we haven't really caught up with the magnitude of this universe in all of it's potential good and imminent bad. Just like you lock your doors at night; check your passwords for good measure. If someone tries to provoke you online, walk away/log off. Use your words well, whether you're in this world or the Other.

Talk to an Iraqi: Three Years Later

In reading through your blog entries about the This American Life clip that we viewed in class, many of you mentioned that you'd like to know if Haider Hamza's views have changed since the filming of "Two Wars." I was able to find this short interview and I think it acts as a kind of follow-up:

I was also able to locate some additional biographical information about Haider Hamza's background and upbringing.  His experiences in Iraq were far-reaching and in connection with a variety of groups:

"While in Iraq, Haider covered all the major events that took place in his country and witnessed their formation. These events include, live coverage of all 40 trial sessions of his former president Saddam Hussein from inside the courtroom, witnessing the killing of Saddam's sons, the bombing of the holy shrines in Samara, the elections and referendum, establishment of his country's new governments and political cabinet, the killing of al Qaeda leader, Abu Mussab al Zarqawi and the daily sectarian violence. For months, Haider was embedded with U.S. military units covering combat operations throughout Iraq. He also covered the perspective of Iraqi armed resistance as a freelance journalist to learn more about their mind set, goals and the reality of who they really are. As life became more and more dangerous in Iraq, Haider was arrested, shot at, and held captive. He also lost several friends and family. Haider wanted to stay in his home country but he also wanted to live. Haider says, “At some point I realized that it is more important to live for a cause than to die for one.”

I offer these additional links and texts so that we can get a more comprehensive view of who Haider is and where he came from, hopefully adding to the conversation about what this video means to each of us. As well, I want to think about the project itself: What does it mean to "Talk to an Iraqi"? Could we substitute the word "Iraqi" for another representational word, like "Mexican," "Teen Mom," "Homeless," or "Veteran" and end up making the same kind of assumptions, but with different descriptors? Does the booth end up as a kind of metaphor? What would your booth say?

Week One: Getting to Know You, Or TMI

My favorite part of the first week in teaching this course is always going back through and reading everyone's "10 Things About Me" posts. There's always a fascinating blend of the strange and the familiar. Many people share their likes (their pets, snowboarding, the Giants, spicy food), as well as their dislikes (spiders, the sound of chewing, feet, odd numbers). Everyone has hidden dimensions that make us different, but sometimes we can see ourselves clearly in another person. Nonetheless, I think it's going to be an interesting semester.

Just to be fair, here's a few things about me:

1) This is the song I can't get enough of right now.
2) I am on the Board of Directors of the 1078 Gallery. It's an amazing place. You should come by sometime.
3) If I wasn't a teacher, I would probably be a therapist. Sometimes they seem similar.
4) I wish hats looked better on me.
5) My handle on Words With Friends is "dearsarie" if you want to play.
6) I love the Flight of the Conchords. This is just one reason why.

This semester will be a little different since you all will be on BBLearn with your blogs and I will stay out here in the blogosphere. Just check back to this space every week or so. It'll be a place to get some extra info on the topics we discuss and to continue the conversations we start in class.