b l o g o s

scattershot four: "kids these days" edition

1. Yesterday before class began, I asked my students for product advice: "can anybody recommend a pair of headphones with a mic on it, you know, that you would use to talk on an iphone?" As they stared at me blankly, I slowly came to the realization that they don't need microphones for their thumbs.

2. While trudging up Pugh Street just downhill from a heavily cologned young man, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, the cologne is some kind of subconscious effort to make up for his behind, left bare by his sagging jeans.

3. State Patty's day (held on a Saturday) is a totally watered down version of The U of Illinois Unofficial Saint Patrick's Day (held on a Friday). This year, the people on my neighborhood listserv are trying to "take back" the weekend by taking their kids out and doing family stuff. Maybe when The Bean is older we will participate in both efforts by setting up a stand in our yard and selling bottled water, changes of clothes, and cologne top ups.

4. On the flip side of #2 and #3 are the students in my class. They are giving speeches on really interesting issues: on the uprisings in Egypt, on Wikileaks, on China's one-child policy, on Wisconsin, on Arizona's anti-immigration laws, on unisexed children, on same sex marriage. They are bursting with questions for each other after the speeches, even though we don't have time for questions (note to self: need to build in time for questions). And they also go easy on the cologne. Perhaps this is because their pants are in the right place.

 

CDD **FLASH FORUM**: Collective Bargaining in the U.S.

 CDD FLASH FORUM: Collective Bargaining in the U.S. 

The recent swell of protests in Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states signals the continued life of labor unions and a strong belief in the importance of collective bargaining. The controversy over collective bargaining matters for more than union members: it cuts to the heart of deliberation, of democracy, and the livelihoods of workers everywhere. In response to these protests, the Center for Democratic Deliberation presents a “Flash Forum”—an event organized with due speed to respond to the exigencies of the moment—to give members of our campus and community an opportunity to consider what this issue might mean for people in Pennsylvania and especially for students at Penn State.

We have invited a group of people who know something about unions, labor, collective action, and/or collective bargaining to briefly share their thoughts on these matters, and we invite you to join our discussion.

Featured Presenters:

John Marsh, Assistant Professor, Department of English

Emma Gaalaas Mullaney, Graduate Student, Geography & Women's Studies

Paul F. Clark, Professor and Chair, Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations

Samuel Zucker, Undergraduate Student, College of Liberal Arts

Dominic Sgro, Director, Southwestern Pennsylvania Public Employees Council 83, AFSCME

 

Date: Tuesday, March 1

Time: 2:30-4:00 pm

Place: Memorial Lounge, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center

 

 

 

In Memoriam: Summer Smith Taylor

 

Summer Smith Taylor passed away today. She was in palliative care, a term that is usually only circumstantially good (in that it focuses on providing comfort) after being stricken last month with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) that resulted in insurmountable and systemic complications, including extensive brain damage.

Just typing those words makes me cold.

Word only started to get out this past week about the gravity of Summer's condition, and as I scrambled to contact our friends from graduate school, overlaying grief with clinical description, my mind crowded with images of Summer from her graduate school years. 

Summer darting around downtown State College--she was small but quick--running errands, taking care of stuff. Her signature thick, strawberry-blonde hair. Her combination of warmth and drive. Her phenomenal end-of-term presentation in Chris Haas's research methods seminar. Summer's work was so stellar that Chris stopped everything after her presentation to explain to the rest of us how we could do better, be more like Summer. Summer's blush. (Those last two memories came in rapid succession.) Summer running a meeting at the Leonhard Center Technical Writing Initiative, which she directed. And boy, could she run a meeting: she taught me how. She was ever organized, always brimming with ideas, and she tolerated my and Blake's joking around with a sweetness to be cherished.

Summer with her parents, again downtown.  They would walk all around together, and she always looked so happy and relaxed when she was with them. Summer at graduation (above right), gown flowing, hood neatly draped over her arm.

Blake and I squealed with delight when he told me that CCCC featured a panel focused exclusively on Summer's work, her full name in the title and everything (I can't locate the title, but I think it was something like "Calling Summer Smith"), and how Summer stood up in the audience after the panel and began her question with "I'm Summer Smith." I'm sure that got good laughs. And I am equally sure she blushed when it did. And then proceeded to say something worth heeding.

Those of us who knew Summer, especially those of us from Penn State and her long-time colleagues at Clemson where she worked for 10+ years, not to mention--dear God--her husband Rob, daughter Eva, her parents and in-laws, struggle with the magnitude of this loss. Summer was a leader, a questioner, and above all a sweet and happy person.

We are all bereft.