~Sunday~ I had a crazy busy day for a weekend day, with my Manbites Dog Theater board of directors meeting, an open house at Love Wins Ministries, and Salon in the evening.
This Salon meeting's agenda with my answers provided where I felt like sharing publicly:
Sunday, April 22, 7:00
Brad’s Home
- Do you have people in your life whom you like in context x, but not in context y? (e.g., like them as a friend, but dislike them as a co-worker) [John]
- 'Social-Media Blasphemy': Texas researcher adds 'Enemy' feature to … [from The Chronicle of Higher Education] A couple of things: a) Would you use an "Enemy" feature? and b) What do you think about the assertion that "Real-world relationships are more complicated than that, so social networks should be too…" [John]
I thought this was intellectually interesting, and I actually tried it. Poor implementation, albeit very popular. I uninstalled it after seeing what it was all about.
- The Wrong Touch. Did anyone ever catch their college roommate having sex (alone or otherwise) — or god forbid, get caught having sex (alone or otherwise) themselves? [John]
I once woke up to the noise of my roommate’s feet banging the wall above his headboard—with his own feet kicked up and behind his head. Draw your own conclusions.
- Continuing saga from the halls of lame [Sarah]
- Do people with "normal" jobs/lives get excited about summer? Or is it just those of us on the academic calendar? If you ARE excited about summer, what do you look forward to? Or do you hate summer? [Sarah]
I never thought about “the summer” at all when I worked at IBM. Here, I like it, because the buses become way less crowded for three months, and then there’s a little “rush” when fall returns with the students and a whole new “crop of boys” come with it.
- Favorite online "distraction." Right now, I am loving: http://hint.fm/wind/index.html. [Sarah]
I’m including mobile apps as “online” and right now I’m all caught up in DrawSomething!, because it’s so DrawSome.
- Has your opinion of Wikipedia changed/evolved? http://www.fastcompany.com/1830315/wikipedia-education-program-coll… [Sarah]
I used to worry about its vetting (or more specifically its lack thereof) more than I do now. I do think that, overall, its ethos has increased over the years, although I’m not sure why. I still don’t think it should be allowed as a legitimate citation in most research, however.
- Responses to Article Anna posted to Facebook: http://www.salon.com/2006/05/03/keillor_39/ [Sarah]
Working hard to put my complete and utter disdain for Garrison Keillor aside, this piece seems to come from a narrow worldview—namely Garrison’s—and I’d classify the tone as arrogant.
I think in some sense, it depends on what his meaning of a “writer” is. I’d buy a lot of what he claims if his definition is someone who has chosen writing for a living because they like it and/or it comes easily to them.
The reality is, though, that there are writers for which one or both of those things aren’t true—some people write because they could do it well enough to get a job doing it, but it doesn’t come easily to them, and they’d rather be biking. And for them it might be hard.
I also don’t like the intimation that “mental” work can’t possibly be as “hard” as physical work.
- Moving—love it or hate it. Packing—love it or hate it. Painting—love it or hate it. [Sarah]
Hate moving, packing, painting—and I would add wallpapering to the list.
- How many items can I add that Anna could do without preparing? [Sarah]
I’d say, “At least four.”
- Report on 675 projects [Sarah]
What Sarah said.
- Profile picture on the Ning—where, when, why was it taken and chosen? What makes you change/update profile pics on Facebook, Linked In, other spaces? [Sarah]
In the yard at my friend Steve’s house, because it was a nice day out and he wanted to show off some of his plants, which I of course, promptly cut out of the picture.
I use this picture as my profile picture often, mostly because I’m actually smiling without my eyes turning into slits, and it doesn’t hide the fact that I’m “older.”
I have changed my picture in the past to participate in some meme on Facebook (e.g., childhood picture, Valentine’s Day, World AIDS Day, Christmas) and when I’ve just felt “contemplative.”
- If you have one handy (no homework!), share a memory of when you first thought in college, "Wow. This is different than high school." (Could be about anything — academically, socially, intellectually, paradigm shifts, anything.) [John]
This question came from the most recent “Saloon,” but coincidently, I had a thought about that earlier in the week, when I was cutting through campus at about 9:30 at night, and kids were just milling all about.
It reminded me when I first got to ECU in 1975, and I went to play tennis at 10:00 at night on the lighted courts across from my dorm. I remember thinking, “I can play tennis at midnight now if I want to, and without asking anyone.”
- Who else, besides Dick Clark, do you think it's going to take death to get them off the TV or radio? [John]
Diane Rehm. Bless her heart. (It’s not that I want her to die; my point is that it would appear that she will stay on the radio until she does.)
- First "grown-up" movie you remember seeing and the backstory to your seeing it (Anna doesn't need to prepare for this one either!). Why did you think the movie was "grown-up" and what did that feel like for you?" [Brad]
For me, this was The Exorcist. While it came out in December of 1973, I saw it on my Senior Class Trip (to DisneyWorld) in the spring of 1975. It scared the living shit out of me, and I thought it was "grown-up" because it had an R rating, and I think the motion picture industry was even considering an X for it before it was finally released with an R.