Just came from a great lecture by Michael Berube on disability studies.

Daft Punk on your keyboard!!! http://ping.fm/LJaJA

Did I also mention that Berube is a great father? It was wonderful to see his relationship with his son.

Had a last minute request to attend lunch with Michael Berube and his son Jaime today. What an amazing intellectual!

Let's see ... read 70 paper proposals by this Thursday? And still prep for lecture? And host a job candidate? And ...

Just came home from attending a public lecture on masculinity from sociologist Michael Kimmel. He's an amazing speaker and scholar.

Another Star Trek Trailer - WOW

Very cool soundtrack too by Two Steps From Hell although I couldn't help but notice a "Dark Knight" theme as well.

Seriously? Limbaugh predicts "Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill": http://ping.fm/W72wt

*Yawns* Why do I feel like I'm an hour behind?! Oh yeah, daylight savings.

Tweet Tweet

I know I haven't been blogging as much as I would like to lately. I seem to not have that much time to do anything else but think and write in snippets and in random bits. So I thought I try my hand at microblogging and see how that fares. I linked my Twitter account to this blog so that whenever I "tweet" it automatically posts an entry here. After a few test tweets, it seems to work and suit my style for now.

I wasn't totally unproductive. I read a great article about public funding as a political tool to destabilize the NEA and progressive art practice.

So other than doing my own work, I read up on the ZOOT SUIT RIOTS on PBS.org: http://ping.fm/xTRC8 Excellent site!

I got an interview in two weeks and I'm not very inspired to put together a brand new lecture. *sighs*

Ronald Takaki

I just watched Ronald Takaki, Emeritus Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, in an interview on C-SPAN's BookTV this morning. Very cool! The last time I saw Professor Takaki was when he visited Pomona College for a lecture, and a couple of years before that, I sat on a panel with him about multicultural education. He came up to me afterwards and told me how much he enjoyed listening to my presentation and how my analysis was elegant and methodical. As you can imagine, I had the biggest grin on my face when he said that to me.

There were a few awkward moments though in the interview that revealed signs of his age. He once mentioned Gary Locke as the former governor of Massachussetts even though it was Washington. I cringed when he said that on TV, but his memory on history, details, and narrative was still as sharp as ever. Maybe it's the present day that he has trouble remembering.

I couldn't help but notice that the callers asking the questions would ramble on and on about some of the most inane things ever, and it would drive me nuts. I lost my patience and started screaming at the TV to hurry up and ask the damn question. But Professor Takaki was calm and smooth as ever and generally supportive. I figure he's been at it for more than 40 years that any question, no matter how tangential, is a valid question to ask. I also took notice of his linguistic and gestural ticks, verbalizing his thoughts, going back to a point, clarifying another point, saying "um's" and "right's?" often at the end of his statements, and all the while waving his hands poking the air, or circling with them as if he's begging you to come forward to him with your ideas. It was very relieving to see someone who is an intellectual giant work, and struggle, with his thoughts out in public.

Suavecito!

So I showed this documentary in my pop culture class called Chicano Rock! (2008) which was a short one hour documentary on the emergence of Chicano popular music in Los Angeles. So it got me thinking about some old school classics and I remembered "Suavecito" by Malo. It's simply beautiful!

The Nicest Things

I went back to work today after I came home last night from an exhausting interview. I was tired, unfocused, and sleep deprived. You cannot imagine how much I smoked these past few days when I was interviewing; I was like a train on fire.

But as soon as I stepped into my office, I had a constant steady stream of students meeting with me about their projects, their presentations, and just to check up on me to see how I was doing. And all of a sudden, I felt fine. The nicest thing about coming home is to see my partner again, and to see the happy faces on my students.

It's Official

I just got word of a second interview for a tenure-track position at a school on the west coast. I have my first interview at a university down south in which I'll be flying out tomorrow.

Considering the economic crisis and how it's impacting the market, I am extremely lucky to have just one. Two is a damn miracle.

Now I just have to do my thing and see where all of this goes.

Interviews

One interview for a tenure track position at a school on the west coast is done.

And another one at a school in the south coming up very very soon.

My head feels like it's going to explode!

Polytechnique

I just came across this trailer about the 1989 massacre of fourteen female students in Montreal's Polytechnique school. It's stirring quite a lot of controversy for a number of reasons especially when the government did not pursue an investigation into the tragedy which left a number of unanswered questions.

Personally, I don't know if I can watch it. I wonder if part of the controversy stems from what the movie is as opposed to what it's representing. I wonder if my reluctance has to do with the fact that it's a fictionalized account based on a real event and not a documentary. I seem to think that watching a documentary alleviates my concerns because there is an attempt to capture a truth, while a fictionalized narrative might exploit or sensationalize the tragedy unnecessarily. I know I hated watching The Matthew Shepherd Story and I refuse to watch all the movies about the 9/11 tragedy. But I was more than willing to watch documentaries of them all. I just don't know about this one.

SUPERBOWL XLIII

WOW! That game is what I love about football, an emotional, tense, and thrill ride to the very very end. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end this football season on such a great note. And the first franchise in NFL history to win six championships.

STEELERS BABY!!!