I'm pretty pleased with my latest article, composed in memory of John Slatin, a mentor beyond measure. I learned a good deal about teaching and technology from John, but also about working with people and what it means to be a partner in something bigger than a single person. In memory and celebration, I offer "Yes and Yes-and: Time in the Compshop".

So this girl has been hanging around the house for about three weeks now. It's time to post a picture. So far so good. Whatever experience I've developed raising two kids has not translated well to this new addtion. The Dog Whisperer is now in the Netflix queue.

With apologies for the composed-on-the-plane-like production quality


Mix and Mash Literacy from Daniel Anderson on Vimeo.

The organic mechanic
Thinks the space shuttle’s
A chiasmic message
Rising from the earth
Like a stalk of corn

The permanent marks
scatter their utterance
like crickets or bats,
subject to skip and
flights of sound
rounding a corner.

I've been toying with an assignment based on writing about films with films. Here's my essay:


Is He Bona Fide? from Daniel Anderson on Vimeo.

Writing along with my litcasting class, I've been trying to reflect on some teaching of late. The tweak to the course I'm fidgeting with is shifting the portfolios toward an outside reader. They still pitch projects toward fellow students, but the hope is that by selecting readers from outside the class the reflections might take on a more personal or focused approach.

Right now, I'm not sure that the approach is playing out as I imagined, but I'm eager to hear from students and outside readers after all is said and done. In that spirit, I post a link to my mid-semester portfolio which is based in the main on the work of the class so far. I'm curious to know 1.) people's thoughts on the assignments and projects collected here, 2.) ideas about the outside reader approach to class portfolios, and 3.) any reactions to my portfolio so far.

I got this message from YouTube the other day regarding a video made in one of my classes. I posted the piece because it was large for our blog and worth a look. After getting the take-down notice, I went back to look at the video and determined that it was not a violation or copyright, or at least it was clearly not an open and shut case. My dispute response was "The video offers commentary and critique regarding the relationship between humans and nature. The critique is part of an educational assignment, not for profit, using only the minimum amount of material necessary for such critique and appropriately citing all sources. It qualifies as fair use."

I'm not sure how the dispute will be resolved; I haven't heard back yet. In the meantime, to help educate I resuscitate the video and now pronounce it additional commentary on corporate overstepping and fair use decision making. The video is below for those wishing to consider these issues further. For reference, the disputed materials are the clips from Castaway.

My colleague Katie Shrieves passed along this link to a comparison of the technologies supporting the Web sites of the two presidential candidates. The analysis sheds some light on directions for Web development and the tech leanings of the two camps, but is also a humorous read for Webheads.