Author: Jana

  • any other name…

    I love the beach wind in my face

    I’ve published this excerpt from Mary Oliver before, but I came across is again today as I remembered lessons learned in Cape Cod not too long ago. It brought back such potent memories of this journey that I’ve been on the past few years…

    An excerpt from Mary Oliver’s “What is There Beyond Knowing”

    What I know
    I could put into a pack

    as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it
    on one shoulder,

    important and honorable, but so small!
    While everything else continues, unexplained

    and unexplainable. How wonderful it is
    to follow a thought quietly

    to its logical end.
    I have done this a few times.

    But mostly I just stand in the dark field,
    in the middle of the world, breathing

    in and out. Life so far doesn’t have any other name
    but breath and light, wind and rain.

    If there’s a temple, I haven’t found it yet.
    I simply go on drifting, in the heaven of the grass and the weeds.

    When I’m in the proximity of wind and water, things just make sense in a way that they don’t in other places. I need the beach, I need to feel the pull and tug of waves. I need to walk in the rain and see pink petals falling on the sidewalk. I need to watch the clouds covering the moon. I need to remember that life doesn’t have “any other name but breath and light, wind and rain.”

    Some moments from this week:

    Meeting with students as we move into the final push for our big Oral History project. Realizing that this thing that we’ve been working on all year long is actually happening now. Seeing the fatigue and fear in their eyes, knowing that they will be so proud when this is done.

    Paddling in the pouring rain. So cold I could hardly lift my paddle. But feeling so happy and alive to be on the ocean again.

    Meeting with colleagues at the Huntington Library. Feeling satisfaction that the craziness of my life these past few months hasn’t quelled my academic ambitions.

    Greeting the camellias at the Huntington once again. And the Japanese and Chinese gardens. Seeing that what was yellow just a few months ago is now green.

    Hosting an evening for feminists. Strengthening old friendships and making new ones.

    Being hailed as “Yawna” (the Czech pronunciation of Jana) and remembering how much I loved being called that so many years ago, and how right it sounds now.

     

    And, as always, I am so excited for the upcoming weekend! There will be sand and sea. And more photography(!). And the dissertation chair (again). And pie. Doesn’t that all sound wonderful?

  • Day of DH

    royal
    Today I’m participating in a social experiment called the “Day of DH.”  You’ll be seeing numerous tweets from my stream with that tag that’ll be cross-posted to Facebook.  I’ll also be doing some light liveblogging about my experiences with the Digital Humanities throughout the day.

    Stay tuned, it’s gonna be a fun ride!  :)

  • Twitter Weekly Digest for @janaremy, 2011-03-18

  • looking forward…

    free (like Frida)

    I am so looking forward to the upcoming weekend!

    There will be:

    boats
    beach
    boots
    friends
    the dissertation chair (and, quite possibly, the dissertation whip)
    a scholarly conference
    a bit of travel
    sleep
    tea
    rain
    photography
    love
    adventure!

  • Just doing it…

    This weekend I’m going to hit the ski slopes for the first time since 1988.  Nearly every time I’ve gone skiing something dramatically traumatic has occurred (mostly broken bones on my part–a wrist, an ankle, a hip pulled out of the socket).  I can’t even begin to express how excited I am to take this on at time in my life where I’m stronger, more body-aware, more ‘able’ than I ever have been before.  Something tells me that it’s all gonna be smooth sailing.  And if not…you can bet that there will be a great story to tell at the end of this adventure.  :)

  • connection

    Japanese

    Because my children are each one-quarter Japanese I have a powerful connection to that land and culture.

    So of course I am aching today along with so many of you. Wishing that there was something to be done to alleviate the suffering of so many.

    Doll pictured above was a wedding gift from my former mother-in-law.  She still sits prominently in my living room.  Photo taken by AlanaK

  • Twitter Weekly Digest for @janaremy, 2011-03-11

    • MT @digitaldigs: the latest edition of a print journal is a great time capsule of scholarship–to see what people were thinking 2 yrs ago. #
    • RT @iamwun: Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? ~Mary Oliver #
    • RT @mcsweeneys: Rubber Stamps I Wish I Had for Grading Freshman Composition Papers. http://bit.ly/dOjH1A #
    • RT @iamwun: To be fully alive, fully human & completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. —Pema Chödrön #
    • Good morning twitter! #
    • Mantra from climbing class tonite: "Anything looks good when you're more than 10 feet in the air." Also, conquered 2 new overhangs. Yay me! #
    • Looking for advice on a place to stay for #wherecamp -either in SF or Palo Alto. Needs to be close to train/shuttle. #
    • RT @ocwordcamp: So…who wants to buy the first ticket? http://bit.ly/fb7pxG #ChapmanU #
    • MT @westcenter & @adamarenson: the heartland was always about Western ambitions: http://nyti.ms/hAbkmQ #
    • RT @houshuang: Recording of talk by #P2PU director "P2PU: The Future of Learning? The Future of the University?" http://bit.ly/gq3DXI #P2PU #
    • MT @anitaborg_org: RT @youtube: In honor of the 100th Int'l Women's Day, view stories of female empowerment: http://bit.ly/aFl2F5 #iwd #
    • RT @hmprescott: The Knitting Clio Daily is out! http://bit.ly/i9nAoI ▸ Top stories today via @cliotropic @geedee215 @melissaterras @janaremy #
    • I'll be tweeting and liveblogging the 2011 #dayofDH You can, too: http://bit.ly/eN08fB #
    • RT @clotildenet: 3d printers create edible objects using puréed foods in place of ink: http://bit.ly/hdcqqt (via @stimpy @slashdot) #
    • Schmidt: Experiment w/university class open to #P2PU learners–>improved class for everyone, but best work done by #P2PU students #UCHRI #
    • Comment from audience: not one word abt research in #P2PU talk, only abt teaching. #UCHRI #
    • Schmidt: Community validation rather than institutional validation (the university moves too slowly to validate many skills) #P2PU #UCHRI #
    • Goldberg: speaking of delicate "balance between a disposition of propagation vs a disposition of inquiry" at #P2PU #UCHRI #
    • Maurer: Questions the "branding" of using the word university (too old-fashioned/arcane?) #P2PU #UCHRI #
    • Maurer: "Would #P2PU model work in the Humanities & Social Sciences?" (he argues that we need the walls to protect academic freedom) #UCHRI #
    • Maurer's Qs: "At what point can't we equate scholarship and content?" & "Is there a virtue in things that are closed?" #P2PU #UCHRI #
    • Bill Maurer now offering the "curmudgeon-ly" perspective on #P2PU #UCHRI #
    • P2PU is more user-driven than other open courseware models #UCHRI #
    • So #P2PU is experimenting with "badge" model to show certification/accomplishment (reminds me of gowalla) [-] #
    • #P2PU will never be an accredited university. So must create some form of recognition to show learning/skills #UCHRI [+] #
    • How to ensure quality of courses at #P2PU : transitioning from organized to self-organized (i.e. Yahoo–>Google model) #UCHRI #
    • "With choices between structure & experimentation, we've always gone with experimentation," Schmidt #P2PU #UCHRI #
    • P2PU partnership with Mozilla, for "School of Webcraft" (for web design). #UCHRI #
    • .#P2PU: anyone can get involved, learners are in charge, volunteers facilitate courses, peer-learning instead of top-down instruction #UCHRI #
    • Schmidt calling in everyone to be involved in educational innovation #P2P #UCHRI #
    • OpenCourseware Physics class has 390K views in 159 countries (in contrast to trad'l lectures). #UCHRI #P2P #
    • Schmidt offering critique of current education model–>too short, direct teaching isn't collaborative, etc. #UCHRI #
    • Listening to Phillip Schmidt of P2P university at #UCI #UCHRI http://plixi.com/p/82343182 #
    • RT @AliKira: RT @mdgee: Are you a pessimist… an optimist or an….? http://bit.ly/hwmAwb #
    • RT @miriamkp & @jackiewyse: Tchng w tech: want collaboration? wiki. want posts? blog. want pages? drupal. want artifacts? omeka. #thatcamp #
    • Just paid $360 for my son's AP exams. That's pretty close to what I paid for UC college tuition my freshman year #thosewerethedays #

  • let me count the ways…

    mornings, with coffee

    Many people have asked me whether I’ll return to the Mormon church now that John isn’t in my life (this probably stems from the assumption made by many people that I only left the church to please John–which is wrong on so many counts, including the one where he recently blamed me for pushing our family out of the church too quickly when I was finally done with it)…

    So this morning (a typical morning) I thought it would be an interesting exercise to count all of the ways I violated Mormon commandments before I even got into the office.  Because I don’t live a Mormon lifestyle or even make any pretense of doing so:

    1) I awoke wearing a tank top and short-shorts, and proceeded to bare my shoulders and thighs all morning long to anyone who happened to be looking through my windows.

    2) At various times I entertained  four five fifteen several lewd thoughts.

    3) As per my morning ritual, I brewed myself some coffee and drank two cups full, while basking in the sunshine on my living room rug (in immodest clothing, see #1) and doing yoga.

    4) When I got dressed for work I put on a bra (next to my skin), underpants, and a sleeveless shirt (see #1), in addition to pants, socks and shoes.

    5) I got a favorite bottle of wine out of the cupboard and licked it. (since I don’t drink in the mornings. Sheesh–just how depraved to think I am?).

    6) Upon receiving a humorous text message from a friend, I burst out into laughter.

    7) After my shower, I rubbed some lotion on to my new tattoo.

    8) Although I abstained from drinking any morning tea, I did throw a new box of black tea into my purse to take to work for drinking later in the day.

    9) While driving through some heinous traffic, I sang along to a song on the radio that had the dirty words omitted, but I sang them out loud anyways.

  • what if…you went to heaven

    morning light on lily

    Borrowed this one from Maddie, because I needed it today:

    what if you slept?
    and what if,
    in your sleep
    you dreamed?

    and what if,
    in your dream,
    you went to heaven
    and there plucked
    a strange and
    beautiful flower?

    and what if,
    when you awoke,
    you had the flower in
    your hand?
    ah!!!

    what then?

    ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  • glow…

    tulipmania

    I recently bought a new camera.  My old camera worked fine, but I became increasingly frustrated with its inability to take pictures of people.  I knew I wanted a better photographic record of my life and my kids’ lives, so it seemed time for a bit of an investment in some new equipment.

    So far, so good.  There’s a big learning curve when moving from a powershot camera to an SLR.  I’m experimenting and getting things wrong a lot.  But I’m having fun in the process.  There are so many buttons to push and so many features to try!

    But most of all, what I’m loving about this camera is the way the light comes through the lenses.  Somehow it makes everything just a bit more glowy and beautiful.  Even I don’t look half bad when viewed through her lens. And my friends look gorgeous, I’d say!

    Every morning I meditate by sitting in a shaft of sunlight in the middle of my living room (or if it’s warm enough, I sit on the back porch in the light).  I’m so hungry for warmth and light.  That I can capture it with my camera now, makes it even better.

  • Twitter Weekly Digest for @janaremy, 2011-03-04

    • RT @dancohen: Our cookies are good too. RT @phedlund: Digital Humanities folks go to more "camps" than girl scouts. #
    • Sitting in a coffeeshop near 2 men talking abt their recent divorces. They are 'trying to get in touch w/their feelings' #fascinating #
    • Just realized that I have a box of paper clips in my top desk drawer. #andI #039;veonlyworkedhereayear #
    • RT @wcaleb: Photo: Grad School Energy Levels (also applicable post-grad school) (via PHDcomics) http://bit.ly/gT65K1 #
    • RT @brandondove: And the Oscar for "Best use of crocheting in an Internet-based product" goes to… http://t.co/GpHZqT1 #
    • Such a memorable visit to Portland & the Oregon coast: http://brizzly.com/pic/49ON #bringit2011 #
    • 30 minutes at #TSA checkpoint bc I refused private screening (i.e. remove pants). Held ground & worked thru supervisor. #smallvictories #

  • valedictorian

    IMG_1378

    I wasn’t the valedictorian of my high school. In fact, I wasn’t even close. If I remember correctly, I barely even made the top 100 out of a graduating class of about 600. But for some reason, these past few years, I’ve attempted to be the valedictorian of just about everything I do. To be the valedictorian of homemade healthy meals cooked with plenty to share with the neighbors. To be the valedictorian of the organized university administrator who can work well with my cohort and solve “big problems.” To be the valedictorian of divorce–sailing through it easily and moving on to the rest of my life. To be the valedictorian of athletic endeavor, where I work tirelessly and am a stellar team player. To be the valedictorian of leaving the Mormon church, showing that it’s possible to walk away and be a values-led person despite no longer believing in God/Jesus/magical underpants.

    <sigh>

    So I think for awhile, I’ll just try to be the valedictorian of cozy socks, fireplaces, and afternoon naps instead.  Something tells me that I might just be really (really really) good at all of that, too.

    Picture taken on a recent beachside retreat.  Aren’t those just the cutest valedictorian-worthy socks ever?