• I like the term “trainwreck.” Quite clever. BTW, listening to Amy Winehouse. #
• Listening to tv in the background. “You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end.” #
• Working on a consulting project with a tight deadline. I hardly have time to Tweet. I really need some peanuts. #
• And in a blink, today is done. #

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• Adam Lambert on American Idol is amazingly good. Far above the others tonight. #
• The 5th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry #QI2009 just released the preliminary program http://tinyurl.com/adw9ry #
• I decided not to renew my #ASTD membership. Just do not find enough value for the cost. #
• Got my hair cut this evening. Much shorter. #
• Meetings, meetings, meetings. #

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I have been asked at times to explain my blog’s by-line:

Research and Practice in Postmodern Learning

and have found it as much as a challenge to do so as it is to define postmodernism itself (BTW, I do like Lyotard’s definition in The Postmodern Condition, “incredulity toward metanarratives”). I enjoy researching and living a life of education in ways that challenge the established worldviews.

Case in point, check out the article in yesterday’s NY Times, In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth. The days of believing:

the critical thinking, civic and historical knowledge and ethical reasoning that the humanities develop have a different purpose: They are prerequisites for personal growth and participation in a free democracy, regardless of career choice

may be nearing an end, especially as these previously unassailable virtues are now being challenged (such as by the economy, which does not generally pay people for having these virtues). The idea that a humanities background may not be considered particularly valuable any more is a postmodern thought. We have always assumed that this value is beyond doubt (right up there with democracy is always the best form of government, free speech is good, and it is a bad idea to sell wine in supermarkets in New York).

Postmodernism as a philosophy of practice is both critical as well as constructivist (I wonder if any of my students are reading this?), and basically challenges established worldviews as frameworks of power imbalance and limited perspective. I like considering this, researching this, practicing this, and trying to introduce this in my teaching to help my students to see the complexities in the teaching and learning process that are often under the surface of clearly articulated objectives, assessment plans, and nodding heads.

BTW, I also believe it is easier to challenge and knock the humanities after having completed two graduate degrees in the humanities and knowing enough about them to know I really know very little. I suppose this is a little postmodern, too . . .

Tags: humanities, Lyotard, postmodern

• President Obama just said the US does not torture, and he is making that commitment tonight. Thank god some sense back in the White House. #
• I hope the President holds the banks accountable. After wasting the first huge amount of money on them, they still won’t give me a break. #
• Barack Obama is such an engaging speaker. Does he effect any of you in the same way? #
• Watching President Obama on tv, for his speech to Congress. #
• Working lunch meeting. Still have to finish my performance review . . . #
• Busy morning of meetings. #

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• I have been thinking about time and age recently, and am looking for a set of petrified wood bookends. #
• Somebody is cutting his nails in the elevator. Just lovely. #

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• Has been snowing all day. With near record snow fall in the Catskills, global warming is a hard sell for many here. #

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Post-Flu, I now face enough work to nearly make me unwell again! I am behind on email, blog posts, comments, responses, feedback, and rss feeds (again). So, time for another Clean-Up! This time, a bit more ambitious . . .

Here is my goal–by the end of this week (meaning by Friday at 5:00 pm!), I will achieve Inbox Zero in all my email accounts, reply to all posts, comments, and the like.

This will be a busy week, but starting with a tangible (and specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) goal that will completely energize me by the end is a great way to begin a Monday.

First focus? My NYU email account.

Have to go, some responses that need my attention . . .

Tags: inbox zero

• It is snowing so hard, it looks like a blizzard here in the Catskills. Nice to watch while sipping coffee after being sick for days. #
• Resting this evening with a book, Ken Follett’s World Without End. Starting to feel better. #
• I left work early yesterday; I was very sick. #

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My multitasking met its match this week, when I finally left work a bit early on Friday with a case of the flu. I could not keep anything down, had a temperature of over 100, and with weakness so quick and intense that it took me nearly 20 minutes to struggle walking the 3 blocks from the train, it had all the symptoms of the flu. All the symptoms except it did not last the 3 to 5 days I remember.

I got the flu shot, and believe that is the reason why it was not as severe as it was in my early 20′s, when I lived alone and was unable to get out of bed for 5 days.

What is the lesson for multitasking? Well, quite frankly, it stops. All the plans I had for replying to my students’ blogs and forum posts? Stopped. Working with the class I am taking? Halted. Preparing to turn a peer-reviewed abstract into a full paper? No chance. Consulting? Forget it. Work, play, walking the dogs, reading? None of them. The flu, and anything unforeseen, ruins all of the overplanning we do. Multitasking stops completely. Even this posting itself is being done from my BlackBerry while recovering upstate by the fire with the snow gently falling outside.

The lesson? In finally being able to think a bit more clearly after being in a fog for days, I am wondering if multitasking and planning every last moment of available time leaves no time and energy for the unplanned.

Perhaps this is something I should, ironically, begin to plan for?

Tags: multitasking, reflective practice