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January 19, 2006
Two or Three Things...
I received my contributor's copies of the upcoming issue of Pedagogy on Tuesday, which means the new issue, in which I have a short essay on using blogs in the freshman composiiton classroom, should be available on Project Muse soon. The article grew out of a talk I gave at Georgia Tech last spring when I was working there as a teaching fellow.
I finally saw Capote a few nights ago, primarily on Heidi's recommendation, and while I won't have time to write a full review, I was impressed by it, particularly by the dynamic between Capote and Perry Smith, the convicted murderer whose story provided the basis for Capote's In Cold Blood (Heidi's discussion of the film in relationship to the history of Kansas City's transvestite culture is also worth checking out). One other observation: While Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance has been getting most of the critical buzz, I was equally impressed with Catherine Keener's perormance in the role of To Kill a Mockingbird author, Harper Lee.
My current documentary obsession is Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, so while I'm blogging, here's an interview with the director and a review of the film, both from The Village Voice. I'm hoping to come back to the Voice articles later, but I'm way behind today because of a quirk in the schedule that left me with two long teaching days in a row.
Posted by chuck at January 19, 2006 2:41 PM
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Comments
I saw you had a piece in Pedagogy.
I plan on reading it soon.
Posted by: jeff at January 20, 2006 6:50 AM
I'd be curious to hear what you think of Why We Fight. I saw an early cut in September at TIFF and was really disappointed by it. The first few minutes raised my hopes. I was so thrilled to see a film that was trying to historicize our current situation. Ike's speech was the perfect starting point for what I assumed would be a larger discussion of the Truman Doctrine, the Marshal Plan, and America's economic battle against Communism -- you know, the opening of world markets, which, it seems to me, is what the neocons are really talking about when they spout off about the need to bring "freedom" to the Middle East. Liberal markets breeds liberal social policies, or so they would argue. (And I think it's an argument worth having openly, especially among the left-leaning crowds who would flock to a film like Jarecki's.)
Needless to say, I was really disappointed when, ten or fifteen minutes into the film, it began to regurgitate the same old arguments against Bush and company. It also didn't help that I was watching the film with Jarecki's "choir," a packed house of Toronto film buffs who hissed and hollered every time an American politician was on screen. I guess I just don't understand the purpose of the film, other than to rally the troops one more time.
Posted by: Darren at January 20, 2006 12:14 PM
Jeff, Looking forward to any comments you might have. The article feels a bit like an artifact in that I'm not sure it completely reflects my take on blogging in the classroom now, but it was fun to write something for Pedagogy's FTC section.
Darren, I'll review Why We Fight as soon as I see it. For now, I've been intrigued by the buzz it has been receiving. I seem to recall your negative response to the film, so I'm prepared for those problems (interesting how audience shaped your response to the film, too).
Posted by: Chuck at January 20, 2006 12:31 PM
Chuck, I really look forward to reading the Pedagogy article. Give us a heads up when it's available through Project Muse?
Posted by: kari at January 20, 2006 1:08 PM
Kari, I'll try to remember to keep checking....
Posted by: Chuck at January 20, 2006 4:52 PM