Laugh Out Loud

Most of you don't know this, but I'm part of Laugh Out Loud, the improv comedy club on campus. It's similar to Whose Line is it Anyway? and ComedySportz. We have two Halloween shows this Saturday, one starting at the six and the other at eight. There's going to be a costume contest and laughter. Here's a link to the Facebook event. I hope to see some of you there!

An Hour with Brian Doyle

I just finished a lecture with the essayist Brian Doyle. I put my notes online, on my other blog. If you love stories or have an inkling for writing, read these notes. I guarantee you will like it.

Understanding Modernism

In order to understand Modernism, I have to share with you the theory of movements behind aesthetics. Whenever there is a major movement in art or literature, there is a major paradigm shift in the world. For example, Romanticism happened as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution; American Realism occurred as a result of the American Civil War and as a rejection of Romanticism.

In Modernism, the chief historical thrust behind its movement was the First World War. Think about it; for the first time, machines are being used to effectively wipe out thousands of men. War became more brutal and dehumanized, with the advent of chemical warfare, machine guns and tanks. This detachment is found in the works of T.S. Eliot ("The Waste Land"), Ezra Pound ("Canto XLV") and Wassily Kandinsky (I would link to one of his paintings, but none are in the public domain). Their works are elevated; they desired to detach art from the masses. Instead of being beautiful for beauty's sake, Modernist demanded that art be art for art's sake. If one doesn't understand, then it is their fault.

As I remembered all those literary discussions on Modernism, I began to wonder how it works or is apparent in today's digital culture. Are there people or companies that elevate their computing language so as to become detached? Is social media leading to a detachment of real and viable relationships? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

A Month In

I started working for Eleutian Technologies a month ago, and let me tell you, it's boss! Eleutian is part of the growing E Learning community. With this company, I connect with students in South Korea and Japan through Skype, and teach them English.

Let me detail a typical lesson for you:

10:00 PM: make my way into the office

10:05 PM: log into Skype, make sure my recorder is working and that video is clear

10:10 PM: Enter into the Korean website (in English!), where I find my lesson plans

10:11 PM: For the next hour and ten minutes, I go over lesson plans, locate images and cards to help teach the phonetics, check my time, think up crazy games for the kids, double check my lessons

11:19 PM: With just thirty seconds to go, I call my first class. It is a group of ten year olds just learning English. I start class.

11:50 PM: I finish my class, and made the most of the games. I make a quick review of the lesson, self-deprecating along the way. This is done quickly, because I only have four and a half minutes before my next class.

11:54 PM: Same as 11:19, except the class is now composed of twelve year olds. My lesson is completely different, and my vocabulary changes.

12:25 PM: Last class ends. The kids laugh at my inability to pronounce Korean names, so they give me "English" names. I swallow my pride and make my final report.

That is just a brief glimpse into what I do. I also teach one on one sessions with older students, where we just talk and work on sentence structures. I am beginning a new shift where I will talk to teachers and give them tips on teaching English as a Second Language.

Sure the hours are rough (anywhere from 5 PM- 9 AM), but I can't think of a better job. With my decision to become an English teacher, Eleutian is giving me opportunities to prepare to teach, specifically students from a foreign language background. That is just a small case; the big deal resides within. I am learning about myself, my pedagogical views and desire to teach professionally. It is frustrating sometimes, but I love what I do. And at the end of the day, that is the motivation behind teaching. It isn't the money; it's the desire to make the world better, one student or class at a time.

Digital Lab: Thumbscribes

Are you an aspiring author? Or, do you have some things you need off your chest? Then thumbscribes is the site for you.

Thumbscribes is a collaborative writing website, where you can begin a poem, haiku, short story, novella, etc., and have others contribute until the finished project. I created a login name, and decided to create something. So, I started a haiku entitled "Open Source." I wrote, "Struggling for new life," and this is what happened (with commentary!):

Open Source

Struggling for new life, (I know. A little hokey, but I just wanted to start something)

A peer to peer production, (Contributed by another; a pretty good follow up to the initial idea)

Gun pointed at you (What?!! Who jumped the shark?)

Upside to this site is you can co-create literature with other people. It allows you to connect ideas into something new and unique. The flipside is sometimes what you envision does not transpire. When I think Open Source, I don't randomly put "Gun pointed at you."

Being a Latter Day Saint Today

Yesterday, I received news the Elder Christofferson dedicated Angola to the preaching of the Gospel. While there are about 900 members there in three congregations, the official opening of the doors happened now. I am glad for this, because Angola is part of my mission: the Mozambique Maputo Mission. It brings me joy to know that missionaries can now go over with more fervor than before, to preach the gospel to my dear African friends.

While I have never been to Angola, I take comfort in this news. Being a Latter Day Saint in today's digital world means becoming part of the global church. There are stakes scattered across the globe, where faithful members congregate and share in the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where I use to send letters to members in Mozambique, I now use Facebook to talk to them. (I know that makes me seem old, but I have been home for four years. That's how much social media has changed.) I can even Skype.

That the church has used technology to further the Lord's work is amazing to me. I was not in class today, but Kristen told me about the full time missionaries whose sole purpose is to do online work. When she told me, I felt a confirmation of the Spirit; this is God's work. How grateful I am to live in a day and age where Jesus Christ's gospel can go the world over.

Here's a picture from the beginning of my mission:

Evolution and Medicine

I work in the Widstoe Building on the weekends doing minor janitorial work. That's the way I like to keep my relationship with science: on an acquaintance level. After reading Origins of Species, my mind went back to my acquaintance and a comic strip posted there. It is on a professor's door, I believe on the seventh floor, and it depicts a doctor talking to a patient about TB. The doctor asks his reeling patient if he believes in evolution and whether he would like the disease treated as it once was or as it is today.

That was a really awkward sentence, so let me break it down for you. Diseases are evolving at a rapid pace. It seems that once a new vaccine comes out for TB (Not Tampa Bay!), a new, more deadly or contagious strain arises. Flu is another example of this rapid evolution; in the early twentieth century, it was Spanish flu that caused death and quarantine. Now, populations the world over fear for both avian and swine flu. Even though we have shots, thousands die around the world from the flu.

Science is desperately trying to combat new forms of old threats by understanding their evolutionary patterns, but my question is: Is it worth it? Could man's attempt to vaccinate be causing some of the problems?