Joel Manfredi

Log for 4-28-09

 

Pryer, Memoirs, and Chocolate Strawberries

 

 

6:10– I showed up late.

 

We get started at 6:11 and Keri hands out the log in small print and we go over the previous weeks log.

 

Adam shows up even later than me, at 6:15.  James is happy that he now has a ride home.

 

Maria begins the discussion…  “Is narrative a valid form of research?”

 

Maria S. says, “It depends on the situation.”

 

Maria asks, “How much narrative should be in our writing?”

 

Adam– “We can’t escape narrative.”  He then refers to the guy on Oprah about being on drugs.

 

James claims that what was written was factual.  

Adam thinks it’s a touchy subject to use memoirs as research.

 

James reads Faye’s work, then reads his.  He says, “As teachers, it’s impossible to distance oneself from the memory.  The oldest metaphor for life is the journey.

 

Maria proposes that it could be okay to use both… that is, the splitting of self .

 

KD says it’s a mistake to think you can be either fiction or non-fiction.  Plenty of people do auto-ethnography… and there are two reasons for this; 1, the insider is perfect camouflage… treated as a normal part of the scene, and 2, if the person is participating in the group, they will arguably get a better notion of the interaction in that group.

 

Maria S. reminds KD of Sunstein.

James says that Harris is arguing against a binary.  Binary is a problem and it’s in the introduction.  He refers to different stories like the Bible, Romeo and Juliet.

 

Adam asks if Keri’s report is fiction.

 

KD answers yes and there’s an UPROAR in class.  Chaos ensues… everybody talks at once… trying to be heard.  

 

Tina sees it as interpretation more than fiction.

 

KD says non-fiction is when the author is not deliberately fabrication something.  A memoir isn’t making things up that didn’t happen.

Adam asks, “Couldn’t an author embellish a little bit?”  Then he asks if what we’re doing is fictitious, or is Pryer trying to create a genre as memoir for research?

 

KD says Pryer is recognizing memoir as an academic form.  Says that it’s fairly common in Feminist scholarship.

 

Ned throws a bell hooks book at Adam.

 

James says it’s impossible to be pure in things that involve human beings and their actions.

 

Faye says, “Pryer says memoirs are impure but these impure qualities can uncover the language we use in our objective research.

 

KD says objectivity causes constraint at times.  She brings up the Great Valley Writing Project and that it is community oriented… supportive.

 

Maria S. agrees, saying if you’re there, you understand better what is going on.

 

KD says that shared experiences reinforce the feeling of community… and tactics like ice breaker exercises, where people feel embarrassed, bonds people together more quickly.

 

Adam brings up the “malaise” at his school.  

 

I ask what malaise is.

 

KD brings up the fact that in many PhD programs, your voice as a student is not allowed to be heard.  Uses the term “violent.”

 

Ned refers to WASC and how his voice wasn’t heard there.

 

KD says the truth is socially constructed.

 

James asks if there is such a thing as truth.

 

KD refers to theft as an example of rules in our culture.  It doesn’t matter if we have truth because we have “evidence.”

 

James says it all starts with language… rules, lawyers, laws… all comes from language.

 

Adam tells a joke about the husband in bed with another woman who denies it even though he’s been caught.

 

James says he was a sociology major and remembers that the least reliable evidence in  a crime is that of the eye witness.  

 

Adam talks about Truth with a capital “T” when he was diagnosed with cancer.

 

KD says there is an observable truth for Doctors, that they will say “this is the truth for now.”

 

James brings up Newtons law of gravity, quantum particles, Einstein, scientific method… says that Rhetoric allows us to operate on human subjects.

 

Adam brings up the example of neglect and Christian Scientists.

 

KD says it’s a western idea to keep people from dying  Not whether or not someone should be kept alive, but why do we focus on some cases and not others?

 

James explains “Dirt,” the book about Motley Crue.

 

KD says there’s no comparison between experiences.  For teacher research to be valuable, it shouldn’t represent the individual teacher, but try and compare it to other teachers in similar situations… that is, if we want our writing to be used for further knowledge.

 

Adam suggests we have two loggers to see what the differences/similarities are.

 

KD says something about “Twitter commentaries.”

 

Maria heard on NPR of a guy who can twitter using his brainwaves.

 

Mike eats carrots and snap peas.

 

James types on his laptop.

 

Ned searches the internet… looks serious.

 

Maria asks if we’re in agreement?

 

James thinks that memoirs are fine in certain disciplines.

 

Faye went to college “decades ago” and couldn’t use “I” statements… but when she came back to college she got “dinged” for not using “I” statements.

 

KD doesn’t think that this is a typical institution.

 

Ned takes a break from the computer and wants to know why?

 

KD says this college doesn’t have the typical underclass student.  That here, it’s varied… many are ill prepared.  Most students are first generation and a big part of the experience here is learning what the academy is all about.  The UC is very elite, the CC’s have an instrumental attitude, and the CSU is somewhere in the middle.

 

BREAK at 7:27– Enjoyed an enormous fruit display/basket brought in by Maria.

 

Then Maria S. tells us a story about when she was 23 and accidentally stole a chocolate strawberry while visiting the Macinau islands, maybe?  Anyhow, she was embarrassed and offered to put it back, but the man said, “No, just go.”

 

Swine flu discussion ensues.

 

BREAK OVER at 7:49

 

Discussion takes place concerning last few weeks of school.

 

There’s talk of pink slips.

 

James wants to fight… wants someone to attack him… doesn’t care if the person has a gun or a knife.

 

Adam brings up the “malaise” again.

 

Maria S. mad about the excuses she’s getting when trying to observe other teachers.

 

We all talk about the economic outlook, job outlook, particularly at the college level.

 

KD goes around the room asking people where they are on their hours.

 

Everybody talks about their experiences in doing their observations.

 

Ned and Mike look at Mike’s computer.

 

KD talks about the formality or informality of the graduate program.

 

Ned and Mike talk again during discussion.

 

Mike throws a fork and hits me.