Chall Grant
Posted by: peggysemingson on: June 30, 2009
Last Thursday I received a phone call from Harvard Univ. library that I was chosen for the Jeanne S. Chall Research Grant to study at the Harvard libraries!
Thoughts at the Kitchen Table: What I’m Reading
Posted by: peggysemingson on: March 26, 2009
Thoughts at the Kitchen Table: Using Technology with Pre-service teachers
Memoirs
Posted by: peggysemingson on: January 14, 2009
This is my new memoir blog!
Other People’s Books
Posted by: peggysemingson on: November 2, 2008
What’s sad is I haven’t read a novel in a super long time, except for children’s books and novels. I was really into reading in high school when I basically never went out. I read about every classic novel from the 19th and 20th century from aged 15-18. I read some stuff in college, of course, but not as much as those “golden years of reading” in my life. I often would read books based on seeing someone else reading it or the classics I got for 25 cents at our local Tierrasanta library used book sale. Like, I got into reading Margeurite Duras around 1990 because I saw somebody reading it in a French class I took at Mesa College while I was in high school. Majoring in philosophy in college, it was all confusing stuff on mind, language, and metaphysics, but no novels, really, except for a class on Hesse and a few poetry classes.
I get inspired by other’s reading lives and other people’s lives in general. Someone recommended the author Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club. Right now, I want to read some contemporary fiction.
My own academic research focuses on the dailiness and stories of people’s literate lives and the literate lives of their children. Feel free to send me info on what you’re reading!
Envisioning
Posted by: peggysemingson on: September 8, 2008
I have been meaning to do this for a while now, but I want to create a Vision Board.
Book Review: “How to Write a Lot” by Paul J. Silvia
Posted by: peggysemingson on: September 6, 2008
Silvia, P.J. (2007). How to write a lot: A practical guide to productive academic writing. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
This is an excellent, humorous, and forthright little book about starting and keeping the momentum going with writing. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud anecdotes and not-so-gentle prods to help the ever-procrastinating and excuse-making academic come out of her/his rut and routines of avoiding writing for all the wrong reasons. Once you can get past your reasons to not write, one must, the author urges, create a steady, daily, protected time to write. He says his is daily time is 8:00-10:00 a.m. I like this idea. I think I’m going to try that time frame (more or less!) and see how that goes. I’ll post updates on here. Another reminder of a truism located within this text: Writing is a skill and it must be developed through practice. My biggest excuses to “not write”: *I need my “white board” to write, I must be “inspired” (not necessary, according to Silvia), and finally, “I need to read more research first!”. Just do it will be my new motto.
Do others listen to music when writing? I listen to trance, industrial, and some of that 90’s Eurodance (think: “Rhythm is a Dancer”) when I write.
What helped me during my dissertation process: Keeping the momentum going.
Good quotes from the book: “You must ruthlessly defend your writing time.” (p.15) and “Equipment will never help you write a lot; only making a schedule and sticking to it will make you a productive writer” (p. 22). Here’s to sticking to schedules!
What are Teens (and Adults) Reading? Vampire Love Stories
Posted by: peggysemingson on: August 18, 2008
The latest book by Stephenie Meyer is out, complete with midnight release parties at Barnes and Noble and Borders. Having just come out of the cave of writing a dissertation, I am immersing myself in the latest in adolescent literature.
The first of the four books in the vampire love series is “Twilight“. The plots are compelling and move forward at a quick pace, making it a “quick read”, perhaps part of its appeal. But more so, there must be something deeper luring in so many readers. All four books quickly made the bestseller list.
As a reader, I find myself stepping into the text (to borrow from Judith Langer) and completely immersed the entire time–there is very little “stepping out” to analyze. Maybe it’s identifying with the themes that transcend the typical adolescent-centered novel with its focus on “human” topics and a focus on the mystique of the supernatural. I still can’t quite put my finger on the massive appeal.
So….as a researcher it would be an interesting research study to examine teenage fans’ intertextual and multimedia extensions of the text into the online domain. For example, how are teens discussing the book online, such as here? What are the demographics of its readership? How does this genre differ from traditional adolescent horror/romance?
I remember reading all of Lois Duncan’s novels, which interestingly mix horror and romance, most notably in the made-into-movie I Know What you Did Last Summer. Meyer doesn’t dwell in the gore or horror and Bella seems to have a post-feminisit cast to her–she’s self-aware yet she is vulnerable to her romantic attatchments to Edward.That bothers me a little. She sinks into a deep despair when Edward abandons her in New Moon. Is that necessarily an example of coping with loss that young girls should follow?
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- Linda Armijo: This is a great idea! I want to use video clips on my class blog (for my future students)for many of the reasons posted by Alex, but mainly so that pa
- Yzamara Ibarra: The movie is good!
- Yzamara Ibarra: I herd about the vision or dream board on Oprah. I think its a good way to keep you focused and motivated on your dreams and goals. I started one, b
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