roll with the punches

One of my most influential teachers taught me to "roll with the punches," to react and adapt when things don't go as planned. I've been struggling for the past few years or so to stick to that lesson.

When it was 8th grade, and half the photographs for my PACE slideshow didn't develop, rolling with the punches was a breeze. I continued with my planned project, drawing the scenes that didn't work out on overhead film, which my teacher then shrunk to match the other slides in scale. I remember my show, Super Spatula, getting all the laughs it was supposed to despite the odd juxtaposition of slide image and drawn image.

When I embarked on my accidental academic career, I noticed a sharp decline in my rolling ability. And this year was the worst yet. I have been mulling over the contents of a weird faculty retreat that made me question my teaching habits and my role at this institution. During the retreat, we watched a video about the shift to 21st century ideas of education, and I couldn't help but feel powerless in the internet age.

What is the role of a lecturer in a world where everyone googles and cites Wikipedia as a reference?

Why does it matter, though? If people come to my class, that means they want more than Wikipedia, right? Wrong. Over and over again, I find indications that all students want from me is the bare minimum. They want to hear what they already know and think. They want to see what they've already seen. And they want to use Wikipedia or even blogspot as a serious academic reference.

I even questioned myself when I found an interesting link about cave art, which I teach at the beginning of the semester. But the link was for io9.com, a site I'm not familiar with and hesitant to put on my class website. It seems like part of my job is now to teach students how to filter the serious material from all the internet chaff, when they do not want that particular skill.

Add high schoolers to this mix, and it all ends in tears, literally. I cried because I felt so humiliated after the grand high school experiment exploded in my face. Suffice it to say that at the end of the day, some people just expect an A for being there, and if you aren't on board with that, they'll question your professionalism.

Not rolling at all now. Some might peg me as a digital media-loving millennial, but I really do feel like an analog dinosaur next to my students. I speak an entirely different language and cannot connect to them, no matter which sites I link to or which videos I play for them.

art outside the museum

After a mediocre attempt to generate some excitement in the community about art (I failed to reel in any new fish, just the usual suspects), I was massively entertained by the art historical references in some unusual places.  Namely Futurama and The Simpsons.  Now, of course the Futurama episode in which the gang goes to "Future Roma" (haha), is a spoof of The Da Vinci Code, so it's indirectly art historical, but still.  In fact, the more I think about that show, which has wormed its way into my brain via a certain man's obsessive zeal, it's an incredible example of cartoon culture analyzing our own cultural identity.  Flipping the story of Leonardo Da Vinci on its head is only one instance in which those crazy writers and animators nerd out and inject history into the comedy. 

And really, if we could just blame all the art thefts and general badness on Mr. Burns, wouldn't life be swell?

Aside from playing "Twister" on a bunch of animated oil paintings--"Left hand Rembrandt!"--The Simpsons has always thrown a wrench in the typical lower class identity of Homer and Co. by revealing tiny moments of cultural awareness on the part of their characters.  I for one wouldn't mind having one of those characters come to an ArTalk.  But there are some real life people who just can't open their minds far enough.

Funny how you can find art on television.  Maybe that's why all the big museums now have LCD screens, and there are so many video installations.  That seems to be this century's current medium of choice.  And bridging the gap between oils and animation are a bunch of occasionally vulgar, fictional characters.  But how to use this for the benefit of this particular community, I have no idea...