culture

The Microaggressions Project tumblr popped into my head yesterday while sitting in the first class section of a commercial airliner. Two bottles of water await passengers in each twin seat when boarding. I took a sip from one and then put it in my bag, and then a few minutes later I absent-mindedly took a sip from the second bottle. When my seat-mate sat down I apologized for taking his water by mistake, and asked the flight attendant to bring him another. He told her that he didn’t need a replacement, and turned to me and said, “you didn’t take it by mistake, you stole it.” Racial microaggressions, as quoted on the Microaggressions Project “about this project” page, are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.” The first thing that popped into my head was “does this White cat think I took his water because Black folks always steal stuff?!” In the next breath, though, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt about innocent teasing, smiled, and patted him on the arm.

A few minutes later he tapped my arm (I was wearing earphones) and asked me about my iPad. We went on to have a very good conversation, mostly about parenting and changing educational systems. I think that he was impressed that a college dean agreed with him that a 4-year degree was not necessarily an absolute requirement for everyone; he was proud that he built a multi-million dollar business with a high school degree as his final step of formal education. He was worried about how he could buy his two college-educated sons a business and set up the partnership in a way that would respect the sons’ different skills and dispositions, and not drive a wedge in their friendship. I joked that he should adjust the plan and give half of his planned purchase budget as a gift to my college. He took my business card, so maybe I’ll get lucky down the road…

One of the most harmful components of racial microaggression is the mental toll on those with particular socially constructed identities: “Did that person just do X because I’m a member of Y group?” I have enough privileged identities that I can shrug off possible slights (I was in first class on a plane, for example!), but the process is very much a powerful reality for others. We still have much work to do in creating more equitable social structures and processes.

This morning I was interviewed by a reporter for upcoming digital storytelling workshops I am conducting with one of the lecturers in my college. Digital stories are short, first person video-narratives created by combining recorded voice, still and moving images, and music or other sounds. Digital storytellers are those who have a desire to document life experience, ideas, or feelings through the use of story and digital media. We will teach U.S. military veterans how to make digital stories and become digital storytellers; on April 12 we will work with student-veterans here at UW-Parkside, and then on April 26 we will conduct a workshop at Kenosha’s Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post. The workshops were made possible by a generous grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council.

I’ll post additional information after the workshops have been conducted, but if readers want additional information about digital storytelling check out an article I co-published in 2010. Embedded in the article is a 12.5 minute digital story about digital storytelling, but see a higher quality version that we posted on an older blog.

I’m not a big speechifyer, which would seem to disqualify one from becoming a dean. On the contrary, as I dean I’m invited to all sorts of events and I am expected to “say a few words,” but that’s fine as “a few words” means five minutes or less. A couple of weeks ago, however, I was worried about taping a radio interview, but that also turned out to be easier than expected. Today I was asked to give a 20-minute speech at an awards banquet for graduating high school seniors. The pressure will be to come up with some thoughts that celebrate their individual accomplishments in conjunction with reminders about the operation of social structure; too often these celebratory events get boiled down to “you succeeded through hard work and hope,” ignoring the many other elements — visible and invisible — that contribute to individual success. I’ll have to figure out how to say something about the sociological imagination succinctly. Suggestions are welcome!

Yesterday I downloaded the song “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” by Broken Social Scene; I originally encountered this song a few years ago as part of the movie The Time Traveller’s Wife. I had a hard time finding the song on iTunes, however, as I kept searching for “Broken Social Science” as the name of the band! I wonder: if a band called “Broken Social Science” actually existed, what would they sing about? Any ideas?

Yesterday a 20-year tradition came to an end, as I did not generate notes about Super Bowl commercials during the game. I started this in January of 1993, in anticipation of discussing the ads with students when I started teaching as a graduate student in the fall of 1993. In subsequent years I taped the Super Bowl on my VCR (remember those?), and showed a couple in classes to illustrate that week’s topics. As a Dean I usually won’t be teaching, and if I were I could easily show the commercials on YouTube. Also, the 20 year-old notebook I used was completely filled, so that was another signal to end the tradition.

If teaching this semester one commercial to discuss would definitely be Coca-Cola’s “It’s Beautiful” ad, which drew a storm of outrage for its depiction of a multi-hued crowd singing “America the Beautiful” in several languages. The spot wasn’t completely hated, however, as evidenced by a #17 finish in the annual USA Today Ad Meter. There will probably be discussion about this commercial all week in the blogosphere; I’m looking forward to good sociological analysis!

“In this heady age of rapid technological change, we all struggle to maintain our bearings. The developments that unfold each day in communications and computing can be thrilling and disorienting. One understandable reaction is to wonder: Are these changes good or bad? Should we welcome or fear them? The answer is both.”

The text above is the introduction to the “technorealism” movement of the late 1990s. I signed the list of principles in 1997, and for the next 10 years or so introduced students to the concepts. Someone needs to launch a new version of technorealism for the 2010s, which would include tools to help us evaluate the use of Big Data for employment decisions.

Over the weekend I had my first experience with Airbnb, an “online service that provides a platform for individuals referred to as ‘hosts,’ generally private parties, to rent unoccupied living space and other short-term lodging to guests” [wikipedia]. My mother-in-law wanted to rent a house in Philadelphia for seven people to share while in town for a wedding, and she asked her daughter (my wife) to make the arrangements. On the positive side, Valerie reported that it was very easy to search for housing and to make a reservation, and my mother-in-law had no trouble getting the keys and gaining entry at the start of the reservation. The house was clean when she arrived, and the owner left documentation about operating essentials (such as the Wi-Fi password!). On the negative side, it felt very weird to be in a stranger’s house for a couple of days, and I slept horribly each night. Of course, in many cultures it is perfectly normal to spend time in a stranger’s house — and it is also an everyday occasion to take in strangers — but I have to say that I prefer to stay in hotels or with friends. I’m glad that I tried the concept, but I don’t think it’s for me.

Six years ago today I joined Facebook. As I noted in the post “Using Facebook as an Academic Administrator,”  I joined Facebook after asking freshman students if I should join that or MySpace. The student who specifically said that Facebook is more “professional” is now a Facebook friend and a former Fulbright scholar who studied in Germany. He was right!

AMC TV’s Breaking Bad wrapped up its five-season run on Sunday, and many people are buzzing about the concluding episode. I thought that it was great, and I am enjoying reading about what others think, such as commentary by the two lead actors. I’ve also been thinking about other series finales, good (Roswell), bad (The X-Files), and ugly (Lost). What were some of the finales that you loved or hated, readers?

Back in July I discussed a forthcoming role transition: wearing suits much more often. I delayed as long as I could, but today kicked off that new reality, as I unpacked new suits, shirts, ties, and shoes last night, and I’m wearing a new outfit today. (My wife has a practice of letting new clothes “age” for a few weeks before she wears them, so I happily followed that practice over the summer.) A colleague sent me an article about Black dandies in the academy. While I don’t think I’ll ever be stylish enough to be called a dandy, I might eventually enjoy dressing up. Wow!