Author Archives: ghw

instant messaging: the new office hours

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I’d like to hear from others about their experience using instant messaging as a means of interacting with students (or with professors, if you are a student). I put my IM info on all my syllabi, and I tell my students that if they catch me logged in, they can ask me questions, discuss assignments, or just talk about whatever they like. I’m logged in pretty frequently, and I find that I interact with students much more in this way than during live, in-person office hours.

Now, when I was an undergrad myself, I never made use of professors’ office hours: there just never seemed to be a good reason. It seems that I was not unusual given that my students now don’t really drop by very often, either. So I’m wondering:

  1. Do students make use of your in-person office hours?
  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using IM in addition to traditional office hours?

Cross-posted at Palimpsest.

write your own book

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From a letter sent in to Bob Mould’s blog:

I donít want to fight against any group, no matter how hateful. I want to fight FOR something positive. I just donít know what to do or what group to join or even if joining a group or political party is the answer just yet. The past four years have made me want to become more politically active, the past week has sent me over the edge of the cliff. Last Monday night I saw someone from your past, in concert. Mike Watt was here in Atlanta doing his new piece. He still speaks the old Minuteman credo at the end of his show. Start your own band. Paint your own painting. Write your own book.

“tear down this wall”

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Fifteen years ago today the Berlin Wall began to come down. In December of 1999 I flew to Berlin, walked up to the wall with a hammer, and pounded on it until pieces fell off in my hand. I was there when they opened the Brandenberg Gate.

Crooked Timber has some relevant links.

gary hart on c18 methodism

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Gary Hart, ìWhen the Personal Shouldnít Be Political,î New York Times (November 8, 2004).

A neglected thread of [Nazarene] church doctrine was the social gospel of John and Charles Wesley, the great reformers of late 18th-century Methodism. The Wesley brothers preached salvation through grace but also preached the duty of Christians, based solidly on Jesusí teachings, to minister to those less fortunateÖ. Having claimed moral authority to achieve political victory, religious conservatives should be very careful, in their administration of the public trust, to live up to the standards they have claimed for themselves. They should also be called upon to address the teachings of Jesus and the prophets concerning care for the poor, the barriers that wealth presents to entering heaven, the blessings on the peacemakers, and the belief that no person should be left behind.

[via Blue (formerly Pink) Bunny of Battle]

Bonus link! John Wesley’s sermon on “The Danger of Riches“:

I ask, then, in the name of God, Who of you “desire to be rich?” Which of you (ask your own hearts in the sight of God) seriously and deliberately desire (and perhaps applaud yourselves for so doing, as no small instance of your prudence) to have more than food to eat, and raiment to put on, and a house to cover you? Who of you desires to have more than the plain necessaries and conveniences of life? Stop! Consider! What are you doing? Evil is before you! Will you rush upon the point of a sword? By the grace of God, turn and live!

Both George Bush and Dick Cheney are Methodists, by the way.

Extra Bonus Link! The international headquarters of the Church of the Nazarene is right here in Kansas City.

no meaning no

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The easiest and the hardest word to say is “no.”
Only got two letters. Only takes a second to say it.
–“No Meaning No” (mp3, 3.8M), Chuck D and the Fine Arts Militia

I promise to exert just as much energy trying to understand your point of view as you exert trying to understand mine, but you better not get cocky, because I have a feeling that several million of my friends and I are going to say no an awful lot over the next four years. Don’t be offended; we’re just trying to “reach out to everyone who shares our goals.”