While my students were diligently completed their Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) feedback forms today, I took photos while walking around the Namm and Library buildings on the fourth floor (afternoon class) and the sixth floor (evening class). Some are mundane, some are technological objects, and some have interesting compositions (to me). Afterwards, I shared my work my students and encouraged them to do the same to build up a personal library of photos that they might want to make use of in their multimodal compositions.
I mentioned this to my students the other day, but I wasn’t able to find a photo of what I was talking about. Now I have, so I’ll show it to them in class tomorrow.
This is my project board while I was an MA student at the University of Liverpool. My monk’s cell had a felt-covered corkboard that I repurposed as a project scheduler by writing upcoming work and ideas on 3″ x 5″ index cards and pinning them into one of three columnar categories: Course Work, or assignments and readings in my classes; Commitments, or work product deliverables like writing a book review or preparing a conference presentation; and Thinking About, or projects and ideas that I was considering but hadn’t committed myself to yet.
This board was the key to my academic success at that time, because it gave me a way of tracking the work that I had coming up and I could see at a glance from my desk what needed to be prioritized to keep my output going.
Over time, the board became quite full of index cards. It was always satisfying to take a card off the board when that task had been completed.
Using a daily planner or a calendar app can serve a similar purpose. Whatever method and tool that works best for you, make a commitment to stick with it so that it can keep you on track for success.
While taking a walk in Green-Wood Cemetery this past weekend, Y and I discovered that our friend Wage the Uglydoll had gone missing! We first met him last year and visited him on occasion. He had been in his tree all through the winter and the beginning of spring this year. The last time that we saw him was in March 2025. Maybe he found a new home or went on a vacation. Wherever he is, we hope that he is safe.
Below is a picture of Wage’s cousin, Country Wage, who lives with us and is a friend to our Mose.
Between the melees, try to find some joy and peace. I’ll be doing that with my Professional and Technical Writing students today. I’ll bring LEGO to class for a bit of educational play that combines the use of their imagination, haptics, educational knowledge, organizational thinking, and writing skill.
They will design a small model that represents something about their specialization (e.g., Biology, Psychology, Computer Science, Fashion Design, etc.) and then write an instruction manual like this example that I made for them based on the model above that I call a “Quiet Reading Corner.” Scroll down to see it deconstruct, which I presented in reverse in my instruction manual.
Before the tariffs (are a tax) and plummeting markets, I wanted to liquidate some of my belongings to have more cash on hand because [waves hand]. As a part of that, I sold my prized possession: a 1989 Powell Peralta Mike McGill woodgrain complete skateboard this past weekend on eBay. It’s in transit to the buyer now.
My maternal grandmother and grandfather–Wilma and Papa Gerald–gifted me the McGill after I picked it out and its hardware from a full-page mail order ad in Transworld Skateboarding magazine. Everything arrived in a big, long box. I needed help to apply the grip tape and install the trucks, wheels, and bearings. I took it out to ride as soon as it was ready.
I loved the artwork of the skull and snake by Vernon Courtlandt Johnson. He did most of the major artwork for Powell Peralta during that era, including the “Ripper” logo on the top of the deck.
Due to the age of the skateboard deck and how it might have been stored over the years before I got it, it had developed a twist, which you can see in the picture above. While the deck is concave, toward the front of the deck, it can been seen to have a rightward twist toward the camera. It wasn’t too bad and for normal riding it probably wouldn’t be noticeable.
With this one that I assembled with new hardware, I applied the grip tap but left the Powell Peralta logo on the top of the deck exposed like I did with my original one.
I got the same brand trucks like I used to have–Gullwing. However, I went with 9″ wide Shadows instead of the Pro III’s that I used to have. I figured that if I rode this skateboard, it would just be for leisurely getting around and therefore didn’t need something higher end. Going for a matching color scheme, I added 1/4″ risers in neon green.
Again, thinking about how I might use this skateboard for riding on the street, I got large, soft wheels. These are Bones’ Rough Riders with a 80A hardness, 59mm diameter, and all-terrain formula. The bearings are generic ABEC5 with spacers in-between.
For the tail guard and rails, I installed them using “Rat Nuts” (aka T-Bolts or Sex Bolts) so that none of the hardware dug into the wood–the top sleeve passes through a hole and a screw meets it from the bottom. The rails were a generic brand with a hole pattern that matched those already on the board. The tail guard was an authentic Powell Peralta 9″ Tail Bone that I found for sale as new-old-stock.
