Comments on: Poor Michael’s Almanac, or, The Longest Post. . .EVER!!! http://mitchmcg.blogsome.com/2006/10/11/poor-michaels-almanac-or-the-longest-post-ever/ Instincts are misleading: You shouldn't think what you're feeling. Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:17:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: Jill http://mitchmcg.blogsome.com/2006/10/11/poor-michaels-almanac-or-the-longest-post-ever/#comment-37 Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:11:01 +0100 http://mitchmcg.blogsome.com/2006/10/11/poor-michaels-almanac-or-the-longest-post-ever/#comment-37 Yeah, I agree that not spoon feeding is good, though I have a different way of pushing I suppose. Part of my frustration in this class so far has been that I *was* sort of spoon fed some of this stuff already, so my reticence to deal with it is partially a "yeah, so?" or "Tell me something I don't know" reaction. I'm still not so sure that some things aren't critiquable (is that a word? Probably just spelled it wrong) since if I'm reading something from 40 years ago, better people than me have refuted it most likely, and in that case, can't I just cite them in order to critique? As in "Yeah, but so and so says Elbow's kinda crazy... everybody seems to act like he's a hippy these days..." but you know, more eloquent than that... Yeah, I agree that not spoon feeding is good, though I have a different way of pushing I suppose. Part of my frustration in this class so far has been that I *was* sort of spoon fed some of this stuff already, so my reticence to deal with it is partially a “yeah, so?” or “Tell me something I don’t know” reaction. I’m still not so sure that some things aren’t critiquable (is that a word? Probably just spelled it wrong) since if I’m reading something from 40 years ago, better people than me have refuted it most likely, and in that case, can’t I just cite them in order to critique? As in “Yeah, but so and so says Elbow’s kinda crazy… everybody seems to act like he’s a hippy these days…” but you know, more eloquent than that…

]]> by: Administrator http://mitchmcg.blogsome.com/2006/10/11/poor-michaels-almanac-or-the-longest-post-ever/#comment-36 Thu, 12 Oct 2006 09:33:49 +0100 http://mitchmcg.blogsome.com/2006/10/11/poor-michaels-almanac-or-the-longest-post-ever/#comment-36 Good point. I wouldn't say I've ever thought that you were against me as such, but merely that you were asking me (and the rest of the class) to draw connections and connect themes in a way that, frankly, I'm not used to. Not that, you know, I champion a pedagogy based on spoon-feeding the "right answers" to students, but there seems to be a natural impulse toward it--to a limited extent, I've seen it at work already in my first semester as a grad student. I think the pushing is good. Keep the pushing. I just wanted to admit that it's been causing some frustration, at least for me. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, either, you know. Good things come out of frustration: at some point, someone must have found having to slice his own bread a real pain in the ass, because now we can buy bread pre-sliced--and, in fact, it's become the gold standard for innovation. Oh, and by the way, the 7010 syllabus does not include Hall or Jameson or even Benjamin. An oversight? Or a question? Anyway--I was curious about Hall anyway, especially after Trimbur's use of "Encoding/Decoding", and I've got a tiny familiarity with Jameson from seeing his name pop up in some of your readings as well in 7010. Also, I may have read something of his with Cynthia Erb in film theory as an undergrad. Thanks for the recommendations, all the same. As an afterthought. . .to clear up confusion. . .I don't think you want to destroy me. Or at least, you didn't until reading this post, hahaha. 80) Good point.

I wouldn’t say I’ve ever thought that you were against me as such, but merely that you were asking me (and the rest of the class) to draw connections and connect themes in a way that, frankly, I’m not used to. Not that, you know, I champion a pedagogy based on spoon-feeding the “right answers” to students, but there seems to be a natural impulse toward it–to a limited extent, I’ve seen it at work already in my first semester as a grad student. I think the pushing is good. Keep the pushing. I just wanted to admit that it’s been causing some frustration, at least for me. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, either, you know. Good things come out of frustration: at some point, someone must have found having to slice his own bread a real pain in the ass, because now we can buy bread pre-sliced–and, in fact, it’s become the gold standard for innovation.

Oh, and by the way, the 7010 syllabus does not include Hall or Jameson or even Benjamin. An oversight? Or a question? Anyway–I was curious about Hall anyway, especially after Trimbur’s use of “Encoding/Decoding”, and I’ve got a tiny familiarity with Jameson from seeing his name pop up in some of your readings as well in 7010. Also, I may have read something of his with Cynthia Erb in film theory as an undergrad. Thanks for the recommendations, all the same.

As an afterthought. . .to clear up confusion. . .I don’t think you want to destroy me. Or at least, you didn’t until reading this post, hahaha. 80)

]]> by: jeff http://mitchmcg.blogsome.com/2006/10/11/poor-michaels-almanac-or-the-longest-post-ever/#comment-35 Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:58:31 +0100 http://mitchmcg.blogsome.com/2006/10/11/poor-michaels-almanac-or-the-longest-post-ever/#comment-35 Nice post. I'll leave aside - for now - the class insights just to note your observations about Adorno etc. when you write: "While I agree with them that the cult ind reflects and incorporates ideology, I don’t see that as either a bad thing or as oppressive." Maybe you've covered it already in 7010, but remember, that's just Frankfurt cultural studies - before there was an official "cultural studies." Birmingham - which draws from Frankfurt - had more mixed ideas about popular culture. Its founding in 62/63 was about the pedagogy of popular culture. Se Hall's The Popular Arts. For me, the most interesting of the Frankfurts is the almost/not exactly Frankfurt, Benjamin. He saw the pleasure in popular culture. And that's why Adorno hated the Arcades project. Anyway. Don't think I'm against you because I push. If I was against you, why would I push? Nice post. I’ll leave aside - for now - the class insights just to note your observations about Adorno etc. when you write: “While I agree with them that the cult ind reflects and incorporates ideology, I don’t see that as either a bad thing or as oppressive.”

Maybe you’ve covered it already in 7010, but remember, that’s just Frankfurt cultural studies - before there was an official “cultural studies.” Birmingham - which draws from Frankfurt - had more mixed ideas about popular culture. Its founding in 62/63 was about the pedagogy of popular culture. Se Hall’s The Popular Arts.

For me, the most interesting of the Frankfurts is the almost/not exactly Frankfurt, Benjamin. He saw the pleasure in popular culture. And that’s why Adorno hated the Arcades project.

Anyway. Don’t think I’m against you because I push. If I was against you, why would I push?

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