Alright, we are in the final portion of the year here at St. Benedict's; spring phase is a month long class unlike any I have ever taken.
Dr. Wolf and I are the moderators of Kayrix, the student literary magazine. We meet for five hours a day and need to complete our magazine by the May 25. The days are long and we are still finding a rhythm, but it is enjoyable. We spend each day reading, writing, and reviewing submissions. Our editors were selected today and a professional will come in a couple days each week to help with layout. It is an incredible opportunity for the guys here that are interested in writing, magazines, publishing, etc...
We spent all of Friday in NYC and were lucky enough to meet the staff at the Hudson Review, ask questions, read some of our work, and share lunch. The review has been going for over 60 years and has had only two editors-in-chief. Though they have additional support staff for editing accepted submissions, the day-to-day operations are all done by four staff members. They have a tight office tucked away in the fourth floor of the Spanish Cultural Institute on Park Avenue. It was quite a maneuver to get the eighteen of us into the office to get a tour!
After lunch, we walked to the Whitney Biennial. With only an hour to spare, I didn't see much beyond the permanent collection. It is not a very big museum and the material is very contemporary, but I did enjoy the experience. After getting tickets for the guys, Dr. Wolf and I stopped downstairs for a coffee and he told me a story from the last time he was at the Whitney:
Two years ago on a rainy Friday, he led the same field trip and found himself almost alone in the cafe downstairs. He saw a very striking woman in line in front of him getting coffee (he emphasized striking several times, so take note). After he got coffee and found a table, he saw that this woman was not alone at her table. She was accompanied by a very slender old man in the blandest clothes he had ever seen, a big rain hat, and glasses. As he was taking in this vision, he kept wondering- why is she with him, what could he possibly have to offer? While getting close to the bottom of his coffee, he saw that she laughed at everything he said and they clearly loved each other. so, as he is leaving he walks by their table and gets a closer look: It's David Bowie and his wife Iman!
The coffee and conversation were good, but sadly we did not have another Bowie sighting.
We got back from the field trip after five and I was too tired to do much Friday night. So, I did two fun things Saturday to make up for it - I bought my first new record ever and I went to a costume party at the Bell House in Brooklyn. Though I have hundreds of used records, I have never payed full price for a shiny, untouched, new record. The record is Actor, by St. Vincent and I have listened to it at least seven times since Sunday. I heard about St. Vincent last Spring when this record came out, but I never got around to listening to her. Then, last Saturday I caught a few minutes of her on Austin City Limits and her guitar skills caught my attention. Her music can be very dark, but I kind of dig it. Some of my favorite tracks are Actor Out of Work, Marrow, Laughing With a Mouth of Blood, and The Party. Here is a track that is not on the album, but hints at the guitar work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lan-UQfN0zs
Later that night I went to the "Rite of Spring" costume party in Gowanus, Brooklyn with my friend Rafael Sanchez. The theme of the party combined spring/frightnite, was run by an avant-garde performance group, and took place in a recently converted factory. There was a projector playing really bizarre videos made by the group, and midway through they went on stage and did a choreographed dance. To give a better description of the scene, hundreds of wonderful costumes decorated the cavernous space, from spandex to zombie and everything between. The DJs were great, and though I was out way too late, it was a lot of fun!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Swimming Championship
This last weekend I traveled with the swim team for our final meet of the year. We drove to Philadelphia for the two day Eastern's Championship. Almost all of our guys swam best times, but it was a very competitive meet; we swam at the Lasalle University pool ( A division I school), and two pool records were nearly beaten - 47.78 for the 100 Fly and 1:36.7 for the 200 Free!
It was my first time in Philadelphia so I enlisted the help of my father to find a good Philly cheese steak. I ended up going to Jim's on South St. It took about fifteen minutes to get there through snow/rain, but I really liked walking through Old City. On the way back, we drove through Camden, NJ and that was not too hot, and I've heard bad things about West Philadelphia, but overall it was a pleasant experience.
Today was the first day in almost 6-7 months that I have not had coaching responsibilities from 3:30 - 6:00. With my free time I corrected homework, prepared an in-class activity, attended 5:00 mass, and had time to read the new winter issue of the Saint John's Magazine. I hope the end of third quarter combined with this extra time each day will allow me to get ahead and allow me to focus on something that has been put to the side: deciding what to do next year/applying for jobs.
It was my first time in Philadelphia so I enlisted the help of my father to find a good Philly cheese steak. I ended up going to Jim's on South St. It took about fifteen minutes to get there through snow/rain, but I really liked walking through Old City. On the way back, we drove through Camden, NJ and that was not too hot, and I've heard bad things about West Philadelphia, but overall it was a pleasant experience.
Today was the first day in almost 6-7 months that I have not had coaching responsibilities from 3:30 - 6:00. With my free time I corrected homework, prepared an in-class activity, attended 5:00 mass, and had time to read the new winter issue of the Saint John's Magazine. I hope the end of third quarter combined with this extra time each day will allow me to get ahead and allow me to focus on something that has been put to the side: deciding what to do next year/applying for jobs.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Buses, Einstein, Paella, Swimming, Teaching, Theatre, Trains, and Fr. Bob!
Teaching economics this semester, I have started to change up some of my routines. I am trying new things in class to keep things interesting... for me! I found some great online resources for video and audio clips of famous economists, entrepreneurs, thinkers, etc... and have begun to incorporate these clips into the class. I am enjoying it right now, but we'll see where it goes!
Swimming has really taken me places! Well, coaching swimming has allowed me to travel to some great places in the last two weeks. The weekend before last, I spent Saturday at Poly Prep in Brooklyn (Google Maps). It was a pretty great bus ride - as we crossed the Verazano-Narrows Bridge, on my right was the Atlantic, to my left were NJ and Manhattan, behind me was Staten Island, and straight ahead was Brooklyn. Poly Prep is an enormous school, but they had the smallest pool I have ever seen - it was originally a three-lane pool, but they converted it by adding an extra lane lines! The team is doing well; we have won our last few meets.
This last Saturday, I went with the team to West Windsor, NJ. It was an all-day tournament and I had prior engagements, so I took a train back to Newark. The closest train station was Princeton Junction and it turns out it has some cool history: Albert Einstein used to enjoy sitting at the station and watching trains go by, and these experiences helped him with his General Theory of Relativity.
After returning to Newark, Pat, Jake, and I went to Manhattan to see Fr. Bob Koopmann. We saw a play, Earnest in Love, at the Irish Repertory Theatre and had great paella and sangria at El Quijote on 23rd and 7th - right below the Chelsea Hotel. It was really nice to see Fr. Bob, and it is great that he is able to take a vacation!
Swimming has really taken me places! Well, coaching swimming has allowed me to travel to some great places in the last two weeks. The weekend before last, I spent Saturday at Poly Prep in Brooklyn (Google Maps). It was a pretty great bus ride - as we crossed the Verazano-Narrows Bridge, on my right was the Atlantic, to my left were NJ and Manhattan, behind me was Staten Island, and straight ahead was Brooklyn. Poly Prep is an enormous school, but they had the smallest pool I have ever seen - it was originally a three-lane pool, but they converted it by adding an extra lane lines! The team is doing well; we have won our last few meets.
This last Saturday, I went with the team to West Windsor, NJ. It was an all-day tournament and I had prior engagements, so I took a train back to Newark. The closest train station was Princeton Junction and it turns out it has some cool history: Albert Einstein used to enjoy sitting at the station and watching trains go by, and these experiences helped him with his General Theory of Relativity.
After returning to Newark, Pat, Jake, and I went to Manhattan to see Fr. Bob Koopmann. We saw a play, Earnest in Love, at the Irish Repertory Theatre and had great paella and sangria at El Quijote on 23rd and 7th - right below the Chelsea Hotel. It was really nice to see Fr. Bob, and it is great that he is able to take a vacation!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A New Year, A New Post
First of all, it has been a long time since the last post. For that, I apologize.
Much has happened since September. Water polo season ended and swimming season began and continues. I finished my first semester of teaching economics. And with the first semester fresh in my mind, I am teaching the second semester (with all new students) differently.
I am trying to reflect on what I liked about my first semester experience, as well as what I wished went differently: I think we should have covered more material and I would have liked having more command over the class. In general, the class became a little less productive and less focused over the course of the semester.
It took me a little while to become aware of the importance of being consistent and persistent, as well as the power of inertia. Jumping right into a position of leadership, I was not always sure of myself. As the block period is 80 minutes, there were many opportunities for this characteristic to present itself. The most frequent apparition was a lack of persistence regarding talking out of turn. Occasionally I would get tired of quieting down the entire class and gaining everyone's attention before speaking. This inconsistency provided room for some students to push limits and impede in-class work, notes, group work, etc... Once it became apparent that this would be an issue that would not go away, I became more persistent and actively tried to counteract this development. However, the inertia of this habit was so powerful that it continued to be a problem.
With all of this in mind, I wanted to begin the second semester with a good first impression. Andy Dirksen, who was a benedictine volunteer at Saint Benedict's a few years ago, visited over break and provided some inspiration. It was good to see Andy because he is fun to go out with, is a good conversationalist, and has a great knowledge of Benedict's. When speaking about how to begin a new class, he mentioned that he started by giving the students a book, told them to read and outline the first chapter, had a quiz on the second day, and did not go over the syllabus and introductions until the third day. I liked this idea and started my first day of class by having the students read the first section of chapter one and outline it. I was amazed by the results: everyone, all 27 students, read and took notes in silence. After a half-hour of silence, during which I felt satisfied yet uncomfortable due to its foreignness, I asked the class to describe certain portions of the chapter they read, and finished with the fact that there would be a quiz tomorrow on the first section.
It is early in the semester and I must work hard to keep the class interesting, but so far everything is going swimmingly. I am really happy with my new class, and hope the things I learned during the highs and lows of first semester will aid me in my efforts this semester.
Much has happened since September. Water polo season ended and swimming season began and continues. I finished my first semester of teaching economics. And with the first semester fresh in my mind, I am teaching the second semester (with all new students) differently.
I am trying to reflect on what I liked about my first semester experience, as well as what I wished went differently: I think we should have covered more material and I would have liked having more command over the class. In general, the class became a little less productive and less focused over the course of the semester.
It took me a little while to become aware of the importance of being consistent and persistent, as well as the power of inertia. Jumping right into a position of leadership, I was not always sure of myself. As the block period is 80 minutes, there were many opportunities for this characteristic to present itself. The most frequent apparition was a lack of persistence regarding talking out of turn. Occasionally I would get tired of quieting down the entire class and gaining everyone's attention before speaking. This inconsistency provided room for some students to push limits and impede in-class work, notes, group work, etc... Once it became apparent that this would be an issue that would not go away, I became more persistent and actively tried to counteract this development. However, the inertia of this habit was so powerful that it continued to be a problem.
With all of this in mind, I wanted to begin the second semester with a good first impression. Andy Dirksen, who was a benedictine volunteer at Saint Benedict's a few years ago, visited over break and provided some inspiration. It was good to see Andy because he is fun to go out with, is a good conversationalist, and has a great knowledge of Benedict's. When speaking about how to begin a new class, he mentioned that he started by giving the students a book, told them to read and outline the first chapter, had a quiz on the second day, and did not go over the syllabus and introductions until the third day. I liked this idea and started my first day of class by having the students read the first section of chapter one and outline it. I was amazed by the results: everyone, all 27 students, read and took notes in silence. After a half-hour of silence, during which I felt satisfied yet uncomfortable due to its foreignness, I asked the class to describe certain portions of the chapter they read, and finished with the fact that there would be a quiz tomorrow on the first section.
It is early in the semester and I must work hard to keep the class interesting, but so far everything is going swimmingly. I am really happy with my new class, and hope the things I learned during the highs and lows of first semester will aid me in my efforts this semester.
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