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adventures / Monday / movies / photo — Comments Off
15
Dec 25

No fingers were (seriously) hurt in the production of this post

I was overdue for a trip to the inconvenience center. We take our recycling there. Cardboard in these bins, mixed recyclables in those bins, and so on. I also had to drop off four deck chairs. We inherited with the place, who knows how long they’ve been here, but at the end of a third summer with us, they were showing their age. The fabric was tearing from the aluminum frames, and we upgraded with nature’s IKEA, wicker chairs.

I’d asked the man that runs the place if he would take them, and he, a man of few words, pointed me to this other bin. I said they were aluminum. He pointed to that bin. I said they also had a fabric covering. He pointed to that bin. So, unless he was telling me to jump in the thing, I took that as permission. That was my last visit, some weeks ago. And today was the day. Only, the chairs filled up the vehicle. And we still had the two large containers of recyclables and a small factory’s worth of cardboard we’ve accumulated in the last couple of months, plus some that had been hiding from me in the basement. After some time, we managed to get everything inside, as I despaired over taking multiple trips. It is only an inconvenience center because it is across town. But, eventually everything was ready to travel, and I wished away every police officer between here and there. Surely I was breaking some ordinances about safe transit. Some of the windows could not be used for defensive driving.

As soon as I got to the place, I realized I did not have the community hang tag. There’s a big blinking sign, everyone must present their tag. Mine was in the other car, hanging, helpfully, from the rear view mirror. So I got into the place, backed in as you’re supposed to, and then hustled. Cardboard, cardboard, cardboard, all thankfully broken down already. One tub of mixed recyclables in, a second one turned over and dumped into the giant bin. We are really saving the earth today. By this time, a few other cars and trucks have come in to do their bit for the planet, and now I have to weave around them.

I manhandled these four deck chairs at one time. Not heavy, but ungainly as a one-person job. Plus there’s the bobbing and weaving around Old Man Coveralls who is doing his work. As I got to the bins for the chairs, the one the man pointed at weeks ago, I realized that I needed to readjust my grip so that I could heave and/or ho. This was the point where I pinched two fingers on my right hand. Earlier in this choir I’d pinched the ring finger. It hurt. Here I pinched the middle and index finger. It was one of those slow motion things. I had time to silently say goodbye to the tips of my fingers, thank them for their help over the years, and wish them well.

Before I had time to contemplate life without the top part of two fingers, though, I was able to readjust the chairs, sit them down, and relieve the unforgiving grip of metal on skin on metal.

Chairs deposited. Fingers OK. Hang tag never requested.

That was Saturday morning. Saturday evening we went to the cinema to watch a movie about propaganda, power, and epistemology.

Here’s my review: not as good as the first one, but the story needed to be completed. In fact, in a less cynical and more artistic world they’d just combined the two and call it a terrific movie. I love that these two movies were so devoted to practical effects. Everyone involved was obviously having a great time with their work. I love the way we portray what we think the 1930s thought the future would look like.

I’m still not certain how a hallucination has prequels.

Saturday night, into Sunday morning, we had snow. This is the view from the wee hours, as I was going to bed, thinking about getting up early to go outside. Unless it melted!

It did not melt. It was a fat, heavy snow. We had six inches and change when we went outside. It was still snowing. A few passes with the shovel proved that this job called for the snow blower. So, glad that I retrieved it from the shed yesterday, I filled it with oil, filled it with gas, and we cleaned the drive, so my lovely bride could get out of the house.

She was back before I finished the job, because the roads beyond were still impassable at the time.

All of the roads looked much better by the afternoon. And the sky cleared up beautifully. It was the perfect way to see the snow, from indoors.

The problem becomes the next few days of harsh temperatures. But, hey, I’m inside and warm and the driveway is clear. I’m not sure what else I can worry about right now.

Oh yes, the packing. And winter travel. I’m taking the rest of the week off from the site. Family time begins, though the work continues. I will see you here dashing, and dancing, on Dec. 22nd.

adventures / bluesky / Friday / photo — Comments Off
12
Dec 25

When you have an artist in your home

The way our kitchen was designed, there’s a countertop to the left of the stove. It is a fine food-prep area which is surrounded by a little wall, about a foot higher than the countertop, which acts as a backsplash of sorts. The top of that is also designed as a countertop, and it occasionally holds a cup, or random junk I’ve put on it, or a cat. Beneath these countertops are seven drawers. Three of the large sizes (the random utensils drawer, tupperware and a place to store extra paper towels and ephemera which we’ll wonder about in 2029) and four of the smaller sized drawers, which hold things like Ziploc bags and kitchen towels and so on. This counter top does not end in a wall. Rather, it just sits there, across from the refrigerator. This is the main walk through of the kitchen. And on the exterior wall of those cabinets, facing the fridge, is a chalkboard.

It’s great for positive affirmations, silly messages, a creative place when someone brings a child over and, of course, our very own art.

My lovely bride made that. I suggested, after counting the reindeer, Rudolph’s nose. She went subtle there. I would have played it far too big.

Taking a cue from that, I filled in one tiny little spot later, just to complete the illusion, but also to say that it was a joint masterpiece.

But, really, there’s only one chalk expert in this house.

Grading the livelong day. I finished, last night, the work for my social media strategies class. I wrote them a nice note yesterday, as well. Nice, for them, meaning shorter than usual. I started in last night on grading the final in my Criticism in Sport Media class. A few last night, quite a few more today. I’ll finish tonight or tomorrow.

The exam involved them watching a particular episode of a sports show and answering a bunch of questions about it. Everyone is doing well so far. I am resisting the temptation to think I need to make it more difficult just because. (I could, but I never said stumping people was an objective for that class.) I do know how I’ll do about a quarter of it differently next term. It came to me in a flash today.

So, really, the last two weeks of that class have been hugely productive in figuring out what I need to evolve out of that course.

Also, earlier this week for that class, I compiled a list of accidental answers I received on their last reflection paper. I say accidental because we’d talked, ever so briefly, about how people who aren’t taking a class like this could benefit. How do you help them? So I posed a little question about that and got these sorts of answers. After I read the first few, I went back and started collecting them. If I had to code and characterize it, I would say students are really craving this. Those answers, across the whole of the class, ran five pages. I look at that document of gathered answers and think: we might be on to something here.

In my criticism in sport media course, I asked students to write about the class' value, what they would tell others about classes like this, and media criticism and news literacy.

I collected FIVE PAGES of excerpts. Students are very much interested in this. A sample …

#medialit #medialiteracy

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM

"(I)t makes you a stronger, smarter media consumer. It helps you understand the stories you love and it gives you skills that make your own writing clearer and more thoughtful. This course doesn’t just teach you about the media, it also teaches you how to think.”

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM

"(I)t honestly makes you smarter about the media you consume every single day…It gives you skills that go beyond sports like critical thinking, analysis, and awareness, which are all useful no matter what field you’re in. It’s one of those classes that actually changes the way you see the world.”

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM

"I discovered that media should not be viewed as neutral, but rather as a developed creation. This change made it easier for me to understand that media critique is a way of thinking that allows us to deal with an informative environment much more thoughtfully and responsibly."

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM

"I would recommend this class as one of the more important courses I have taken. While this course is centered around sports media, the content discussed in this course is relevant to anyone who consumes any form of media … This has been one of the most practical courses I have taken."

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM

"My appreciation for the craft and practice of media criticism has definitely evolved over the course. Learning different ways to break down readings and to think more critically while reading media has evolved my learning and understanding of media criticism."

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM

"You should take a class like this because it doesn’t just change the way you look at sports media, it changes the way you look at society … Sports may be fun, but they also reflect big issues—power, race, gender, politics—and this class makes you recognize how important that really is."

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM

This, and the improvements I have planned for next term, make me excited to get back to this class again. Now, to convince people it should be a regular and permanent offering …

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11
Dec 25

That’s no space station

All of my online class feedback has been sent out to the various hard-working student groups. They’re making mock up plans for the social media accounts of local non-profit organizations. Some of the groups are in terrific shape. One or two have a little way to come, but there are still a few days, left, and there’s always the last minute miracle.

What I was looking at today and yesterday was the print version of their plans. The good ones are about 15-17 pages. One or two went a bit longer. A few were just under. I try to give some substantial feedback, best I can, given that I don’t know the operations they’re working on nearly as well as they do. Also, there’s some formulaic strategy in preparing such campaigns, but there’s also some art and subjectivity, too. Sometimes, the advice I can offer is about what you’ve missed. Or what you might miss if you aren’t prepared for it. Sometimes it feels like the Rumsefeld matrix, the unk-unks of the military industrial complext, the stuff you’d talk about in project management and strategic planning.

So I prattle on, hoping something in there can be useful to the groups that are diligent enough to read a few hundred words.

You’d be surprised.

I say that, because I am surprised, all the time.

Today the finals for my media criticism class were all turned in. Now I’ll be grading them. Tonight and tomorrow. On Monday, those social media finals will appear. On Tuesday, the finals from the org comm class will be waiting for my attention.

At some point, I have to work on next semester’s classes, too.

Anyway, this is the starscape from the back step just now. That’s Jupiter, right in the center of the photo.

That planet is some 402.7 million miles from us right now. That light took 36 minutes to get here. You could put 1,000 earths inside a hollow version of the gas giant.

I could tell you these stats all night long, but I’d still have work to do when I was done.

photo / Rowan / Wednesday — Comments Off
10
Dec 25

The ghosts of professors past

I had a mid-day meeting with students about a project in my online class. They were delightful and are prepared. They were also kind enough to indulge what, I am sure, sounded like an end-of-the-year ramble or two on my part.

This mysteriously appeared overnight from the office.

That wasn’t there last Thursday. Or last Friday. Or Monday. Or yesterday. I know because I was there each of those days, and I considered that very wall. It is conspicuous in its usual blankness. But, now, that sign.

Local lore has it that the campus spirits put it up, each term, just before commencement. The legyou listen carend is that the ghosts of old professors always walk with the graduates. If you listen carefully, you can hear their rustling, dusty robes.

Between the student group meeting and the next meeting I started spreading that story that I just made up. Maybe it’ll gain some traction. Especially if no one ever sees that sign come and go.

There was also a faculty meeting today. These are the things we know. These are the things we don’t know. Here is a brief recounting of some other meetings. And here are the next meetings you are encouraged to attend, including one next week!

Anyway, back to grading. The students in my online class, Social Media Strategies, are preparing for their final submission for the term. It is a visual presentation of a social media plan they’ve been working on all semester. Each group has a local non-profit they’ve been observing, and our assignments have grown through there. Now, a little extra feedback on their penultimate assignment may help them prepare that presentation.

But only if i can get that feedback to them.

The semester’s first final, meanwhile, will be turned in tomorrow.

photo / Rowan / Tuesday — Comments Off
9
Dec 25

The semester’s last lecture

The last day of classes. We talked about the future of streaming media in the criticism class. We did an image repair exercise in the org comm class.

I’ve got this speech I give. At the beginning of the term I say that being at the front of the room gives me the opportunity to, from time-to-time, go off track from the class. I have this down to three speeches, two at the beginning of the semester and one at the end of the term. And today I remind them of the first two speeches. The first speech is about my hope to be a small part of them discovering the true value of education: the joy of learning. The second speech — particularly selfish, but they are my captive audience and this is my gimmick — is about being mindful of cyclists and other vulnerable road users when they drive.

Both groups nodded along that they remembered both speeches, which I gave on separate days in September. And then I launch into the third and final speech. I talk about the open mind you need in class. Next door to an open mind, I say, is an open heart. And around the corner is compassion.

I say to them, there is a time in life when the only thing of value you can give another person is your compassion. And there may be a time in your life — and I hope it is many, many, many years from now — when the only thing of value another person can give you is compassion. If you look at the world around us, I say, you can see that the world needs more compassion. It’s always been that way, and may always be that way. And so I ask them to nurture that compassion within them, so that when they are called upon to do so, they are ready to give it freely. That, I say, is why I end each class the same way. “Thank you for your time. I’ll see you next time. I hope to see you next semester in class or around campus. Until then, be safe, and be kind.”

And, then, for some reason, the students all clap at me, and most of them make a point of thanking me.

I don’t need those things, but I’m gratified to know that something here has meant enough for them to do so.

Some of our colleagues have decorated their doors for a holiday party tomorrow. This is my favorite one.

And here’s the sunset from the sixth floor. A sunset at 4:44 p.m.

And now it is finals time. My last final went online today. It is also meeting time. I have a faculty meeting tomorrow. I have a bunch of stuff to grade, too. Guess what I’ll be doing for the next week?!?