Everyday type things...

This morning I spent some time at Borders. I bought The Origins of Totalitarianism, because I am a big nerd. I also sat in the cafe and revised yet a-fucking-gain my article for resubmission. It's getting demoralizing. My roommate is reading through it to see if it hangs together better now that I have cut out all of the interesting parts.

I am trying to get my goddamned career in gear. I know that I toured the planet last year talking at conferences, but that only gets you so far. You need to publish articles. I need to publish something new before I go on the job market again.

I really should turn my dozen talks into a couple of papers. Maybe tomorrow.

Oh! This is going to be fun! IRB certification! It stands for Institutional Research Board. When you are experimenting on human subjects, you need to be able convincingly answer questions like, "Why was the Tuskegee syphilis experiment unethical?" You know, really hard ones. I am "researching" using my current crop of students. How this is any different than using any other pedagogy for the first time, I don't know--probably because one day I will publish on it. But seriously, the IRB is geared more for the sciences, you know like poster presentations are. ("Research method? I read it, then I thought about it.")

As you may have guessed, when I look at outcomes of student writing, there is a very good chance that I will have to inject them with experimental serums. My school wants to make sure that I do this ethically.

Blech.

I am giving another talk in Atlanta about conspiracy theories. That's going to take up a good part of my time for the next few days.

And, finally, I started figuring out my Korg today. It makes me sound a lot better than I am, I think. It has a panning function that surprised the hell out of me when I played through my headphones. You hear a digital delay bonging back and forth and you get a sense of space.

HJ