Month: April 2005

Del.icio.us Links

Posted on by Dana

Well, I seem to be getting a 500 error when I try to get del.icio.us to post my daily links. There is a problem with the mt-xmlrpc.cgi file. I don’t know what it is, because I tried all the common solutions:

  • Make sure the file is chmod to 755
  • Make sure it was uploaded in ASCII
  • Make sure I have LWP::UserAgent and SOAP::Lite installed
  • Make sure the path to the file is correct
  • Make sure the path to perl is correct
  • Tear my hair and scream

Yep, done all that. I don’t know why it isn’t working but I put in a help request at the Movable Type forums that will most likely get ignored, so I’ll let you know. Crankydragon, you got this to work. Any problems like this? I think all of my other cgi files are working fine.

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Celtic Art and Cultures
englishcompanion.com
storTroopers

Comments

Posted on by Dana

My blog friend Roger has mentioned several times in his blog that while he receives possibly thousands of visitors every day, he has very few comments. Sadly, he’s right. He’s probably one of the most interesting bloggers I’ve run across, too.

On the other hand, I read two blogs written by people most of us would agree are “celebrities.” There is nothing they write that doesn’t get at least 100 comments. Which begs the question, what is the reason people comment on something in a blog?

I don’t comment on everything I read. I have noticed that often I will receive comments on the most mundane bull while posts I’ve spent quite a lot of time researching, writing, and refining are completely passed by. Roger has noted this same phenomenon. In the entry I linked above, he notes that a blogger he reads wrote about her hair and received 30 comments. Some commenters cheekily commented that he didn’t write about his hair enough. However, he is right. I have noticed the exact same phenomenon. Frankly, people, it’s weird. I think the entry I have written, to date, that has the most comments, is an entry about how I have developed a fondness for department store makeup and salon shampoo. On the other hand, on occasion, I have directly invited reader response with a question and heard crickets. Real crickets.

I’m not inviting pity comments (ironically, you all will post comments to this, I feel pretty sure) so much as scratching my head over a phenomenon that I, like my friend Roger, find really perplexing.

Why do people comment? Why don’t they comment? Why does some odd bit of nothingness about hair and makeup incite so much discussion?

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Specialty Blogs
Life Blogger
2018: Reading Year in Review

I’m Giving Up on Blackwood Farm

Posted on by Dana

I’m giving up on Blackwood Farm. Yet another Anne Rice book that seems to be all exposition. Why? The most fundamental rule of creative writing is “show don’t tell.” I will always maintain that Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat were great. I liked The Tale of the Body Thief, too, but dammit, I’m not trying anymore. I give up on you, Anne Rice.

In other news, I did get BookQueueToo working. Actually, I didn’t. My host did. You know, they don’t suck. I thought they did after the debacle in August, but I’ve changed my mind. In general, they respond pretty quickly to help requests. They got Storable Perl loaded for me and now they have installed XML::Parser in the right spot. I can’t complain about them anymore. On the other hand, they never did figure out how to configure the MIME type to display CSS, but that’s OK, since I found a workaround.

What does all of this mean to you? Well, since I put Cane River back on the nightstand (and may or may not pick it back up again) and gave up on Blackwood Farm, it means you didn’t know what I was reading, and I know it was agonizing for you me. Now we’re all updated and life is grand. I sure do wish I could get into Cane River. I think it might be a good payoff. I can’t figure out why I can’t get into it.

I teach American Literature. I have a list of essential American novels that you must read, ranked in no particular order (except somewhat chronological). I purposely didn’t include drama or poetry. I didn’t link them, but they should be easy enough to find at Amazon or Barnes and Noble online or in your favorite bookstore. You can add your own favorites in comments.

  • The Scarlet Letter
  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • The Awakening
  • The Age of Innocence
  • Ethan Frome
  • The Great Gatsby
  • A Farewell to Arms
  • The Sun Also Rises
  • The Sound and the Fury
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Of Mice and Men
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • The Color Purple
  • Beloved
  • The Poisonwood Bible

For what it’s worth, I ran across this. I don’t know about the veracity of the statement that any such survey of college professors was taken, but if you want to be as well-educated as they hope the average college freshman is, have at that list. I haven’t read a great deal of it. The website’s author misspelled Edgar Allan Poe’s name, which is a pet peeve of mine. this list is better.

I’m very glad tomorrow is Friday. Long week. Don’t ask.

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Summer Reading, Part 2
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I’m So Tired

Posted on by Dana

I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink,
I’m so tired, my mind is on the blink.
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink.
No, no, no.
I’m so tired I don’t know what to do.
I’m so tired my mind is set on you.
I wonder should I call you but I know what you’d do.
You’d say I’m putting you on.
But it’s no joke, it’s doing me harm.
You know I can’t sleep, I can’t stop my brain
You know it’s three weeks, I’m going insane.
You know I’d give you everything I’ve got
For a little peace of mind.
I’m so tired, I’m feeling so upset
Although I’m so tired I’ll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh.
He was such a stupid git.

Who was that? I hate it when other people channel my blog. I gave a presentation at work tonight. On the plus side, it was well-received. Everyone keeps talking about all the work I do. As opposed to what? I thought that was my job. I have had jobs that involved more paper-pushing. I hate that kind of thing. I hate involving myself in any way with student records.

On the way to work this morning I was thinking about my two-year tenure as a middle school teacher. Those of you that can do that job, I admire you. You are few in number. I am so glad it’s behind me. Even if I had to teach pronoun/antecedent agreement every day in high school, it would be worth it to stay out of middle school. When I think back on my own middle school days, I recall them as the most traumatic period of my life. I wouldn’t go back for all the world. No wonder the kids are impossible at that age.

I keep looking at the calendar. I am doing the end-of-year-teacher-freakout dance right now. Do you know I just reached the 20th century in American Lit.? We are hitting the most major of major points, and that is all. Don’t even get me started on how much I need to do with 9th grade.

I wish I knew for sure what I was teaching next year. I have some tweaking to do, whatever it is. I can’t spend three weeks on summer reading ever again, that’s for sure.

I read my students an article from a National Council of Teachers of English publication called English Journal about how perilous teaching English is. We all have our favorite books. Maybe even that book that made us want to teach. I cannot truthfully say that is true for me. I loved literature, period. I didn’t have one book that made teaching English a done deal. That was due to my high school English teacher. After I started teaching, I read The Great Gatsby, and it became that one book. The book. The one I hold the others up to. The benchmark. Ever since then, it makes me nervous to teach it. And this year, I thought, why not share that with the kids?

Fellow readers, if you were an English teacher (or even if you are one, Jennifer and Dana) which book would/does make you nervous to teach? Why?

I feel like Linda Richman. I might even be getting all verklempt.

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My So-Called Life or Something Like It

Posted on by Dana

Since the beginning of the school year, I have gained about 20 pounds. Since I could probably have stood to gain some weight, it wasn’t a really big deal. The only problem is that a lot of my clothes don’t fit now. I am not worried about the way I look now, but the thought has crossed my mind that perhaps I won’t quit gaining weight — that my metabolism has changed. The women in my family do tend to start out thin and get very, very big.

Being “too skinny” has been a part of my identity since I can remember. It was how I was teased as a child. It formed me into who I am. I guess, in a way, gaining weight kind of makes me feel like I am losing who I am. Right now, I weigh the same as I weighed at 9 months during all three of my pregnancies. And like I said, it isn’t bad, and I shouldn’t complain. But that is a thought that will give one pause, right?

It was a beautiful day here in Georgia. I sat outside at school and graded papers. That’s one thing that is really nice about our campus on sunny days — we can spend so much time between classes outdoors. It is sort of set-up almost like camp. I guess whenever we move to our new building, we might lose that. I will not miss the rain, though. Our campus is absolutely miserable when it rains.

I haven’t written here in a while, and frankly, I just don’t have anything worthwhile to talk about. I haven’t been up to much. I got my oil changed. I bought a new cell phone. I tried on a pair of shoes that fit really well, but the heel didn’t look right, so I didn’t buy them. I can’t find my Black Crowes CD (The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion). I am re-reading the Harry Potter series. That’s my life.

Why are you here? There are fascinating things all over the web. Go learn something.

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