Last School Year Ever: Why My Week Has Sucked

August 28th, 2010 by pladd

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Sorry about not posting yesterday; this week has been like a perfect storm of small amounts of tragedy that mix together to make a Long Island Iced Tea of despair.

–The bus route is going through its awkward teenage years, trying to reinvent itself, but remaining confused and unsure of what its peer group wants. At least, that’s how I’m interpreting its persistent, erratic behavior. The first day it was just massively late every time I tried to ride it, which is not that surprising on the first week of school. Then one afternoon at a random stop in the middle of the route, the bus driver told everyone to get off because she was done. It wasn’t an off-shift kind of thing–those happen at the end of the line–and we were all forced to wait FORTY MINUTES for the next bus–the two that should have come in the intervening time apparently having stopped off somewhere for after-school aperitifs. Or the happy times when the bus mysteriously fails to change direction at noon as it should, and I am forced to walk in a pack of my disconsolate cohorts along the side of the road. Walking in the sweaty, sweaty heat is kind of annoying, but not the end of the world. However, it’s throwing havoc to my carefully balanced schedule.

–My advisor is going on sabbatical the semester I’m supposed to be writing my Master’s Paper. Since I’m “aggressively competent” this will probably not adversely affect me to the extent it may some people, but it still means that I will 1) have to do a lot more work more quickly and 2) plead my case to the few remaining professors who care about things like public libraries or books way more aggressively than should be necessary. I mean, whose idea was it to only have two professors who are remotely interested in children and teens? I’m feeling the love.

–Once again, my classes only have vague relevance to my future career path. After yet another summer spent working in an actual library doing what I actually plan to pursue, this is even more aggravating than before.

–Our apartment is broken. We haven’t been able to use the shower for two days. Since Steven was going on one of his “if I wash my hair too much it’ll fall out” kicks even before that, it is a smelly, smelly world.

–Everything I eat or drink lately has a weird metallic taste. It took me forever to realize that I’m not dying of arsenic poisoning and that it’s just our dishwasher not washing the soap entirely off our dishes.

–I finished Hunger Games in like five hours yesterday and, despite loftily thinking myself immune to pop-lit trends, am now desperate to read the sequels. My choices are: wait three months on the library request list with all the other teen girls or pay money. I am in an agony of anti-BigBoxBookStore, cheapskate, frantic teen girl indecision.

–Steven keeps beating me at our jury rigged two-person version of Settlers of Catan. My honor is furious.

Hopefully I will at least be able to sort out the last two today.

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Last School Year Ever: The Pregame

August 24th, 2010 by pladd

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So, if all goes as planned, this should be my last school year ever. I am super excited. 18 years straight is too long to spend writing papers, dealing with group project drama, and researching things I don’t care about and will never use. I’m looking at you, ENGL 326. Is it hard to go back? Yes. Luckily, I’ve got the drill down and know just how to get pumped for Last School Year Ever.

Step 1: Supplies
Clearly school supplies are a major factor into determining your daily mood, not to mention who in class is the coolest. Remember how long it took to pick out even one spiral notebook in elementary school? Especially if you were totally obsessive like me and had to make sure it coordinated with your trapper keeper. Too many grad students forget the importance of cheerful, exciting school supplies and go with cheap, plain composition notebooks, not realizing that it will make every day in class taking notes completely boring. Well, not me. Not this year. After a grueling 15-minute decision process at Target’s school supply aisle, I decided on this one:

I wanted one that was all glitter, but a 12-year-old beat me to the last one

I literally cannot wait for the first day of class to take JUICY GOSSIP library science notes. Meghan has suggested that I forget the whole notes thing and turn it into my very own Burn Book, but she clearly hasn’t realized the way I take notes.

Also, for holding copies of syllabi and important papers:

A sparkly cupcake folder. Only the best.

I am one sparkly feather pen away from being the best grad student ever.

Step 2: Fortify your strength
I suggest this recipe:

1. Buy some chicken and salsa.
2. Put them in a crockpot!
3. Cook for 3-4 hours.
4. Serve over rice!

I call it "Salsa Chicken". Super tasty!

Step 3: Celebrate!
Nothing puts you in a celebration mood like vaguely literary wine on clearance at Harris Teeter!

Turns out, there was a reason it was on clearance

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Last Days of Class

April 27th, 2010 by pladd

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I’m typing this on my iPod touch in a classroom on the third floor of the library science building, where I’ve spent too much time over the past year. I have two classes in a row here this semester and today is the last day of them. It’s weird how sentimental professors here get about saying goodbye to their grad students. Especially for these large, required classes that everyone is only lukewarmly interested in. I don’t remember anyone at Rice ever getting all weepy like that, even in my four person seminar class. Maybe grad students are more lovable. At least at UNC.

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How To Teach a Library Science Class (or at least pass one)

March 23rd, 2010 by pladd

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A step-by-step guide to being a library science professor

1) Decide on a title for your class using a random amalgamation of these words: information, human, knowledge, database, metadata, seminar, user(s), design, administration, interaction, critical, studies, scholarly, communication, academic, information science, crucial

2) Create a course description by using more of the above words. Create long, buzzword-ridden terms for simple concepts, and then further confuse by referring to them only in unexplained acronyms. Example:
Anomalous State of Knowledge (ASK)

3) Create a personal website and a page on either Blackboard, Sakai, or Moodle classroom management systems. Find out which management system other professors are using this semester and avoid it. Include copies of syllabus and assignments in both places as well as in a printed hand out on the first day. Each of these syllabi/assignment descriptions/schedules should be subtly different, especially in terms of: due dates, page lengths, room numbers, required reading.

4) Introduce each class with a PowerPoint presentation. Take at least the first fifteen minutes to fiddle with the computer/projector. Fill your presentation with confusing and unlabeled graphs and diagrams that supposedly explain key concepts from the readings. Stress the importance of understanding these diagrams but never fully explain them.

5) Tell one rambling story from your job experience as a librarian. Make sure it is completely outdated, romanticized in your head, or at least totally fabricated. End it with dire warnings about the future of the profession and how everyone sitting in class will NEVER find a job EVER, particularly not one they like.

6) Break the class up into random groups to discuss the reading for the next hour. Attempt to group students so that they are with those they have the least in common with (e.g. one music librarian, one elementary school librarian, one digital archivist and one confused business school grad student).

7) Wander around amongst the groups and offer them “Just something to think about” using as many buzzwords as possible

8.) Bring everyone back together to decide upon the point of the reading

9) The point will be: “It really depends on the community you’re serving”.

10) Ramble for precisely five minutes after class is supposed to be over so that everyone JUST misses the bus.

I could TOTALLY do this for a living if this whole librarian gig doesn’t happen. As my professors are trying stridently as a group to assure me it won’t.

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Reasons I Do Not Update My Blog

January 29th, 2010 by pladd

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1. I am in grad school

I spend all of my time in a building designed by M.C. Escher hearing people who haven’t worked in a library in 10+ years prattle on about “What IS information” and “the philosophical meaning of the public library” and how we decide what’s GOOD for our patrons, as if the very fact of BEING a professor in library science weren’t elitist enough. Sometimes other people talk and it is interesting. Most of the time other people talk and they are either A) trying to impress the professor and therefore incomprehensible, B) telling meandering and irrelevant stories about their personal lives, or C) both. When I am not there, I am at home reading the same thing but in written form, and pretending I agree for grades. Sometimes there are also practical assignments, which tend to take three weeks and twenty-five group meetings.

2. I have a job

I get paid to part-timedly do a full time job. It’s like being a public school teacher, but with even more complainy parents and way less vacation.

3. I AM IN GRAD SCHOOL

I don’t think this can be stressed enough

4. The Winterpocalypse is coming

The Weather Channel’s headline this morning was “Winter Misery”. I have decided to just prepare for a hurricane while wearing three sweaters.

5. You can’t believe everything you read

Interesting story: the runner up for the title of my blog was “The Daily Narwhal”. The joke would be that it would neither be daily, nor a narwhal. Hilarious!

Now I am going to read 100 pages of something about how “people negotiate their information needs”, buy batteries, and go to sleep for the first time in like two days.

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Things I Am Now An Expert On After Just ONE Semester of Grad School

December 1st, 2009 by pladd

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Granted, the last day of classes isn’t till next week, so I still have time to become an expert in at least three more things. Consider this list a work in progress:

1. Getting off an entirely too crowded bus without smacking anyone in the face with my bag Some of the undergrads still need to learn how to do this
2. Looking like an incredibly serious studier in the SILS library when I am really just reading trashy teen girl novels This week’s is about a slutty California girl and a prim English girl who switch places! Recipe for amazing? Or just trite Prince and the Pauper knock off?
3. American Born Chinese
4. Finding information about causes of the American Revolution (still in progress)
5. Wheedling Steven into doing ALL of the cooking
6. And the laundry
7. Being cold
8. Bribing children into doing what I want
9. Writing poorly plotted novels way fast.
10. Negotiating an apartment full of appliances/fixtures that all ALMOST work exactly right
11. Making my parents feel guilty about how I’m Gonna Make It On My Own Christmas is going to be awesome
12. Ignoring my blog for long stretches of time Luckily I don’t think anyone’s noticed. Or maybe sadly.
13. Every program in Microsoft Office Except PowerPoint but we’re starting that today! It’s funny how the waiver form for this course wanted you to know all these programming languages, but the actual course is just an intense semester-long Microsoft Office tutorial.
14. Being resigned Some battles aren’t worth fighting. Like the battle to get my collection development prof to give us any grades ever.
15. Not slipping and falling down the stairs every time it rains You may laugh, but they are MAD dangerous. Three people have already plummeted down them.

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