Monday, May 20, 2013

When the Spirit Hits

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Today is Pentecost Monday, which is strange that it is a double day holiday over Sunday and today as all current researchers show that Hungary is Catholic just about in name only. Well some are “Hey, any excuse for a party!” while some countries are “Hey, any excuse for a holiday!” When I was in elementary school, I asked my mother if we were Jewish; the Jewish kids had more school holidays than the rest of us. When she said no, I asked about conversion procedures.

Well, this has been a productive time here at the homestead. After joining the gym at the Marriott Hotel, my mind has been surprising my body by actually getting there five times a week. After walking the treadmill at 3.5 miles per hour, I complete 10-25 repetitions on 7 different machines. There is only one machine that actually shows miles rather than kilometers per hour. I didn’t realize this at first. I had been using the other machines cranking it up to 6.8 kph.

When I first started on the other machine, the speed almost sent me into the Nautilus hip adduction machine, hip first. It took a couple of seconds to realize why I was moving faster than a thoroughbred in training, when the sign stating the obvious was visible. Although I am fairly adept at speed reading, reading at high speeds is a different story.

A gym work-out takes a real chunk of time out of the day. It takes me a solid twenty minutes to get there, at least an hour and a half exercising, twenty minutes in the Jacuzzi, and then another twenty minutes rewarding myself at Starbucks when I finish. 

There was a book publisher that offered to have me send in a proposal for a book they wanted to have rewritten and updated. They were graceful enough to wait patiently until the semester was over before I turned something in for their evaluation. Finally, it was sent off today. If it is approved, it is something that can be completed over the summer.

With that in mind, there has been another block of my time spent working on a new professional website that should debut in another week or so. Details will follow as things progress. The other irons in the fire including marketing the Feri apartment, updating my CV, and making travel plans.

We will be going to Florence for a week next month. Ron’s great niece is getting married in Tuscany. She and her beau rented an entire villa for the wedding, but we will only stay 2 nights and the rest of the time in Florence. We have both been to Florence in the past, but one cannot tire of Florence.

At the end of August, we are returning to Italy, but traveling through to make our way to San Marino, to spend a couple of nights. Planning ahead, we booked our tickets to Panama for our December/January get-away with a side trip to Nicaragua.

Holiday or not, I spoke with a lawyer in the US today about making out a will. It is complicated since we have a bank account and Ron’s retirement in CA, a property in FL, we are registered voters in NJ, and my credit card goes to NM. When we finally whittled it down, the attorney asked who would get the property if something happened to both of us. That hit me like a trick question. I hadn’t thought about it, and we certainly hadn’t discussed it. I guess we will just donate it to the Tea Party! Joking!

On Facebook, someone had posted a link to a local videographer company called ICandyFilm. Some of the samples were fabulous, so I sent them a note saying as much. One thing led to another and they are coming over to discuss filming the apartment. It will be great adverting and if we ever decide to sell, it will be ideal.

It hasn’t even been a week since I finished school and already there has been so much accomplished. If this momentum continues, mountains will be moved.

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Friday, May 17, 2013

I See Dead People

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Yesterday, as I was walking from the metro to my private student's home; the street was blocked off by 2 ambulances at weird angles. There were no police cars, which was confusing as to what was happening. As I walked down the sidewalk, I saw the corpse on the ground almost to the point where I had to walk around him.

How could I be certain it was a dead body? How could I be certain it was him and not her? The body was wrapped in black plastic and taped up with masking tape like a poorly wrapped oversized Christmas gift. The ankles and feet donned with boots were sticking out at the bottom. They were undoubtedly male. Now unless they wrap up sick people like this for transporting to a hospital, this guy was dead.

The question remains as to why there were no police on the scene. This street corner is visible from my student’s 5th floor apartment window. He mentioned he could see the ambulances, but was uncertain what was happening.

This is not my first dead person experience in Budapest. A few years ago, I was getting acupuncture treatments in Buda. Rather than wait for the tram after a treatment, I decided to walk to the metro. As I was passing a sliver of a park, there were ambulance workers fitting another male person into a body bag. Then, it was a regular “as seen on TV” body bag, not some Hefty bag from the local market.

Seeing dead people is not new for me. I spent 16 years as a medical social worker, so I have seen my share of people who have left this plane. Still each time, it still has a gripping effect.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

It Is Over When the Timer Rings

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I had a countdown calendar on my laptop desktop; it was set to the end of the semester. More accurately it was set to the last minute of my last class. When students noticed it as I frequently use my computer to project their tasks, magazines, blogs, and websites on the wall, I did not comment on the reason for having the calendar there. I did acknowledged its existence, but since they never asked other questions, I did not offer addition responses.

The calendar on my school laptop, a computer I bought myself to use for school, was as a visual reminder for them. It meant to say the semester is ending, time is running out to pad your grade with participation points by speaking out, write the best essay since it is your last one, spend extra time with the final creative writing a short story, or add something spectacular to the blog for the blogging class which would truly impress me and others.

They didn’t seem to get that subliminal message. What they did not know is that I had the same counter on my home computer’s desktop. This was for me and only for me. It reminded me that there is relief to this burnout I was feeling. As the minutes ticked away, I knew the pages of editing I would have to do were decreasing. I know that there were hours, minutes, and seconds of passing by that I no longer had to try to make students understand that I only want what is best for them that my being a taskmaster is for their good, not for my own jollies.

When the time finally arrived to say good-bye, when the countdown clock alarm sounded, I reminded them that the only time I would see them in the future is when they sign up for their internship, but contact would be minimal. Some rushed out the door as the words were fading from the air after I spoke them. Others stayed to present me with a lovely tin of 72 teabags, consisting of smaller packages of eight in different flavors. I love tea, so this is a perfect gift for me.
As I gushed with appreciation and enthusiasm, I mentioned that if any of them want to practice their English over the summer, I am more than willing to meet up for a coffee. I added that I knew some fabulous coffee shops.

It was later that I realized what I had said. Here I was, getting mushy over getting the tea, but then suggesting we meet for a coffee. Just according to the old instruction manual - Open mouth, insert foot! Then I thought about it realistically. Quite honestly, I do love tea, but I love drinking it at home. When I am out, I never order tea, I order coffee variations. There is something about the coffee at home, regardless of the brand we buy; I am never satiated by the flavor. Tea never lets me down when home brewed. Hence, to get my coffee fix, I need an outside expert to prepare it for me. 

At least now, I have 72 reasons to stay home and enjoy a cup of tea and remember the students who thought enough to give me the gift while I renew my batteries.

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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Hungarians in Duquense, PA Video

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Our nephew came across this video and shared it with us. He lives in Pittsburgh and was here to visit with his new wife on their honeymoon trip.
This is a short video of Hungarians who went to PA to work in the steel mills. When they interview people, it is in Hungarian, but the English narrator does give an overview.

From YouTube " This documentary, Krisztus Vándorai, filmed in the United States by Debrecen Televízió, aired in Hungary in 2009. It recalled the Hungarians' plight within their own country from which they fled for a better life, leaving their native homes of Northeast pre-Trianon Hungary (present-day Slovakia and Romania).

This 10-minute excerpt from the four-hour-long production, documents the congregation of my home church, the Hungarian Reformed Church of Duquense, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), for which I am the Assistant Chief Elder. Appearing in this portion of the film are Rev. Dr. József Posta, Marian Balázs Nagy (1920-2010), Olga Balázs Darnay, and Julius Nagy.




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Saturday, May 11, 2013

Dog Dancing Competition

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We went to a dog dancing competition sponsored by the local kennel club. One of my students is an international judge. All the photos were taken with my phone, so the quality is not superior.


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Thursday, May 09, 2013

Deadly Fulfillment

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There has been an article sitting on the desktop of my computer for a couple of weeks now. It has
been patiently waiting for me to give is some attention by referring to it in a blog post. The reason it has taken so long is because university chores have taken precedent. Yes, ‘chores’ is the correct word, not a single word that has less tedium intonation could fit the bill.

The article that I have been procrastinating over is called “Plan Your Digital Afterlife with Inactive Account Manager”. The irony of this is that a few years ago, I created a business called “Good-bye Friends”, but it never took off. What set this in motion was when friend of mine had passed away, but I had not heard about it for weeks later. By chance, one of his nephews was savvy enough to send out notices to all of those individuals in his e-mail contacts. If it had not been for this nephew, I would never have known why communication suddenly stopped.
 

I had another friend in Tennessee who did not have a home computer and only read her e-mails sporadically during her teaching day. She and I regularly sent small presents to each other over a number of years. When I wrote my first book, I sent her a copy with an invitation to visit. It was strange that I have never heard from her again. I would have written to the school where she teaches/taught, but she had changed schools and districts the year before.
 

My idea for “Good-bye Friends” was to create a database for clients who had lists of people to be notified upon death. Two or more trusted people would be the messenger for alerting me that it was time to act. That is the idea in brief. Shortly after getting this little venture up and running, I found an article on the Internet that listed and reviewed 9 similar services. Apparently, my idea was not all that unique.
 

Now Google is getting in the act with their own slimmed down version. I guess it is true that death is a powerful business.

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Sunday, May 05, 2013

Any Avaible English Teacher Out There?

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I often check out Craigslist Budapest for possible writing gigs. In the past, I have found several freelance travel writing jobs listed. 

I also check the Education section just to see what is happening. This is what I found.

Do you think this person is avaible as a
spelling bee judge? 

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Saturday, May 04, 2013

Don't Hang in the Closet Any Lonter

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Every now and then someone asks me to check out their product for a possible promotion. I received a note about a free download for an eighteen page booklet explaining how to put old coat hangers to good use. What I expected was some run of the mill tips, like use it to open your car door when you lock yourself out if you have the antiquated type locks.

If you have an abundance of hangers just, well, hanging around, there is hope for innovative solutions to recycle them. It was surprising that I found a couple of tips that I could undoubtedly use. The belt organizer and the scarf holder are brilliant ideas. The latter is especially good for getting those winter scarfs out of the way in an organized manner, come warmer weather.

Time to get out of the closest and be resourceful. If you want the free download, click here.


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Read and Red, But Finally Done

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Well, I did it! I finished reading the last thesis for this semester. During the semester, I have 13 students in my thesis writing class, so I was reading and editing their work all semester. After they all get turned in, we are assigned theses to read and grade.

I was actually hoping to get one or more of the theses from within my class; I was not the advisor for all 13 students. This would have cut some of my reading down a bit since I already knew their work intimately. However, Lady Luck was not to be my friend this time around. I received four BA theses and one MA thesis.

These arrived on the heels of my completing the essays for both the Race and Ethnicity class as well as the Religions Born in the US, but concurrent with the short story assignment for the Creative Writing class. This was all juggled with reading the students’ blogs and websites for the Blogging and Website class. Those in my Mystery Novel and Corpor-ocracy classes were severely neglected.

I read and read, so my eyes are red. However, I am almost finished! I am seeing the finish line up ahead and it looks spectacular. The only exercise yet to read will be one more creative writing piece and that will end the semester.

As of now, there are 11 days, 4 hours, 28 minutes until I am crossing that finish line.


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Thursday, May 02, 2013

The HIghs and Lows of Teaching

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What you will read here are the actual e-mails that went back and forth with one of my students. This particular student was in my thesis writing class as my advisee in addition to being in my Religions Born in the US class. I had her last semester for Social Problems in the US. The first part is in regard to her thesis and my having edited it before submission. I did not change language, grammar, or spelling, so all mistakes are part of our human nature when writing an e-mail.
 
Student:
Dear Professor James,
Thank you again for all your work.
I am so sorry for all the stupid typos! It must have taken you forever to correct all this I feel so bad.
April 15th will be here soon and part of your torture will end.
For the record, I have learnt a lot from your comments and corrections. Wish I had learnt from you from the beginning of University. My writing would be much better.
Only 28 days left and 1 chapter to go.
See you tomorrow,

Me:
I should have you speak to my journalism class. They think I am the devil incarnate.

Student:
I would talk to them. They should be glad to have you. I have had teachers at ELTE who demanded nothing, gave me 5s, but I learned nothing. That is not how it should be. This results in students becoming so lazy that they end up hating a teacher just because they have to do something. Even though your comments sometimes make me want to jump into the Danube I greatly appreciate them. There is always room for improvement and I strive to be the best I can be. You can motivate me and I am so thankful for that.

Student: after the thesis was submitted:
Dear Professor James,
Here is the very final version of my thesis.
I can't believe that it is done!
I am so happy that you accepted me as your advisee and I got to work with you. I couldn't have hoped for a better supervisor. You have helped me so much and I couldn't have done this thesis without you!
Thanks for everything!!!

Me:
I have faith in you. I think you could have done it alone! But thank you...

Student:
Having someone believe in you when you don't believe in yourself makes all the difference!

Me:

Bear that in mind for the exams. I continue to believe!

Student:
I have been thinking how to respond to this email for the past hours but still haven't been able to come up with anything except for a huge thank you. You made me cry.. I am going to print this, put it in my notebook that I take everywhere, and every time I feel bad or sad I will look at to feel better.

Thank you so so so much. Really!!!


Student:
Dear Professor James,
I just found out that Professor X is going to be my opponent. 
Frightened does not even describe what I'm feeling right now.

Me:
Well, we both know you did an exceptional job. Reading a thesis can be subjective, so remember no matter what she says, we know you are 5 (A) quality.

Then she received her grade for her Religions Born in the US project. Things had a slight turn-around.

Student:
Dear Professor James,
Thanks for the feedback and the evaluation!

I was just thinking. Right now I am at -10 points in the course. We have still 3 classes - 6 points for participation plus 30 for the quizzes. I think there is no problem with my participation so I should have no problem with getting the total points. However, I stink at quizzes. Of course I will prepare for them but for some reason I always mess something up.

The questions are (in advance): Can I do anything else to still get a 5? I can do another essay (although I’m pretty sure you don't want to read any more than you already have to) or whatever extra work you can give me. Grades don't really matter to me, I just want to learn as much as possible, but having a 5 in your class is a prestige thing. I prepare the most for your classes; your courses are the ones worth taking at this university so I want to leave ELTE with not being just one of your average students.

With that said, I am going to try my best to ace those quizzes.

Me:
I have been thinking about this all day. I am still reading student papers and have 5 theses to read and grade still. I was supposed to write a book proposal for myself over 6 months ago, but never got to it. It has to be done by the middle of May or I stand to lose a great deal of money. Do I want anything else to read? NO WAY!

Confidentially, I had some talks with other class members about their performance, grades, and potential outcome with their grade. All of this reminded me of something that happened to me in my doctoral program. I took a course on Psychology of Education. I loved the instructor and the course. The only assignment for the entire semester was to write one 60 page research paper. I cannot remember what the topic was now, but I was so engaged with it that I knew I was doing my best work. This was still in the days of Windows 95, not even Windows 98. I didn't have MS Word back then; the main program was called WordPerfect. About six times, during that semester, my computer crashed and each time, I lost all of the work I had done up to that point.

By some stroke of luck, I had backed up part of the psychology paper on a floppy disk. This was before USB ports or external drives. After I continued writing where I had left off, I printed the essay and turned it in. I was thrilled with the way it turned out and knew the professor would be just as excited with reading it as I was with writing it. When she returned the papers, she made nice little comments to each person as she handed them their paper. "Nice work on this" or "I really enjoyed your topic" or other things in this vein. When I received mine back, she just looked at me without a word. I received a B-. I was horrified and wanted to cry. As I looked through the essay there were red marks everywhere. I could not understand it at all.

When I took a closer look, I realized that the first part of this essay that I assumed was the latest version was an older unedited version. I had not bothered to reread it since the deadline was so close and I was so certain it was a good copy.

After class, I went to the professor and apologized for giving her substandard work. I offered her an explanation. She offered me the opportunity to rewrite it and turn it in again. At first I said, yes, I would like to do this. Then I changed my mind and said this has been an important lesson for me that I will never forget. As much as I don't want that grade, it will be a constant reminder that I need to check, double check and if need be triple check my work before turning it in.

After all of this thinking about your grade today, someone posted this on Facebook. Not that you did not do the work, but I think this will be a lesson you will never forget.

Student:
Dear Professor James,
I just found out that Professor X gave me a 5 (A) for the thesis. I am beyond happy!! Thanks again. If this makes you 1/10 as happy as it makes me that would make me even more content.

Me:
Congratulations! I had a feeling… The last time she read one of my student’s thesis, she suggested it be published.
Does this now make up for you being upset with me about the potential Religion grade?

Student:
Thank you! I am very happy!! She had some minor remarks - she especially disliked the fact that I did not refer to myself as "I." She said it was "awkward" :-) Oh, well. Overall, she said she really liked it.

Well, I won't say that it makes up for it. I am so frustrated. I can't even tell you. I have to be honest regarding the quizzes. I feel like no matter how much I study, I will never get a 100%. I worked my butt off and studied for the whole weekend and made two outlines for the 3 religions. I have a nice word document besides the highlighted texts. I wouldn't say this is it weren't true. I knew everything that was to know about them. I reread everything, did extra research and even found some online tests. I knew everything except whether only psychologists, anthropologists, or sociologists use the term cultural relativism. Also, I don't know how to interpret when only half of a statement is true. If you say Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions for medical reasons only - this is partly true. They do refuse it for medical reasons as well but mainly for religious reasons.

I had the same problem with the quizzes last semester and I cannot tell you how frustrated and sad this makes me. If you asked what cultural relativism was or to write a short essay on any of the religions, asked to define any of the terms I could do it. I am 100% sure of that.

I know life isn't fair but I just feel stupid. The fact that no matter how much work I put into it, I won't get a better grade. I cannot help but feel like an idiot.

I don't mind the studying and I am happy that I am so motivated (even though I know that I screwed up the last quiz as well) to learn. This is a great thing, really. I hope you know that I have learnt a lot and will continue to study this hard for the rest of the quizzes as well. I am not upset with you particularly. I am upset because I cannot seem to change anything regardless how much effort i put into it.

Your quizzes are my enemy, not you. You are a great teacher.

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Helmut Newton Followed by A Meztelen Férfi - The Naked Man

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Last Saturday and Sunday were our culture days. Leaving all things technological at home, including smartphones, Ron and I spent a few hours on each day at these museums.

Saturday was the Museum of Fine Arts to see their temporary exhibition on Helmut Newton. Newton is a world famous photographer or for Hungarians \fə-ˈtä-grə-fər\, not PHOTO-grapher. Each of us has free access to the museum, which is quite relaxing allowing us to not feel pressured to see the permanent collections. We can return as often as we wish to take in what we may have missed previously. Even without their spectacular collections from different countries and periods, the architecture alone is gorgeous and worthy of a visit for this reason only.


Newton is considered one of the world’s most illustrious figures in the field of fashion and advertising photography. This particular show consisted of 250 shots accumulated from what is considered his most inspired period of work.
 

“These selected works provide an offer a look into his most important periods through three of his key albums. Private Property contains forty-five photographs from Newton’s best fashion, portrait and nude shots from 1972 to 1983. Newton published his provocative nudes between 1985 and 1995, among others in his own periodical, the four-volume Helmut Newton’s Illustrated. The fashion and advertising photos taken between 1983 and 2003 for the major fashion labels…”
 

It makes me wish I were a fraction as gifted a photographer as he was, though photographing fashion would not be my thing.
 

Museum of Fine Arts
Dózsa György út 41
www.mfab.hu
This exhibit continues until July 14, 2013.
 

At the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, there was this disclaimer. “Some of the works of art may be of a sexually explicit nature, parental guidance is advised.” Considering some of the movie and other advertisements I have seen in metro stations and on the streets, this truly gave me a chuckle.

With female nude exhibits having been shown ad nauseum in various world museums, they have finally approached the male nude exhibit. In cooperation with the LENTOS Kunstmuseum of Linz, Austria, they have collated this show with over 300 pieces of artwork glorifying the male nude.
 

As the discourse along the wall informs the patrons, the portrayal of naked males became non-existent after the Classical Antiquity period. During this time, the nude male had to be portrayed as a mythological figure or a Christian scapegoat. As it was also explained, it was only in the last few decades that female art students were allowed to see nude male models.

Starting with Viennese works dating to 1900, the art pieces displayed exemplify artists who were brave enough to divest from the cultural norms in order to expand their artistic expression. What one encounters as you progress from one era to the next is what starts with artist self-doubt and self as model, continuing on to experimentation leading to full-blown confidence accompanied by power.


”For modern artists, the naked male body divested of every role became bearer of self-revelation, self-recognition and renewal. From this point on, the exhibition follows the male nude through the history of the 20th and 21st centuries, through crises of identity and phases of sovereignty, the questioning of traditional male role models, the search for alternatives, the face up to weakness and vulnerability, the gaze of desire and the erotic pose.”

Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art
Komor Marcell u. 1
www.ludwigmuseum.hu
This exhibit continues until June 30, 2013.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Crispy Critter Part 2

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One of the problems I have created for myself is that I explain most everything to my students. I share with them all of my background thinking which forms the foundations for my motives in how I plan out class procedures. Included in this is an explanation of how I perceive them fulfilling the demands for each class. What seems to me as a transparency in teaching translates to them as a democracy; they have this sense that they should get a vote on each of the assessment components. Whenever something changes without giving them advance notice, they huddle like the crowd outside Frankenstein’s castle ready to lynch the monster. Generally, there is always one spokesperson who claims to have been appointed to be the champion of justice as if by some royal decree. However, time and again, when I question other students, they have no memory of appointing any person to be their spokesperson.

This happened yet again this semester where someone from the Justice League had issues with my assignment. It has happened in the past over minor issues, but this one seemed to be a significant event, at least in some of their mercurial minds. Prior knowledge of having 115 students, to deal with this semester, with 18 of them being in creative writing, it was a no-brainer that I would be drowning in a student writing pool of papers. This led to my creating changes to maintain my sanity assuring I would still have some of it by April and with any luck possibly still by the middle of May. By May 15th, I would need a mental douching.

There had to be a reduction in the number of pages assigned per assignment. Both Race and Ethnicity and Religions Born in the US had their required essays lowered to six pages, not including the works cited pages. To substantiate this change of expectations, there was the added requirement that once they wrote their essay, they were to create an online magazine with it. Pictures or video clips could be added to provide a real magazine feeling if they chose. Three online magazine sources were provided as well as a sample magazine created by one student last semester. I also shared that the student admitted it took her a week to format the magazine properly. This tip fell on deaf ears. An additional peremptory warning was that the essay would be run through two grammar checkers and two plagiarism checkers. I also shared that I would send out the magazine with the accompanying essay to all friends and acquaintances who were willing to read at least one.

Again, they unquestionably want to believe this is a democracy. As one student claimed, “Students don’t want to learn, we just want to accumulate the credits.” This is where the war began, so I had to write this disclosure statement.

If you look at the essay/magazine grading rubric, you will have to notice there is nothing there pertaining to the magazine itself other than the word at the top. The word is there just to clarify that the magazine is created from the essay as I mentioned in class.

Some of you are more advanced than others with technology and will have different outcomes in negotiating the magazine. The intention for having you turn in the essay with the magazine was because editing a magazine, to show you the errors, would have been impossible.

The reason for having you create the magazine at all was to expand your thinking and creativity. In the Hungarian educational system, expanded thinking and creativity are in short supply. Students have complained to me about this for over eleven years.

This project was meant to assist you in developing critical thinking skills that still need developing.

You knew about this assignment from the beginning of the semester. If you did not plan ahead to find sufficient research material, this is a student issue.

Please do not insult me by speculating that you or anyone else can send me mediocre, shoddy work and expect to get a gold star.

This is the 21st century, yet Hungarian students are far behind the times of many other countries, not just the US. Before they pointed to other countries where they consider it to be far worse than here, I warned them to ask themselves if this alone makes them proud of their education.

I sent these to educated friends to review. Initially, my reasoning was to brag to others about what my students are capable of doing. In addition to this, I wanted to have an objective point of view about the essay/magazine. Unfortunately, what I discovered was that many of these reviewers were more concerned with protecting student egos than they were in giving an honest critique, but hinted at their concerns. Those who were honest were quite harsh in their comments about the limits of research, the poor grammar, and all of the other issues that I had also identified and marked in the essays.

My hopes that knowing a stranger would read their work, would have pushed them into being higher achievers, never came to fruition.
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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Burned to a Crisp

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I wouldn’t say that I am burned out, but hey, if you held a cigarette close to me, it would light on fire without a match. I am gaining popularity with scout troops for their camping trips when they want to start the campfire for cooking. As I write this, there are 24 days, 5 hours, and 42 minutes left before the end of my semester. There is nothing that could make me happier at this point other than finding out I have inherited a castle in Scotland, tax-free.

You will notice that I am using all numbers in digital form even 1-9, which would normally be spelled out in an academic format. They are more impressive as digits. Generally, I have to teach 9 classes a semester. This year, I was able to get by with 8 because we have a Fulbrighter teaching one of my classes. She taught one last semester also. Still, the classes that I have are teeming with writing, mostly my fault. However, if a student is getting a degree in a foreign language, shouldn’t they be able to communicate in writing? Duh!

I have four courses where the students are required to blog on a weekly basis. This adds up to over 60 blog posts to read or at least just skim over. There is no way I am going to correct their grammar on the Mystery Novel blog or the Corp-orocracy (a course name self-created), but I do pay attention to those in the Blogging and Website class as well as Race and Ethnicity 2 blogs. These are the journalism specialization students who are in the program due to some plan on getting an English speaking/writing job at some point. Having 115 students this semester if I counted them as separate students within different classes with different projects, I was overwhelmed. Consider that one class was The Methodology of Writing the Cultural Studies Thesis for BA and MA students. In this class, I had 13 students who were trying to meet the April 15th deadline for turning in their work. BA students only need to write 20 pages, but the MA students need to fill 60 pages. Each week, I had them write 3-5 pages depending on their degree for me to read and edit, making sure they were on track and their grammar was acceptable. One of my other courses this semester is Creative Writing. The 18 students in this class write a short story every week, not more than 2 pages, but add it to the pile; we are looking at a mountain of paperwork.

All of this work comes flooding into my e-mail as an attachment. This gives me the opportunity to check it in Word using Track Changes. However, I have gotten smarter over the years. When I return the assignment, I change the format to PDF. For those who need to use my comments for a revision, like the thesis writers, they cannot do Accept Changes and make short work of it. They have to look at my notes and comments, with a bit of hope, think about them, and then make the changes on their own. For others, it blocks them from making any changes and then resubmitting it to tell me I made a mistake, so the grade should be inflated. It has happened. Then there are the students who are enrolled in multiple classes that I am responsible for who send in an assignment as an attachment sans a name on the document, nothing in the subject line, the body of the e-mail or on the document itself to give me any clue as to what class to assign the grade. Perhaps, knowing how much I enjoy mystery novels, they are trying to infect me with their affliction of amenomania. Not!  It is a waste of my time.

I am not alone among the faculty, who are increasingly realizing students are lacking the satisfaction taken in an achievement well done. This semester, I warned that the semester essays would be run through 2 different plagiarism checkers making it a wise choice for them to do the same before their submission. The bonus suggestion was added that they should seriously consider using multiple grammar checkers in addition. If you write well, this will take minutes. If you cannot execute a document at a scholarly level, this will give you pause for thinking about editing.

The problem here for most students is that the last minute to turn in an assignment are the precious moments when they are finishing the works cited page. They haven’t a moment to spare to use superfluous (in their minds) outside aids when they have a pushover instructor who will do it for them. Oh, how they rage when they find that the instructor is no longer willing to be their full-time editor and requires their attention to detail. This is when the revolt begins.

To be continued…

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Why I Don't Use WordPress

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Just a quick note here, since I am grading massive amounts of essays. I just received this in my e-mail and I know many who do indeed use WordPress.WordPress has been attacked a multitude of times, so this is not shocking news. Read the article!

Are You Aware of the Ongoing WordPress Global Attack?
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Friday, April 12, 2013

I Remember...

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This is always a tough time in the semester for students and instructors alike. Those students who are writing a thesis this semester have Monday, April 15th as their deadline. I offer a thesis writing class for students from either the American Studies or the English department so they can write their thesis under close supervision. There were 13 students in the class; this meant volumes of reading/editing/advising. 

Add to this the seven other classes I have this semester, I am ready to topple over. Thankfully, there is a Fulbrighter teaching one class under my name or I would have eight other classes.

To give the journalism students a bit of a break, I did something that our guest speaker, Dana Sachs did last year. I read the poem I Remember by Joe Brainard. Then I asked them to write twenty lines of their own ‘I Remember…’. I thought it was only fair that I Remember too and shared it with them. Here is mine.


I remember discovering there was an opening in the American Studies department at ELTE, just days after I voiced my desire to teach university once again.

I remember printing out my CV and taking a taxi down to the university to hand it in.

I remember my interview with Dr. Bollobás, who ended the interview with “I will call all the people I interviewed on Tuesday at 5pm. You will be home then won’t you?” She repeated the last sentence five times and then gave me her mobile number in case I had to go out.

I remember working with Aaron Hunter, who was much younger than me. He said “Don’t worry if students don’t come to your office hours. It could be your age.”

I remember having an office full of students who just wanted to hang out with me until their next class.

I remember Aaron being confused about all of the students who came to see me for no particular reason.

I remember students who were doing their student teaching when I was teaching Teacher Training. They came to my office crying about how rigid and unaccepting their mentor teachers were in the schools where they were placed.

I remember the department giving a written and oral exam before admitting students to the American Studies program.

I remember how I had to perpetually remind myself that English was the second language for these students.

I remember wondering if a Spanish, French, Russian, or Hungarian major in an American university gets off easy because it is not their first language?

I remember the joy and horror of having the same class for five lessons each week.

I remember assigning five essays a semester with each one having the opportunity for one revision while having thirty students in a class.

I remember not enjoying reading 2,620 pages of students’ work a semester, but I did it in hopes the students would learn something.

I remember discovering when the students accidentally disclosed that all they did for a revision was ACCEPT ALL CHANGES in the essay I returned to them for revision.

I remember learning to lock the essays so they could no longer do that.

I remember the first student who asked me to be his thesis advisor and how nervous I was about being up to the task.

I remember when he received honors on this thesis and how proud I was for both of us.
I remember the first six years of teaching at ELTE when students wanted to hang out as much as possible.

I remember holding coffee meetings twice a month on different days and times so students could come to practice their English.

I remember how those coffee klatches were meant to be an hour, but sometimes I was still there three hours later than planned.

I remember the time when twenty-five students showed up at one time. I was flabbergasted.

I remember the first group of students who gave me five books for Christmas. I cried so hard in front of the class; I was mortified while being humbled at the same time.

I remember the first student who asked if he could come to our home. He spent so much time there, we almost adopted him.

I remember when he left for the Kellner Scholarship; he was so concerned about us that he found a replacement student.

I remember wondering how we would deal with the loss and if this ‘replacement’ would fill his shoes.

I remember the day it occurred to me that we now had two adoptees, because both guys became our family.

I remember the joy I felt when I was able to get the ten computers donated by my friend’s business.

I remember writing the proposal for creating a writing center where students would aid students and I would be in the background as a guide.

I remember my department head deciding that these new computers were perfect for creating a journalism program and made it my task to develop it.

I remember when she told me to come up with 60 different courses that could potentially be our offerings, each with a few sentences detailing the course.

I remember spending days searching American universities websites for their course listings for ideas.

I remember the sense of relief I felt when I finished the task and turned it in with great pride in my achievement.

I remember her response “Wow, Ryan! You really put a lot of work into this, but we only needed about 10 courses worth 60 credits.”

I remember wanting to do damage to someone or something after that.

I remember not being thrilled about the changes in the university policy; we no longer were able to test students for admission.

I remember writing the curriculum multiple times and then having someone in the ivory tower refute something or other.

I remember asking other faculty for their willingness to teach courses within the specialization. Some were willing, others not so much.

I remember the class where they confided that they never paid attention to my editing comments and only looked at the grade.

I remember learning each semester how I had to be tougher if I really wanted these students to get educated.

I remember thinking it was only the credits that mattered to students in the end.

I remember a student telling me this was a true thought.

I remember questioning why I continued to care.

I remember when it dawned on me that I don’t need to care, but then it is time to move on.

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Sunday, April 07, 2013

Paul Roberts Beats Me to the Punch

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Paul Roberts wrote in and beat me to the punch. I was going to write about this today.

"So I hear from Tech New Today that Google has sold the Frommer’s brand back to Arthur Frommer and he will be publishing books. Apparently they just wanted the data for Zagat etc. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22024603 on Google Drops the Bomb in Slow Leaks".

This is a truism. I found the story on Skift, again written by one of the former Frommer's editors who was left behind when the transition happened. He was actually one of my editors, but only when I had to do web updates for the various books.

Google had plans on integrating the information from the Frommer's guides into its own Google + network. This is in spite of the fact that survey after survey still shows that Google + is just not as popular or utilized as other social media outlets. Frommers.com had tens of thousands of subscribers, while Google + only added 107 subscribers to their Frommer's channel. 

One tidbit I did not know is that Penguin/Random House are the publishers for the Fodor's, DK, and Rough guides as well as others. Avalon Travel publishes Rick Steves and the Moon guides. Where it all goes from here is anyone's guess, but Frommer has to start with absolutely no content as Wiley Publications has sold it all to Google

Frommer is 83 years old, but his daughter Pauline was an participant and award winning writer for the company. They still need to find a publishing company willing to produce the books.

There may be hope that I will get to author more books after all, but it seems it will not be anytime soon.


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