I took this picture at Hocking Hills State Park, which is about an hour south of Columbus. I went down with some photography buff friends sort of on the spur of the moment and got some fun pictures of my own. (Theirs are much better.) It was a nice day for a hike except for the humidity and it was good to spend time with some buddies that I haven't seen in awhile. Hocking Hills is home to natural scenery, trails, cabins and lodges, arts and antiques shops, and many other activities, so there's something for everyone. I hadn't been there in a very long time, and it's certainly nice to have such a large park so close to campus.

Posted by nice_genes at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some of my projects for Art 342, Wheel-throwing ceramics. Enjoy!

And here is why I think I should go into baking business part-time:
Posted by nice_genes at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I may have said this before, but I often think that my academic career might have had a different course if I had encountered different mentors throughout my life. Most of the time I'm referring to my lack of real research mentorship in biology, but I also realized recently that I probably would have done a thesis in English if I'd had stronger encouragement from faculty.

I wish I had met Professor Michelle Herman much earlier in my career...things might look a lot different now if I had. She is currently my professor for English 596 (Literature and the Other Arts: The Book Musical). One of Dr. Herman's graduate students, Donald Ray Pollock, just won the PEN Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers, a very prestigious award (with $35,000 attached, I might add) given to newly published writers. He is the second student from OSU's MFA program in three years, and the previous winner, Christopher Coake, was also a Herman protege.

Now I am not nearly vainglorious enough to think that if I were under Dr. Herman's tutelage, I would follow readily in Pollock and Coake's footsteps. But from our conversations in class and office hours, I think she is exactly the sort of mother figure I'd need to nurture my creative work. I've written before about the preponderance of men in academia, particularly in the field of science, and while most of my male professors have been brilliant, I have not been able to make the final emotional connection that could drive me through a rigorous research or creative endeavor with them. And with just one or two exceptions, my female professors have not really been available for that sort of nurturing relationship either...there's always talk bandied about of women having to act like men in order to succeed in academia, etc etc. But don't get me wrong, I respect all my professors immensely, and it is really more a matter of my personality that requires intense relational bonding to achieve great things.

You will hear from a lot of people how important it is to find a mentor in research, personal growth, spiritual health, etc. and I could not agree more. Students are hungrier for personal attention, encouragement, and advocacy than I think they even realize themselves, and that is what I'm really going into the teaching business for. If it were primarily about the biology (which I do love too), there are far more lucrative and less frustrating professions to enter, but I really care most about the students. This was my last week tutoring at COSI for the year and as I said goodbye to one of the girls I'd worked with all year, I definitely felt a tug on the heartstrings. I am probably going to be one of those teachers who cries at the end of the year when her students leave, but frankly I'm okay with that because I believe that "a good teacher is like a candle, consuming itself to light the way for others."

Posted by nice_genes at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been getting OSU Weekly, the e-mail newsletter for graduate and professional students for several months now, and this week I got access to the course content for my master's classes on Carmen. So far all we've done is post introductions, but those are really a lot of fun to read and it's nice to have an idea of who I'm going to be spending the next five quarters with. Some of these intros read a little like personal ads, but I think I'm really going to like working with these people. The majority are women, many of them are getting married soon (unlike me, of course!), and a good number of them say they are Christian, which is a distinct change from either of my undergraduate departments.

I think a certain amount of self-selection and self-association at each level of schooling. In high school everyone is thrown together based mostly on geography, since everyone has to go to school. Some people never make it to college; those that do find their niche in an academic department, in workplaces, in extracurriculars. Graduate school is even more elective; only those with academic credentials, financial means, and interest will be there. I expect there are far fewer people who don't know what they are doing with their lives, and I look forward to that. One thing that has always bothered me is when people don't have a good reason for doing what they are doing. I've learned that life is too short to do everything that is "mostly harmless;" you have to pick and choose the things to which you devote your time, energy, and resources. Back when I went to interview for the Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship, I was pleasantly surprised to meet people who were just as passionate about the same things I was. But even if I don't share their interests, I am always impressed when someone knows what they want and like in life.

"Do not ask what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -paraphrasing John Eldredge in Wild At Heart

Posted by nice_genes at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I probably shouldn't be writing this when I am really tired and apt to be crankier than I'd like, but I doubt I'll get around to it later. Maybe I was naive about journalistic integrity, but half of the "Duann said" indirect quotations in this article are blatant fabrications. In his e-mail interview, the writer requested, "Please give me some quotes to work with when answering." And apparently mine weren't good enough, because he saw the need to make up some of his own. The article don't misrepresent me in any sort of negative light, but making things up that sound good is just not a good journalistic practice in general. Am I alone in thinking that?

This is the second incident this week that has me wondering about the state of academic and personal integrity these days. (Yes, I know I sound old and stodgy, but that's the standard complaint of the morally ambivalent.) Earlier this week I found out that the logo I designed for a campus event last year has been reused this year and modified without asking or letting me know. Again, it's not really about my own intellectual property being compromised, but the assumption this year's students made, that anything used in previous years was okay to use freely, is slightly alarming.

Back in February a chemistry TA was fired for telling students how to fudge their lab reports without doing any work.

It is not okay to take things and modify them to suit your needs. You cannot do it with laboratory results, even if it's a Chemistry 101 lab. You cannot do it with research papers, even if it's for English 110. And you cannot do it for a newspaper article, even if it's for a school paper like The Lantern. It is a bad habit to get into, and if you do it in the professional or academic world, you will be punished severely. I hope I'm not alone in realizing this.

Haven't decided what to do about the Lantern article. (The previous two were not a problem.) Maybe a letter to the editor, but I suspect the editorial staff condone, if not outright approve, of this behavior.

Disgruntled,
Jenn

Posted by nice_genes at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend was the formal for Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship. Sometimes when people hear our name they think we are part of the Greek system, and while we are not a sorority, we are definitely sisters.

(I like to think we have some of the most eligible single women on campus. Our guys are great...but somehow they just don't measure up to that my standard... ^_-)

I always wondered whether I wouldn't enjoy being part of Greek life as I've always longed for that sort of close friendship that sororities seem to promise. But I also knew I wouldn't fit in with the [stereo]typical college culture, so I never seriously considered joining one. Fortunately, I found my own family away from home with Chi Alpha. My faith is an important part of my life, and here I found people who lived like they knew God loves them and challenged me to do the same. I've formed lifelong friendships through the years here, even as we welcome new girls every fall to continue passing the torch, as it were. These women are probably whom I would miss most if I left Columbus, so I'm glad to be here for at least another year.

Posted by nice_genes at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it has been a very interesting Uno De Mayo indeed! There was a tornado warning from about 6:00-6:30 pm, cutting short my English 596 class viewing of West Side Story. (When I got home, though, it happened to be showing on the digital channel 6.2, right about the point where we got cut off, so it worked out nicely!)

As I was biking home in the rain, I passed Stradley Hall and saw an ambulance parked outside. I just found out (literally a few minutes ago) what that was probably for: a suspected case of swine flu in a resident. (See full article here. I wonder what this will do for President Gee's plan to mandate campus housing for sophomores...with more students in the residence halls, there is definitely an increased chance of disease outbreaks spreading. Currently OSU requires campus housing residences to get meningococcus vaccinations, but not any others that I am aware of. Maybe this will change soon?

Posted by nice_genes at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)