Thanksgiving

Last week, I lamented the changing of the seasons. This week, I’d like to bring up one of the good things about fall: Thanksgiving. I’m not very sentimental about holidays, but I do like Thanksgiving. It has none of the religious or commercial associations that just about every other holiday has. It’s just about good food and good company. And a week off school.

A week off school. School isn’t hard for me--it sure beats working. But the responsibilities that come with 15 credits can feel like a burden after a while. From Wednesday through today I had four tests and quizzes. I deserve a break. So I plan to spend a few days of the next week not thinking about school at all. I’m going to read what I want to read, watch movies, and take naps.

Back to Thanksgiving, though. The past couple of years I’ve just gone to see my mother at her condo in Winter Park. I’d get there for dinner, and stay the night. That was okay, but it’s a long drive to just stay one night, and one night is usually enough. I have to take most of my family in small doses, or else I get a little cranky. This year, however, I’ve been excused from the obligatory visit, and so am going down to Westcliffe, Colorado to see a friend I haven’t seen in a while. He’s a chef, so the food should be good, and the company will be too. I’m even going to stay for two nights.

In closing, I’ll list a few things I’m thankful for, even though I don’t always seem to deserve them. I try to think of these things more than just once a year, but I make sure to think about them a little extra around Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful for my health, even though I abuse it constantly.

I’m thankful for my freedom, even though I’ve never voted.

I’m thankful for the friends I have, even though I don’t always call as often as I should.

I’m thankful for the job I have, even though I slack off on occasion.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to be at CSU, even though I’ve been thinking about having this next week off for the past month.

Seasons

The change in seasons has made itself apparent now, even though it is about 70 degrees today (you’ve got to love the Front Range weather). We’ve had some frosty mornings, and even some snow flurries a couple weeks ago. Most of the colors are gone, and the trees are bare in my neighborhood. I’m just waiting for one maple tree to finish before I rake the leaves.

I like the early part of fall for the great colors and the milder temperatures after the heat of summer, but with it comes a sense of foreboding. I know the cold is coming soon, and winter weather is on the way. I hate winter. I was raised in the Midwest, where you learn to hate winter in a way that makes you curse it just like you wanted to curse the school bully you were afraid to stand up to. I hate the short days and the gray that skies put me in a funk, making me lethargic and depressed until the sun comes out again. I hate the snow that makes it hard to walk or bike to school. The snow that quickly turns to ugly gray/black drifts piled along the roads.

And the cold. Oh, how I hate the cold. It just seeps in, and grips me from the inside. Even in the house, at a temperature that feels quite comfortable any other time of the year, I rarely feel warm. This I attribute to my seven winters and a few summers in Phoenix after escaping the Midwest. My blood thinned out down there, and it can’t seem to thicken up again.

Winter gets me down, but as winters go, they aren’t so bad here in Fort Collins. A lot of times, the snow melts shortly after it falls (except for last winter’s freak storms), and the mountains look just as pretty in winter as they do in summer. I made a pretty good seasonal compromise in picking Fort Collins for a year-round home. Even so, I wish I could have late May all year long.

Spring Registration

Ah, the joys of registering for classes. It seems that the further I get into my academic program, the more difficult it is to get into classes that are becoming more and more important for me to take now. I spent several hours last week putting together my ideal schedule. I was pretty excited about all my classes, too. I even had a backup plan in case I couldn’t get into the particular section that I wanted. All I had to do was wait until I got home today at noon to register. Then, on a final check this morning, I discovered that my most important class to have was completely full. And here’s the thing that’s kind of pissing me off: completely full means that only 36 students are registered for the class. Now I don’t know how many journalism majors there are at CSU, but this is a class we all have to take as part of the major, and as a prerequisite to a couple of other courses, so I’d wager there’s probably a damn sight more than 36 people wanting to take this class in any one semester. As well, it seems to me that if I’m paying over $3000 a semester to be here, I should at least have the chance to register for a class of such importance.

Things are going to work out all right in the end. My advisor said I’ll still be able to take my capstone course when I need to, even without one of the prerequisites that the class I wanted this spring is a prerequisite for. I’ll be able to shift some things around, and still graduate when I plan to. And I was able to salvage a halfway decent schedule out of the mess. I just filled the hole in my schedule with a sociology class that will count toward my liberal arts/natural sciences quota. With that, and a game of Road Rage, I’m all better.

Road Rage

This is my Road Rage game. I keep it on top of my computer monitor to be handy as an antidote to minor bouts of writer’s block. It’s good therapy for just about anything else, too. You just can’t help but smile when playing this game. Wal-Mart sells it for about ten dollars, but you can play it right in the store. I suggest you go try it out because, though I’m going to try, I can’t do its sound effects justice on this page. Unfortunately, my camera won’t record audio with video, so I’ve got to settle for posting a picture, and trying to put into words what aren’t really words at all. It’s better to experience it in person, anyway. You can’t have much more fun than tying on a three-beer buzz and playing Road Rage. I guarantee it’ll improve even the darkest of moods.

So, basically, the Road Rage guy rocks back and forth and makes high-revving engine noises, while pretending to drive his car as you run him through the gears. It starts with turning the ignition key. Road Rage Guy comes to life with a maniacal laugh and then idles, quivering in his ride. “Bummm-bum-bum-bum-bb-bumbumbum.” Shift into first gear, and Road Rage Guy is hurled back by rapid acceleration. “Rooooaaaaaaawwwwww!” He quickly reaches his rev limit and begins to sound like a trumpet player without a horn, lips spraying spittle. Second gear brings more seat-pinning Gs, and the engine gets louder. “Wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” In third gear, Road Rage Guy goes all out, testing the limits of his machine. “Waaaaaaaaaaa-na-ning-ning-ding-da-dang-dang-dang!” He even has reverse. You can almost smell the rubber burn as his tires squeal. “ARRRRRERRRRReeeee!”

Granted, Road Rage is not the most intellectually stimulating form of entertainment, but sometimes you’ve just got to dumb yourself down to get away from it all for a few minutes.

Nicotine Junky

I’ve just gotten over a cold I had for nearly two weeks. The worst of it passed in a few days, but I had this horrible, hacking cough and chest congestion that just wouldn’t go away. Cough medicine helped, but not much. And of course, smoking all the time wasn’t helping things, either. I knew I should cut down on the cigarettes for a while to let my lungs clear out, but not smoking all day is just as miserable as coughing all day. After ten days of this, however, I’d had it with the cough. So I did what any dedicated nicotine addict would do in my position--I found another source for my fix. Copenhagen, an old acquaintance that had helped me out before, had me breathing free and easy again in about three days. Hey, I’ve heard it said Copenhagen can cure anything that ails you, including the common cold.

I used Copenhagen to quit (albeit briefly) smoking a couple of years ago. My plan was simple. I figured I could use the chew to separate myself from the cigarettes without having to endure the nicotine withdrawal at the same time. It’s the same idea as the patches, but a whole lot cheaper. Stage two was to wean myself off the chew, which I anticipated no problem in doing, owing to the disgusting nature of the habit. Let me tell you, Chris LeDoux nailed it on the head when he sang about Copenhagen, “I put a little chew in my mouth, go spittin’ an’ a-slobberin’ around the house.” My plan worked great, up until the part where I started smoking again. I weaned myself off chewing over the course of about two weeks. The first three days with no nicotine were a little rough, but each one was better than the last. Then it stopped getting better, and I was left with a constant, if mild, nagging craving. And it would get worse at cocktail time. In addition to the increased cravings, I’d get lonely for my cigarettes then. Cocktail time is what broke me. On day twenty of no nicotine, I stopped on the way home from work and bought a big ol’ can of Top rolling tobacco. Ahhhh…I hadn’t felt so good in weeks as I did that evening.

I know I can’t smoke forever. I believe all the reasons why you’re not supposed to smoke. I know I’m going to have to quit for good one of these days, but I just don’t want to yet. Maybe in another year, when I turn old, I’ll do it. But for now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go burn one.

Soon-to-be dad (No, not me!)

My best friend of over 20 years told me recently that he’s going to be a dad. His wife is about seven months pregnant, and the baby is due December 23rd. I was nearly as overwhelmed as if I had found out I was going to be a dad myself. I think I was even more astounded to hear that they had planned the pregnancy. It’s not that they’re doing anything different than a lot of people our age do. I guess it just goes to show how different are the paths that our lives have followed, and the difference in our perspectives because of this.

It seems I can barely keep track of my own affairs; I don’t know how I could care for something as totally helpless as an infant. Hell, I still think I’m a kid myself. And then to think that if a child did survive under my care, I’d be a major force in shaping that child for life. Bad news for that kid. I’m a pretty good guy, but I’m no role model. The drinking and the smoking don’t set the best example for a young mind, and neither does my vocabulary at home. It‘d make the Collegian editors blush.

Adding to my role model deficiencies, I still don’t have my shit together. My friend stayed a little closer to society’s mainstream. He went to college right after high school, and after he graduated, he systematically took jobs that would lever him up to the next rung on the ladder. I, on the other hand, bummed around home for a couple years after high school before pointing myself west to play cowboy for another seven years. My friend has a good career going; I have a good part-time job--and two more years of school. He’s saving for retirement; I’m going into debt at quite an impressive rate. Funny how things turn out.

I haven’t seen my friend in a long time, but we’ve stayed close. I don’t think we’ll drift apart when he becomes a father, as I’ve heard can happen. In fact, I’m looking forward to some good stories out of the deal, and maybe I can be a source of some vicarious living. It does make things seem different, however. It seems like come December 23rd, we’ll be living in completely different worlds.

Darkness

I was reading the other evening until about seven o’clock. I love to read. I’ll read just about anything non-fiction. Anyway, I’d been at it a while, so the only light I had on in the house was the one I was using to read by. It was just kind of the dark side of twilight when I put the book down and switched off the light, and the darkness took me by surprise. I hadn’t noticed it getting dark outside. My first impulse was to switch the light back on, but I stopped short of doing so as an unexpectedly peaceful feeling came over me. This darkness wasn’t the pitch-black kind that has you feeling like a pinball as you try to navigate amidst your furniture. It was a friendly sort of darkness that seemed to invite me to stay a while. So I just sat for a couple of minutes, enjoying the peace, until the DJ on the radio intruded and ruined the moment. Later it occurred to me that darkness is very good for thinking. All the daylight distractions are removed, and it becomes very easy to focus your thoughts. Walking is like that, too, for some reason, even if you’re walking in the daylight. All this thought about thinking, however, brings me to a more profound conclusion: sometimes it’s best not to think at all.

Well, this last week has been a little more exciting than most. My school’s student newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Collegian, published a brief editorial on September 21st that has since become the talk of the town, if not the nation. What has everyone howling is that the editorial board used the word “fuck” in the editorial. They claim that it was to raise awareness of our First Amendment rights. They certainly accomplished that--did a bang-up job of it, I’d say. And it is undeniably a demonstration of free speech. Where they failed, however, is in practicing the concepts of journalistic professionalism and integrity. As professional communicators, they have a responsibility to their readers, and to their profession to articulate a position in a thoughtful and intelligent manner.

The fate of the paper’s editors is still undecided, but I'd like to see them fired, as they won’t do the right thing by resigning. I didn’t really care one way or the other when I first saw the editorial. I actually thought it was funny they’d had the balls to do it. Over the course of the week, though, the ramifications of what they’ve done sank in a little deeper. So many of the letters to the editor in response to the editorial condemn all of CSU for the actions of these few people. I’ve read several in which the authors say they’ll never donate to CSU again. One or two even went so far as to say they wouldn’t ever hire a CSU graduate because of this. The Collegian’s editorial board has hurt the reputation of my school, and thrown all ideas of journalistic ethics in the trash with one thoughtless piece, and for that they should go.

First, A Word on Copyright and Fair Use

Before I get started with my new blog, I’d like to post something I prepared for my Writing Online class regarding copyright law and some of the issues that are coming up as we become more and more immersed in a digital world. The ease and speed with which digital information can be duplicated is proving a challenge to copyright law, and what constitutes Fair Use—concepts that were defined in an analog world. I’ll provide links to discussions that offer some of the various opinions on the matter below.

The importance of communicating online is its speed, and the volume and diversity of information that online communication offers. Because of these attributes, and continually developing technologies that offer new ways to use all of this information, a solid policy of Fair Use covering academic, non-profit, and commercial activities needs to apply to online/digital information.
For academic uses, educators should be free to use any form of online information in their efforts to teach. With education so fundamental to succeeding in our society, teachers should not be limited in finding the best way to present an idea or concept. Sometimes the best way to do so is in someone else’s words, or with someone else’s images, video or audio. Credit to the source is a necessity, of course, but permission from the source should not be required.
The case should be much the same for non-profit uses of information online. While I don’t find it much of a creative effort, or “artistically valid, socially aware, and conceptually stimulating to all,” as Negativland would have us believe, sampling for purposes of making a collage is harmless. Therefore, as with academic uses, this type of non-profit use should only require credit to the source, not permission. I do draw the line in the non-profit realm, however, at copying CDs to avoid paying for them, and at peer-to-peer sharing of music. Even though people in these cases are not “reselling them for [their] own profit,” (Negativland) they are preventing revenue from the sale of those works from reaching those who are legally entitled to receive it. It’s stealing, and it’s illegal. The often-heard rationalization that it’s okay to steal from the rich doesn’t make it any less so.
In commercial uses of information, the rules of Fair Use should be stricter than for academic and non-profit uses. Credit to the source, permission, and a fee for that permission are all reasonable requirements. To return to the sampling example, the original artists and their labels have a financial investment in the creation and production of the original work. It wouldn’t be fair for someone to combine a bunch of ready-made samples, and attempt to profit from the compilation without permission and without compensating the creators of the original work. It’s silly for Negativland to say “that artists, no matter what they choose to do, need to support themselves and their work with a return on their investment just like everyone else. The currently applied 'nonprofit' standard simple [sic] assures that only the independently wealthy may dabble in fair use.” What the non-profit standard assures is that only the truly creative and original can participate. Talent can always find its way around financial limitations.
Except for loosening the Fair Use requirements on academic and non-profit endeavors, our copyright laws aren’t far off the mark. They simply need to be adapted to a digital world. The authors of “Principles of Technorealism” express this best when they write “we must update old laws and interpretations so that information receives roughly the same protection it did in the context of old media.”
All this said, my policy regarding my online work is simple: I will follow the guidelines of Fair Use. I will cite my sources, and ask permission if necessary. I would expect others to follow the same policy if they wish to incorporate any of my work in their own.

Links to other reading:

Bill Thompson, “I share, you rip off, they pirate.”
David Post, “Free Culture vs. Big Media.”
“7 things you should know about… Creative Commons.”
Danielle Nicole DeVoss and James E. Porter, “Why Napster Matters to Writing: Filesharing as a New Ethic of Digital Delivery.”
John Logie, “A copyright cold war? The polarized rhetoric of the peer-to-peer debates.”