23 November 2009

Poetry Society of America and the bus system of LA

Keep your eyes open on the Los Angeles bus system where poems are appearing!
In tis one, Samuel Taylor Coleridge offers his definition of a passionate love:

Desire

Where true Love burns Desire is Love's pure flame ;
It is the reflex of our earthly frame,
That takes its meaning from the nobler part,
And but translates the language of the heart.

Read more about this joint effort of the Metro LA bus system and the Poetry Society of America at: https://psa.fcny.org/psa/poetry/blog/la_is_for_romantics/

17 November 2009

Twitter Stats

The internet constantly amazes me. I have been Twittering for a while now. It links to my Facebook page and updates my status. I find people I haven't seen in ages and get back in touch. I follow my favorite writers and talk to them. And I see who follows me and reads what I write with Google Analytics. Now a very nice fellow, Damon Cortesi, has put up pages where you can track the stats (gratis even, though if you can throw money his way that would be nice too!) on your twitterings. These are my stats.

And here is my Tweet cloud--everyone I talk to and everything I talk about:
akron @amandapalmer amen angel available bancroft @barackobama birthdayblackberry blog blogger book budget cable car @cbarzak cbs china chinese class classic @colinmeloy comecomputers contemporary coraline costume crackberry cup @danchaon date day december desktop did didnt digitaldiscovered disney @dkjpusa dollhouse driving edu eggs facebook fans fb featured feeling fend finding flu fm fungoing good google @hadesarrow halloween haroun hes issue join @joshwhedon kelly king knock know kokosleave let lets life lit little @lkhamilton long look loop lots love m74kpv make meetings mercedes mixed monkeymorning need needed neil @neilhimself new news nose @nytimes office oh ohio oplin org pakistaniaatpics procrastinating psychic ramadan read reading really reimbursed rest @robertleebrewer rt sad say schedule@shannon_anicas shout sigh signing sista smart springboard start status story students sunday tales thats thinkthinking thought today touch transformed_ tweetstats twitter twittering uakron uber unfollowing university viigovirtualit want way week weekend weekends went @whedonfannews woman women work www yeah yes yr
Cool, No? I love technology.

13 November 2009

Thought for the day

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.  So love the people who treat you right.  Forget about the ones who don't.  Believe everything happens for a reason.  If you get a chance, take it.  If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it.            

--Michael Gartner
Jana Russ
janaruss@gmail.com
sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

10 November 2009

Are we Internet Addicted? And is it a Bad Thing?

This article, which last week Monday in the Boston Globe Offers 11 signs of Internet Addiction:
  1. Does browsing your favorite sites make you feel better?

  2. Are you spending more and more time on the Internet?

  3. Do you have less self control than you used to?

  4. Are you neglecting family and friends so you can get more time on the web?

  5. Do you zero in on the net and lose interest in other activities?

  6. Do you feel that you have to lie about how many times you've watched YouTube videos [or done any other internet activity]?

  7. Is the Internet interfering with your job and school responsibilities?

  8. Do you think about the Internet when you are not on it? Are you itching for a fix?

  9. Do you feel guilty or ashamed about the time you spend on the internet?

  10. Is there a change in your sleep patterns? Sleeping in or staying up late?

  11. Have you gone through a weight change, had backaches, headaches, or developed carpal tunnel?

According to the Seattle based ReSTART Center for Internet Addiction if you can say yes to 3 of the above, you have an Internet abuse problem. If you say yes to five or more you have a dangerous addiction.

Looking at the list I can say yes to about half of those questions. But here's the thing: substitute the phrase "watching movies" or "eating out at restaurants" or even "reading books" and I can say the same things apply. I would bet you a signed copy of a Neil Gaiman novel that no one is worried about my book habit, and yet I have been known to forego sleep, bring a book I can't put down to a family reunion, neglect reading that textbook for reading the latest poetry/sci-fi/mystery volume, and down a full bag of potato chips while curled up on the couch in a backache-inducing/eye-strain-headache-making reading marathon. And we won't even go into my $40 a month Borders/Amazon habit. I even [gasp] read while driving--okay, relax, it is audio books played on the car stereo. Sometimes I combine all these addictions: I read books and news (thank you Viigo!) and Twitter and Facebook on my Crackberry/Blackberry as well as on the computer.

So answer me this: am I a danger to myself or others due to my reading addiction? Do you think they should take away my library cards (yes, plural, I have seven!). Every teacher I know wants their students to read more. And I am no exception. If my students want to do their reading and writing on the internet, fine. At least they are reading something. As a teacher I feel it is my duty to encourage reading and writing wherever. Internet included.

I suppose if I stopped eating because I was on the internet reading or talking to people from all over the world I might need to be locked away from the computer for my own good. But honestly, how is so it bad to connect to people? My twittering and facebooking has put me more in touch with my far-flung family, brought me back into touch with friends old and new, and keeps me up with what is going on in the world. And, hello! NONE OF THAT IS BAD.

Am I addicted to the internet? Hell, yes. And proud of it. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I do not gamble, I do not do illegal drugs. There is a BIG difference between those harmful addictions and my intellectual and social and technological addictions.

So listen up: You can have my Blackberry or my mouse when you can pry it from my cold dead fingers. Enough said.

04 November 2009

Cellspin for Blackberry

Got a new app from the Crackberry store. Testing here to see if I can post from my Blackberry to my multiple social network accounts: FB, Twitter, Blogger, LiveJournal.

15 October 2009

THE COLLAGIST

THE COLLAGIST has a marvelous poem by Mary Biddinger in the current issue: "Portrait of Myself as a Piece of Red Candy in Your Mouth". Go. Go now and read it.

09 October 2009

Free Read: Chapter 1 of Neil Gaiman’s ‘Odd and the Frost Giants’

Free Read: Chapter 1 of Neil Gaiman’s ‘Odd and the Frost Giants’

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So many books. So little time.