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Review of Feminism for Real: Part One

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I finally finished Feminism for Real: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism (2011) edited by Jessica Yee. I’m not going to mince words—it was hard to read the book. This was the book that I would have loved as an undergraduate student in Women’s Studies at San Diego State University (SDSU). I was a first-generation college student like so many Latinas on campus in the late 80s and early 90s. (And, there are still lots there today—even with the extraordinary budget cuts and tuition hikes.) But, now I wear a different hat. I suppose some would say that now I am the “Asshole Academic Feminist.” Actually, I hope that no one would say this.

This book is written for the student (in and out of the university experience) who has ever felt that s/he did not fit in and was an outsider in the classroom. Other readers will love this book based on its pointed indictment about the at times vacuous nature of academe and jargon-laden discourse. I remember not feeling like I fit in and that I was the only non-white student in the classroom. I also remember the familial demands that I had that no one else seemed to have. But, by the time I graduated I knew I had my academic home and no home is completely perfect. And, I knew that my career was going to be in higher education.

I do take issue that Yee and others argue that the book is not a “hate on” feminism or Women’s Studies. The book is clearly an attack on mono-feminism (as if this exists!) and Women’s Studies. But, how can feminisms or Women’s Studies evolve if there are not the occasional moments of calling out so that introspection can take place! Now, before I get further in my commentary, I need to be more specific. I do have my BA in Women’s Studies from SDSU and a MA in Liberal Arts and Sciences from State. I ended up earning a MA and PhD in Political Science. I like to say that I’m over educated and under-paid, but that is a different blog post.

Getting back to the book, it’s not uncommon that a discipline has foundational texts and ideas. I saw this in Women’s Studies and Political Science. I did feel badly for some of the essayists in the anthology, as it sounds like a few of them had poor instructors, and some bad classmate experiences. But, I do think that it is important to understand how important foundational texts are in a discipline. They serve to provide the frame of reference. This does not mean that you have to agree or even like it, but being familiar with it is helpful for dialogue. And, having a frame of reference is useful for constructive criticism. As much as I hated the statistics series in graduate school, I also know that they made me a better teacher and scholar. Likewise, being able to counter Liberalism or Liberal Feminism required that I first know the concepts—even if they did not speak to me and my experience.

Again, maybe I have been immersed too long in higher education that what is plainly obvious to me that we learn about different things that at times do not speak to our specific experience. Then we usually (hopefully) can respond to it. Certain sections of the Feminism for Real had me frustrated. I felt like the particular author did not give the ideas, classroom or book a chance to see that there could have been something useful there to learn. Some of the sections were problematic to me, as I felt that the author was not familiar with the topic that s/he was responding to! I’m well aware of the fact that gatekeeping exists in academe and I am not supporting this. My work in the classroom, office hours, and elsewhere attempt to break this method. However, I also want people to understand that learning is not always fun—it makes you angry at times. Causes moments of disbelief for the student or reader and I know this, as I see myself as a life-long student. Learning is messy. It makes us uncomfortable. Feminism for Real made me uncomfortable. Yee and the contributors were successful. They made me think. Made me react.

Challenge Update

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I am participating in a challenge with some of my colleagues at the University of Venus ( @UVenus ). We are taking special care to network and meet people across our campus. Given that I am the Chair of the Academic Women’s Caucus this provides me an easy way to do this, but I have also had a few coffee meetings to meet with different colleagues across the campus and would like to speak to how helpful this has proven during these last two months.

Most recently I met with the coordinator for the Anti-Violence Project and we are working on a shared conversation about safe spaces on campus and the university support of safety. These are just the early conversations, but it was great to have this meeting that caused us to find out that we share some of the same professional networks.

Last month I had coffee with Dr. Jentery Sayers from the English Department at UVIC and I was so impressed and envious with his courses and current area of research. I was happy to get some of the flyers for his course, “How to Network a Novel.” It looks like an amazing course and I have since shared the flyer with the students enrolled in my courses.

For the second year I am sitting on the December 6th memorial planning committee, and the committee is made of some different staff from last year and I have the opportunity to work with a great group of women from all over campus. And, I look forward to the events that we are planning.

I have also met informally and formally with different staff from the UVIC Communications team and have repeatedly found the team helpful and professional. If your campus has a communications team and you haven’t met them yet—get to it. They can help get you on the Experts Database (if your campus has one) and make sure that you are included in media releases.

And, the last thing that I spearheaded was the nomination of a colleague for a teaching award. This turned into more work than I anticipated, but it was a great process for my involvement. I contacted probably upwards of 60 people for the dossier and the file fielded some strong, personal assessments. Ultimately, I felt honored to play a small role in this nomination. It is important for me to note that this nomination was based on my position as the Chair of the Academic Women’s Caucus. I hope that next year the Caucus can nominate another woman on the Steering Committee. Part of my self-imposed mandate is mentoring and this includes peer to peer mentoring and support.

I have had a productive first few months for the challenge and look forward to the next few months!

Managing the Workplace

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This post is not so much about teaching and higher education or even popular culture. Those are common themes in my blog. Instead this post is more of a commentary on working with interesting and difficult people in the workplace. As I work with more people across campus I’ve learned many things these over the years. And, I’m going to place these in numbered points and respond to them.

1. Never send an email when you are frustrated, tired or mad. You might regret that email later. This is really important advice and I know that there are moments when you just want to respond and fire off your response. Instead, forward the email to yourself and say what you would like or open a Word document and vent. Then, respond to the email later.

2. Never send an email that you are not prepared for other people to forward. While forwarding colleagues’ emails without permission is unprofessional, note that some people will not blink at forwarding emails to share some funny or juicy information. But occasionally there is the colleague who might use the forwarded email as an attempt to get you in trouble. Now, I use the word trouble loosely, as it could refer to someone sharing something embarrassing or something innocuous. So, always be careful with emails. A colleague in the Law Faculty had once told me to take special careful with using specific names in emails due to Freedom of Information Act. And, I took her advice to heart. I use phrases like: our esteemed colleague, the interesting person in emails, in these few instances.

3. Be honest and fair. I have found that it is much easier to think before I say something and offer what I feel is my honest opinion. I might weigh what I am going to say more carefully if a meeting has already had some awkward or tense moments. But, I think it is more important for me to start from a place of honesty.

4. If you have a difficult colleague, try and document the interactions in case you have to report him/her. When things are documented it will make things easier.

5. Make allies. This is not about Empire Building, but instead is a suggestion to try and meet like minded people across units. You can get more done if you network and know more people across campus or your workplace. Likewise, it is good to have a colleague who is not in your unit or immediate division to chat with about plans or policies. It’s also very important to network for the sake of community building.

6. For those of us working in higher education, it’s an interesting place. A place of higher learning; however, all the pettiness of any workplace exists. Patience is important. Things do not change quickly.

I imagine that this sort of post will evolve. I was ruminating over some of these points the other day and thought I would share them. Hopefully, you have some other points to add or thoughts on what I’ve shared. Last thing—this post is not responding to recent event or person! ;-0

Fri Fun Facts: Student Evaluations

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This week’s Fun Fri Facts is a response to students’ informal evaluations of courses. Normally I offer students an opportunity to give me feedback about my classes. I also explain to the class that I take these evaluations seriously and will often change things in a course based on the thoughtful comments.

How do I do it? I do one of two things. I ask them to take out a piece of paper and list the readings that they liked or did not like or I borrow shamelessly from Dr. Heather Tapley and ask them to list what they would like me to start doing, stop doing and continue doing. I am going to refer to some of the common student comments during the last 12 months.

1. You assign too much reading. It is hard for most professors to not smirk at this comment. My job is to assign work that will cause us to think and chat about the ideas. During the last year, I have actually cut one to two readings in my 300-400 level courses. But, the students might know this! I did re-think the course allowing more time to chat about the readings.

2. The blank assignment is worth too much or not worth enough. With these sort of comments, I really can’t make all of the students happy. I could move things around and another few would complain that they want the paper worth more (or less)!

3. You are awesome. Do not change a thing. This class is like a mental hug, massage, best part of my day. I have to admit that the handful of statements of this sort do make me smile. And, I am thankful when the same person has given me constructive comments about what I can do better. I have previously noted that my teaching is not static, it’s fluid. And, I don’t pretend to not learn from the students. So, the positive comments are appreciated and weighed with the less than positive ones!

4. The blogging assignment is great, hard work, too much work. The students who have commented on the blogging assignments during the last two years have mostly been positive. And, a few of them acknowledged that they now read all the assignments and think: How would I blog about this? Fist in air! Now, as far as the blog being too much work in most classes they have to write a series of 4-6 blog posts, but this term the class has to write 6 over the course of 12 weeks. I’m hesitant to change this that much. I see that more students understand the expectation for the assignment, so I was more clear compared to 9 months ago.

5. I like that you offer us discussion time. I don’t like the discussion time and I want to hear you lecture more. This is a tough one. I use a combination of lecture and discussion in my courses and I find that more students prefer the balance. However, there will always be the 1-2 who want to hear me lecture more. I might need to dedicate one day to 100% lecture and the next day to lecture and discussion.

6. A student or two usually comments on my office hours. I don’t have enough or that I’m not available enough for him/her. As it stands, I have as many office hours as last year and I’m teaching one less course. Compared to my colleagues I actually have more office hours, but I know that I teach more students and I do make appointments as needed. My availability is not an issue in my humble opinion. And, during the busy times of the term I will add 1-2 more hours of office hour time.

Overall, I do think it’s an important exercise to check in with the students and see what is working or not working. I always hope that my classes are successful, but I also know that I am only one part of the class. The students are an integral part of the class.

Explanation for an Assignment

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I did something a little different in my class on Tuesday. I walked in and gave them what I felt was a good explanation for an assignment. I distributed the guidelines and reviewed them with the students. But, what I did differently was explaining WHY they had to do this assignment. I don’t think we do this enough. Our syllabi notes how the students will be evaluated.

But, do we explain why each assignment is important or why it is necessary? These are not cheeky, deep questions that I pose here. I do think that there are times when you need to put your cards on the table and explain to them:

This assignment will make your next assignment easier. I know that some of you get uncomfortable that I am evaluating your writing, but this evaluation is not about you as a person. I know that I walked in to the classroom wanting to do this based on a few difficult office hour meetings during the last two days. A few students shed tears and were not completely able to separate their marks from who they are as a person. Their mark is not them, but for some students (especially the first year students) it is really hard to separate the mark from their identity.

Perhaps some of the third and fourth year students in my afternoon class found my explanation tedious? I don’t know, but I wanted to remind them about the why for the next assignment. And, I also wanted them to realize that I know that they feel vulnerable when they submit their written work for review. How many of us has shuddered when we’ve opened up the email that includes reviewers’ comments? I know that for some of them my purple pen is like a weapon of personal destruction and I don’t want them to feel like that. Their grade and my comments is not a rant. It’s an assessment of following directions, critical thinking, and overall presentation.

Do you give your students the why explanation?

Art of Listening

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This last week my office hours were teeming with students who wanted to get help with their paper proposals. Many wanted more direction about my comments, so that they could improve their assignment. For some students this process is not easy. I can see hands shaking and nervous looks as they sat and chatted with me.

But, I would be remiss if I did not address that a small number of students come to office hours and are somewhat defensive. Again, this is a small amount and I would offer that one common trait with this small number is that they do not really listen. They are typically waiting to talk and respond, but tend to not listen to the advice or direction that I offer.

This small group is also typically convinced that their idea/topic is perfect and does not need any revision. These moments cause interesting conversations, as I am trying to help and I am cognizant of my grading rubric. It is my class!

The best advice I can give is patience. It is hard to review and revision our work and this is also hard for our students. I keep on reminding myself of this when each student enters my office. And, I explain this to my Teaching Assistants, too.

Fri Fun Facts: Making the Best Out of Odd Class Times

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We have all been there before. You get assigned the early morning class time or your advanced course get the coveted time for a first year course. I have made sure that the early class is interesting and I have at times given them an additional five minutes to get to class to meet them half way!

Another way that I have dealt with this is to shamelessly borrow from a colleague, Dr. Avigail Eisenberg. A few years ago she was also assigned the TWF fifty increments schedule and she opted to lecture on T and W and leave Friday for “seminar.” Half the class attends every other Friday and this allows a better chance for discussion. When she shared this, I immediately changed my course to the same schedule. I’m going to speak to what did not work and what did.

1. I have found that by and large most students do not like change. The first time I adopted this was about one month into the term and some were resistant at first. And, I saw that more than half showed up to the seminar or discussion sessions on Friday.

2. One student even noted in the evaluation that s/he did not pay money to hear classmates speak! This student wanted me to lecture each day. Mind you Friday really turned into the day that the student groups gave presentations and this never changed.

3. Students like this more when immediately know about the class set up in the syllabus. Even so, I find that more than half the class shows up to the seminar or discussion dates.

4. You must be flexible. I divide the class A-M and N-Z and there are Fridays when some show up for the “wrong” week so that they do not have to attend their week. This is fine. I’ll tally up the attendance on Friday and divide by two and calculate!

5. You need to encourage the students to talk if you move to a seminar or discussion class. It cannot just be you. To do this, I have scheduled all of the Student Led Discussions (presentations) on Fridays. This requires that the student groups offer thoughtful questions to their discussions. The student groups are assessed on these discussions, as well.

6. After the class I note the feel of the class discussion and the quality of the comments by the participating students. I also assess the students who lead discussion.

I am in the fifth or more term of using the Friday classes as a seminar or discussion period and thus far I am happy with it.

How do you deal with imperfect class time or classroom assignments?

Fri Fun Facts: Following Directions

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My Friday Fun Facts for today are about following directions. How many times have you looked at some directions and then realized that you read too much into them? I attended a lunch meeting the other day and wondered why they weren’t providing lunch. I showed up with my own bag lunch and lo and behold lunch was served. I verified the email and the email was clear. I just missed it.

I have been marking blogs and paper proposals this week and I am finding that the first error or misstep that many students hit against is following directions. Directions stated in the syllabus and announced in class. Now, there is a marked difference between the stakes involved with my attendance at a meeting on campus and lunch versus students’ marks. Clearly marks are more important. But, this grading experience is making me listen and read more closely than usual!

I have found a few things work best:

1. The directions need to be clear.

2. Include an example of a good or strong assignment. However, do not expect that is a fool-proof solution.

3. Be patient. Some will argue that they were~ being more thorough, did not understand, never read the syllabus, wanted to do the assignment their own way, etc.

4. Learn from each section of the class and augment as needed the next time around!

5. I want to emphasize patience. As some students do not realize that the assignment guidelines apply to them. This can include the topics and due dates.

Directions and marking offer me teachable moments. Back to grading…

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

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I am going to do something more personal for a few blog posts about blog about breast health. That’s right, I’m going to blog about the girls, the twins, the boobies, the breasts, the chest tissue, and add to these array of euphemisms for what we call women’s breasts.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And, in the spirit of support I am going to blog about my experiences getting a Thermography Breast scan and about breast health. So, if you normally look forward to my posts about education, mentoring, the classroom, and popular culture—this goes slightly away from that. But, these few posts will also be very important. Breast health is a matter of life and death for so many.

This post is more focused on breast health and I want to shed light on a few things I learned during the last month or so.

1. You can get scar tissue from an ill fitting bra—especially underwire. I was quite surprised to find out that I have some scar tissue from my array of underwire bras. I was not aware of this, but once the technician pointed this out I could feel it and it is in the same place where the underwire hits against my chest.

2. I had scar tissue from breast feeding in one breast and did not know it. This will make mammograms and monthly digital exams very important for breast health.

3. Good bras are not always the really pretty bras. Boo, but there are great places in Victoria for good fittings and better bras for breast health.

4. Breast health is important for all women—from teenagers to women of a certain age. Oh, I mean the wise women—our mothers and grandmothers. You are never to young to begin thinking about your breast health!

5. I also found out in conversation with lots of women that we tend to forget about breast health. We are more apt to buy the Pink Ribbon item (and this is for another post) than to make sure we do our own monthly or bi-monthly breast exams.

My next post about breast health will focus on the Thermography scan that I had at Valentus Clinic in Victoria for more information about the clinic see: http://valentusclinics.com/programs-services/breast-health-program

Mon Fun Facts: Things You Enjoy

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This Monday I am mixing things up and posting a Fun Facts. My Mon Fun Facts is a reminder to do things that you enjoy. What makes you happy? I’ll share some activities that make me happy. First assume that my family and friends make me happy. That is a given. OK, a given on most days!

1. Exercise. I need to clear my mind. And, exercise is the best way for me to do so.

2. Reading. I actually get cranky if I am not regularly reading books and magazines. I have to fit these into the reading and marking of student work, but I do. And, sometimes I am more successful than others. I always have lots of books on the go.

3. Cooking and baking. I don’t know what it is, but I take great satisfaction in baking or cooking. I find the process and smells soothing and there is nothing like having my girls swarm the kitchen for some freshly baked cookies. And, the students are really happy when I surprise them with cookies.

4. Brain massage. Yes, watching a movie or some TV. There are times when I just need to plop down on the couch and get a brain massage.

5. Body work. Speaking of massages…I cannot say no to body work. I’ll include physio, acupuncture and massage in this category.

Remember to do what you enjoy and try to live a balanced life. We can get caught up in the rush of our daily lives and forget to take care of ourselves.