a stomach flu cost me about a day and a half, and forced me to fold about halfway through today and give up shop. shouldn't teach under conditions like this, but rescheduling is such a hassle, sometimes i'll tolerate, just to get by it. in the couple days of the new term, summer kicked in; had to use aircon; had to get used to the blasts of warm/cool air at the thresholds of both buildings and cars; and noticed that, for all intents and purposes, this is the steamy, wet, rain-forest, lawn-mowing, all-green-things-move-forward season of the year here- it dries out pretty well later. A nice summer rain broke out in the evening, and the two-year-old went out to the back porch to experience it- later the older boys went out and caught fireflies (and released them, which is part of the tradition). No sign of the seventeen-year-locusts, though; I'm not sure they venture this far south, but they're due to spring out of their hibernation this year, in more midwestern locales.

i had my band leader & colleague send me the mp3 file of my own banjo song, recorded on our cd, but it blew out my mail program at work. that's how hot it is! or maybe, that's a reflection of how we haven't mastered the art of bundling such things. now i hesitate to pass it along to my friends. i'm not a big file-mover. but it can be said that i own this one- at least there's no chance of someone coming after me for sending it on the public bandwidth. and, this would be nice- it being a train song and all, it would be good to use my son's newer film-editing software, to make a train movie, or a tom movie, since the song is so much of me. i'll put the idea on the table- look at it from all angles- then go off to bed, where i belong, to make up for some more long-lost sleep, and start enjoying the long mem-day holidays...and a happy holiday to all!

lots to report, personally & professionally-

-a cd release party in cobden, illinois- and a radio show that morning here in carbondale (wdbx)- were both interesting, both well-appreciated, by those who heard them. the band is truly a collection of interesting people- together at one time & place- a small stage, a small town, a beautiful May evening...i will soon gather the cd's, and send them out...

-a presentation on blogging and universities- at on online conference, well-attended, lively conversation, lots of links- most of the attenders being educators who blog with their students. i was immersed in what happens to students for the months leading up to a tesol presentation on that subject- but became fascinated with what was happening to me as i got more absorbed in blogging- also, at the natural tendency to want to speak to the public about one's work, to want to gain converts to one's philosoph(y/ies) - to enjoy putting as much effort into presentation of those ideas as one would put into any public speech- and what happens when the truth comes out? when one's enemies pore over every word? when a hiring committee prints out the archives? read it & weep...

-quakers will have a camp out- though maybe not everyone will camp- we will at least get out. a campfire, at this point, is absolutely essential. life is too fast. it's time to breathe in a campfire story, if not dream a constellation. it's also time for the easter campout to move flawlessly and gently into a practical time slot. this particular weekend is borderline in the practical department.

-a new floor, personally put in, during our break, in a small & narrow family room that is itself not too long for this world- it will, if all goes well, become a light and airy addition in a few years. for now, though, we needed to pull carpet out, ease the psychic cleaning load- make it harder for the irritants of life to settle in and become impossible to remove...

-the blood of sockalexis begins to rise, as my one and only sports team, the cleveland indians, rises in its fortunes, gets over the sports-illustrated-cover hoax, etc. i opened up one academic blog (in my research) where the guy had quite openly turned over the whole blog to his favorite hockey team- if the indians make it as far as the buffalo sabres did this month...and by the way, i'll use this opportunity to point out- sockalexis is fine, he's part of history, not to run from it, but the team should change its name. make my native city proud, and step into a new century, where one doesn't name a team after a race, or a people...no matter the history.

-a new term starts- and i become a writing teacher, the best i can gather...

-a son returns from kansas, who i miss dearly, and hope settles in well back at home, though i feel that, in some ways, this is quite difficult. he will, at least, be well loved here.

-i've been thinking a bit about the autobiography, buried in italics in the archives of this very blog, but somewhat stalled by inaction that has now stretched on to about five or six months. time to start up again, give it my best shot. if i'm going to take a break on walmart stories, i'd better have something to be chewing on...

-the late presentation, 11-12 our time, with visitors from around the globe, doing the all-night conference thing, leaves me charged up, coffeed up, at 1 am. and the letters on the post are doing a kind of twist dance, as i write them....what's up with that? as if blogger is trying to remember and record, as it listens...i'm sure this is a new feature of blogger, but instantaneous permanence is not necessarily an advantage. a theme of the presentation was that though blogs appear to be temporal, airy, light as a feather, they are in fact much more permanent than most things in our world...and yet, here blogger is setting this stuff in stone, as it comes off of my fingers...all i can say is, blogging is making a backup of my soul...(quoted from Lisa Williams)- if the hard drive ever crashes, you'll know that, at one time at least, i was all over this "reality" thing...

failed to make it to the bog last night, because a power outage wiped out our dsl, and, too tired to spend the time necessary on the phone to get it hooked up, i fell asleep early again last night. i've been working on catching up on my sleep- i seem to have been a score or so hours behind.

the big news on the personal scene is a cd release party, along with a radio show, and i invite everyone to attend, if not buy a cd. i'd be giving more away, but haven't got organized yet. i'm still not sure exactly how it will work. i've got a few orders already.

the weather is beautiful here- a rare confluence of enough sleep, beautiful days, time with kids, ability to take them to turtle (turley) park, all vehicles running- and what do i do, but forget to feed them on the way out the door. poor kids were hungry- and couldn't enjoy it! we have to get organized, for sure. have to do it better next time, if there is one.

meanwhile, back in the office- a new flat-screen computer to try out. it's the same one that died unexpectedly in january, leaving me out about three months of desktop and e-mails. it now has a new interior, rebuilt harddrive, and i'm ready to start again. this post is a test.

more later...

here's a new one:

Audience (5-07)...

enjoy!

the band has some news: we're having a cd-release party, wed. may 16th, yellowmoon cafe, cobden. come see us!

break is starting- i take a breath....

have hit a busy patch; i've been doing a youtube survey with a class and this has occupied some evenings (this class is making a youtube movie also)...as well as a trip to columbia, and the little guy coming back out-of-whack with his naps and all. i've missed the bog; my band has released its cd (which is big news for me), & i've barely got on here at all to advertise; the band site still has no sign, though that's just because i have to do it right.

meanwhile, a rain has come in. spring is smelling sweet; an anniversary is coming. to my wife: happy anniversary! our house is hectic, unpacked, a little chaotic. but it's still the best thing that has happened to me- i'm doing well.

more later- stay posted...