in memoriam

if (repeat) subject lines are any indication of things, i’m thinking i made a grave error not naming this blog “in memoriam” as my entries always seem to be about missing/memorializing/paying tribute to one thing or another.

still. . .i gotta say that it seems decidedly odd to be here (i.e., in this place, at the start of a new semester) and to be without a class with elizabeth, keith, laura, magpie, or brittany being present and a part of things. ah, stay at any job more than four years, and you are likely always to be the one feeling left behind. [note: i’ve only been here a year and a half and am already feeling left behind. drats.] still. . .

i remember firsts: keith and elizabeth sitting on the wooden bench near sondheim after the first meeting of 324 during my very first semester here. they were smoking, chillin,’ waiting for traffic to die down. i passed them and she calls out, “hey shipka? we don’t wanna be your friend either.”

i remember firsts: thinking the anonymous in-class writing actually produced by sarah was magpie’s. telling magpie that i always thought so—that i had confused her with another. and later: telling her that i increasingly admired her work but never telling her that i deeply admired her calm as well.

i remember firsts: brittany reminding me that it’s not too late—never too late. providing me with a “learn how to play guitar book.” following this up with an in-class live performance of an original song that made me cry (but in a good way) for days and days.

i [don’t always] remember first firsts: but i am capable of remembering all the “at the times” and all the “afterwards.” laura fast becoming the someone i wanted to be when i grew up. class act all the way.

betty writes:

Dear Remediate This:

Thank you for contacting us regarding the availability of Reese's dessert bar mix.

This product has not been discontinued. We would like to see all our products on shelves in every store. However, as the number of items on the market increases, grocers face the dilemma of finding sufficient shelf space to display products. Retailers stock the products and brand choices they feel best meet the majority of their customers’ needs. You may wish to ask a local store manager to order this product from the supplier.

We do offer an online product locator, which you may find helpful in finding this product in your area. Please visit our corporate web and select “Brands”, then “Product Locator” on the left side of the screen to utilize this feature. Or if you prefer, you can call us Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Central Standard Time. One of our Consumer Services Representatives will be happy to initiate the product search for you.

We appreciate your loyalty to our products. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

still no word from betty. . .

but i’m guessing that the folks at general mills might not check their email over the weekend. i, on the other hand, have been checking frequently, mainly cause the dessert bars are involved.

since i knew i’d be at the computer for most of the day hoping for something from betty, i spent yesterday designing and then uploading the new course, theories and practices of teaching writing. like the play theory course, this one was particularly tough to design, mainly because there was/is so much i wanted to do and read and so little time to do it all in.

i decided to start with fishman’s “because this is who we are: writing in the amish community” mainly because it fostered a really interesting (not to mention pretty heated) debate about what counts as writing—good, bad, artsy, practical, or otherwise—what functions it might serve, etc. last time i used it in my qualitative research methods seminar.

following this, we’ll read a selection of workshop reports (mainly having to do with the function, objectives, outcomes, etc. of comp courses) from the 1950 volume of ccc and juxtapose these with the 2000 wpa outcomes statement. from there, we’ll spend two sessions looking at contemporary concerns/complaints about the way writing is taken up and/or currently taught and then it’s the happenings unit, by far, my favorite cluster of readings of the semester.

another hoot of a read is robert lambert’s “freshman masks” from ccc, december, 1962. in response to the problem of students producing lifeless, say-nothing, artificial and/or pretentious-sounding themes (hence the “mask” title), lambert writes: “Through whatever means possible. . .by flattery, by cajolery, by threat—the composition instructor should encourage students to remove their masks and to reveal their faces—however pimply, however sallow, however frightened, however bored. These faces,” lambert concludes “at least, are their own.”

i gotta say, the “however pimply” line gets me each time. that said, i always expect students (especially students in my fyc courses) to be more upset or outraged than they have been about the way lambert represents “freshman” writing/writers. but many have been like, “yeah, his classification of types of student writers still sounds pretty accurate, i’ve worn one or more of those masks before.” and i'm always like, "but what about the pimply line? doesn't that seem kinda rough?"

in memoriam: to be (dis)continued

i seriously hoped i’d catch a break after leaving champaign where it seemed, especially in the last year or so i lived there, that every new or newly-discovered food product that i ended up loving ended up being discontinued or simply not stocked/carried anymore where i shopped. there was the bbq ketchup, the hot mayo, the basil and pine nut tofu, the cheese bread, the spinach and artichoke rigatoni, the unos pizza (frozen). . .i can’t remember what all else.

since consuming things there are no longer in code, that have long passed their “use-” “best-” or “better if used by” dates has never been an issue for me, provided the item wasn’t a store specialty (i.e., something they made in house), i’d wait a couple weeks and then start hitting hard the big lots, aldis, or dollar generals hoping that the discontinued stuff would come in, allowing me to stock up on the stuff i no longer had access to. so yeah.

some time ago i ran across this no-bake dessert bar mix at the walmart on north ridge and the stuff was amazing! holy cow! 3.76 a box but it tastes just like a reese’s. being that it’s not technically a reese’s combined with the fact that it’s more expensive and involves more prep time than a regular old reese’s made it that much better. i picked up a couple boxes then, no-baked them, consumed them and went back for more thinking that if they were most excellent when prepared as recommended, they would be that much better if i added to the mix ground espresso, caramel, butterscotch and so on. they were even more excellent then—but to my mind adding ground espresso to anything (pecan pie, marinade, frosting, etc.) makes it better, adds depth, flavor.

the first time i encountered the empty shelf on north ridge, i figured (more than this, i hoped) that this was a good sign. the shelf tag was still there, so i guessed it was just a popular item. the second time i encountered the empty shelf on north ridge, the shelf tag was gone and i was not feeling so optimistic.

having spent the past three or four months checking everywhere (target, small grocery stores, dollar general, online places) for the mix, i was getting to the point of acceptance. then again, maybe not, as i had one box left and wasn’t going to use it till i had stocked up again.

so yesterday i went to the walmart on 40 to return a phone and figured that i would make the pointless run down the food aisle that has the cake mixes and frosting. nothing. but then, right in front of the phone section, on a shelf that looked like it might be clearance-y, i see them. eleven or twelve boxes in all. i load up the front, "for child" part of my cart. noting that the mixes were all “better if used by” the end of oct or start of nov, i began thinking that however great it might be to spend 40-some dollars on the mixes, it would be more excellent still to spend 20-some dollars on the mixes since they were out of code.

lesson one: finding someone to both eager and willing to help you at walmart is not as hard as i had suspected.

lesson two: just because the whole out of code thing isn’t an issue for me doesn’t mean that’s true for others--especially when they know you know they know they are selling you food that's out of code.

so, after telling me that the mixes were “too past code for them to feel comfortable with the idea of selling them to me” (note: and this was at any price apparently, cause i would have happily paid full price--or even more than full price--for the mixes at that point), they thanked me for helping to clear the stock off the shelf, apologized for the inconvenience and sent me on my way.

i was so close—eleven of them in the front of the cart and all. driving home i counted off the months on my fingers: nov. dec. just two? that’s really not that out of code.

and now i’m sitting around waiting for betty crocker to respond cause my mom is always telling me to get involved, to voice my opinion, that people won’t know how you feel or what you think unless you speak up, that maybe writing letters or making a phone call can change things. i emailed general mills this am to inquire about the mix and their plans to market it again. in my email i mentioned that i am not the only one (not based on what i’ve found on myspace) who felt strongly about the deliciousness of the product.