The first is Molière. My soft spot for him comes from the fact that I enjoy using a small piece of Le Malade imaginaire with my French students when we are doing a chapter on health and fitness, in which they learn vocabulary of the body, of exercising, and of various diseases (and they learn to say “Professeur, j’ai la grippe!”).  I’m grateful to Molière for the ability to actually make them laugh as they begin to comprehend snippets of dialogue between Argan and Toinette.  Joyeux anniversaire, M. Poquelin!

The French playwright Molière, born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (books by this author), was baptized in Paris on this date (1622). Known as the father of French comedic theater, Molière wrote The School for Wives (1662), Tartuffe (1664), and The Misanthrope (1666). Although he poked fun at the peasant and bourgeois classes, he was careful to leave the church and the monarchy alone; as a result, he never ran into trouble, he was a favorite of Louis XIV, and he always had work. He collapsed onstage during a performance in 1673; he finished the performance, but died of tuberculosis later that night. Because was no priest around to administer the Last Rites, he couldn’t be buried in consecrated ground. After his widow appealed to the king, Molière was buried in the section of the cemetery reserved for unbaptized babies.

Molière, who said, “All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.”

The second is Marie Duplessis.  Now, she is not someone I ever really heard of.  I figured as I began reading that she was like any other “courtesan” and her story started to remind me a little of Zola’s insufferable (sorry, there’s no other word for it) Nana (Lord I hated that book!). But for Duplessis, it’s the Dumas Fils connection that I found most compelling.  Ah, Violetta, Un di felice, indeed…

It’s the birthday of French courtesan Marie Duplessis, born Alphonsine Plessis in Normandy (1824). She was a beautiful young woman: petite, dark-haired, and slim. She was working as a laundress at the age of 13 when her father decided that prostitution paid better. He sent her to live with a rich and elderly bachelor in exchange for cash. After a year, she went to live with cousins in Paris. For a time, she was kept by a restaurant owner, who gave her a place to live in exchange for her favors. It wasn’t long before she set her sights higher. She learned to read and write, and she studied a wide variety of subjects so that she could hold her own in any social situation. She started appearing at places where the rich and powerful were likely to be, and she attracted lots of attention.

She suspected she had tuberculosis when she developed a cough that only got worse. She was treated with everything from spa cures to strychnine to hypnotism. And through it all, she kept dressing up and holding salons and going to the opera. Having grown up in poverty, she couldn’t get enough of luxury. Noblemen from all over Europe would call on her whenever they were in Paris, and they brought her expensive trinkets, which she sometimes pawned to support herself between lovers.

She began an affair with Alexandre Dumas the younger when they were both 20 years old. He was a struggling writer, and he wasn’t able to give her lavish gifts like her other lovers. He kept her with him out in the country for a while, for the sake of her health, but she missed the lively Paris scene and went back to the city after a year. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore, and broke it off with her, writing in a letter, “I am neither rich enough to love you as I could wish nor poor enough to be loved as you wish.”

Duplessis never answered Dumas’s letter. She was too ill, and she had begun an affair with the composer and pianist Franz Liszt. She wanted Liszt to bring her along on his concert tour, but he was afraid he would catch tuberculosis from her, so he left her behind. He promised to take her to Turkey one day, but he never saw her again. After she died at the age of 23, Liszt regretted not coming to her bedside, and said: “She had a great deal of heart, a great liveliness of spirit and I consider her unique of her kind. [...] She was the most complete incarnation of womankind that has ever existed.”

Four months after Duplessis’s death, Dumas published his novel The Lady of the Camellias (1848). It’s the story of a courtesan named Marguerite Gautier, based on Duplessis. She breaks the heart of her lover — Armand Duval — to spare him from ruin. Dumas wrote it in four weeks. It was later made into a play, which in turn inspired Verdi’s opera La Traviata (1853).

Quotations from: “The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor.” RSS. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

The above quotation is by student Colby Minifie, introducing her creative film project, “A Solitary Apocalypse,” for the cross-campus seminar Apocalypse: Before and After, taught by Professor Lee Quinby with me as the instructional technology fellow.  The course follows a similar format to other courses that Dr. Quinby has taught, relying heavily on weekly blog posts by students to reflect the readings that address Apocalyptic narratives from a critical and creative standpoint. The sophistication of students’ written analyses and the level of their discussions in class rivals any graduate course. Although I’m not normally inclined to highlight one particular student’s project, I was astounded by the work that she did on this film.  Although it was shot on a high-quality camera, the movie itself was edited in iMovie. I believe this is one of the best examples of what students are able to accomplish when given support by the university in the form of instructional technologists (whose job it is to conceive of projects that support faculty learning goals and help students as they execute them) and the equipment (video cameras, computers to accomplish these projects). Macaulay’s unique approach to instructional tech increases the digital literacies of its students at the same time excellent professors increase traditional literacies of reading and writing.

I do urge you to take a look at Colby’s film, as well as peruse the other projects and blog posts that were created by this exceptional group of students.

A Solitary Apocalypse from Colby Minifie on Vimeo.

The freshmen class came to Macaulay on December 2 to view the exhibit (of which they themselves were the artists), and armed with video cameras, still cameras, and voice recorders, they explored the exhibit. The assignment was to re-curate the exhibit it by using selected images to tell a story, and to created a multimedia presentation of their vision. With the assistance of their Instructional Technology Fellows, they used a variety of tools to create their projects: Vuvox, iMovie, Prezi, and Voicethread to name a few.

My role was to coordinate the event, from setting up the online gallery so 500 students could upload their images, to arranging for the technological needs of the curatorial team, to conceiving the shape of the multimedia projects that the students were to create.  I also worked closely with Macaulay ITFs with the technologies that students were going to use and arranged for coverage and support.  The day was a huge success, as is usually the case given the caliber of my colleagues and students, and the projects showed a level of creativity and investment on the part of the students that made me proud of what I do.

Snapshot 2012 Project Website: http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/snapshot2012

Du 5 au 8 janvier 2012 se tenait à Seattle le Congrès annuel de la MLA (Modern Language Association). Parmi un panel de plus de 700 sessions d’études sur les littératures françaises, espagnoles, américaines, allemandes, italiennes, l’Association des Amis d’André Gide proposait une séance consacrée à la femme dans l’œuvre et la vie d’André Gide intitulée The Feminine in André Gide’s Works and Life.

Cette session, qui avait lieu le vendredi 6 janvier 2012 au Sheraton de Seattle, était dirigée par Christine Latrouitte Armstrong, professeure associée de Français à l’Université de Denison (Ohio, USA).

Les trois interventions (en français pour la première et en anglais pour les deux suivantes selon l’ordre de passage établi par la présidente de séance) d’une vingtaine de minutes chacune ont permis de toucher à un point clef de l’œuvre gidienne dont certaines portes ne demandent qu’à s’ouvrir.

• “La place de la femme: Le second problème gidien”
  Justine Legrand, Paris Sorbonne Université, Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne ;

• “Quel deuil pour quel corps? Gide’s Elegiac Poetics in Et nunc manet in te”
  Alina Opreanu, Harvard Univ ;

• “Imagining Madeleine” John Sorrentino, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York.

Ces trois communications ont été suivies de questions et réflexions sur la condition féminine, et offrent de réelles perspectives de recherche sur des thèmes déjà abordés mais souvent peu développés par la critique gidienne.

Check out the fabulous photo of the three presenters: me, Alina Opreanu (Harvard), and Justine Legrand (La Sorbonne), and the moderator, Christine Latrouitte Armstrong (Denison). http://www.fondation-catherine-gide.org/2012/01/andre-gide-parisian-in-america.html

First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the panel that I had the privilege of being part of: The Feminine in André Gide’s Works and Life .  My co-panelists and I discussed different aspects of how Gide presents and deals with women in his works: Prof. Justine Legrand (La Sorbonne) presented a stunning paper on Geneviève and the ways that Gide posited lesbianism within that work; Prof. Alina Opreanu (Harvard) discussed Et nunc manet in te, Gide’s elegiac memoir about his life with and marriage to Madeleine following her death, a presentation that lead almost seamlessly to mine entitled “Imagining Madeleine” where I discussed the way that the drama of the character of Alissa in La Porte étroite articulates to an imagined/eventual future Gide’s estranged marriage to Madeleine.  The evening before my presentation, I added a reference to Charles O’Keefe’s book Void and Voice (where O’Keefe declares that the narrator of La Porte étroite, Jérôme, “lies”).  One of the people in attendance who offered some rather insightful (and hilarious) reflections during the Q&A turned out to be none other than Charles O’Keefe himself.  What a joy and honor to have him there, and what a relief that I did not know that it was he beforehand!  Special thanks to the Association des amis d’André Gide and Prof. Christine Latrouitte Armstrong (Denison) for convening and supporting the panel.

I attended some other amazing panels that I found truly inspiring.  One was a poetry panel where my department chair, Prof. Peter Consenstein, discussed Georges Perec (“Georges Perec, a Man Asleep, Is You,”), as well as a panel on disability studies that has fortified my own work with Gide’s La Symphonie pastorale with respect to the character of Gertrude, and finally a panel on the Digital Humanities that my friend and colleague Prof. Lauren Klein (Georgia Tech) convened on slave narratives.  The question I ask myself is in what ways can I use DH in the research and reading of Gide?

In all the experience was worth more than I could have expected or hoped for.  It was inspiring to be at this conference among academics in the humanities from all over the world, and a true privilege to see so many past and current colleagues in attendance.

See you all at the MLA 2013 in Boston!

I am writing this because when I tried to find information about what quirks there are to using indoor antennas and getting a digital/HDTV signal in New York City, I just couldn’t find anybody else who had documented the experience.  May this information help you and set you free!

Getting clear, free, over the air TV broadcasts in New York City

"I'll cut your heart out, Walter."

One thing to know: all channels since the digital transition in 2009 broadcast on a set of “subchannels” – Channel 2 is now 2-1, Channel 4 is 4-1, and so on… (a digital flat screen will have the little “-” on its remote control’s keypad).  Some of these channels offer alternative programming, and I was thrilled that 11-4 is Antenna TV and I can watch reruns of All in the Family and Maude! (You can get more information and see what channels you can expect to potentially receive by going to Antenna Web and plugging in your address.)

Another thing to know: there is no such thing as an “HD antenna” – if the signal is strong enough, a coat hanger can bring in a perfectly good digital HD signal.  You can, in fact, use your old rabbit ears as long as it has the UHF loop.  One example is this one from RCA that retails between $5 and $10.  If you live in an area with a strong enough signal, it should work.

Again, I live in Midtown Manhattan, on the third floor of a brick building – I’m surrounded by taller buildings and don’t see a lot of open sky.  I attached the cheap RCA antenna to my set, scanned for channels, and lo and behold, I got in Channels 7 and 11 clearly.  Channel 5 was weak, but it did come in.  But nothing else.  I was frustrated, but hopeful.  After trying different kinds of antennas, I splurged on a Clearstream Micron High Gain Indoor TV Antenna from Antennas Direct.

It’s a fairly attractive piece of equipment about the size of an 8×10 picture frame.  I plugged it in, and I got a perfect signal for channels 2, 4, 5, and 9, plus several others between 14 and 69.  But I was frustrated.  Where were channels 7, 11, and 13?  They had a sticker on their antenna that said “call to learn, don’t return.”  So I did.  What I found out was that in New York, some of the broadcast channels (7, 11, and 13) actually broadcast on VHF (which requires the rabbit ears), while the others (2, 4, 5, and 9 and the others above 14) broadcast on UHF (which requires the loop antenna). That explained why one antenna was good for some channels, and why and the other was good for the rest. I have to note that the small loop on the RCA simply wasn’t strong enough to pick up a significant UHF signal where I am, but I do know that it worked for a friend of mine who lives just a few blocks from me, which just demonstrates the fickle nature the signal in New York City despite the fact that we are right near the transmitters; this is probably because the signal gets intercepted by all the buildings.

The solution for me was to use both of the antennas I had, but how?  Turns out, there is a tiny piece of equipment that is called a UHF/VHF Diplexer that allows you to hook both antennas up to your set.  Once Antennas Direct sent me that one missing piece, I was done.  It’s kind of stunning – you can get a crystal-clear, high-definition signal that looks as good as any cable signal FOR FREE.  Yes, you do have to look at an antenna or two, and yes, you do have to adjust them a little bit for different channels, BUT, you don’t have to have an energy-sucking cable box plugged in 24/7. And did I mention, it’s FREE?

And with the addition of Netflix and Hulu Plus streaming via a Roku player you can still enjoy movies or watch current episodes of a lot of TV shows on demand for a fraction of the cable price.  Seriously, cable has gotten more and more expensive over the years, but they did it bit by bit so we barely noticed it until we were writing checks that were as high as $163 every month.  And whereas some of the features that they are able to provide us (caller ID on the TV, remote DVR programming) are really cool and useful, I have to remind myself that their level of “cool” wasn’t really worth what I was paying every month. So I’m saving $100/month having gotten rid of cable and phone service, and now I don’t have to see crap like Tia and Tamara and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Yeah, I’ll miss Food Network and HGTV, but I can stream, can’t I…???

Because that’s probably what I’m supposed to be doing.  Or what I’m supposed to be writing about.

You see, André Gide is the target author for my dissertation in the PhD Program in French at the CUNY Graduate Center.  But my site is more about me and my work than about him and his, although I do reserve the right, from time to time, to write about what I’m writing about as I establish myself as a Gide scholar, a professor of French language and literature, and an instructional technologist.

Please peruse my site.  It is a place where I can reflect on and showcase my work and interests.  Little by little, I will be posting some information and reflections regarding selected Instructional Tech Projects that I’ve tackled with students over the course of the last few years.  Eventually, I want this site to be the “portal site” not only for teaching sites that I will use for my students in various classes but also for a future project that I envision will be a site that will serve as information and support for men dealing with pituitary tumors.

SocioWiki NYC - Macaulay Honors College/Brooklyn College, Spring 2007

The “SocioWiki” was the first wiki project (I will be posting more) I directed with Macaulay Honors College students at Brooklyn College for their Seminar 2 “The Peopling of New York City.” When we began this project, none of us – not the students, nor I, nor most of my colleagues – knew anything about MediaWiki, so the learning curve was substantial. The main reason that we decided to create our website on a wiki platform was because of the collaborative nature of MediaWiki, as well as the ability to roll back pages and keep track of changes.  For the professor, being able to see exactly who did the work based on each page’s “history,” helped him evaluate individual student’s participation.

The students worked in groups, focusing the people who live in selected neighborhoods of New York City (Hells Kitchen, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, SoHo, and Park Slope).  They provided an analysis from a historical, immigration and sociological perspective, employing customized maps (using Google Maps), YouTube videos and interviews, walking tours, galleries of photos, and even a flash-based map on the home page (pictured above) that linked to the home pages of each neighborhood. The wiki worked well as a place where the projects could be built from scratch, and website visitors can look at the “history” of any page to see an archive of how the students imagined and developed their ideas.

My job as administrator involved installing the “extensions” that enabled mapping, YouTube video embedding, audio embedding, and footnoting, as well as installing and customizing the “skin” of the site.  I created and conducted workshops that aided students with MediaWiki markup, page creation, and organization, and I took what I learned back to my colleagues so they could employ them with their own students.

wayne