Professor's blog

What I learned on my first academic travel

2006-03-26T09:38:00.000-08:00

Beyond the content -- the museums and the locales, the music, the cultural expression (music, food, art, tarot, even!), the environments (built and natural)... I learned a lot on academic travel:

1. It will fly by!
These ten days went faster than I imagined. I kept thinking there'd be time to sit down and regroup, for us to discuss the environments we were seeing, the content of the packet and museums, the music we were hearing, the foods and traditions, what they found interesting and surprising, all of that. There wasn't a good time or place to do that as a group -- meals didn't work so well for that. I know to schedule time and space for that next time.

2. Always call for the wake up call before getting horizontal!
Whoops! I was thinking about what time and literally fell asleep before I could even reach out to the phone. It all worked out in the end, but that could have been much, much worse...

3. The distanced student/professor relationship changes on academic travel, but it is important to maintain and establish it in crucial ways, up front in the classroom and while on travel.
Next time I will continue to have fun with the students; I really enjoyed that. I will establish clearer boundaries, expectations and authority up front, though, and maintain them. I will also outlaw compaining -- it drains the group of its natural enthusiasm and is never worth it.

4. It was good to have a mix of things: business meetings, museums, different natural environments, etc.
Some students want more time at museums, some don't pay attention; some students want more free time, some want to wring every ounce of learning out of the trip; some want more business meetings, some don't give a hoot about business considerations. It was a pretty good mix, I think, and I'll be sure to mix things up next semester in Paris, too.

5. Create a system for receipts.
I'm under budget (kudos to me!) but lost one of my piles of receipts. Tomaso will not be happy with me.

6. Set up a framework for the academic content in the very first academic travel meeting (different from the advice I was given this time).
That way everything we talk about can be seen and thought of through that frame.

7. I love music and to dance.
I'd kind-of forgotten that. Grown-ups don't dance enough. 'Gotta work that in to next academic travel somehow, too... and I loved meeting James Slater. I hope he'll come to Lugano.

New Orleans News

2006-03-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Wow! If I'd known how wonderful New Orleans would be, I might have scheduled more of the trip here.

I've learned other lessons about academic travel:

1. Show them how much luggage they can bring.
It should be one small suitcase with wheels and one small carry-on. The amount of luggage these kids brought is absolutely ridiculous. It wouldn't fit on the bus that picked us up at the airport.

The bus driver was great, though, and drove us through a neighborhood that had been affected by the storm... the kids saw the water line way up the walls and the spray-painted codes meaning the building had been checked, or had bodies in it, etc. They saw the flooded out cars on the streets (people live in them in some cases now) and the abandoned businesses, homes, etc. There is debris everywhere -- either from the storm itself or from the gutted buildings.

We've talked with people who've lost everything they owned, people who had loved ones in the hospital when the storm hit, people who evacuated to places all over the Southern US, people who wouldn't leave New Orleans for anything.

2. Fun and academics are not mutually exclusive.

The best thing we've done so far was a Brass Band concert at the House of Blues Friday night. Brass bands are a New Orleans tradition -- they're the kind of bands that play at New Orleans jazz funerals (we learned about those in one of the traditional above-ground cemeteries -- very cool). We saw young, local musicians who've returned after the storm playing a hybrid of Dixieland jazz, hip-hop, rap... there was even a rapped bit where they sang, "What's your FEMA number?!" Only in New Orleans. We were among the only white people there. We danced and danced. When we left, walking down the street at around midnight, Fleur turned to me and said, "I've never seen anything like that." That's precisely the point.

I'm not sure that they understand that they are experiencing the best that Cultural Studies has to offer -- the intersection of history and anthropology, food and music, lived daily experience, the ordinary as extraordinary. I think they just think they're having fun. Even going out on Bourbon Street at night here is a part of the cultural experience (which would explain the photos you'll surely see :-) ). Part of the culture of New Orleans is a fierce commitment to celebrating in the face of whatever happens. Let the good times roll (Laissez les bon temps rouler, I think.) they say.

3. Make sure they eat.

Lunch isn't included in our budget or itinerary, and when they don't eat it they're no good for the afternoon walking tours. Yesterday we did a Jazz Walk all over town. The day before we did a Culinary History Tour. Both were good, but the kids were fidgety and hungry.

On the other hand, I'm certain we're all gaining weight (except Arthur, who's been sick). We're eating file gumbo and fried shrimp and catfish po boys, jambalaya and powdered-sugar-covered beignets by the plateful (Chrsitophe S. especially !). Christophe R. likes raw oysters. Again, this is just another part of what makes New Orleans unique and we sure are experiencing it!

More lessons soon, I'm sure... but now we're off to see the Garden District!

Goodbye to Buckhead

2006-03-09T04:44:00.000-08:00

This being my first academic travel and all, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't expect it to be so much fun!

Here's the gang waiting for the MARTA train

For the most part, it seems they aren't interested in academics; they just want to run around. I, however, wanted to teach them more about Coca-Cola marketing and working in newsrooms (at CNN). The tours weren't great and there's so much more to say about both! The students tune out afterward, though, so you have to set it up beforehand. I'll know for next time. They're still seeing so much.

I've learned things I'll do differently next time (like using the class time for much more academic material), but I am also glad now for the tens of hours I put into planning this trip. Everything has gone extremely smoothly.

Off to New Orleans today!

Twas the night before travel...

2006-03-05T23:59:00.000-08:00

...and all through the faculty offices, there were Professors grading, planning and otherwise preparing for tomorrow's journies.

I hope the students behave themselves and show up on time.

I've worked extremely hard to find safe, well-maintained hotels for us. In Atlanta, we'll be in the upscale Buckhead area, on a free shuttle bus that will take us to lovely shopping areas and movie pavilions. I wanted them to have easy, affordable access to safe things to do in their free time.

I'm looking forward to seeing CNN, Coca-Cola and the Martin Luther King birthplace there.

I've called in reinforcements for New Orleans -- I'm a little bit worried about the temptations of Bourbon Street. My Mother works in the juvenile justice system and has been going to New Orleans for decades. She'll stay with us there and I'll be glad to see her. I've found that there are wonderful 18 and up concerts at the House of Blues there. The younger students should appreciate that.

In Nashville, Alesia Davenport, Franklin's new development officer, has arranged a meeting at the corporate headquaters of BMI. That will be a special treat for the students, I hope. As a Professor of Media Law, I'm especially excited to hear what they have to say about copyrights, royalties, piracy, etc.

The students have requested a special outing to Elvis' home, Graceland, so March 16th we'll all pile on a bus and spend hours traveling from Nashville to Memphis. We'll visit Graceland, the National Civil Rights Museum and Rendezvous Ribs. (Thanks to Calhoun Allen for the tip!)

I've worked hard finding historians like Kelly Hamilton, who'll lead us through the kitchens of New Orleans and Robert Florence, whose company will lead the Weekend Jazz Walk and Haunted French Quarter tours. I also look forward to dancing at the House of Blues to the funky Brass Band Blowout on Friday night. I have a feeling the kids will join me...

where Grandaddy lived

2006-03-05T23:58:00.000-08:00

I wish we had more time to see the rural South. You can't really get a sense of "Southern" until you spend time in places like Gaylesville, Alabama, where my grandmother lives. It's a place in the middle of the United States of America that time seems to have forgotten. All rusted out abandoned gas pumps and big drums for burning trash.

Likewise, I read this story today about a community in Virginia that still doesn't have plumbing. How do you convey to students that in the wealthiest country in the world more people have television than toilets? Will they even believe that?

They won't get a sense of that from these cities, probably. But this will be a very intense introduction we'll have.

teaching New Orleans

2006-03-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

And what to tell students of New Orleans?

What to say of the grime, the devastation from the hurricane... it's a whole different South, anyway. They speak French there, for heaven's sake!

I will show them this article ("To makeshift morgue on a plywood raft") I used in journalism class last semester and this poem ("The biggest jazz funeral in history") I found the night before we left on this trip...

and then send them out into the safest parts of the city to ask people for themselves, "How were you affected?" "Who has come home?" "How's it going now?"

Then, in the finest New Orleans tradition, we'll eat creole and go dancing!