1. I'm teaching fy comp at my seventh institution for who knows what number of times. And yet, I can never keep everything in my head that I want to keep in my head when I'm planning a fy comp class. Like this semester was going to be the semester that I got some joy in the class. (See Marcia's post, which reminded me.) Then I go and pick work as the topic of inquiry. Despite Posner's NY Times Book Review article to the contrary, we are not a culture that finds joy in work. We believe we should, but we don't. (Capitalism, after all, isn't a joyful system.)
2. The 1999 movie _Office Space_ offers some pretty useful scenes for thinking through American cultural beliefs about work. Esp. that last scene where manual labor is romanticized. But other things, too: the whole happy service worker satire, the going postal motif, the gendered divisions of labor.
3. Again, thanks to Marcia, I'm reminded of the heuristic value of lists. I think I'll get some lists going in my fy comp class on Friday.
4. But if I am going to focus on work, why didn't I make space for music? Russell's right--students do respond strongly to music. And I originally had some music built into the syllabus, then it got nixed. Maybe there's a way to sneak some in?
5. Lists are great, but I seem to like the number 5 the best, so I'll stop for now.
Update 3/7/05: I just want to correct the name in #1 above. It should read "Postrel's," not "Posner." Posner is someone else, but Postrel is the author of "The Book of Jobs." I've known for weeks that I needed to correct that but finally felt compelled to do so after coming across her blog.
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joy rests not in "work" but in pain endured via process.
enhanced upon completion is the satisfaction brought by the masochism of the endeavor.
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