keeping everything
having completed a few busy weeks of dissertation work, i'd like to say that i'm taking a break from it. and i guess i did on sunday, but as of yesterday, i was back to work, trying to track down scholarly influences for a mid-19th century literary-rhetorical theorist named kenneth burke, namely the influences of pragmatism (john dewey, william james, etc.). this means pulling every book by the guy and about the guy in the library, and browsing through them while making notes. that's how i spent most of my time yesterday, and today will be little different.
the other fun thing about my work is reading student papers, and since i'm not actually teaching courses this spring (and instead doing independent studies), i can focus on the parts of reading student papers that i really like: helping them improve, pointing out places where they could develop their research or analysis, and then talking with them about their work. it's quite nice.
having offered some analysis of the men's ncaa, and because of title ix, i have to say a little bit about the women's ncaa and wnit. no, actually i don't have to, but i do want to. i probably watch more women's college basketball than just about anyone who's a mid-to-late twenty-something guy. the team i follow is the hometown team where i grew up: south dakota state university. their men's team has been quite awful the last few years, and i've become quite enamored with the women's team. leaving outside of radio range has made me purchase the internet radio broadcasts for the team the last couple years. the other interesting thing about sdsu is the transition from division ii to division i that the school has made over the last few years. each sport handles the transition differently, but for basketball, the team cannot participate in the ncaa tournament the last few years. this is kind of a strange rule for the transition (most other rules related to the number of scholarships, coaches, and roster spots available), and for what i would guess is the first time ever, it has actually been important to the makeup of the ncaa/wnit tournaments the last two years.
last year, sdsu finished the regular season with an rpi of 40, a 1-2 record against #1-25, 0-1 vs. #26-50, 4-2 vs. #51-100, and 14-0 vs. #101-332. they didn't yet have a conference in order to receive an automatic bid, and those numbers would likely have given them a low seed in the tournament (~13). they settled for the wnit and lost to eventual champion wyoming after winning a few postseason games.
they haven't been quite as good this year, but now belonging to a conference, they won the regular season title with a 16-2 record (23-6 overall), and couldn't compete in the conference tournament. the second place record in the conference was 12-6 (20-10 overall), and the tournament winner, oral roberts, was 10-8 (19-13 overall). oral roberts gets the lucky draw of tennessee in the first round. had sdsu went to the ncaa tournament this year, i would put them on a 14-15 seed, but certainly not a 16.
sdsu will play creighton in the first round of the wnit, and winning that will mean playing marquette. these games are winnable for the team, but marquette is the last team to have beaten sdsu at home (they have a two year winning streak, the second longest active in ncaaw). i give them a good shot at the first game, and a not quite as good shot at the second. we don't have a superstar like last year's megan vogel (drafted in the second round to the wnba), but we have a solid team.
on the ncaaw side, the tournament is a little better than the men's because there is no play-in game. the regions still make no sense in terms, but at least there's no play-in game. in terms of bracket analysis, i won't go into as much detail as i did yesterday, but the following points are striking to me as i look at these brackets. first, even though i'm sure they can handle it, i think tennessee has the toughest road to the elite eight. i think texas a&m is the weakest #2 seed, but purdue (9), oklahoma (4), duke (3), and texas a&m (2) can each give tennessee a tough game, and it might wear them down more before the elite eight than other #1s.
second, the other #2 seeds are going to be very tough games for the #1 seeds because the competitive drop-off after these top seven teams is rather large. i would put maryland's bracket at the toughest because of the strength of baylor at the #3 seed, but this matters more to baylor and stanford than it does to maryland. if texas (8) beats minnesota (9) in the first round, texas will also present a larger early challenge to a #1 than will be seen elsewhere. i think that minnesota will be a challenge for texas, but even though they are another hometown favorite for me, i think minnesota should have been closer to a #10 seed and won't present much of a challenge to uconn.
since i'm doing some home team analysis right now, i'll say a few things about the twins this year. having traded johan santana and luis castillo to the mets in the last year (both of whom i'll miss), and having lost carlos silva and torii hunter to free agency and what look to me like really stupid contracts (both of whom i don't really miss, and certainly not for the money they're pulling), the twins are different this year than last. they also traded a good young pitcher (matt garza) and a shortstop (jason bartlett) for a very good young hitter delmon young (who i think i'll like). uncertainties surround the starting pitching of course (liriano's health, the youth factor in most of the rotation, the innings-eater potential of livan hernandez and whether his starts turn into throw-aways like silva's in 2006). the strength of the american league (bos, nyy, laa, sea) and the central in particular (cle, det) make this a tough year to be a twins fan, but it should work out okay in the end--i do think that our run production can't help but improve. i'm looking forward to games actually being broadcast more so that i can decrease the amount of time i spend reading baseball blogs as part of my morning news/email reading (nyt, grist, facebook).
probably one of the more entertaining things about march madness is that it really is madness of a sort. my brother and i are planning our spring break trip right now, and strangely enough, we're planning our trip around when we can see basketball games on thursday and friday, at least in part.
instead of teaching, and in addition to the other things i'm doing this semester, i've started an environmental film series on campus. every other wednesday evening we show a film (mostly documentaries, but not exclusively), and people can relax and enjoy the film, but also get together and talk about what they saw. i think it's a good thing, even if there aren't massive numbers of people attending. i also think that some of the people who read this might be interested in learning more about some of the films i would recommend if you're interested in environmentally-related films. all too often i focus on books i think people should read, but this is even easier. so here's a list (along with a book in parentheses that you might read if you enjoy the film). look them up if you're interested in them, watch them on netflix, or buy them.
--king corn: traces the story of corn grown in iowa into our food system (pair with michael pollan's the omnivore's dilemma)
--who killed the electric car?: the title should suffice
--an inconvenient truth: many people have seen this, so i rarely show it, but the next one is a good follow-up (field notes from a catastrophe)
--everything's cool: what are the political, ideological, and communicative aspects to climate change
--into the wild: based on krakauer's book, not a documentary, and just recently available on dvd
--monumental: documents the life of david brower, leader of the sierra club and called the archdruid (encounters with the archdruid or wilderness and the american mind)
--blue vinyl: looks at environmental health and justice issues, tries to make it funny (any book by sandra steingraber)
--the end of suburbia: addresses peak oil (the long emergency)
--empty oceans, empty nets: looks at overfishing and makes you rethink your diet, yet again
--green, green water: looks at the effects of manitoba hydroelectric dams on people (where much of minnesota's "renewable" energy comes from)
this song is from one of my favorite albums of 2007, the shepard's dog by iron and wine. in addition to being poetic in a very likable way, the lyrics (and music) make me think that seeing the world as sam beam seems to in his lyrics would be a pretty good way to live. i might say the same thing of sufjan stevens or john vanderslice. interesting imagery, but more importantly a soothing thoughtfulness or awareness.
resurrection fern by iron and wine
in our days, we will live
like our ghosts will live
pitching glass at the cornfield crows and folding clothes
like stubborn boys across the road
we'll keep everything
grandma's gun and the black bear claw that took her dog
and when sister lowry says amen, we won't hear anything
the ten-car train will take that word, that fledgling bird
and the fallen house across the way
it'll keep everything
the baby's breath, our bravery wasted and our shame
and we'll undress beside the ashes of the fire
both our tender bellies wound in baling wire
all the more pair of under water pearls
then the oak tree and its resurrection fern
in our days we will say what our ghosts will say
we gave the world what it saw fit and what we get
like stubborn boys with big green eyes
we'll see everything
in the timid shade of the autumn leaves and the buzzards' wings
and we'll undress by the ashes of the fire
our tender bellies are wound around in baling wire
all the more pair of under water pearls
than the oak tree and its resurrection fern
the other fun thing about my work is reading student papers, and since i'm not actually teaching courses this spring (and instead doing independent studies), i can focus on the parts of reading student papers that i really like: helping them improve, pointing out places where they could develop their research or analysis, and then talking with them about their work. it's quite nice.
having offered some analysis of the men's ncaa, and because of title ix, i have to say a little bit about the women's ncaa and wnit. no, actually i don't have to, but i do want to. i probably watch more women's college basketball than just about anyone who's a mid-to-late twenty-something guy. the team i follow is the hometown team where i grew up: south dakota state university. their men's team has been quite awful the last few years, and i've become quite enamored with the women's team. leaving outside of radio range has made me purchase the internet radio broadcasts for the team the last couple years. the other interesting thing about sdsu is the transition from division ii to division i that the school has made over the last few years. each sport handles the transition differently, but for basketball, the team cannot participate in the ncaa tournament the last few years. this is kind of a strange rule for the transition (most other rules related to the number of scholarships, coaches, and roster spots available), and for what i would guess is the first time ever, it has actually been important to the makeup of the ncaa/wnit tournaments the last two years.
last year, sdsu finished the regular season with an rpi of 40, a 1-2 record against #1-25, 0-1 vs. #26-50, 4-2 vs. #51-100, and 14-0 vs. #101-332. they didn't yet have a conference in order to receive an automatic bid, and those numbers would likely have given them a low seed in the tournament (~13). they settled for the wnit and lost to eventual champion wyoming after winning a few postseason games.
they haven't been quite as good this year, but now belonging to a conference, they won the regular season title with a 16-2 record (23-6 overall), and couldn't compete in the conference tournament. the second place record in the conference was 12-6 (20-10 overall), and the tournament winner, oral roberts, was 10-8 (19-13 overall). oral roberts gets the lucky draw of tennessee in the first round. had sdsu went to the ncaa tournament this year, i would put them on a 14-15 seed, but certainly not a 16.
sdsu will play creighton in the first round of the wnit, and winning that will mean playing marquette. these games are winnable for the team, but marquette is the last team to have beaten sdsu at home (they have a two year winning streak, the second longest active in ncaaw). i give them a good shot at the first game, and a not quite as good shot at the second. we don't have a superstar like last year's megan vogel (drafted in the second round to the wnba), but we have a solid team.
on the ncaaw side, the tournament is a little better than the men's because there is no play-in game. the regions still make no sense in terms, but at least there's no play-in game. in terms of bracket analysis, i won't go into as much detail as i did yesterday, but the following points are striking to me as i look at these brackets. first, even though i'm sure they can handle it, i think tennessee has the toughest road to the elite eight. i think texas a&m is the weakest #2 seed, but purdue (9), oklahoma (4), duke (3), and texas a&m (2) can each give tennessee a tough game, and it might wear them down more before the elite eight than other #1s.
second, the other #2 seeds are going to be very tough games for the #1 seeds because the competitive drop-off after these top seven teams is rather large. i would put maryland's bracket at the toughest because of the strength of baylor at the #3 seed, but this matters more to baylor and stanford than it does to maryland. if texas (8) beats minnesota (9) in the first round, texas will also present a larger early challenge to a #1 than will be seen elsewhere. i think that minnesota will be a challenge for texas, but even though they are another hometown favorite for me, i think minnesota should have been closer to a #10 seed and won't present much of a challenge to uconn.
since i'm doing some home team analysis right now, i'll say a few things about the twins this year. having traded johan santana and luis castillo to the mets in the last year (both of whom i'll miss), and having lost carlos silva and torii hunter to free agency and what look to me like really stupid contracts (both of whom i don't really miss, and certainly not for the money they're pulling), the twins are different this year than last. they also traded a good young pitcher (matt garza) and a shortstop (jason bartlett) for a very good young hitter delmon young (who i think i'll like). uncertainties surround the starting pitching of course (liriano's health, the youth factor in most of the rotation, the innings-eater potential of livan hernandez and whether his starts turn into throw-aways like silva's in 2006). the strength of the american league (bos, nyy, laa, sea) and the central in particular (cle, det) make this a tough year to be a twins fan, but it should work out okay in the end--i do think that our run production can't help but improve. i'm looking forward to games actually being broadcast more so that i can decrease the amount of time i spend reading baseball blogs as part of my morning news/email reading (nyt, grist, facebook).
probably one of the more entertaining things about march madness is that it really is madness of a sort. my brother and i are planning our spring break trip right now, and strangely enough, we're planning our trip around when we can see basketball games on thursday and friday, at least in part.
instead of teaching, and in addition to the other things i'm doing this semester, i've started an environmental film series on campus. every other wednesday evening we show a film (mostly documentaries, but not exclusively), and people can relax and enjoy the film, but also get together and talk about what they saw. i think it's a good thing, even if there aren't massive numbers of people attending. i also think that some of the people who read this might be interested in learning more about some of the films i would recommend if you're interested in environmentally-related films. all too often i focus on books i think people should read, but this is even easier. so here's a list (along with a book in parentheses that you might read if you enjoy the film). look them up if you're interested in them, watch them on netflix, or buy them.
--king corn: traces the story of corn grown in iowa into our food system (pair with michael pollan's the omnivore's dilemma)
--who killed the electric car?: the title should suffice
--an inconvenient truth: many people have seen this, so i rarely show it, but the next one is a good follow-up (field notes from a catastrophe)
--everything's cool: what are the political, ideological, and communicative aspects to climate change
--into the wild: based on krakauer's book, not a documentary, and just recently available on dvd
--monumental: documents the life of david brower, leader of the sierra club and called the archdruid (encounters with the archdruid or wilderness and the american mind)
--blue vinyl: looks at environmental health and justice issues, tries to make it funny (any book by sandra steingraber)
--the end of suburbia: addresses peak oil (the long emergency)
--empty oceans, empty nets: looks at overfishing and makes you rethink your diet, yet again
--green, green water: looks at the effects of manitoba hydroelectric dams on people (where much of minnesota's "renewable" energy comes from)
this song is from one of my favorite albums of 2007, the shepard's dog by iron and wine. in addition to being poetic in a very likable way, the lyrics (and music) make me think that seeing the world as sam beam seems to in his lyrics would be a pretty good way to live. i might say the same thing of sufjan stevens or john vanderslice. interesting imagery, but more importantly a soothing thoughtfulness or awareness.
resurrection fern by iron and wine
in our days, we will live
like our ghosts will live
pitching glass at the cornfield crows and folding clothes
like stubborn boys across the road
we'll keep everything
grandma's gun and the black bear claw that took her dog
and when sister lowry says amen, we won't hear anything
the ten-car train will take that word, that fledgling bird
and the fallen house across the way
it'll keep everything
the baby's breath, our bravery wasted and our shame
and we'll undress beside the ashes of the fire
both our tender bellies wound in baling wire
all the more pair of under water pearls
then the oak tree and its resurrection fern
in our days we will say what our ghosts will say
we gave the world what it saw fit and what we get
like stubborn boys with big green eyes
we'll see everything
in the timid shade of the autumn leaves and the buzzards' wings
and we'll undress by the ashes of the fire
our tender bellies are wound around in baling wire
all the more pair of under water pearls
than the oak tree and its resurrection fern
posted by Brett Werner at
11:32 AM
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