Last week I attended a fancy art opening at The Galleries at Moore over at Moore College, where my good friend Jordan Griska had his latest piece on display. Simply entitled Gas Pump, his newest sculpture is a kinetic piece that crumbles into itself over time, and was actually created using an old, 1930’s gas pump. It was pretty damn cool, and clearly spoke to our country’s reliance on gas.
I’m not going to lie to you, Internet. Sometimes I really don’t ‘get’ art. I can appreciate a pretty painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art or some fancy bronze sculpture in the local park, but when it comes to a deeper understanding of the work, I’m almost always at a loss. Literature, of course I get that. Post modern experimental performance art… not so much.
However, Jordan’s works are always easy to understand, comfortable to grasp. He somehow manages to create sculptures that speak to the more common (ie: me) folk. Their meaning doesn’t evade the non-art connoisseur. His pieces aren’t condescending. They’re fun, crazy. They move and are interactive. He creates them on a grand scale and sometimes, they are dangerous. He was working on his piece Sisyphus when we first met two years ago. A wild kinetic beast of a sculpture, he fell off and broke a disc in his spine.
Ad Infinitum is another great piece, massive tubes painted with electric paint, lit up by thousands of LEDs. Check it out. Seriously.
Keep it up, J. I’m proud of you.
Jordan Griska
www.jordangriska.com
Today at work, I was pleased to find a large box of Quirk Books’ upcoming release, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, waiting for me at my desk. The book doesn’t come out til the end of March. Awesome.
My lovely blog, Geekadelphia, is hosting a Zombieland movie night at The Trocadero here in Philadelphia next Monday, and Quirk was kind enough to donate these books as giveaways / prizes. I’m keeping a copy for myself to review on the blog, of course.
I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a goal of mine to one day pitch a book to Quirk. I just need to think of that killer, uber-creative idea. I mean, I’m an English professor! This should be easy. Let’s see…
- Oedipus The Bling: A Hip Hop Greek Opera
- Spamlet: A Hamlet Adaptation in the Vein of Monty Python
- Beo-wolf: The Untold Story of Beowulf vs. The Wolfman
- Oliver’s Fist: Oliver Seeks Revenge on Those Who Wronged Him
- The Waist Band: T.S. Eliot’s Guide to Losing Weight & Staying in Shape
Quirk, if you’re interested in these, I have about a dozen more. Let’s talk. I will totally accept hugs, high fives, and a value meal from Wendy’s as my advance.
Ever wonder, during the course of a semester, what your professor is looking at while he’s teaching? Up there at the podium, looking down at notes, flipping through papers? Well, here’s a look behind-the-scenes, at what my podium looks like on a typical day. The necessary supplies for teaching.
1. Mountain Dew – When you’re in front of a classroom, leading a discussion and lecturing for nearly three hours, you will need some energy. You could eat a proper meal before class, maybe bring in a salad or an apple… but that would be foolish. Foolish I say! Mountain Dew. All the way.
2. Neon Star Stickers - I give these out to students who make outstanding points in class. Sure, some students might find this a little strange, considering they are in college and not 3rd grade, but I took this out of the book of Dr. Bill Meiers, one of my favorite professors at Arcadia. You’d be surprised at how happy getting a star makes a student. Not pictured: Scratch & Sniff stickers. I was out.
3. Fudge Stripe Chocolate Cookies – A must for when the students go on break. Because really, nothing lightens up the mood like snack-time. Especially when your professor gets top-of-the-line cookies for break.
4. iPhone – For playing Canabalt during break.
5. Best American Non-Required Reading – Since the sample essays given in the textbook tend to be flat out dull, I choose to dish out exciting, humorous essays and activities, courtesy the Best American Series. From the Essays to the Non-Required Reading books, I always tend to find hilarious and moving pieces to share with the students.
6. Glasses – Because if I actually wore them in class, I wouldn’t look cool.
7. High Fidelity – I encourage my students to bring in examples of ‘good writing’ to share every week. I broke the ice with a passage from my favorite novel. “What came first, the music or the misery?” Sigh. Oh Nick Hornby. You are the man.
8. Lecture – Oh, and let’s not forget the actual lesson. It’s there somewhere, buried under the neon star stickers, cookies, Mountain Dew, and books.
In related news, this semester has been awesome so far.
Photo lovingly stolen from Google
Yesterday was the first day of the Spring semester at Peirce College. I did my usual sit-with-the-class-and-pretend-I’m-a-student shtick on the first day. I walked out of the class on my phone and came back in, immediately launching into a lecture, enjoying all the surprised looks.
Despite how comfortable I may seem in front of my students, playing these small jokes on them, I’m always incredibly nervous on my first day of the semester. My heart races as I show my ID at the door and as I walk up the stairs to the classroom. It continues to pound up until I start to lecture, a number of thoughts bouncing around in my head.
Will my students like me? Will I make a good first impression? What if no one shows up? What if they think I’m boring? What if they all fall alseep?
Often times, it feels akin to the way I felt during college as a theater major. But I guess that’s no surprise. Teaching is really like a good, theatrical performance.
You memorize the script (lecture), know the stage directions (walk around the class), draw the audience in (be passionate), give them a decent intermission (break), and send them home with something (homework / knowledge). I love it.
Sadly, I’m not teaching at MC3 this semester due to other engagements (a book!), but I’m looking forward to a fun Spring semester at Peirce. My students were active and engaged on the very first day of class, and many told me how their peers recommended me. That’s always a good sign. Must be doing something right.
My mom has wanted a nice picture of me since the summer, so I figured, why not? My pal Marisa took this the other day and I gave it to my mom in a frame. This photo essentially sums me up. Young professional, pretentious literature snob (that’s a Vonnegut book in my hand), dude who writes in the park. Eric Smith. 2009.
2009 was a great year. I turned 27 and celebrated two years with my gorgeous girlfriend. Friends from Buffalo came to visit, and I almost died saving a chicken nugget. I flew out to and explored Chicago, spent Spring break in Buffalo, and visited Lake Placid with Heather and her family. My 3rd nephew, Issiah, was born, and my cousin Kevin and his Kate welcomed their own little munchkin into the world, Natalie Anne.
Me? I adopted a new bunny and welcomed a bouncing baby Playstation 3 into my life. I suppose that’s something.
Geekadelphia celebrated three years of being online. This year we threw a release party for Section 8, hosted a Halloween party with Indy Hall, had a Rock Band competition at National Mechanics for Child’s Play Charity, and threw a massive three year anniversary bash at North Bowl. Saw a lot of crazy interviews on the site, from talking to Billy Boyd (Pippin from Lord of the Rings) to stars in James Cameron’s Avatar.
The site is growing, and I’m thrilled. Despite its position as one of the most popular blogs in Philly, I still don’t make any real money off it… but I don’t care.
I write because it makes me happy, not because it makes me money.
It was also a great year for me career wise. I taught three courses at three different colleges (Holy Family University, Montgomery County Community College, Peirce College), gave guest lectures at Long Island University, St Joseph’s University, and appeared on a panel or two, pitched a book idea to a publisher that supports me, and started volunteering with the Academy of Natural Sciences, my favorite museum in Philadelphia.
In 2010, I’m looking forward to starting my new book, traveling across the country with one of my best friends in the Spring, vacationing in Japan with Heather during the summer, and who knows what else. And now, some pictures.
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Recently, the Philadelphia based ‘ist blog, Phillyist, ranked me as one of Philadelphia’s Top 10 Not-So-Secret Superheroes. It’s a fun list that include Kevin Bacon, Steve Ward, Cliff Lee (from the Phillies), my buddy Anna Goldfarb, some other cool folks, and well… me! Awesome! Happily, I wasn’t on the most hated Philadelphians list.
Blogger Allison Krumm talked about my work with Geekadelphia, and this seriously made me smile. Tim, Dan, and I have put a lot of work into the Geek this year, and it’s always nice to catch a little recognition for it.
We threw a rather large scale party back in November to celebrate our third year online, and this year is already shaping up to be even crazier.
Thanks Allison!
Omg! Professor Smith brought us pizza! Yay!
During my years as a student, I always dreaded the final exam, and dreamed that one day, I’d be in a situation where the professor would do something really cool. Like, give me an A for refusing to write a final paper.
Me: Here’s what I think of your test, Professor! *RIPS*
Teacher: You stood up to me… that was the test.
Cue bad 1980’s synth-pop music, possibly Phil Collins
But alas, these sort of things never happened, and I was always handed one of those dreadful blue books. I loathed those, and as a result, I’ve never dished out a final exam in any of my courses. A final paper that my students can write at home… yes. That way there’s no pressure, and I get creative, well written, critical papers.
I do enjoy psyching my students out though.
Read More Post a comment (0)It’s Armageddon… I need Bruce Willis…
One of my favorite things about teaching is bringing new and clever ways of educating into my classroom. Most of the time, this means handing out bizarre and humorous essays to my students, or engaging them in some sort of wacky in-class writing activity. For examples, last week, I had several of my students proof read and correct a classic Prince of Nigeria spam email, in order to make it a more effective persuasive piece, since we were going over Persuasion and Argumenative writing.
This past class, I brought in a couple of literal music videos, a hilarious internet phenomenon that involves folks singing about what’s actually going on in the video. The students watched the original video, followed by the literal one, and we talked about how the language effectively changes what they are seeing. We compared and contrasted the lyrics, the videos, and the new messages.
I used Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, A-HA’s Take On Me, and my favorite of the bunch, Creed’s With Arms Wide Open. The result was hilarious, and a wonderful learning experience. I can’t wait to do this in future classes.
I know I don’t update this personal blog enough, but I’m making it a New Year’s resolution of mine to update at least once a week from now on. For the most part, you can find me writing on Geekadelphia (we just celebrated our 3 year anniversary, thanks to our friends at Hewlett Packard), on Uwishunu, and Tweeting. I’m also hard at work on a new book, a travel narrative with my good friend (and recently budding stand up comedian) Glen.
The semester is wrapping up quickly, and it’s been a successful one, both in the classroom and out. My two courses at MC3 and Peirce were fantastic, and I spoke at Long Island University last month. I only have one more class at MC3 and Peirce College left. I genuinely feel like I learn so much with every new class, and I’ve been blessed with an administration that welcomes my creativity, and students who respond quite well to it. I’ll be sad to say goodbye to such a wonderful group of kids, but I’m already looking forward to next semester.
My debut novel comes out this Fall. You'll be able to download free audiobook podcasts 
