I was not paying attention to my knitting, as my grandmother might have said.
I was updating a school to-do list in Evernote on my phone: assignment due dates, ideas for new classes, websites that I copied but not had gotten around to viewing yet, and so on. The digital detritus of a modern working guy. The "Cloud" ties the Evernote app into my phone, iPad, home PC and Mac and the various desktops at school offices and labs. I have categories for school, home, and garden; a quote list (I write them down as I see them); a daily to-do list; a list of books I want to read and I list of books I have read during the current year.
At this time of the year, the school list has been pared down to essentials: to-dos I want to complete during the summer and to-dos I want to take up in the fall. Still, there were more than two-dozen items on the note. I was rushed one night, multitasking, and made one too many clicks. The entire file was highlighted (select-all is always a dangerous choice) in a pale blue box with one click, and the next quick key stroke replaced the entire list with the single letter, "r".
Gone. Everything. Was. Gone.
I looked around for the salvation of an "Undo" icon -- no icon. I knew if I closed the file, the information (as little as there was) would be uploaded to the Cloud (handy automatic feature that) and the lower case "r" would replace two years of ideas. And, no, there had been no print-out backup. Instead, I fired up another machine in another room and signed into Evernote from there. As I suspected, the earlier file had not yet been updated across the system (the first computer file was still open), so I forced a sync with the Cloud to keep the file from the second machine rather than the r-file. The sync was complete. All was saved, sort of.
What I had were two competing files with the same name on two different machines. Eventually there was going to be a problem. Rather than hope for the best, never a good idea when working with technology, I renamed the second school file as "School 2014-15" and re-synced. Again, successful. So I had the original school file and the second, renamed file.
I turned back to the phone and when I clicked off the file screen, as I suspected, the "r-file" was uploaded as "School" and populated all devices. The Cloud is very thorough. But, I had my original work, other than some rushed tweaking, under the name of the new file, "School 2014-15." I also had the file, "School" with a lone "r" in it. I think I will keep it as a reminder for a while
Losing the original file would not have been the end of the world. I would have eventually recreated the items. But, an absent-minded slip of attention and errant keystroke would have cost me time and anxiety. In an earlier generation, I would have said this was a lesson about backing up, but it's not really -- backing up is an automatic process today. Instead this a story about slowing down, paying attention to your knitting, and then when digital disaster strikes, trying to stay calm and keep on computing.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Chiseled Words and Broken Footsteps
The statue-less statue of Arsinoe II (285-246 B.C.) stood out from the 75 other more-or-less intact objects in a Chicago Art Institute exhibit titled, "When the Greeks Ruled Egypt,"sponsored by the Jaharis Family Foundation, Inc. One foot of the statue was formally posed ahead of the other in a typical Egyptian portrait stance. The rest of it was broken off at the top of the foot.
Now, a practically destroyed 3,000 year-old statue is not unusual, but these footsteps on an inscribed rectangular base, seemed especially poignant. When the statue was carved, the Greeks were at their height of power: Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 B.C. beginning a 300-year era of Greek-installed Pharaohs. Fascinated by Egyptian practices for immortality, the Greek rulers adapted and amended Egyptian customs especially those promising an afterlife. Who wouldn't want to live forever? According to the museum description of this item, Ptolemy II (309-246 B.C.) "introduced new features into Egypt's traditional religious practices, including the posthumous deification of his sister-wife, Arsinoe II. He decreed that she was to be worshipped in temples throughout Egypt." Immortality by executive fiat.
But the life of a goddess only lasts as long as her disciples and, while some pantheons have been long-lived, none have yet achieved immortality. The Greek-installed Pharaohs of the Ptolemaic Period were replaced by Roman rulers, as were Greek temples with Roman temples and Greek gods with Roman gods. After that, Rome fell to others who fell to still others during subsequent historical epochs. During the chaos that followed, the statue and the memory of Arsinoe II was shattered, buried, and forgotten.
Forgotten? Not quite yet though her memory was not preserved by scripted rituals and carefully constructed chants for the dead. The powerful who relied only on such fantasies lie forgotten beneath the shifting sands of time. Immortality in this case was bestowed by the hammer and chisel of an unknown artist who carved the statue and double-inscribed (just to be safe) Arsinoe II's name in both Greek letters and Egyptian hieroglyphics in its base. Literacy not libations, art not artifice bridged those 2500 years.
This is probably not the immortality that was promised to Ptolemy II by his minions. The mighty pharaoh would not be pleased that he and his sister-wife were of only passing interest to middle school tour groups texting each other in a side exhibit hall in Chicago. What could the young know about the ageless yearning for immortality? To offset their disrespect, I stood quietly before the chiseled words and broken footsteps and wondered.
Now, a practically destroyed 3,000 year-old statue is not unusual, but these footsteps on an inscribed rectangular base, seemed especially poignant. When the statue was carved, the Greeks were at their height of power: Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 B.C. beginning a 300-year era of Greek-installed Pharaohs. Fascinated by Egyptian practices for immortality, the Greek rulers adapted and amended Egyptian customs especially those promising an afterlife. Who wouldn't want to live forever? According to the museum description of this item, Ptolemy II (309-246 B.C.) "introduced new features into Egypt's traditional religious practices, including the posthumous deification of his sister-wife, Arsinoe II. He decreed that she was to be worshipped in temples throughout Egypt." Immortality by executive fiat.
But the life of a goddess only lasts as long as her disciples and, while some pantheons have been long-lived, none have yet achieved immortality. The Greek-installed Pharaohs of the Ptolemaic Period were replaced by Roman rulers, as were Greek temples with Roman temples and Greek gods with Roman gods. After that, Rome fell to others who fell to still others during subsequent historical epochs. During the chaos that followed, the statue and the memory of Arsinoe II was shattered, buried, and forgotten.
Forgotten? Not quite yet though her memory was not preserved by scripted rituals and carefully constructed chants for the dead. The powerful who relied only on such fantasies lie forgotten beneath the shifting sands of time. Immortality in this case was bestowed by the hammer and chisel of an unknown artist who carved the statue and double-inscribed (just to be safe) Arsinoe II's name in both Greek letters and Egyptian hieroglyphics in its base. Literacy not libations, art not artifice bridged those 2500 years.
This is probably not the immortality that was promised to Ptolemy II by his minions. The mighty pharaoh would not be pleased that he and his sister-wife were of only passing interest to middle school tour groups texting each other in a side exhibit hall in Chicago. What could the young know about the ageless yearning for immortality? To offset their disrespect, I stood quietly before the chiseled words and broken footsteps and wondered.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Seventy GED Students "Walk"
Seventy GED/HSED students "walked" on Wednesday. I don't mean "walked" in a bad way as if the students stormed out of a classroom as a programmed flash mob. I mean "walked" as in "proudly," "momentously," and "at long last" parading across a graduation stage, receiving ovations from college leadership and faculty, and soaking in the tears and cheers of family and friends.
Before the annual GED/HSED graduation at the school, graduates in caps and tassels, royal blue gowns and gold honor cords waited nervously in the Executive Dining room a few doors down from the stage entry. I visited with students I knew, as did other faculty, reminiscing with them and posing for photos. I was very happy to see five of my students from Oconto Falls and three from Shawano make the trip to Green Bay for the ceremony. Most students don't. The 70 students who lined up were just a fraction of more than 400 students who completed the GED/HSED series during the past year. That's too bad. All of the completers did the work. I wish more would allow themselves to enjoy this moment of triumph.
They should not take their GED/HSED accomplishment lightly. Given strong representation on Wednesday by college trustees, the college president and vice-president of learning, other vps and leadership, the college certainly takes their graduation seriously. We all know this credential represents an academic milestone for students who had -- to be perfectly honest -- failed the first time around. Each student had his or her own reasons why they dropped out of high school. On Wednesday, those reasons were not really important. What was important and what all of us were celebrating, was that they did come back to school, studied hard, balanced work and family with school, and, finally, finally, achieved their high school credential.
Marathoner, journalist and author, Amby Burfoot, spoke of such dogged perseverance when he wrote, "To get to the finish line, you'll have to try lots of different paths." There was one common goal that all these students achieved as they walked across the stage, a GED/HSED credential, but there were as many different paths to that common goal as there were students who were doing the "walking." These are the first few steps that they will take toward another marathon journey, lifelong learning, but no need to worry about that right now. The graduates have proven that they can succeed when they do the work. On Wednesday, it was time for them to hold their head high and proudly walk.
Before the annual GED/HSED graduation at the school, graduates in caps and tassels, royal blue gowns and gold honor cords waited nervously in the Executive Dining room a few doors down from the stage entry. I visited with students I knew, as did other faculty, reminiscing with them and posing for photos. I was very happy to see five of my students from Oconto Falls and three from Shawano make the trip to Green Bay for the ceremony. Most students don't. The 70 students who lined up were just a fraction of more than 400 students who completed the GED/HSED series during the past year. That's too bad. All of the completers did the work. I wish more would allow themselves to enjoy this moment of triumph.
They should not take their GED/HSED accomplishment lightly. Given strong representation on Wednesday by college trustees, the college president and vice-president of learning, other vps and leadership, the college certainly takes their graduation seriously. We all know this credential represents an academic milestone for students who had -- to be perfectly honest -- failed the first time around. Each student had his or her own reasons why they dropped out of high school. On Wednesday, those reasons were not really important. What was important and what all of us were celebrating, was that they did come back to school, studied hard, balanced work and family with school, and, finally, finally, achieved their high school credential.
Marathoner, journalist and author, Amby Burfoot, spoke of such dogged perseverance when he wrote, "To get to the finish line, you'll have to try lots of different paths." There was one common goal that all these students achieved as they walked across the stage, a GED/HSED credential, but there were as many different paths to that common goal as there were students who were doing the "walking." These are the first few steps that they will take toward another marathon journey, lifelong learning, but no need to worry about that right now. The graduates have proven that they can succeed when they do the work. On Wednesday, it was time for them to hold their head high and proudly walk.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
UWGB's Academic Forgiveness
For many freshmen, college is just too much: non-curricular temptations at college trump home-grown common sense, and others who do put in time on classwork realize that shaky study skills that eeked them through high school are no match for the rigor of the college classroom. Sure, most schools have early-warning signals in place and many are helped by that, but for too many unprepared incoming students, the first semesters of college spiral down from poor grades, to academic probation, and to the embarrassment of dismissal.
So, what happens next? These students move on without college. Life does continue. But after some years, they realize they really do need a degree credential to move forward. Unfortunately, their previous record drags them down even though they may have now learned the life lessons that would allow them to be successful in college if they had a second chance. A low GPA on the transcript can cause all kinds of problems: re-qualifying for program entry, applying for scholarships and loans, and interviewing for program internships. It takes a lot of positive credits to overcome a bad start.
Since 2010, the University of Wisconsin--Green Bay has quietly established an alternative proposal: Academic Forgiveness. I read about the program in the June 2014 issue of the UWGB alumni/community magazine, Inside 360. The basics of the program are if a student has been out of school for at least three years and if the student struggled "because of health issues, motivation, too much on their plates, or something else," the student is given a fresh academic start when he or she re-enrolls. The student keeps whatever credits were earned on the first go-around, but the GPA altimeter is reset at 0.00.
Darrel Renier, director of academic advising at the college, reports the program has been effective. As of the beginning of the last school year (2013-14), Renier said, "We've had 62 requests for forgiveness, and the new average GPA for these students has been a 3.43." That's a huge jump for students who had not been able to maintain a 2.00 GPA in earlier semesters.
The Academic Forgiveness program recognizes that not every student is ready for college at the same time right out of high school. Age is a notoriously poor indicator of post-secondary maturity because some students need a little more seasoning and motivation before they allow themselves to be successful. Kudos to UWGB for eliminating the GPA barrier for returning students and for focusing on what is most important to all of us: student success not the grades.
So, what happens next? These students move on without college. Life does continue. But after some years, they realize they really do need a degree credential to move forward. Unfortunately, their previous record drags them down even though they may have now learned the life lessons that would allow them to be successful in college if they had a second chance. A low GPA on the transcript can cause all kinds of problems: re-qualifying for program entry, applying for scholarships and loans, and interviewing for program internships. It takes a lot of positive credits to overcome a bad start.
Since 2010, the University of Wisconsin--Green Bay has quietly established an alternative proposal: Academic Forgiveness. I read about the program in the June 2014 issue of the UWGB alumni/community magazine, Inside 360. The basics of the program are if a student has been out of school for at least three years and if the student struggled "because of health issues, motivation, too much on their plates, or something else," the student is given a fresh academic start when he or she re-enrolls. The student keeps whatever credits were earned on the first go-around, but the GPA altimeter is reset at 0.00.
Darrel Renier, director of academic advising at the college, reports the program has been effective. As of the beginning of the last school year (2013-14), Renier said, "We've had 62 requests for forgiveness, and the new average GPA for these students has been a 3.43." That's a huge jump for students who had not been able to maintain a 2.00 GPA in earlier semesters.
The Academic Forgiveness program recognizes that not every student is ready for college at the same time right out of high school. Age is a notoriously poor indicator of post-secondary maturity because some students need a little more seasoning and motivation before they allow themselves to be successful. Kudos to UWGB for eliminating the GPA barrier for returning students and for focusing on what is most important to all of us: student success not the grades.
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