TheGoodRev

I know that last post was a thread-killer, but I can't help myself; I have two more things to add for anyone who might still be reading. The first is a more detailed description of the Cultural Studies program at Mac, from this page of the faculty's site:

McMaster University has emerged in recent years as a national centre for the study of Cultural Studies and Critical Theory, with many faculty across a wide range of disciplines devoted to the critical analysis of contemporary culture. The Canadian Association of Cultural Studies was founded by faculty members at McMaster in 2002. The English Department offers a Combined Honours BA degree in Cultural Studies and Critical Theory with a set of courses that have been phased in since 1997, and two members of the Department, Susie O’Brien and Imre Szeman, wrote the first Canadian introductory textbook in Cultural Studies. And in 2004 the University appointed prominent cultural theorist Henry Giroux as the first Global Television Network Chair in Communication.

The second is a comment from one of my classmates on my prof's message board; I think she really hit the nail on the head:

I dropped out of MAC in 1st year way back in 2002 because I thought their Humanities program sucked. I transferred to the University of Waterloo, but left their campus because I hated it. I've been doing distance ed (correspondence) for the last 2-3 years because I didn't like being on campus. I finally decided to give MAC another try this fall because I'd like to do my graduate work and hopefully, a PhD here. [Prof] was one of my first teachers here last fall in 2J03 and I have him again this term for 3CC3. He's honestly been a huge part of my decision to transfer to this school permanently to finish my UG studies and then work on my graduate work.

The decision to terminate someone like [prof] (lack of funds or not) represents a total disconnect between the administration and the student body here at MAC. As far as I can tell, [prof] is a well-loved, well-respected, and all-around solid educator who goes beyond what is required of him on a regular basis - why would MAC choose to get rid of somebody so well-praised by their students? Does anyone here even care what we think, despite the LOADS of cash we all drop here?

I'm glad I haven't gone about the final steps to transfer here permanently. The thought of losing a prof that I had hoped to work with as my studies progressed over something so insignificant has left me feeling seriously betrayed and disappointed with this school.

That is all. Thanks for letting me vent, skanks. Feel free to continue to comment.

I don't know the specific Humanities enrollment figures, but I know that the Cultural Studies department specifically has enjoyed a boom over the last few years. When I came to Mac it was my understanding that they were at the forefront of Cultural Studies in North America, and the prof in question has largely come to represent Cultural Studies for me and many other students at the school. He has a genuine personal interest in the material, and the final assignment for many of his courses require us to engage in a practical inquiry between ourselves and our culture, with particular attention to the course material. This means that instead of simply writing an essay, we must go and DO something that demonstrates a concept from the course, and then write the essay about what we did.

Of course these guys shouldn't be kept based on their popularity alone, but that should count for something. I had the opportunity to meet the other prof tonight (he's awesome too), and he told us about the various positions he holds within the department; he is the faculty-student liason, and sits on a number of lay committees, amongst other things. A sectional lecturer would not be able to fill these other positions. Further, I think it shows a great lack of foresight on the part of the university to "unhire" these two gentlemen - both of whom have authored courses now being taught at the school - only to have those courses taught by people who will begin work July 1, study the material over the summer, and regurgitate it to students beginning in September simply as part of their job, rather than because they are particularly excited by the material.

I should mention that I found out today that the two profs in question are amongst 15 CLA's being let go (or "unhired") from the Faculty of Humanities at the end of this semester. The courses these people taught must still be taught; they will now simply be taught by instructors who are not likely to be particularly interested in the material, or at the very least, not as interested as some of the specialists being let go certainly are.

From the Department of English and Cultural Studies website:

As one of the oldest English departments in Canada, we have a longstanding commitment to the study of the British, American and Canadian literary traditions and of the poets, dramatists and novelists who both reflect and shape the cultural histories of the people of the English-speaking world. Our libraries have world-renowned collections of eighteenth-century and twentieth-century British and twentieth-century Canadian works. Our faculty and students bring to this literature a wide range of current theories and approaches, asking questions that reshape the tradition and extend the literary canon. Two journals of international reputation devoted to such questions are based in the Department: Eighteenth-Century Fiction and Early Theatre. We have also, in our recent hiring, strengthened our expertise and our course offerings in the most rapidly expanding fields of English: Postcolonial Studies (devoted to the literatures in English in the former colonies of the British empire) and Cultural Studies (the investigation of the conditions of contemporary social life and popular culture).

The recent hirings no doubt refer, at least in part, to these two guys. I wonder if they'll augment the website in April.

As for the Coke contract, according to materials distributed at the time of the campaign and to the best of my recollection, it was worth $750,000 per year - to the student union, though. I'm sure the university perceives that the loss of the contract will reflect upon its own finances as well, and that may be true to a degree. The McMaster Students Union (MSU), though, has been operating at a surplus that has hovered around a million dollars for the past few years; I have no doubt that the refferendum would have been quashed long before it actually took place if the MSU executive board had really been concerned with its effects.

I think I've answered everything I wanted to. I was at school late tonight meeting with a committee to discuss what action can be taken in response to this news. I took a course last semester with the prof in question called Modern Countercultures, wherein we learned about effective forms of activism, and we plan to put them to use. To be continued...

This is the kind of topic that I suspect could garner some response, or none at all, but I'm posting it anyway, partially to vent.

It was announced over the weekend that two professors in the Cultural Studies department at Mac will not have their contracts renewed at the end of this semester. I have taken three courses with one of these guys and he is the singular most engaging teacher I have ever had the pleasure to learn from. He's incredibly knowledgable, but doesn't put up the typical wall between himself and the students. I've never had the other guy but by all accounts he is the same way, and these two are the highest student-rated professors in the department. Here's what my prof had to say on his website yesterday:

hi everyone,

first of all, many thanks for everything everyone has said on these boards over the past few days: all of this concern is crazily humbling, and very much appreciated.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up regarding exactly what's going on here, since I was a bit less than clear in my last email perhaps.

[other guy] and I are cla's (12 month contractually limited appointments) which is a position about halfway between a sessional lecturer (lowest on the academic totem pole: apply for whatever courses are available, paid badly, no benefits or security, etc) and an associate professor (tenure track, and entailing all of the sweet priveleges that come with). this has been my first year as a cla, but [other guy] is in his second year in a spot that, as he pointed out, has been around for six years yet has curiously never been considered necessary enough to be made a permanent hire in that time (which is, for instance, why crowd pleasing russ kilbourn is no longer in our happy ranks).

what happened last week was that [other guy] and I were told by the department that the faculty of humanities is not giving them enough money in their budget for next year to hire any cla's at all, which hasn't happened in many years. all of the courses that [other guy] and I taught as part of our cla contracts will now be taught by sessional lecturers. so, it's not so much that either of us has been fired, as it is that we are not having our contracts renewed. I suppose from the faculty's position, this is sound business sense: it's entirely possible that if [other guy] and I can't get hired on permanently elsewhere, then we'll have no choice but to come back and apply to do exactly the same job as we did this year, only for much less money, no security, no professional development funds (which I use, for instance, to pay for the operation of this website), no benefits, etc.

obviously, this stings, and while neither [other guy] or I has any desire to leave this place, it's been made pretty clear that our futures here are short term, temporary, and entirely contingent on the ebb and flow of the faculty's budgetary requirements, which at present we are surplus to...

and that, my friends, is that.

many sincere thanks again for all of your kind words.

cheers,

That, to me, sounds like a hell of a hose job. I would bet that the university would welcome them back with open arms...the work as sessional lecturers, that is. This has become quite a big deal over the last couple days; my prof's message board - which is about as active as this one on a normal day, and on which he offers downloads of his lecture notes and assignments - is absolutely flooded with people ready to fight tooth and nail to keep them here.

Many of you may have heard that the McMaster student body voted earlier this year not to renew their exclusivity contract with Coca-Cola, based upon grievous human rights violations at bottling plants in Columbia, as well as a desire to minimize corporate presense on campus. These two profs were actively involved in the campaign (as they were right to have been, being Cultural Studies teachers), and there are rumours (though completely unsubstantiated) that they were targetted for their progressive views, which are in direct contradiction to the corporate manner in which the university wishes to conduct itself.

Basically, what it comes down to is a general sense on campus that McMaster wants to take the shape of a school that focuses on the Health Sciences, Engineering and Athletics, and that decision is being reflected in their budgetary decisions. Despite the size of the Faculty of Humanities, and the fact that the Cultural Studies department is one of the most advanced in North America and continues to grow each semester, the university is continuing to cut the faculty's funding.

So here's where I was hoping for some feedback: If the university is the entity that holds the money, and wishes to spend it in a certain manner despite the demands of students, who makes the call? Is it fair for us, as students, to demand something of the university (namely, more money to the Humanities, a demand that I think would have been implied by the high enrollment numbers in the faculty), or is the money theirs to spend and our thumbs ours to suck? Please to discuss.

Received today to my work e-mail account:

From: Aubrey Schmidt [affiliates@01com.com]

Sent: Mon 1/16/2006 7:00 PM

To: CFMU Production

Cc:

Subject: Aubrey

Hello,

Schmidt

Good Bye

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Schmidt

Maybe it's just the late hour at which I'm reading it.

Thurs.Mar:2nd: STEPHEN FRANKE AND NOISES FROM THE TOOLSHED www.stephenfranke.ca

Awesome, haven't seen them in a while.

Fri.Feb:3rd: FAT CATS www.fat-cats.com

I think you mean March 3rd.

Good work KC.

MAN

I've been into Below the Bassline for about a year, but was just loving it again last night and figured I'd come preach to the Skank about it. Good thing I did a search first.

He was in Toronto in October?!?!? How the F did I miss that? Did he play with a band, Chameleon?

....you'll see who I am, my name is Lucifer please take my hand...

Y3ESYSES3EYSYES!

Good times. Who knew Hamilton actually had a hip-hop scene? Is that closed-minded of me to say?

Everything I saw up there was great, Shain. Dave is right, the mix was muddy on and off, I could have used way more snare, and I was facing the stage head-on. I think that's just my music nerdiness though, the crowd didn't seem to notice, they just kept on groovin. Good times!

Bumpin it up over here

I'll be on around 7 this morn. http://cfmu.mcmaster.ca on the web, 93.3 FM in Hamilton.

His role is kind of ambiguous from this statement; not sure if he's writing or producing or both. If he's producing, I can't believe the Mule would do a record without Michael Barbiero, who has produced or co-produced every Mule studio album to date. From a Mule.net e-mail I just received:

MULE IN THE STUDIO

Following a few days off after the New Year's shows, Gov't Mule is returning to the studio to record its follow-up to Deja Voodoo. Warren flew down to Austin, TX yesterday to write with producer Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar) and the band and crew will join him next week and enter Willie Nelson's famed Pedernales Studio to begin recording.

The soon to be launched mule.net/inthestudio will be providing you with "fly on the wall" access to the recording of the new Gov't Mule record. Beginning January 18th with rehearsal, and continuing through the entire recording process, come to mule.net/inthestudio for daily updates including a blog, photos, streaming video, and more.

I'd love to go to Buffalo but I think I want to see Derek Trucks there two days later...not sure if I can handle two cross-border trips in three days.

SWEET

I like this dude and the newest record. My girlfriend is all over his older stuff but I haven't really heard much of it yet (when he was calling himself Songs:Ohia). Looking forward to that Toronto show.

The Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Crying

I just cried laughing for about ten minutes after reading that

Welcome indeed, we've been expecting you

Right on, I'll be out tomorrow night Shainhizzle.

I was going to post something but couldn't find the thread. This show is awesome! I had only heard of this guy from my stint as a disgruntled record shop employee, but had no idea he performed with a live band. And horns! And his last album is dripping with thick, luscious dub! Great show, thanks QQC!

I feel like this is more of a random publicity stop than a public address.

Bush: Well, lookee here! We got us a turkey! How ya doin there, little fella? How's everything down in turkey land? Neh heh heh heh.

Turkey: Gobble.

Bush: Whoa, slow down there, Chet! We didn't bring the turkey interpreter! Neh heh heh heh. [to aide] Have this one stuffed and sent to Cheney. He loves dead stuff.

he said there is a voters refusal box that will be on your ballot, in other words, if you don't want to vote for any of the above, you can vote to not vote. what would happen if ALL the people who didn't want to vote did that...what would happen if the refusal box got the majority of the vote? is there anything on the books to deal with this? if not what do y'all think would happen.

We already have that, though it's not a separate box. You can go to the polling station, get your ballot, and then hand it right back to the polling person and tell them that you're declining your vote. The declined votes are tabulated with all the others. I worked a polling station for the last provincial election and they were sure to warn us about this, I think we had one person do it the whole day.

Hot show. Planning to be there. Nice up, Kennet bwoy, we gan tro down nuff bashment.

Shit, look at this

12.31.05 Beacon Theatre - New York, NY

Set 1:

Bad Man Walking

Lay Your Burden Down

About To Rage

Don't Stop On The Grass, Sam

I'll Be The One

Life Before Insanity

I'm A Ram

Loser >

Terrapin Station >

Loser

I love Mule. I'll do a Beacon NYE run one day.

As far as I can tell, this is from his autobiography "This Wheel's On Fire".

And yeah, he's crazy in the Band DVD, but he was pretty sick at the time. I would venture that he has mellowed out a bit since then, he apparently has his voice back. This book is THE SHIT, I recommend it to everybody.

werd

Chag Sameach to the yids.

I dont know what is more embarassing. Dino thinking wrestling was real, Badams going to Stages last night or TGR remembering that match.

I don't know why I remember it man, I have a weird memory for specific things. My brother and I weren't allowed to watch wrestling when we were younger but our cousin was way into it and his parents always ordered Wrestlemania and such on PayPerView, so I figure we probably saw all this stuff at his house.