Austin Kleon – Page 567

WESTERN GONE, MIAMI LOSES

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Coming out of darkness over here to post an editorial that ran in the Cincinnati Enquirer today. Ms. Reutter expresses my own suspicions: that the move to squash Western was one of political payback. Check it out.

Miami loses by eliminating school

By Claire Reutter

I am a Miami University graduate from the 1980s grieving the loss of a dear friend who made an indelible impression on my life. My alma mater, the School of Interdisciplinary Studies (or the Western College Program), is slated to close (“Last pitch fails; trustees dissolve Western College,” June 24).

The news came suddenly to the Western community of alumni and students, who were shocked when they got the first word in the spring that this might happen. The outgoing Miami president and his administration overturned a 40-6 University Senate vote that called for a study next year to explore issues such as low enrollment. Instead, the school will be eliminated no later than June 30, 2008.

What’s in it for an outgoing university president to squelch dialogue and rush through closure of this dynamic liberal arts college that Barron’s Buys considers to be one of Miami University’s two stongest programs (the other one being its School of Business)?

Well, Miami’s dining hall and maintenance employees had a strike. Not surprisingly, several faculty members and students in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies – which has always concerned itself with social justice – supported it.

So now it’s payback time, and the outgoing president can make sure that the incoming president has one less thorn in his side, one less dissenting voice that suggests that even the menial laborers deserve a fair share.

I shudder to think where I would be now if it weren’t for my alma mater. Many of my colleagues attended Miami solely because of the Western Program.

One thing is certain: Without an entity that speaks up for what is right, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, will become more of a monoculture than ever before.

Claire Reutter has moved back to the Cincinnati area after four years in Maui, Hawaii, where she worked as a teacher, a writer, and a public librarian. She now lives in Clifton with two sisters, her husband and their 4-year-old son.

GOING DARK

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Blogging, it turns out, is the CB radio of the Dave Eggers generation.

– from “You’ve Got Blog,” an article on blogging that ran six years ago in the New Yorker

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It’s crunch time. I’ve got a synopsis that needs to come together within the next week, which means I’ve had to renew my relationship with Microsoft Word, which, let me tell you, does not make me happy. Summarizing with words a story told in pictures is NOT my idea of a good time…

But anyways, you probably won’t hear from me next week.

Be good.

SVENONIUS FOR PRESIDENT!

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Here is the chapter list for Ian Svenonius’s just-released PSYCHIC SOVIET, a “set of nineteen essays and prose pieces” presented “in pocket size for the student’s easy reference in the event of any ethical and/or aesthetic quandaries,” complete with links to excerpts or related articles:

Instructions
The Psychic Soviet
Vampirism & Vampirology
The Blood Latte
Beatles vs Stones
Rock ‘n’ Rolligion
The Responsible Use of R ‘n’ R
Eat the Rocument
Time as Money
Seinfeld Syndrome
Rock ‘n’ Roll As Real Estate
A Warning to Swedish Girls
Scion-tology
Mordor Dearest
Camp Exploitation
The Stilyagi
The Seduction of Paolo Hewitt
The Mix Master Race
You Can’t Always Get No Satisfaction
Person Inscription

I’m a big fan of Ian’s live music and his pseudo-academic-rock-n-roll rants, but you might be wondering, “How seriously should I take this book?” Well, here’s a quote from an interview from TimeOut Chicago:

How seriously do you think people should take the book?
This is something that I deal with a lot. People in America are so binary. They think that if something’s funny that it’s not serious. If you can manage to be funny, that doesn’t mean that things don’t mean anything. I’m sure Thomas Jefferson told some jokes.

Chapters I’m looking forward to? “Beatles vs. Stones” (I’m leaning towards the Stones these days), and “Seinfeld Syndrome,” which is supposedly about how Seinfeld was a ploy to market New York to the upper-class (did you know you can catch reruns every night at both 7:30 and 11?)

Ian is also on tour, and on Myspace, where he posts a blog. (And where there’s also a hilarious Weird War promotion.)

“The light has been switched to the ON position!” I’m rooting for you, Ian. And us! Here’s some YouTube from the Make-Up days:

THE GAS GIRL

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

One day I’m going to do a graphic novel about my parents, and it’s going to be called THE GAS GIRL AND THE RODEO RIDER. The Rodeo Rider part of the title we’ll save for another day, but the Gas Girl, I can explain now.

When my mom was young, she wanted to be Betty Newton. Betty Newton was the Martha Stewart of her day–only she wasn’t an actual person. See, the Ohio Fuel Gas Company was looking for a way to get consumers to switch to gas appliances, so they sent out home economists to demonstrate cooking techniques on gas ranges. (Gas girls!) And each of these gas girls went by the pseudonym, Betty Newton. Betty Newton would show up to your door or your 4-H club in her pinafore and show you how to cook with gas.

Ok, so here’s the treasure I mentioned yesterday:

“To Your Kitchen From Mine,” was a recipe booklet put out by the Ohio Fuel Gas Company in 1961. Its goal was to enlighten home owners about the advantages of cooking with gas versus electricity. It’s author? Betty Newton.

Check out Betty with her gas range:

[Read more…]

HAVING OUR CAKE, AND EATING IT TOO

Monday, August 7, 2006

Spent the weekend travelling to Cincinnati and Oxford, planning for our wedding. If you’ve never been cake tasting, I highly recommend it. Just pretend you’re having a wedding, set up an appointment at a bakery, show up, and cake is brought out to you to taste! For free! Bring as many people as you can fit in the car! Make it a party!

We brought my mom with us. Mom and I used to have great trips down to Oxford when she was driving me to school. We started this weird tradition of always listening to Bob Dylan (and playing “Oxford Town” on the way up the hill to Miami). For this trip, we had 14 episodes of Bob’s radio show to listen to. He’s done a theme show on weddings, which was appropriate.

“While we’re on the subject of marriage, here’s what Minnie Pearl had to say about it: ‘Gettin’ married’s a lot like gettin’ into a tub of hot water. After you get used to it, it ain’t so hot.’ Rodney Dangerfield had this to say: ‘My wife and I were happy for 20 years. Then we met.’ “

He also quoted Groucho Marx: “Marriage is a wonderful institution…but who wants to live in an institution?”

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Other things: I got some time on my old piano, trying out some arrangements of our wedding music. Which reminds me, I’m really looking forward to seeing the Ditty Bops live. They’re keeping up this cool blog about their bicycle tour, complete with a comic strip!

Since working on a graphic novel, I’ve been listening to a ridiculous amount of music. Right now, I’m listening to Everclear’s old one, SPARKLE AND FADE. What happened to these guys? Somebody should re-record “Santa Monica” as a country song. It’s a great tune for the apocalypse: “We can live beside the ocean / leave the fire behind / swim out past the breakers / watch the world die.”

Have I ever told you about my theory that all great bands should make a country album? Everclear would be one of them. The Shins would be another.

I don’t know about Love. Poor old Arthur Lee died this weekend. Meghan used to listen to Calexico’s version of “Alone Again Or” over and over on the way home from work. If you go to YouTube, you can see them on TV doing my favorite song, “A Message To Pretty.”

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Something I forgot to post up at the top as a great read: Re: A Guide To Reproduction, a free PDF file by Jordan Crane and some other folks that tells you everything you need to know about xeroxing, silkscreening, scanning line art, and scamming Kinko’s. It’s really something else. Go to your library and print the sucker out for free.

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On top of all this, I forgot to mention that we had to hit up a family reunion on Sunday. I had a few family members come up to me and say, “Oh, I saw your website!” And I said, “Cool!” And they said,” Yeah! I didn’t understand a word of it, but it looked pretty neat!”

So if you’re family, hello.

Tomorrow I’m going to post about a little treasure I found at my Mom’s house…