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Chuck and I will be at Teaism in Dupont Circle, probably from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or so. Come on by, if you like. Dave and Natalie are running the Marine Corps Marathon, so you might want to go cheer them on, instead.
If you've never met me, this is what I look like, except my hair is short and dark, now.
Yesterday afternoon, after a delicious crab cake, and after walking by a man in colonial dress riding a Segway, I stopped in at the Starbucks at 124 Dock Street in beautiful Annapolis, Maryland.
Barista: Hello, how are you?
Me: Hi, I'm great. Could I get a cup of your Cafe Estima?
Barista: I can French Press a cup for you.
Me: That would be perfect.
Barista: It'll take about four minutes.
Me: That's fine.
[Four minutes later.]
Barista: Here you go [handing me a short (8 oz cup)].
Me: What do I owe you?
Barista: Oh, it's free. It's a sample.
Me: Okay. Thanks!
So, I received the usual friendly, professional service I've almost always received at Starbucks, and I was offered a French Press without having to ask for it. But why give me the small size as a free sample? Why not sell me a larger size, which is what I had in mind? And why is it that whenever I've ordered a short at Starbucks (any Starbucks) in the past, they've stared at me blankly like they've never heard of such a thing?
Right now I'm enjoying a double Americano at Hard Bean Coffee and Booksellers, which offers several Fair Trade blends (not just one) from all over the world. I also managed to snag a bargain-priced copy of Linda Colley's Captives : The story of Britain's pursuit of empire and how its soldiers and civilians were held captive by the dream of global supremacy.
Technorati Tags: fairtrade, fairtradecoffee, starbucks, starbuckschallenge
M is now recovered enough to be independent again. This morning I am on my way to the D.C. area to attend a conference, where I'll be chairing a panel and giving a paper.
Internet access should be no problem while I'm travelling, so if you're in the area and want to get together on Sunday, drop me a line or leave a comment.
So how about a D.C. blogger meetup at Teaism in Dupont Circle on Sunday, October 30? I'll be in the area for a conference and would like to meet up and catch up with my D.C. blogging peeps.
Since Prometheus is in the shop, and I'm heading back to Newnan for a few days, I probably won't have access to the Internet for a little while. I should be back online in time to check messages for the meetup, though.
By the way, it seems that the blog was acting up yesterday, not letting you access some individual entries. However, I've rebuilt all the pages, so things should be back to normal.
Sigh. The hard drive is dying. However, I do keep backups of all of my data, so I'm not in danger of losing anything. I just hope replacing the drive doesn't take too long.
My backup process is not very elegant. Things are copied directory by directory over to an external hard drive. I'd be interested in hearing about others' backup tools and procedures.
Update: Well, I'm blogging from the Apple Store. They're replacing the hard drive, repairing the keyboard (the function key is missing), and replacing the missing little screws here and there. All. For. Free. Even though the computer is outside the warranty period. (!)
Success! But weird. Barista 2 seems to try to convince me that Cafe Estima is not Fair Trade. This location had a prominent display near the register promoting Fair Trade month and offering bags of their Cafe Estima.
Barista 1: Good morning.
Me: Good morning. Do you have any Fair Trade certified coffee brewing?
Barista 1: Um.
Me [spying the Cafe Estima label]: That's it [pointing], I'll have the Cafe Estima, please.
Barista 1: Okay.
[At this point, for some reason, Barista 2, who is working the espresso machine, joins the conversation.]
Barista 2: That's not Fair Trade. It's like Fair Trade, but it's not the same.
Me: No, it's Fair Trade. [Picking up bag of beans.] See, the label says "Fair Trade Certified."
Barista 2: I understand that, but it's not the same as Fair Trade.
Barista 1: Here's your coffee.
Me: Thanks. [Moving away to add cream to my coffee.]
Barista 1: Barista 2, what are you saying? [Saying something else I cannot hear.]
Barista 2: I understand that. I understand that. But what I'm saying is it's a different blend.
[At this point, I realized Barista 2 thought I was ordering their now discontinued Fair Trade Blend.]
Guy next to me [popping the lid off of what he ordered]: He was so busy talking to you, he forgot to finish my order.
So there you have it. A Starbucks that's actually brewing their Fair Trade offering but trying to convince customers it's not "really" Fair Trade.
technorati tag: starbuckschallenge, starbucks, fairtrade, fairtradecoffee
Scribblingwoman has posted Teaching Carnival #2. Check it out!
Teaching Carnival #3 will take place at Scrivenings on November 15.
Once the cats learned that blogging requires opposable thumbs, they lost interest. They agreed to be photographed, however.
This Teaching Carnival entry is about how I grade student essays and how to go about developing my grading technique. Well, maybe "grading" is the wrong word. I don't have much of a problem assigning a grade. It's the commenting that often trips me up. I want to improve my commenting, and I want to be able to return my students' papers in a more timely manner by grading them more quickly. If it's not too much trouble, dear reader, I would like to hear from you on your own grading practices, if you are a teacher. If you are a student, tell me about your experiences getting essays back with comments. I've listed questions at the end of the entry below, and it would be great if you answered some of them.
Like many (most?) people who teach in English departments, I began my teaching career immersed in freshman composition classes, which required me to focus on not only the process of writing but also the value of revision. When I graded essays for these classes, I wrote several brief comments in the margins as well as relatively lengthy comments at the end. Positive comments about strong elements of the writing were combined with critical comments about negative elements. Students were encouraged to revise their essays for a higher grade, and my comments were intended as a kind of dialogue with them as writers. If a point was unclear, for example, I would press them to provide a more detailed explanation. Or if two adjacent paragraphs seemed disconnected, I would suggest ways of connecting them with a smooth transitional phrase. Students then had the opportunity to incorporate my suggestions in their revisions.
I no longer teaching freshman composition very often, and although my commenting technique has evolved to meet the needs of my more advanced classes, it needs to evolve more than it has. Most of my classes are literature classes for juniors, seniors, and graduate students. I expect these students to already know at least the basics of writing an effective essay, and I provide them with detailed assignment sheets about what each essay requires. The seniors and grad students, in particular, usually write good to excellent papers. It's the rare student who makes a C or lower at this level. The opportunity for revision is not a central part of these courses, and that difference should change the nature of the comments I make. If a paper is not going to be revised, then it doesn't make much sense to suggest ways the paper could be improved. Then again, if it's a good paper (a B), but not a great paper (an A), then some comments need to be made about why. However, I hate focusing on making comments about the quality of the paper at the expense of responding to the ideas presented by the paper. But where's the dialogue? If I respond to the ideas in the paper, then when does the student have the chance to respond to my responses? Urgh. You can tell I haven't resolved this issue.
Then there's the issue of time. Most of the essays I assigned in freshman composition were in the neighborhood of 4 to 6 pages. It would take me about half an hour to get through each one. So, if I had two classes of 20 students each, and if I assigned 6 essays for each class, I had 120 essays to grade, occupying 60 hours of my time over the course of a semester. That's not counting revisions, which usually did not take as long. I don't know if 60 hours is an unusual amount of time for a semester's worth of grading or not but the responsibility always weighed upon me somewhat heavily. (There are those who teach 4 classes or more a semester, and it seems unlikely that they would have the time or the energy to spend 120 hours or more on grading.) Frankly, the responsibility of grading essays still weighs heavily on me, and not because I don't want to do it but because I don't want to do it badly. I know how much emotional energy the average student has invested in her or his writing, and it would be unfair to respond to that writing in a careless manner. However, I can procrastinate too easily if I have the idea of 30 minutes per paper looming over me and a stack of papers waiting to be graded.
Here's a slight digression. Is there any value to essay questions on exams? When I was a student, I never felt very good about the timed essays I wrote for exams. However, the advantage of essay exams for students is that they do not have to spend an inordinate amount of time writing. When I assign in-class essay exams, I give students information in advance about what to expect (four possible essay questions, say), and I ask them to write up outlines. They can then use their outlines during the exam as they write. In this way, they will have thought through several questions regarding the course material, even if they do not write up full responses to each of those questions. Still, the essays they write are not anymore interesting to read than the essays I wrote during in-class exams in my student days. I'd much rather read a student essay written with more care. So I've turned to different formats for in-class exams.
Questions for those who teach:
Questions for students:
Starbucks gets it right at this location (mostly). The staff was very nice:
Location: 316 City Circle, Peachtree City, Georgia, USA
Date: October 12, 2005
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Barista 1: Hi, May I help you?
Me: Hi, may I get a cup of Fair Trade certified coffee?
Barista 1 [looking a bit confused]: Barista 2, do we have any Fair Trade certified coffee?
Barista 2: Yeah, it's the Cafe Estima.
Me: Great. Could I get a cup of that.
Barista 2: Oh. No, we don't have any brewed, but I could do a French press of it for you. It would take about 4 minutes.
Me: That's kind of a lot. Could I just get 12 ounces of it?
Barista 2: I'm sure you could. Let me go check. [At this point she disappeared into the back, returning a second or two later with someone. A manager? Manager enters some stuff into the register to see how much a French press order is. Then she goes to another manager who is sitting at a table doing paperwork. She returns a second later.]
Manager 1: It's $3.45 for the French press.
Me: Can I just get 12 ounces? I don't need that much coffee.
Manager 1: No, I'm sorry.
Me: Okay, I'll just have some regular coffee, then.
The good news is that I was offered the French press option without having to ask for it. The bad news is that I don't want that much coffee at one time. Also, there was no prominent display, as at the Newnan store, identifying October as Fair Trade month. And there was no Fair Trade coffee brewed and ready to serve.
I'll count this as a successful trip, though. I'm tweaking my rules a bit, though; I don't think I should have to tell the Barista that it's possible to French press a cup of Fair Trade for me. If they don't offer without being asked, then it's not a successful trip. Today, I felt weird making such a fuss, even though it really wasn't a fuss. But it's going to be uncomfortable any time you get all four people involved in order to get a cup of coffee.
Most of the time, I'm not going to want that much coffee at once, but sometimes I will. Ideally, Starbucks would do an espresso drink with Fair Trade coffee (e.g. my beloved Americano) or they would offer to French press just 12 ounces. Measure the appropriate grounds and put in 12 ounces of water. Why not?
As for the discomfort issue, when I lived in downtown Kansas City, I would sometimes walk to the Starbucks down the street from me. The staff there got to know me, and I would not have felt uncomfortable asking them. And if I went in every day ordering the same thing, they probably would have begun to fix me the amount I wanted. But when you're stopping by unfamiliar locations, it's not quite so easy.
technorati tag: starbuckschallenge, starbucks, fairtrade, fairtradecoffee
Someone in my mom's neighborhood was having a birthday party this past weekend.
So I was able to get a massive quantity of French-press Fair Trade certified coffee on my second try in Newnan, Georgia. (See also the account of my first try.) Here's what happened today:
Location: 733 Bullsboro Road, Newnan, Georgia, USA
Date: October 11, 2005
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Barista 1: Hi, may I help you?
Me: Hi, could I get a cup of Fair Trade certified coffee?
Barista 1: Well, we don't have any brewed today, but we do have [went on to name the available coffees, none of which are Fair Trade certified].
Me: Well, I see that Cafe Estima is your featured coffee this week, and I'm wondering if I could get a cup of that.
[At this point Barista 1 went into the back along with another Barista. They returned after a few seconds.]
Barista 2: They were supposed to send us the Fair Trade coffee to brew, but they didn't, so we don't have any available.
Me: Could you French-press some for me?
Barista 2: Oh, sure. It'll take a few minutes, though.
Me: That would be great.
After a few minutes (maybe 8?), I walked out with 32 ounces of French-pressed Fair Trade coffee from Starbucks. That's really way more than I wanted, but at least they fulfilled the official policy saying that any store will serve you a cup of the stuff if you request it.
Given that Green LA Girl mentioned my experience yesterday when she had her chat with a Starbucks representative, I wonder if the Newnan store got a call from corporate headquarters. Today I got a vibe from them that suggested they were putting 2-and-2 together. Nothing unpleasant, mind you, just a feeling I had. I should emphasize that the Baristas were very nice.
Furthermore, by the entrance was a prominent display promoting their Cafe Estima and letting customers know October is Fair Trade month. However, I think it would be good if they provided more information to customers about what Fair Trade means.
I'm left wondering why they didn't have what they needed to brew up a whole pot but they were able to French-press an individual order for me.
technorati tag: starbuckschallenge, starbucks, fairtrade, fairtradecoffee
Fair Trade certified coffee ensures a fair price and fair working conditions for coffee farmers and harvesters. Starbucks is one of the most popular coffee joints in the world. If they were to get gung-ho about Fair Trade coffee, they could make an enormous difference.
I went to the Starbucks in Newnan, Georgia to take the Starbucks Challenge, which I learned about through a recent comment on this blog. Starbucks' website says (PDF, 20k) Fair Trade certified coffee "can be brewed by coffee press during store hours upon customer request."
Here's what happened today when I requested said coffee:
Location: 733 Bullsboro Road, Newnan, Georgia, USA
Date: October 10, 2005
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Barista: Hi, may I help you?
Me: Hi, I see that you have some Fair Trade certified coffee beans for sale. Could I get a cup of Fair Trade certified coffee?
Barista: [Looks over shoulder at menu board.] Well, we don't have any brewed today, but we do have [goes on to name the available coffees, none of which are Fair Trade certified].
Me: Okay, thanks.
Strike one, Starbucks. I intend to do this in as many Starbucks as I can. If, after ten tries, I succeed five times or fewer, I will no longer buy coffee from Starbucks, and I'll encourage everyone I know to do the same.
I hereby declare this an academic blog meme. I know very few academics who do not stay fueled on caffeine. Go try your own Starbucks Challenge and see what happens. [You do not, of course, have to pledge to boycott.]
technorati tag: starbuckschallenge, starbucks, fairtrade, fairtradecoffee
This picture is of a community center about a mile from my mom's house in Newnan, Georgia. You can find more information about kudzu, the creeping vine slowly covering everything in the South, here.
This week, Mexico and Central America have been hit hard by Hurricane Stan.
The economic health of a region will affect the people's ability to recover from disasters like this. One of the most important exports from Central America is coffee. Now is as good a time as any for you to read up on Fair Trade Coffee (something my sister got me interested in last week), which ensures a fair price and fair working conditions for coffee farmers and harvesters. Fair Trade Coffee is not hard to find in America or England, but you do have to pay attention when shopping.
If you have suggestions for how to help those affected by Hurricane Stan, please leave them in the comments. Three groups likely to be involved in the area are Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, and the Red Cross. As Meg recently pointed out, you can use the Charity Navigator to help you evaluate charitable organizations.
If you have a del.icio.us account (they're free), please tag relevant online information appropriately so that others may find it. So far, the links are kind of thin:
Del.icio.us links: hurricanestan and hurricane-stan
Technorati links: hurricanestan and hurricane-stan
Miriam, of ScribblingWoman, will host the next Teaching Carnival. To nominate teaching-related posts from all disciplines in higher education, contact her at unbsj.ca with jones before the at.
Don't wait for someone to notice your teaching-related posts. It's easy to draw everyone's attention to them.
Don't just spectate. Participate!
As I wrote last week, M's surgery went well, and the recovery has been remarkable. Home from the hospital last Wednesday, getting stronger every day. Hospitals exist in a kind of zero time, just like air travel. The furniture is designed with a very similar aesthetic. The lighting is about the same. Many of the sounds--beeps, clicks, hissing--are the same. The food, the blankets, the fitful sleeping, the employees awake all night and checking in on you periodically...it's uncanny. You don't really sleep well at all, and the resulting exhaustion numbs you to what's going on. It's not jet lag, but it's close.
The best thing about getting out of the hospital is being able to sleep straight through the night.
Via Texturl, a whole mess of interesting sound files. Avant-garde poetry and more.
Some of my recent, related acquisitions: