How to be Useful (Even When You are not Happy About it)

by Tina Oswald

It is nice to have a break from the classes and studying.  Many of us use that time to read things we want to read for fun and enjoyment!  In searching through the new books that come in to the Steen Library, I was struck by this title: How To Be Useful: a Beginner’s Guide to Not Hating Work. It seems that many of us “worker bees” are not happy at our jobs. This book tries to put a positive spin on being a worker bee with the message of “be useful where you are, even if you are not particularly happy to be there.” The author, Megan Hustad, gives new employees the finer points of everything job related from:

 -Why you should not listen to the advice to be yourself -to

 -How to make polite conversation.

The author accomplishes this with style and humor, so it does not feel as if she is preaching to you. She states in the introduction that she wrote the book for the newest generations,” Generation X and Y.” Hustad emphatically states that these generations are not prepared for the working world. Her book will help them be ready. Are you ready? Are you close to graduation?  Are you ready to break out into the “real world” in a big way?  If so, read Ms. Hustad’s book and you will not fall flat when you do!

 

How to be useful: A beginner’s guide to not hating work

Megan Hustad

Call number: HF 5386 .H97 2008

Tina Oswald toswald@sfasu.edu rm. 202f 936.468.1861 Subjects - Elementary Education, and Secondary Education/Educational Leadership

Ministry Of Truth : Whitehouse Web Site

Ministry of Truth

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

"Reality Control" ...if all records told the same tale-then the lie passed into history and became truth. "Who controls the past", ran the party slogan "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

This Process of continuous alteration was applied...to every kind of documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance.

....[documents] were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made.

George Orwell 1984

Changes in White House documents raise concern about rewriting history

news bureau
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

11/25/08

Craig Chamberlain, Social Science Editor
217-333-2894; cdchambe@illinois.edu

The Bush White House has been rewriting part of its history, according to University of Illinois researchers Scott Althaus (ALL’-touse) and Kalev Leetaru (KAHL’-iv lee-TAR-oo). It “has quietly deleted or modified key documents in the public record that are maintained under its direct control,” they write, in a report posted online this week and cited in a story in The New York Times.

They argue, however, that “updating lists to keep up with the times is one thing. Deleting original documents from the White House archives is another. Back-dating later documents and using them to replace the originals goes beyond irresponsible stewardship of the public record. It is rewriting history.”

Airbrushing History American Style (Full Report)

The authors of the report show how to locate altered or deleted documents from the public record on the White House web site. You will need to hurry because in January the site will be gone. It could be deleted or put in an archive with restricted access.

Print, books, cultural literacy, and "the classics" are as relevant today as the day the were first written.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

Is the Whole World Going Broke?

Over the past couple of weeks many of us have been growing more and more concerned about the fiscal crisis on Wall Street that is spreading to what the pundits call "main street" (in other words, all the rest of us who don't work on Wall Street). Over the last couple of days it has become apparent that there is now an international crisis. This morning everything sounds so bad that a worldwide depression is being talked about.

For sometime now our university faculty has added international studies to the curriculum in a growing number of disciplines. International business, hospitality, nutrition, political science, anthropology, communication, etc. I won't even attempt to name every program that includes international or intercultural components. All of us have become more aware of how internationally intertwined so many aspects of our lives have become.

Here in the library we often have questions from students looking for demographic, trade, and cultural aspects of other countries. This semester we are pleased to announce the addition of a database to our library that will help immensely with the cultural aspect of these assignments. The database is called CultureGrams Online. Aside from the population and government statistics that you can find in a number of country profile products, this database includes information on family, housing, diet, recreation, dating and marriage customs and several other aspects of lifestyle. Check it out when you have a chance. You'll find that it will not only be helpful academically, it will also be useful for Scout Troops, university and civic organizations, or planning your next vacation. Everything from recipes to common courtesies and greetings is covered. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."

Bernice Wright bwright@sfasu.edu rm. 202j 936.468.1528 Subjects - Agriculture, Forestry, Human Sciences, Human Services, Speech/Communication

Beyond the Pale and Toad and the Wet Sprocket

The phrase "beyond the pale" appears frequently in writing; many guess at its meaning or just read past the phrase without looking up its meaning and move on. However, it could be central to the point the author is making. Its use extends through the lexicon of western civilization for at least 1000 years. If we ignore its origins or meaning of this and other phrases shared by our culture it hinders our understanding. Not knowing the shared fundamental knowledge of educated members of western society renders us illiterate regarding many of the things we read and hear throughout our lives. David Hirsch describes this concept of the need to know a standard set of facts and knowledge shared by all members of western society as "Cultural Literacy."

Wanting to be a literate and reasonably educated person, I often turn to reference sources to understand what I am reading or the world around me. One source many turn to Google. I tried it. After entering [Define:pale] Google retrieved several definitions. One was from Wikipedia: "Pale is the second album by Toad the Wet Sprocket released in January 1990.” This was not what I was looking for, so I turned to my all time favorite reference resource: "The Oxford English Dictionary” (OED).

The OED has two pages of text defining the word pale, its origins, and definitions for it from its first appearance an English text to the present. This multi volume work is comprehensive however; I will admit it did not mention "Toad and the Wet Sprocket.” The OED did reveal that a Pale was a poll or log lodged into an embankment with a pointed tip facing outward at an angle to act as a fence or defensive barrier impaling any attackers. This barrier defined the boundary of the civilized camp or village, from those who lived outside the defended area (or, beyond the pale) who were the "uncivilized" or "barbarians”. Eventually these boundaries became stone walls and then just lines on a map.

The meaning of beyond the pale also evolved from referring to the crude physical barrier to a conceptual line surrounding social behavior or set of shared ideals. Today it refers frequently to an individual or group that acts in a way beyond the accepted values, mores, or behavior of respectable or civilized members of society. This is beyond bending the rules or offending someone, but is an action so outrageous that society cannot accommodate or excuse the behavior. The offender traveled past the protective boundaries of civilization into barbarism; going "beyond the pale" of all reason and moral judgment.

I have nothing against Toad and the Wet Sprocket or Google, but I think the OED's definition is what I needed.

See: Rudyard Kiplings short story "Beyond the Pale", where a "man who willfully stepped beyond the safe limits of decent everyday society, and paid for it heavily".

The Oxford English dictionary.Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
call no. SFA Ref nc PE1625 .O87 1989

The dictionary of cultural literacy [electronic resource] / .D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, James Trefil. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Online at Net Library
print version, call no. SFA Ref nc E169.1 .H6 1993

Cultural literacy : what every American needs to know / E.D. Hirsch, Jr. ; with an updated appendix, What literate Americans know [by] E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph Kett, James Trefil. New York : Vintage Books, 1988, c1987.
call no. LB45. H57

"Pale" by Toad The Wet Sprocket (Audio CD - Jan 16, 1990) Amazon

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

I Prefer My Gadget Porn to My Climate Porn

I Prefer My Gadget Porn to My Climate Porn: New Words from 2007 ( Word Spy )

In his book WORD SPY: The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture Paul McFedries identifies "...new words and phrases that tell us something about our world." He collects "snapshots" of our quickly changing world with words, then adds context and a definition of their meaning. These words are like the gray literature of dictionaries. They are a step above slang because of their use in professional publications or circles, and their pervasiveness in current culture. Despite this they still lack the sanction of a respected dictionary.

The words and phrases McFedrise selects from our spoken and written interactions, provide an interesting gauge of current culture. They represent changes in society by society's need to create a new word to more accurately or succinctly describe either a new concept, or an old concept that previously did not seem to warrant its own word.

The WORD SPY: The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture web site contains a Subject Guide, Archives, and an Quotation Section organized by author and quote, and a list that "...shows the top 100 Word Spy words (as measured by page views) from the past seven days (The list below came from December 25, 2007 to January 1, 2008)."

New additions from 2007 include:

Rank	Previous	Word	Posted On
2	2	vajayjay	January 26, 2007
6	5	Christmas tree allergy	December 13, 2007
7	7	intensivist	December 18, 2007
12	11	Frankenstein veto	December 14, 2007
14	12	stroller envy	October 25, 2007
17	16	push present	December 12, 2007
18	20	lifestreaming	November 6, 2007
20	15	fixie	December 5, 2007
21	18	dropout factory	December 6, 2007
22	19	womenomics	December 11, 2007
61	54	upcycling	October 11, 2007
68	55	pack-year	September 13, 2007
90	82	climate porn	March 2, 2007
96	87	gorno	June 15, 2007

An interesting quote from the site about a current issue.

"Above all, a book is a riverbank for the river of language. Language without the riverbank is only television talk — a free fall, a loose splash, a spill."
—Cynthia Ozick, American novelist, essayist, critic, and playwright, Portrait of the Artist as a Bad Character, 1996.

	R. Philip Reynolds preynolds@sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy/Religion, Political Science/Geography

10 Ways to Improve Your Mind by Reading the Classics

From the blog "PicktheBrain" John Wesley mentions a study summarized for the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, indicating that "42% of college graduates will never read another book" after graduation. As disturbing as this is, it indicates that if a book is not a bestseller then number of people likely to read it drops even further. Wesley lists ten ways that reading the "classics" will improve our intelligence. He lists things like gaining perspective, developing fresh ideas, and increasing your level of sophistication. This does not mean one has to become a bookworm but it could help us move a little farther from being a couch potato. The list is at: 10 Ways to Improve Your Mind by Reading the Classics.

	R. Philip Reynolds preynolds@sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy/Religion, Political Science/Geography