The chair of my grad program, Tracey Cockrell, was big on critique as democratic agreement. We spent a great deal of time through the course of my program defining what we wanted out of critique, a big one — no innocuous language. Meaning, no “that’s pretty,” “I like it” etc. Anytime we would make an […]
Author Archives: alanna
A Letter to my students
Hi Students, I have some important thoughts to share with all of you. So… I just turned in the final grades. You all pulled off what I didn’t think was possible under the circumstances. I’m completely blown away. A little bit nervous too, and really touched by all of the kind words that you’ve been sending […]
More Good News
Dang it, life is so overwhelming. And I want to start writing in this thing every day. But I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel. I’m pretty sure the hamster wheel would allow me 5 minutes for a blog post. So yeah let’s do this thing. This morning, I looked at my email and […]
A Note From Ten Years Ago and A Bit About Water
I just found this in an old blog post. I was about 25 weeks pregnant at the time: “I must do this for my daughter. I must show her that you can do what you love, that you don’t have to settle. That money isn’t as important as happiness. I want her to know hard […]
Supporting Students During Covid-19
I posted this article on Medium. About a month ago I presented slides to educators at my code school about how to support students during the pandemic. I got a lot of good feedback so I wanted to share them further. Here’s the sideshow. Some key points from the article: Acknowledge that we aren’t just […]
Kate Tempest
virtual busking
https://www.stageit.com/ this is kinda cool. its like virtual busking for big musicians.
Take a virtual trip
I’m not a cake
What was the last lyric you had to look up online? from r/funny
JQuery’s John Regis on the history
This interview with John Resig outlines the history of JQuery, its humble beginnings, how it grew into JQuery, and how it became a successful open source project. https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-js-jquery/jquery-dom-access/a/history-of-jquery
Portland Tree Idenitifier
This website tells you what kinds of trees are in our world! What’s growing on your block? https://pdx.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=763ccdb78fc04181b79a0bdee8834ed7
Covid-19 Grief, Stress, Anxiety Articles
I had a bad day yesterday. I cried until my face burned so bad I couldn’t stand it and then my eyes just kept watering from the pain. I read articles about how crying (in moderation) is good for you. It helped a bit. The despair came in waves, I tempered it with fiction reading […]
Portland Resources for Covid-19
The following is a random assortment of resources for people in Portland Struggling from various challenges posed by Covid-19 and it’s impact on life. Small Business and Non Profit Resources https://prosperportland.us/portfolio-items/portland-small-business-relief-fund/?fbclid=IwAR1y8I6ArKUqi9grmkBBzhV8BxScq2XmRn-uD7Qcj0zlLozBzrS8-a9ZJgYThis one is only open until April 1, and you get cash in hand by next Friday. Wowza. Our senator has a great list of resources […]
Canadian Indigenous Film Catalog
Looking to stock up on some new films to watch during your self quarantine? The NFB website has hundreds of films by Canadian Indigenous filmmakers available for free!
Zoom as an online teaching tool
I’d like to start posting things about digital pedagogy tips I’ve developed over the past couple years. This is hopefully the first of many. I’ve been working remotely as a contractor for a long time and have been an instructor online for a little over two years. I’m also addicted to online tutorials and my […]
Article on Tips for remote work
Will Hunt, Caves, and Getting Lost
LOVE this article in the Atlantic: Getting Lost Makes the Brain go Haywire “So deep-seated is our dread of disorientation that becoming lost might trigger a kind of crack-up, where our very sense of self comes apart at the seams. “To a man totally unaccustomed to it,” wrote Theodore Roosevelt in his 1888 book Ranch Life […]
Placeholder Images to Rule them All
fillmurray, placebeard, placecage. I’ve died and gone to placeholder heaven.
Press for “Despondent” Show in Eugene, Oregon
The Register Guard gave us a nice write up in the paper! “The Maude Kerns Art Center presents “despondent,” a group show of six artists opening with a public reception on Friday, February 21, from 6 – 8 pm. The exhibit features the work of Judith Hochman, Kumja Lee, M.V. Moran, Alanna Risse, Rhonda Vanover, […]
Cats in space
Just because. via GIPHY