Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category



A Shameful Confession

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my first stint at Mary Washington, now close to 10 years ago. (wow!) I’m not sure why, except that a few things have reminded me about how different the job I have now is compared to the one I had then.
In early 2000, I joined the staff of [...]

Purple Boxes, On the Highway

Last week, my family spent a few days visiting family and friends in New York. It was a lovely trip, and, at some point, I plan on blogging about the few days we spent in Chautauqua, NY (where a dear friend of mine and her husband play every summer in the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra). Our [...]

A new kind of blog-enabled conversation

A long, long time ago, Rev. Jim blogged about a new theme for Wordpress know as Prologue, which created a Twitter-like front-end on a Wordpress blog. The basic idea is that the authors of the blog can quickly write a short post (a la Twitter) right from the blog’s front page. In typical fashion, Jim [...]

True Confessions

I have 1,965 things I need to get done right now, but I’ve decided to take a break and write about something that’s been troubling me. Consider this post my “true confessions,” if you like.
I like school.
There, I said it.
Now, tell me, why does writing those words feel like I’ve said something entirely unforgivable? These [...]

Why not?

I believe I shall start my own EDUPUNK-inspired meme. I know I’m a day late and a dollar short climbing on this internet bandwagon (how’s that for a metaphorical soup?), but my mad Photoshop skills were just itching to be taken for a spin.
And so I give you. . .

EDUPUNKY BREWSTER

Learning for My Life

Stuff is coalescing. . .I’ve got a bunch of ideas tumbling around in my head, coming from a variety of directions. I’m trying to decide how to bring it all together, and I think the best thing is to attack it chronologically.
About a year and a half ago, while attending my first NMC conference in [...]

WP as C(ontent)MS: Square Peg, Round Hole Anyone?

These days, I feel like I spend a great deal of my time figuring out how to tweak Wordpress to work as a simple but elegant content management system. In the fall, I worked on a site for a family member that finally got me thinking about the possibilities on this front. Then, in November, [...]

A Data Sandwich: Dabble DB, Google Spreadsheet, and Exhibit

I had such high hopes to do some serious blogging over our two week Christmas break. I have about a dozen posts brewing in my head, and I’m just trying to carve out the time to get them down. But, alas, holiday cheer, family visits, and a baby who decided it was time to give [...]

I publish, therefore I am

I’ve been mulling (hat tip to Gardner) this topic for a while.
It occurs to me that, frequently, when talking about how web 2.0/read-write web/pick your tired label can impact teaching and learning, we often talk about how these tools, technologies, and techniques enable students to publish. In fact, at UMW, when discussing UMW Blogs, we’re [...]

Re-entry Redux

Like Geeky Mom, I’ve been trying to figure out for sometime now how to write this post. Three months ago (minus one day), I went for a walk in downtown Fredericksburg and realized that my son was going to make an early entrance. Low and behold, a few hours later, Graeme Irick was born, healthy, [...]