Why haven't I posted for several weeks? One reason: I've been ill for three weeks, culminating in five days in the hospital. (If you go to the site, my room was the middle one on the second floor: just above the apostrophe in "it's." I had a very persistent pneumonia.

I also had intravenous fluids, including lots of antibiotics. Frequent breathing treatments accompanied the usual check of my "vitals": blood pressure, temperature, oxygen saturation in my blood, pulse. I'm pleased to report that my pulmonary function test (not an easy procedure) showed my capacity to be "normal" for a man of my age, height, and weight.

Anyone who's spent days and nights in a hospital knows that one's mortality is foregrounded, even though one's illness isn't critical. I had plenty of time to reflect on diet and exercise and make decisions about refinements and changes. Other patients' coughs and moans punctuate one's sleep; the med evac helicopter tends to come and go at intervals throughout the night.

I received very good care from the nursing staff, my doctors, and the technicians in various laboratories. The meals were against the stereotype of how awful hospital food is; the food was plentiful and reasonable good, with the exception of some unfortunate vegetables.

Decades ago, I worked in two hospitals (Mt Zion Medical Center in San Francisco and Newman Memorial Hospital in Emporia, Kansas) as an orderly in Central Supply. That lead to two or three interesting conversations with nurses, including one of the younger nurses, who was astounded that we used steel needles that I cleaned, sharpened, packaged, and sterilized. "You're showing your age!" she said. But I don't need to talk about steel needles to show my age.

Five days essentially away from computers and news was a real vacation. Actually, the hospital is very computerized. Everyone but housekeeping and the doctors came into my room with a computer. But I didn't have to use them. The hospital's Web site says it won "Health Care's Most Wired" for 2007. I believe that. There is even WiFi for patients, but after one very tiring session with my laptop, I sent it home. (As you can tell, now that I'm home, it's hard to stay away from the computer, but it does tire me, so that's it for now.)

Dr. Ed Malone, assistant professor of English and Technical Communication, and Director of Technical Communication, has begun writing a quarterly column on the history of technical communication. His column appears in the IEEE Professional Communication Newsletter. The latest column is about Dorothy Dahle, a pioneering woman in the field. The column touches on the difficulties a woman faced entering the field in the 1950s. It's well worth reading.

The next entry will show up here much sooner than the four weeks between this one and the previous.

Many faculty and some students live where it's dangerous or impossible to drive to campus. Walking, too, is hazardous when everything is coated with ice. It's fairly quiet in the department this morning, although I've seen four faculty members, and talked with three or four students. The department's administrative assistant, Linda Sands, lives several miles out in the country amid hills that, when the roady is iced over, make driving very hazardous. She's not here today.

The quiet and relatively few people are somewhat disconcerting. It's almost lonely.

I drove to campus, as I usually do, although I live within a 15 minute walk. I have walked to campus in worse weather than this, but . . . perhaps I have more (or less) sense.

Dr. Malone has agreed to write a quarterly column for the newsletter of the IEEE Professional Communication Society. As this first column shows, Ed has been doing extensive research in the history of technical communication and is able to present the results effectively.

On Friday, January 18, Dr. Wright was interviewed by Wayne Huebner, host of radio station KMST's TechnoFiles program. You may listen to the full interview in MP3 format here.

Visitors to the Den will find links to information about Angelia and Naomi Brooks, with whom she shares the site, links to samples of her fiction, to publishers, reviews, and other goodies. The site is well-designed, a relief when so many sites seem to emphasize flash animations and other glitzy effects.

Ms. Sparrow's fiction — like all fiction — will not be to everyone's taste. Her fiction covers a range of erotic tastes and experiences. She also presents dark fantasy themes and settings. The sample story I read on her Web site is a crisply written ghost story with a homoerotic theme. The style is simple and straightforward, which presents the ghost-theme quite effectively.

Here's an excerpt from an email she sent me:

I left the CBU library in 2005, went to truck driving school and now have an auto parts delivery run that gets me home every night.

I sold 14 short stories and a novel last year. My second novel, Nikolai, came out January 18. I have 5 more stories and another novel in the editing process for publication this year. My goal is 20 published pieces this year.

Ms. Sparrow also includes information about her husband, Richard, a physics graduate of Missouri S&T (back when it was UMR) and a high school teacher. Their children are in junior high and high school.

This is the university's first semester as Missouri S&T, rather than the University of Missouri - Rolla. We're all making the transition in how we refer to the campus, with some uncertainty whether it is "MST," "MS&T," or "Missouri S&T." Officially, "mst" is reserved for our email and Internet domain, not for print or speech. However, it's only three syllables versus four or seven in the other possibilities.

"S&T" is a good designation but a little too obscure right now. The Rolla Daily News uses it, so maybe it will spread.

I did quite a bit of class preparation back in December but still have plenty to do. I'm teaching Creative Writing for the first time in several years and using Blackboard for the first time for that class.

For a department chair, preparing for a new semester means much more than writing up (or revising) the course syllabus. It also means making sure all the courses taught by the department have teachers assigned to them, that everyone has appropriate office space, that the courses have sufficient enrollment.

In fact, I've been constructing the class schedule for the fall 2008 semester.

My colleagues in the department are doing their preparations (or have already completed them); some of my students have already visited Blackboard. Unfortunately, there won't be much there until sometime late today or tomorrow.

Enrollment for this spring semester is slightly higher than for last spring. This weekend, the population of Rolla will expand by several thousand. The campus has felt very empty recently; that changes soon.

We have enjoyed the story of The Lord of the Rings in three media: Tolkien's novel, Jackson's film, and the BBC's radio production. I have read, viewed, and listened to each of these many times. Is the story the same in each medium?

The answer is "No," if by "the same," one means that the movie and the novel are identical in each detail. Given the differences between a film and a book, it is impossible that the two be identical.

The answer is "Yes," if by the "the same," one means that the movie and the novel tell the "same story," however different the two may be in detail. For The Lord of the Rings, my judgment is that Peter Jackson does tell the same story as does Tolkien. For that matter, the BBC's radio production also tells the same story.

Consider this possibility: the "real" Story lies behind any particular telling of the story in any medium. While we can consider Tolkien's novel to be the canonical (authoritative) version of the Story of the destruction of the One Ring, the other versions can still tell the Story, although different in detail from the canonical version.

The BBC radio production is very close textually to the novel. (Ian Holm plays Frodo in this version, and, of course, he plays Bilbo in Jackson's films.) But the radio version omits the Old Forest, Bombadil, and the Barrow Downs just as does Jackson's film. Like most readers of the novel, my wife and I both delight in Tom Bombadil and Goldberry; yet I understand why someone telling the Story in a different medium would omit them.)

An analogy for the relationship of Jackson's films to the novel: we can see the films (and the radio production) as remixes of the novel, just as musicians remix songs and albums. Actually, musicians may release a song in versions of different lengths; in such a case, do we ask which version is the "real" song? Really, we decide which version we prefer. Realistically, isn't that what people do with novels and movies based on them?

Here's a last question, which I only mention: how much can a version (or remix) of a story change it without making it a different story? It's a question that I and the students of a course in the fantastic in literature and film discussed without arriving at any kind of definite answer. The answer is surely up to the individual.

Two of the students, Kathryn Knocke and Laura Ward, are pictured here with Elizabeth Cummins, professor emeritus of English and Technical Communication. Dr. Cummins is the president of the local chapter of Phi Kappa Phi. The third student inducted is Andrew Moss, who has been studying in London this fall (after studying in Italy this past summer). These three students are among approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year.

Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 at the University of Maine. It is the nation’s oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The Society has chapters on nearly 300 campuses in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, having at least seventy-two semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

The English and Technical Communication Department congratulates these three students on receiving this honor. You make us proud!

Yes, I jumped the gun on the name-change from University of Missouri - Rolla to Missouri University of Science & Technology. But that particular gun is being jumped more and more often. Why not me?

• First, I admire the student design teams, having known students in them in my own classes.
• Second, our department is a vital part of the campus and its endeavors, as Chancellor Carney noted early in his state of the university talk. The chancellor reminded the audience forcefully that, while he would talk mostly about scientific and technological matters, he did not want to overlook the humanities, the social sciences, or the business program.
• Third, there are numerous ways, many yet to be discovered, in which the scholars, teachers and students of our department can relate to the campus's major thrust. One important way is to pursue our own research and teaching interests with energy and imagination. Our efforts do contribute to the overall accomplishments of the campus. Another way is participation of our students and faculty in projects of other departments and organizations.

Enough with metaphor and analogy! The university is not a bicycle in an aerodynamic cocoon, with its power-source, a student, concealed inside: the university is a complex enterprise, dependent on everyone, everything, every place that make it up. Ending his talk, the chancellor called on the university to focus on our world's needs for energy and environmental renewal. Those of us who work with words and images can contribute our knowledge, skills, wit, and wisdom to that project.

I was vaguely aware of Unity Day, something that happens around twice a semester. The event was in the atrium of the Havener Center; I had a 12:00-1:00 meeting in a room on the second floor, close to the atrium. When I walked into the Havener for the meeting and saw the tables of food, I knew I had come too late. The meeting went well, but we could hear music, cheers, and singing from the open space just outside the closed doors to our meeting room.

When the meeting was over, I walked out and looked over the railing, into the atrium. Two young women were dancing. I couldn't see well, being above them at a sharp angle. They were dressed in soft gray and white clothing. The dance involved their mirroring each others' gestures as far as I could see. From my impression, the dance expressed a kind of focused grace, a strong quiet.

After that dance, I walked down the stairs, still hoping for some food. The next act was a step show by the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha. Stepping is an African American art form, the steppers moving in unison, often in a close line. The moves are strong, with stamping and powerful arm gestures. The steppers express strength and unity. If you've never seen a step show, I recommend you do if you have the chance. There's a stepping contest in Spike Lee's movie, School Daze. (I googled Spike Lee and
School Daze and decided to let you find your own links if you're interested.)

And, yes, I did score some food: two wonderful egg rolls.

Yesterday morning (Saturday), I walked downtown to get my hair cut, prepared to go for a coffee if the barbershop were full. It wasn't. Very few cars were parked along Pine Street; there were hardly any pedestrians. A cool sunny November morning and nobody around. Several thousand students gone, the town grows quiet. Of course, faculty leave as well as students. I'm one of those grinds who doesn't leave but sticks around to try to catch up.

The title of this entry, "Taking a Break," might refer to the fact it's been three weeks since I posted here. I hadn't realized so much time had passed -- not a deliberate break, either, just busyness and distraction.

Whatever you do over this week, I hope it's fun and relaxing.

Six MS students and Dr. Kathy Northcut attended the St. Louis regional chapter meeting of the Society for Technical Communication. The topic was "Cool tools for Technical Communicators <$100." The speaker, Nicky Bleiel, demonstrated dozens of tools which are either free or available for a nominal fee. Examples include voice-to-text applications, the GIMP, and icon-building design software.

A brief side trip to Global Foods International Market rounded out the evening.

The GIMP is the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, a tool that I use myself, on both Windows and Linux. It is a freeware parallel to PhotoShop.

Dr. Kris Swenson took a group of students to see Alan Bennett's award-winning play, The History Boys (2004) at the St Louis Repertory Theatre on September 29. The play is set in a boys' school in England in the 1980s. A group of history students preparing for Oxbridge entrance exams is being pulled in contrary directions by the teaching styles and goals of different faculty members. It's really a play about the ends of education and something of an indictment of the current emphasis on testing versus life-learning. I set up the trip especially for students in my Contemporary British Literature class, though all were welcome. The trip was partially supported by Sigma Tau Delta, the English honorary society.

My experience of the wind and of homecoming came on Friday afternoon at the departmental open house. Among the homecoming events were the departmental open house on the patio outside the Havener Center. Under a green and white tent, at the curve of University Drive, a beer and soda garden offered burgers, brats, barbecue, beers, soda — all the necessities for such a pleasant afternoon.

With the green grass of the Havener lawn, the crowds moving from place to place, the scene reminded me of William Langland's "fair field full of folk": an apt description of the scene Friday afternoon.

Not having anticipated a blog entry on this event, I didn't take my camera or notes, so I'm reaching back a day and a half. My primary impression is wind and sun and glimpses of a woman with a blue violin.

Dr. Ed Malone and I carted the department's display over to the patio along the front of the Havener Center. The departmental displays vary some, but basically, it is a panel about 3' x 6' that folds so there's a large central panel with two smaller panels on each side. The side panels fold to provide stability and depth to the display. The main ingredient in the departmental open houses was the wind. The displays would not stay on the tables provided; some departments put theirs on the ground in front of the tables; some, like us, packed up their display. We did have some books authored by faculty members, copies of last spring's departmental newsletter, and some brochures. These didn't blow away (mostly).

A bluegrass band played around the curve of the Havener from us. I couldn't see them well because of the pillars, but I did see a woman playing a blue violin.

The best part for me was a long conversation with one of our English alumna. She and her husband stopped at the table, and we caught up on a lot of things, mostly what's happening with the department and with some of the older and retired faculty. Another alumnus, a friend of the couple I was speaking with, walked up. He got his B.S. here in 1967, the year I arrived. He and I have to be among the few people who remember John Brewer, who taught speech and who, we agreed, was the last gentleman.

There really wasn't a lot of traffic at the department displays, but my time was well-spent. Despite my somewhat peripheral relation to homecoming, spending Friday afternoon in the wind and sun, talking with a former student, was good.

Question: What was the topic of the thesis?

Answer(s): First, revise the first question to " When was the first Master's degree in literature awarded at the Missouri School of Mines (MSM)?" As you may know, this campus was known as the Missouri School of Mines from its founding in 1870 until it became the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1964. As part of the University of Missouri system, this campus has a long, proud history of educating engineers, scientists, and, in the last 40+ years, humanists and social scientists.

Second, notice that I didn't specify whether the degree was a Master of Science or a Master of Arts. (One would expect the latter with a literary topic.)

Third, the answers to both questions from Elizabeth Cummins:

In 1927, the Master of Science degree was awarded to Nadine Matlock Sease. Her thesis (which is in the UMR library) was "The Origin and Development of the Arthurian Story in English Literature in the Nineteenth Century." I believe it was the first M.S. degree awarded to a woman (maybe even to anybody!) in the humanities/social sciences. I think she was from St. James and may have taught English at MSM.

The thesis is in the Curtis Laws Wilson Library at UMR.

My thanks to Elizabeth Cummins, professor emeritus of English and Technical Communication, for bringing this piece of history to our attention. I don't know anything more about Ms. Sease; however, I do hope to learn more. If you know more about this bit of UMR history, please share it with me. I will post it here and give credit to the source.