Life as Edward Jensen

Today was a big day in downtown Phoenix history. Downtown Phoenix’s first new hotel in over 30 years opened. This is the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, located along 3rd Street between Taylor and Van Buren Streets.

I went inside and had a look around to see what was on the inside (after a couple of years of seeing construction on the outside!).

if you cannot see the slideshow, click here for the album

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

My friend and colleague Kirsten Martin wrote a blog entry recently that I think is worth sharing with you. Regardless of her perspective as a Social Work student, it has a truly valuable lesson that we all can share:

We are torn and wrinkled by the experiences in life. Some experience more of this than others, but yet our value remains a constant. So many times it is easy to look at ourselves or at others and see the wrinkles and tears and feel like the value is not there or has decreased. It is essential to remember that this is not the case. … We still retain our dignity and self worth and in turn our value as a human being (excerpt from “The Value of People” by Kirsten Martin)

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Back on September 4, I posted a video from Jon Stewart talking about the change in heart of conservative commentators on women running for President. With Hillary Clinton, these commentators were critical of her (saying stuff like she should act like a man, etc.); with Sarah Palin, they were accusing the media of being extremely sexist.

If I may borrow from Dick Morris and some comments he made on Fox News (Hannity & Colmes, 5 November 2007) about Hillary Clinton: “When a woman wants to be President, she shouldn’t complain based on gender. … I’m going to take my toys and go home because the big boys are picking on me.” Right, so it’s true about the Democrats and their candidates, but it’s not true about Sarah Palin? If she is a heartbeat away from being the 45th President (McCain would be the 44th), then she should be able to take the media and the McCain campaign leaders should not be protective of her.

On the 23 September 2008 edition of her namesake show, Campbell Brown touched on these same sentiments.

if you cannot see the video, click here

On 15 September 2008, Stephen Colbert, on his nightly show The Colbert Report, talked about something that’s also been bothering me. The McCain campaign has been very protective of Sarah Palin and limiting her appearances on various national media. And also, in lieu of providing us with factual arguments and principled reasons why we should vote for him, they (the McCain campaign) are playing the POW card in the same way that they accused Barack Obama of playing the race card or Hillary Clinton of playing the gender card.

if you cannot see the video, click here

On the same day as I posted my video of Jon Stewart, I was critical of the Republicans for using their Convention in Saint Paul for attacking the Democrats and not offering any of their policy positions.

What are your stances on policy issues, Republicans? I know I can go to your various campaign websites and see for myself, but I want a principled argument from your side why I should vote for you. To say that Obama is inexperienced – even if he might be – is not the basis for an academic argument. (from “On the Conventions and Academic Arguments”, 4 September 2008)

The first Presidential debate is this evening across most of the major networks. I’m interested to see if we can get a principled argument out of the McCain campaign.

Not just more “lipstick on a pig”.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

(In full disclosure, I am a supporter of Barack Obama and his candidacy to be President. I have been opposed to the Iraq War from the beginning and I believe that a preemptive war with Iran is simply unacceptable. I believe that we should support our troops who have so valiantly fought in all American wars by giving them proper armor, medical treatment, educational opportunities, housing assistance, etc. I believe that energy independence comes through reducing demand for oil and through investing in mass transportation projects. I believe the present urban policy is wrong and favors the suburban cities. Our national infrastructure is crumbling and does not look like infrastructure of one of the richest countries in the world.)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered his speech to the United Nations General Assembly recently. The speech went on for a while (rambling, anyone?), and while the US delegation to the UN left the room, this video from 23/6 (236.com) should fill them in.

You know the drill…

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

One of the most disheartening things about being in a large class is that there is bound to be a student (or two) that feels that they have to disrupt learning and challenge most everything that the instructor says. I call these antagonistic students.

True, it is the instructor’s responsibility to teach and the student’s responsibility to learn. It is not – or should not – the student’s responsibility to interrupt that which the instructor has created. What can we, as students (remember that I am a student, too) do to deal with this?

The first thing I do, if I have a gut-feeling that nothing bad can happen, I would engage the student in conversation to ask them to refrain from talking while the instructor is speaking. Often times, they’ll understand, but other times, they won’t. Sadly, they might try to make life a little more difficult for you.

The next thing would be to talk to the instructor during their office hours or send them a quick e-mail asking them to monitor the situation. I would prefer the office hours route, because it subconsciously makes this a personal issue. And that way, the instructor will be on your side in the issue.

But, alas, if the situation doesn’t resolve through this level, talk to your academic advisor about what’s going on. They can talk to someone on an academic level – and quite possibly refer you to them – to resolve this issue.

As always, if you have questions about what to do with antagonistic students, don’t hesitate to give me or my fellow Student Ambassadors. Send us an e-mail by clicking here or call us on (602) 496-7827.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Alright, so Rick Sanchez (of CNN) is experimenting with using social media in the course of a news program. He tweets on @ricksanchezcnn and he also has a Facebook page. This is something that I completely support. I use Twitter (come follow me on @edwardjensen), and there are a lot of news organizations that share news there. For example, I get CNN breaking news on @cnnbrk, the New York Times on @nytimes, NPR on @nprnews, and others.

News website 236.com has exploited this with a bit of humor and irreverence, something for which it is known. (Remember the DNC and RNC in a minute?)

As the caption says, “In 20 years, we’ll be saying, ‘When the economy collapsed, CNN’s Rick Sanchez was there.’” I might add that we all were there following it on social media.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Today marks the start of the fifth week of class here at ASU. I think that this is a good time to talk a bit about classes.

I went to a small high school about a mile north of the Downtown Phoenix campus. To provide some numbers, my graduating class had thirty-five students. Of the 35, half of us traveled from class to class together and the other half did likewise. Essentially, I have been in small class settings before so I am relatively used to them.

Of the classes that meet in a location at a specific time (i.e. not online or independent study courses), two have 35-40 students (each) in them. In these two classes, I think that I am the only student from the College of Public Programs. The rest are from the other colleges on the Downtown Phoenix campus. The other two meet on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Those are significantly smaller, with five and eight people in those classes, respectively.

Something about these small classes and the format thereof is that everyone has to be on the ball. These are discussion-driven courses (here, they’re called seminars) so you have to do the assigned readings. But you know what? I’d prefer these small seminars over a large lecture any day. The largest class in which I’ve been had 196 students. True, it’s medium-sized by ASU’s standards but it was extremely large by my standards.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

METRO opens for operation on 27 December 2008, which just happens to be 100 days from today.

This definitely calls for a celebration. Perhaps we’ll see trains again in downtown Phoenix just like we did on Monday?

In the meantime, check out this video from the Arizona Rail Passengers’ Association of METRO tests from the Central at Roosevelt station.

if you cannot see the video, click here

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

ASU Parking and Transit Services announced today that the Tempe/West intercampus shuttle will now make an intermediate stop at the Downtown Phoenix campus!

For more details and a full schedule, go to http://uabf.asu.edu/parking_commuter_shuttle_west

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

ASU’s College of Public Programs will have a Graduate School Information Fair (click for a flyer) from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 22 to 24 in the second floor lobby at University Center, 411 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix.

Each day will feature a focus on one of the college’s three schools:

• Sept. 22 – The School of Community Resources & Development, which offers a Master of Nonprofit Studies, Master of Science in Recreation & Tourism, and Ph.D. in Community Resources & Development
• Sept. 23 – The School of Social Work, offering a Master of Social Work and Ph.D. in Social Work
• Sept. 24 – The School of Public Affairs, which offers a Master of Public Policy, Master of Public Administration, and Ph.D. in Public Administration

Faculty and advisors will be available to discuss admission requirements, funding options and exciting career opportunities for graduates. Light refreshments will be served.

For information, call Dena Frei at (602) 496-0411 or e-mail Dena.Frei@asu.edu.

Please RSVP by September 18 at https://copp.asu.edu/sweb/do/students/gradinfo_fair.

See you there!

Cheers-
Edward Jensen