Tag Archives: poetry

Ode on a supper club

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Wood panels, fake bricks, dim lights, frosted glass
Padded horseshoe bar, cushy pleather stools
Cigarette vending machine

Brandy old fashioned sour, rocks glass, maraschino cherry
Pickle garnish, olive garnish, mushroom garnish
Blatz, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee

5pm rush
Order at the bar, shake of the day
Table numbers on table tents

Baskets of sleeves of breadsticks and crackers
Choice of cheese spreads
Hot bacon dressing

Fried fish, fried mushrooms, fried frog legs, fried cheese
Prime rib king cut, prime rib queen cut
Twice-baked potatoes

At the country crossroads
Getting dressed up means
The Packers shirt without a grease stain

Martha Burtis on hacking a WordPress hacking workshop

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Martha Burtis, instructional technologist extraordinnaire at University of Mary Washington, wrote earlier today about some WordPress development workshops she’ll be leading at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in the upcoming days. She’s responding to my prodding, and in the process, demonstrates with aplomb a few of my central points:

On the overlap between web development and education:

I got into Web design/development years ago because I loved how it allowed me to architect experiences. I got into higher education at the same time because I really do believe that education is one of our society’s highest callings. Blending my passion for education with my passion to craft experiences is basically what drives me […] I believe strongly that the fundamental nature of the code we work with speaks to the values we’re trying to embrace in the practices that our code enables. I love WordPress because it affords me possibilities. It affords me possibilities because it is open.

On how she plans to frame the technical parts of the workshop:

People are always amazed when they find out I studied English as an undergrad. I never quite understand why. Don’t they know that code is poetry? Seriously, I’m going to talk a bit about the relationship between code and poetry — a relationship that I’ve always found fascinating. I’m also going to talk about code as a tool for building experience. Finally, I’m going to talk about the way our values and politics (small “p”) inhabit the code we work with.

Martha illustrates the value that WPedu can bring to the broader free software project. People working with WordPress inside of the university approach their development (design, etc) with a focus on the user, and the benefits that the open nature of the software bring to the user experience. And people from academic backgrounds are trained to reflect critically on the way that software mediates our relationships with the world and with each other. This is a breath of fresh air in what can sometimes be an overcommercialized and results-focused community. Rock on, Martha!