Pete
My blogs
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Industry | Education |
| Occupation | teacher |
| Location | Springfield (Ill.), United States |
| Introduction | I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home. |
| Interests | Appalachian dulcimer, Scandinavian and American folk hymnody, traditional music, mass communications, folklore and cultural studies. |
| Favorite Movies | Casablanca. |
| Favorite Music | Anglo-Celtic ballads, fiddle tunes and shape-note folk hymns; African American spirituals, Dr. Watts and gospel; traditional Scandinavian songs, Lutheran chorales and psalm tones; Turlough O'Carolan; Grateful Dead and roots reggae. |
| Favorite Books | (1) "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain; (2) "War and Peace" by Tolstoy; and (3) whatever I'm reading at the moment. |
Please describe how you could take the peel off an apple all in one go:
Can't do it. I'm still running Windows 95 on my home PC (Feb. 2006).