podcast pumped

I'm thrilled that we're exploring podcasts because, at present, I'm intrigued and intimidated by them. The experience I do have with podcasts has me realizing that my intimidation is caused more by a lack of time and updated equipment (my computer, 5 years old but beautiful, is sooooooo slooooowwwwwww) than it does from the medium itself.

I'm about to jump onto a train, and I'll be listening to a podcast on it from my iPhone (with which, if I haven't mentioned it already, I'm having a love affair, by the way), and I'll be considering why I've yet to incorporate podcasting into my every day life. See you on the other side of the cast.

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Podcasts have the power to transport, if given enough space and just the right conditions for transport.

That's what I determined en route yesterday, This American Life podcast streaming into my ears. Enough space on my iPhone, just the right volume, just long enough a commute, and I was elsewhere, mentally, in the best way: entertained, comforted, and thinking critically.

Podcasts and blogs and email all allow such immediate, potentially rich communication (takes the right ingredients and timing, like cooking)... by anyone. The opportunity to express is so freeing. But. The responsibility to monitor, to assess, to respond can be so incredibly daunting. Case in point:

I offered a student the option to email me over the break regarding a research project book recommendation. She did:

"Hi Ms. Daehler,It's me... I think I know what I would like to include in my paper, but I'm not sure if it's "modern enough." .... Since the paper is due in such a short amount of time I think that these books would do. I would also throw in some quotes from the Bible, but I've never really read it. I know some stories but I've never read it from cover to cover. Are these books okay to include. If they are I think I know which direction I can write my paper in.Thank You in advance. Happy Easter!"

My taxes are not yet done. I have homework and projects and reading and student teaching to do... But my eagerness to connect with a student and help them see me as a resource, combined with the mighty powers of the internet, and an expectation for quick response, adds a to-do to my list. I'm marveling at what kinds of communication technology is facilitating... and what kinds of stress it's capable of inducing. What am I doing with the concern? Blogging about it.