I love science [no expletive needed].

Coming to terms with "Science."

I really do love science. This might surprise some people. Students and faculty members alike have heard my stock answer when confronted with any number of empirical arguments: "I'm not a scientist." And I am not. I am a professor. Some people might even call me a "researcher" although I much prefer the term "scholar." When I hear the former term I imagine a person in a white coat running frantically through a lab adjusting instruments and possibly laughing maniacally. When I hear the latter I imagine a person indulging in a snifter of cognac and a cigar in a cushioned chair surrounded by books, possibly chuckling pedantically. I don't smoke and only ever tasted cognac once many years ago (it was good, I think), but I identify more with the "scholar" archetype. Even if a person were to appellate me as a "researcher," no reasonably educated person would say my work is "scientific." It is decidedly philosophical, humanistic, and subjective and I like it that way.

Eduard Grutzner (1846-1925)

A Monk in the Library

Oil On Canvas

My love of science is an on again, off again. As a kid, I loved science because I saw vast potential for super powers and interstellar adventures. I didn't love science when I was in college because I believe Zoology, the first of two lab classes I was required to take, was taught incorrectly at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in the late 1990's. When I say that it was taught "incorrectly," I am not saying that the professor lied to us. I think he shared with us the latest concepts in Zoology, probably even at a freshman-level understanding. Still, I'd say he taught us "incorrectly" because I think he used poor pedagogy and because while he told us all about grasshopper's tympanic membranes, how we know that or why we care never entered into the discussion. He taught facts, not process. I was tested on taxonomy and little else.

That is exactly what an Ohio legislator wants to be required. He wants the students to be taught "facts" without explaining the process by which they arrived at them. He wants this so that he can limit "prohibit political or religious interpretation of scientific facts in favor of another." This sounds like an admirable goal. It would be an admirable goal if a common misconception about science were to be believed. That misconception is that scientific rhetoric somehow sits in a vacuum outside the political and religious discussions of its time and place. The misconception exists that science can somehow be "objective" and "unbiased." It is sort of an idolatry of science that makes it the all seeing, all knowing, god which is no respecter of persons, places or ideas.

I have no idea where this piece originally came from or
who created it. I wish I did

There were a couple things that brought me back to a love of science. One was reading Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions. That book taught me a great deal about science, real science. See, science is not really about "facts" at all. What scientific "facts" even exist are always held tenuously. Science offers answers to questions, but the answers are always tenuous, qualified, and recognize that they are the answer for now, but are open to being proved wrong later. It was Kuhn's book which popularized the term "paradigm" and "paradigm shift." Science works within paradigms. As long as those paradigms work, they keep using them. When they stop working, a new scientific revolution takes place. Things go crazy. A new paradigm is found. Through Kuhn I discovered a science that was fumbling towards truth. That was something that resonated with the philosophical work that I'd already begun as an undergraduate.

The second thing that brought back my love for science was a mistake in advising or more likely in my understanding at the end of undergraduate school. I thought I had graduated. Then I got a letter saying I needed more science. So, I went back and took one summer class. I would have taken any class that met the science requirement, but the only one left was Physics. I remember groaning. Physics, I knew. was hard and boring. Probably, I assumed, even more hard and boring than Zoology had been.

It was awesome. Sure, I had to learn formulas and calculations, but the professor always explained them in context. In a lot of ways, it was as much a history class as a physics class, although the history was non-linear, which would be an odd way to teach history. The professor was an "old" man. I don't know how old, but he was gray and balding and to me that meant old. He was clearly excited about the stuff. My favorite thing was when I'd ask him a question and he didn't know the answer off hand. He didn't reply with the standard "Let me find out and get back to you." Instead he'd say, "I don't know, let's find out." I remember stringing together a full hallway of parallel lights so that we could measure just how many we could put on the battery before we saw a measurable decrease, and then figuring out from there how many we'd need to overwhelm the battery altogether. Why did we do this? Because I asked how many. He didn't know. We made a big mess. Then we knew. I don't remember the answer a bit, but I sure remember the process.

See, that's what is interesting about science. That's what's fun about science. That's what's interesting about science. Science is process. Scientific facts are silly. In fact, in my life (and I'm not old) I've seen scientific facts change. Pluto was a planet, now it's not one. Pandas were "actually not bears, but a kind of raccoon" and now they're bears. Eggs were really bad for you because they raised cholesterol levels. Now they're good for you because the cholesterol they raise is good. We were told to stay away from Ritz crackers because they contained coconut oil, which was HORRIBLE. Now, it's good. Whatever. The facts change as the process develops but it is the process that matters. 

That's why the Ohio law is so very bad. Facts don't matter. Facts are just landmarks on the way to truth. They are not the truth itself. Science is not the truth either. Science is one of the ways that we are all fumbling towards truth. It's not the only way (that might be a blog for another time), but it is one way. Lastly, I want to point out the dumbest thing about the Ohio Republican's reasoning. He wants the facts without the process because he doesn't want political ideology to enter. Specifically, he'd like to avoid evolution and global warming discussions. Here's the thing, however. What he's arguing is the exact opposite of what makes those scientific "facts," which makes every scientific fact, debatable. That is that while the vast majority of scientists would agree that climate change is being caused by the use of fossil fuels and that all life evolved via natural selection from a single celled organism, they all know that a new discovery could change this over night. Science is meant to be wrong. If it weren't wrong, we'd never discover anything new. So, if you believe that you have a revealed truth that is higher than what scientists believe, you might  very well be right. If that is the case, however, teaching facts without process moves people further from your point of view (if it is truth). 

A Beautiful Memo from the VPAA

Coming to terms with beautiful memos

I wouldn't normally share an intra-office memo, but I feel like this one had so many interesting beautiful and philosophical points, that I had to. I got permission from Dr. Jack Crocker, the VP of Academic Affairs who sent the memo to share it more widely. Here it is:

Dear Colleagues,

 

I am taking this occasion of “labor day” to thank you for all the good work that you do, to raise positive awareness that we have the opportunity to work, and to give an example of data that show the value of your work.

 

Fist, thanks to those of you who have labored for many caring years in the cultivation and delivery of education to students at all levels, and to those of you who are just getting started in the profession.  While what you do (or the perceived results of what you do) frequently is criticized and attacked, the essential importance of your work cannot be denied or diminished.  Your labor, conjoined with others across the globe, is an island of hope for the advancement of civilization worldwide.  Yes, there is cynicism, failures, and depressing challenges, and the noble context I mention may be taken as sentimentally exaggerated, or even fraudulent, but envision for a moment a world without higher education. Not pretty.  Even if media saturation says the world is going to hell in a hand basket, it is your labor that offers one of the few chances to reduce the size of the basket.

 

Without going into details,  if we reflect on our local situation in the context of global pandemics of human suffering and loss of hope I think we become acutely aware that the opportunity to work, to celebrate a “labor day,” is a condition to be thankful for.  Almost all the stresses and problems we have are within the realm of amelioration.  In Paradise Lost Milton sees the expulsion from Eden as a “fortunate fall.”  I would say at WNMU our problems rank as fortunate.

 

That being said, let me return to the real world of what  you do best, and that is take students at all levels and successfully move them to success.  The following data are a good example of who we are and what our “labor” accomplishes.  Notice the number of students in each of the “at-risk” categories in relation to the total number of awards.  For example, 192 students in the “low income” at-risk category achieved a certificate or degree making up 41% of the awards. First generation students represent 44% of the awards. 

 

Based on the Fall 13-Spring 14 Degree file just submitted to HED, 450 individuals produced 474 awards as follows: (Thanks to Paul Landrum for the data.)

 

							Risk Factors
Deg Level	Total Awards			STEMH			Low Income			1st Generation			Remediated			Readmit Stop outs			All 4 Risk Factors Present
Cert	53	11%		9	17%		40	75%		25	47%		18	34%		8	15%		4	8%
Assoc	115	24%		48	42%		79	69%		74	64%		64	56%		40	35%		18	16%
Bach	172	36%		54	31%		82	48%		91	53%		65	38%		52	30%		11	6%
Grad Cert	11	2%			0%		1	9%			0%		0	0%		4	36%
Mast	123	26%		21	17%		30	24%		42	34%		7	6%		32	26%		1	1%
Total:	474	100%		123	26%		192	41%		207	44%		154	32%		136	29%		34	7%

 

These numbers reveal that we are an open-access university, enrolling a high number of students with at-risk factors.  More importantly, the results reveal that you not only accept the challenge of working in an open-access institution but also that your commitment and abilities are evidenced by the success of the students.  Some would look at the percentages as low, but in comparison to other institutions our “value-added” ratio is exceptional.  In other words, on the at-risk scale you consistently are successful at helping students persevere despite considerable odds, moving them to success at a much greater distance from entrance to exit.  This is a foundational narrative of who we are and what we do.

 

So, on this labor day weekend it is a fitting occasion to say thanks and to take pride in your work.

 

Best regards,

 

Jack

Lots is going on here. It was like a Psalm to me.

Five Core Questions in Program Prioritization

Coming to Terms with Program Prioritization.

I haven't blogged for a while. That's because I am bad. Maybe this will get me back to it.

I found out yesterday that even though we basically only have one class (I've been fighting for more), no minor or major in the catalog (I've been fighting for one), and only one full-time faculty member (me), that Communication is a "program" at my university and therefore subject to Program Prioritization. That is the process by which programs can be cut, grown or ignored. Most "programs" who found out that they were subject to "prioritization" were pretty ticked about it. I wasn't because I don't think that we could be moved to a much lower priority from where we are. It is time to move up or out, in my opinion.

Those programs subject to "prioritization" were required to write answers to five "Core Questions." Here are my answers with portions referring to specific names redacted.

Question 1:
What was the Communication Program created to do in the first place?

                Of course, we could begin this description in ancient Greece on the island of Sicily where a Communication teacher named Corax began the very first of what could be considered “college level teaching.” We could start hundreds of years later with Aristotle’s text On Rhetoric or much later with Cicero’s Rhetorica ad Herrenium which together lay out the basic structures of western studies of Communication and its five canons of Invention, Style, Arrangement, Memory, and Delivery. Perhaps it is best to begin with Augustine and his argument that Communication classes be required for all clergy and the way that morphed into rhetoric (which was and is Communication) being one of the seven basic liberal arts which became the basis for the entire concept of the University. Perhaps it could be discussed that for generations Communication devolved into mere writing devoid of the classical canons of delivery and memory and found its way into English departments, but reemerged powerfully with the Elocutionists of the 19^th century. Maybe, an answer would begin with Herbert Wicheln’s 1925 seminal essay "The Literary Criticism of Oratory" which finally separated written rhetoric as taught in those English departments from the full range of rhetoric and Communication more broadly understood, especially speech. All of that would provide a very good understanding of the purpose of a Communication Program, but would take hundreds of pages to do properly. Indeed, many excellent books do just that.

                Instead, it would be good, I think, to begin in 1994 when WNMU officially created their own Communication program. Much of the original purpose of the Communication Program must be ascertained by conjecture since little institutional memory exists on the campus regarding its construction. However, the history of the larger discipline and the university documentation available can provide some indication about why the Communication Program came into existence. According to old catalogs, previous to 1994 WNMU had a “Speech” program and it seems that faculty members were reassigned and many of the classes in that discipline were being renumbered as COMM classes. This reflected a larger trend that was taking place in the discipline. In this same decade, the “National Speech Association” also changed its title to “The National Communication Association.” This was done for a powerful reason. Rhetoric, we were recognizing again, was indeed much larger than the truncated version being taught in English programs and even larger than what could be taught in classes which limited themselves to “Speech.” At this point, the National Communication Association stated as its mission that it would address “all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry.”

                Since it was in this era that Western New Mexico University also created its program, it is reasonable to assume that the reason for creating a “Communication” program from the old “Speech” program was much the same at the local level as they were at the national level.  Just teaching writing and public speaking was not enough to function as a University. To be engaged in sound pedagogy and preparing students to communicate in the diverse and technologically dynamic world into which they were moving, a “Speech” program is not enough. Instead a “Communication” program was necessary in which students could learn Communication in “all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry,” not just speech. Thus a Communication Program was born.

Question 2:
What is the program doing now?

                A history of staffing difficulties, budget constraints, pressures from the state, accreditation requirements, and a probable lack of vision seem to have deviated the Communication Program at Western New Mexico University from its lofty origins. It has moved more to the background and functions as a service to the larger university. The Communication Program at WNMU now serves two important and necessary functions for the university.

First it allows the students to meet their Area 1 Core Competencies specifically in the areas that require oral and presentation skills. These core competencies are required in the state of New Mexico for all students. This is an absolutely necessary function. Second, it provides a number of competencies in non-print media and oral rhetorical skills required specifically for entry-level Language-Arts teachers to receive their teaching licensure in the state of New Mexico. Given the historic place of WNMU in the training and development of teachers, this is also absolutely necessary.

Question 3:
Should it be doing what it’s doing now?

                Without a doubt, meeting general education and teacher licensure requirements is a necessary and proper role for the Communication Program. However, examining the current role of the program and comparing that with the probable reason for the program’s creation provides an opportunity to consider a fascinating semantic distinction between what is “necessary and proper” and what is “essential.” Things which are “necessary and proper” need to be done, should be done, and if they are not done represent a significant failing. Things which are “essential,” however, are things which are constitutive. They are what provide the “essence” of the program. Without them, the program is empty and meaningless.

                What makes a “Communication Program” a “communication program” is the broad teaching of “all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry” as referred to by the National Communication Association. The current faculty member in the Communication (hereafter referred to as “I” or “me”) has published work and presented at conferences in areas such as media ecology, internet law, interpersonal communication, popular culture, communication pedagogy, general semantics, and classical rhetorical theory while at WNMU. This more than qualifies me to provide essential teaching to constitute a true Communication Program. The official teaching of communication, however, has been limited by course requirements and providing necessary and proper teaching of speech.

Certainly, the Communication Program must continue doing what it is doing now, however, it must not only be doing what it is doing now. The Communication Program must provide something more than these necessary functions. It must also provide its essential functions.

I would have to argue that in its current condition the Communication Program at WNMU is doing things that are “necessary and proper” while ignoring things that are “essential.” If the Communication Program is to continue as anything more than a vestigial appendix of a bygone dream this must be addressed.

Question 4:
If not, what should it be doing?

Option 1: the preferred option.

                The Communication Program at WNMU should continue to fulfill its necessary and proper role by providing introductory Public Speaking classes which meet the Area 1 Core Competency requirements for the state of New Mexico and provide the necessary competencies to teachers seeking licensure as Language-Arts teachers. It should also be fulfilling its essential role as defined by the National Communication Association to teach “all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry.”

OR
Option 2: a less preferred option.

                The Communication Program at WNMU, being unable due to administrative constraints to fulfill its essential role of teaching “all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry” should be dissolved entirely and the COMM prefix should be removed from the WNMU catalog. The Area 1 Core Competency and Language-Arts teaching requirements should be fulfilled through a different department or departments whose essential components can also be met.

OR
Option 3: the worst option.

                The Communication Program at WNMU can continue exactly as it is. It can continue to fulfill its necessary and proper role by providing introductory Public Speaking classes which meet the Area 1 Core Competency requirements for the state of New Mexico and provide the necessary competencies to teachers seeking licensure as Language-Arts teachers. It will continue to “function” as a program without an essence, without doing what a Communication Program exists to do.

Question 5:
How should it do what it should be doing?

IF
Option 1:

                A proposal for a minor has been presented to the VPAA early in the spring semester of 2014 and awaits his approval to go to the Curriculum and Instruction Committee. If approved this would restore the essence of a Communication Program while continuing to provide the necessary and proper services to the students. Another proposals aimed at restoring the essence of a Communication Program, specifically an Associates of Arts in Communication which will provide two year students with a broad range of skills and knowledge in Communication that they can put to work immediately and that would also provide the basis for a number of Baccalaureate disciplines, is also being studied by the departments. This second proposal would require no more additional classes than the proposed minor. The best possible scenario would be for both proposals to be accepted. If neither of these proposals are accepted, option 1 would be difficult to achieve.

IF
Option2:

                The Communication Program should be dissolved as follows: I should be reassigned with the current title to a different program. The speech class should follow me into that program and renumbered to meet that new placement. That can be done in a couple ways I can see or perhaps in other ways.

While Communication departments separated from English departments in the 1920’s because of the limited focus of the English discipline, it would be inaccurate to say that English still has that limited focus. Perhaps I should be moved programmatically and officially to English where I could continue to teach Public Speaking under an ENGL prefix to meet the necessary state requirements and other appropriate upper level or graduate classes in rhetorical theory or criticism.  I would continue to be “Assistant [or perhaps by that time ‘Associate’] Professor of Speech and Communication” but in the English program.

Another possibility might be to place me in the newly created Cultural Studies program. Cultural Studies has a history similar to Communication Studies and at many major universities they share faculty. My particular background in media and ethnography might make sense there. I would continue to teach Public Speaking under that program’s prefix to meet the necessary state requirements and other appropriate upper level or graduate classes in cultural studies. I would continue to be “Assistant [or perhaps by that time ‘Associate’] Professor of Speech and Communication” but in the Cultural Studies program.

Other possibilities for my placement exist and these are just two possibilities if the Communication Program were to be dissolved.

IF
Option 3:

                We’d just keep doing what we’ve been doing and it will probably be okay, but something deep and profound will be missing.

Stop The NSA

View the banner below to see how we can fight mass surveillance.

Let's just declare blog bancruptcy

Coming to terms with not catching up

On November 4th 2013 my wife and I had a baby

We had all kinds of difficulties. It was an emergency c-section. The baby's lungs were not developed. I had to go to a town several hours away to be with the baby while my wife stayed in this town, recovering. It was all very traumatic and my wife developed postpartum depression very badly. The baby is doing fine now. My wife is doing much better, but struggling.

I've tried several times to write blogs about all that's gone on.

But I can't. There's been too much. I can't write it all. So I am giving up.

So, I am officially declaring "blog bankruptcy"

I want to get back to my occasional blogging, but have had to hold off because I wanted to deal with all the amazingness so far. Every day, however, I get further and further behind. Now I know that I can't catch up, so I'm not going to try. I am starting over from "zero" basically. My last blog will be my first. Then we can go on.

When my red dog had pups.

It’s the first time my wife saw something born.
She saw it while she was pregnant as well.
She saw all the blood and tissues get torn
the way that beauty emerged from the hell.

And she told me, when we tried to find homes,
“When you’re pregnant you don’t want to give up
to the first person who calls and who comes
this baby, this sweetie, this little pup.”

It was a first time for me too, I guess.
The father wasn’t one that I’d chosen.
The breeding, unwanted, was such a mess
But little puppies fire emotion.

                We did find them all good places to live
                As they love their people, it’s our love they give. 

The plans I have for you . . .

Coming to terms with life's stress. 

So . . .  this week has been kind of yucky.

The first week of classes is always an intense week for professors. Adjusting to new schedules and new classes is intense. Meeting 125 fresh young faces all of whom have expectations that I will adjust my life to meet their needs (which I largely will) is nerve wracking. I know I need to exude positive energy right now to get a positive semester with them. Smiling laughing, etc wears me out. Finding out new committee assignments, writing up semester objectives for research, scholarly involvement, community outreach, etc. is all hard. I love the first week of classes, but it always wears me out.

This semester I’ve been plagued with technology problems. Apparently, all of my quizzes for my courses were suddenly locked until June of next year. Several of the webpages I created for the class got marked as available for teachers only (not what I wanted). And a computer glitch put three extra seats in two of my already over full classes. That’s sucked.

We also have these puppies at our house that are too little to go to their permanent homes, but too big to be in the house all the time, but too little to be outside during New Mexico’s monsoon season. That’s a frustration.

My sister-in-law who has been staying with us for the summer left this week. I’ll be glad to have our house back, but we’ll miss her. Besides the emotions related to her leaving, there’s logistical stresses in getting her to El Paso to get on the plane, etc.

My wife’s pregnancy is STILL exciting, but we are reaching the stage where there are several really gross tests she has to go through. And we have to add the doctor’s appointments and stuff to an already crazy schedule.

Finally, we’ve been frustrated with the community in which we live. We’d had really high hopes that a 0.25% sales tax on non-essential items would pass. It would do all kinds of things that would have made this town more livable. There would have been alternatives to the drugs, sex and violence culture that seems to be all people here know. The community soundly rejected it and my wife and I are experiencing a really strong anger about this. Well, I’m not anymore. I went through denial, then anger, now I’m bargaining with my University and various town leaders. I’m not quite to “accepting” yet.

So . . . today had ups and downs.

My wife and her sister went to El Paso last night to get the sister on the plane to Ohio, so I had the house to myself this morning. That was nice, I guess. At our university we are supposed to wear purple and gold on Fridays when we teach. I don’t always, but that’s because I forget, not because I’m rebelling. I usually wear my purple shirt with the school logo. For the first couple weeks of the semester, I also wear a suit jacket or sport coat too, so I can look like a professor. It just so happens that I have a gold jacket that I can wear with my purple shirt. I put it on for the first time since last semester and there was a $10 in the pocket. That made me happy.

I got to work, taught my class without incident and stepped outside. That’s when I noticed that the tire on my ’87 Blazer was flat. I hate working on cars. I hate changing tires. It happens on all cars from time to time but, it is still so frustrating. It’s 2013, is the best and cheapest technology we can find really a rubber balloon filled with air?!? There must be better options.

Anyway, I often think, whether it’s true or not, of a flat tire as a spiritual attack. I know, that’s probably crazy, but that’s what I always think. I am aware that balloons pop without the Devil popping them. Often, perceiving myself as the victim of a spiritual attack upsets me. Why would God let this happen to me? Not this time, however, this time it just put everything in perspective. This time, I just laughed.  All the stuff, all week, and now this! This is like, the wimpiest stress-out of the week. If this is a spiritual attack, it's a dumb one. Changing tires stinks, but it’s a pretty solvable problem. So, I got down to change the tire.

I got the Blazer jacked up, got the tire off, got the spare out. The spare was flat. Furthermore, as I jacked up the car before, I noticed that it must have gone flat before I taught, because the rim on the original was bent.  I called my wife and told her I was going to need help when she got home getting the spare to a tire shop and that we’re either going to have to buy a new rim or maybe junk the Blazer. We paid less than we would get for scrap for the Blazer when we got it, so even minor repairs always instigate the latter impulse.  Either way, she was, after being tired from trip to El Paso, and probably emotionally spent from saying goodbye to her sister, going to have to haul me around working on tires when she got home.

A kid saw me dealing with my tire and asked if I needed help. I told him the spare was also flat, so probably there wasn’t much I could do until I could get the spare fixed. He offered to drive me up to a tire shop to fix the spare. I figured “why not.” As we drove out the shop he wanted to go to, he told me about his life. He told me that he had gone to “Job Corp” after high-school and had certificates in culinary arts and auto-repair but that he hadn’t been able to find a job since then. He talked about how he was thinking about going to college next semester, and that he’d just dropped a friend off there. He talked about how he had been excommunicated from the Mormon (he said “LDS”) church because he was supposed to go to some conference, but went to a heavy metal concert instead. He talked about “karma” and how he would help me with this because he thought maybe someone would help him with something some time. He drove me to a tire shop HE knew, that was almost 10 minutes out of town. I’d never been there and probably wouldn’t have thought about it.

The spare had a leaky valve stem. The repair cost $5. I had the $10 in my pocket from this morning, and I knew immediately what the other $5 was for. I needed to give it to the kid who helped me. When we got back in the car I offered him the $5. He asked if I was sure, and I explained that I had found $10 that morning, the repair had cost $5. So, if I gave him the $5, I had no less money than I’d thought I’d had when I went to bed last night.  The kid was visibly moved to tears. He said he was out of food stamps and hadn’t eaten in a day or so. The $5 would really help.

On the way home, he talked about “karma” again and asked if I believed in it. I said that I’d looked into it, and decided that I didn’t believe in karma exactly, but that I believed in God and that God sees the good and bad we do.  Without even trying the conversation on the way home allowed me to help him understand that even if the Mormon church rejected him, God hadn’t rejected him. I was able to show him that God loved him and that if his parents' church wouldn’t take him, there were lots of churches that would. I didn’t quite get to “lead him in the sinners prayer” and the conversation didn’t end with him pointing to one of the monsoon mud puddles and saying “here is water, why should I not be baptized?” like the eunuch in the book of Acts.

Still, by the end, I was pretty sure it wasn’t the Devil who popped my tire, which makes me wonder about the other stresses this week and who might be orchestrating them to what ends.