Welcome to the June 6, 2022 edition of the Torg Stories podcast. On this episode I talk with Dr. Bethany Mannon. Bethany directs the Rhetoric and Composition program at App State University. I am a lecturer in that program, and I teach a second year required course called Writing Across the Curriculum / RC 2001.
This conversation is a part of a larger project I am working on that examines the progression from the required first year writing course at Appalachian State to the Writing Across the Curriculum class I most often teach, and then on to the Writing in the Discipline courses that are taught within each major.
Audio only version of the podcast also available in the podcast app of an iPhone.
I’m always hoping the podcasts can work as conversation starters among writers, students, and those who teach writing. It would be great to hear about your experiences taking and teaching writing courses.
In doing this work, here are the books I’m going to look into reading:
Geno: In Pursuit of Perfection
Assisted by John Stockton
How Lucky Can You Be (Meyer) by Buster Olney
Bleed Orange about Boheim
The Pistol
Fab Five
Boys Among Men by Abrams
Seven Seconds or Less Jack MaCullum
Basketball on Paper Dean Oliver
A Coach’s Life by Dean Smith with John Kilgo and Sally Jenkins
Questions for Discussion:
Which of my favs overlaps with yours?
How did you rank these books?
What do we get out of reading these books?
What are these books about that we can talk about? Three point line. 21st Century Basketball. How would we describe our college basketball practices? How have we departed?
Which of these coaches have we met? How at all, have these books or the coaches influenced us?
I mostly left out technical X and O books like these:
Knight and Newell’s pair of books, Tex Winter’s Triangle Offense, Wooten’s Coaching Basketball Successfully, Dean Smith’s Multiple Offenses and Defenses, Tim Grover’s Jump Attack
I counted 42 books on Amazon written by John Feinstein:
The Back Roads to March, Where Nobody Knows Your Name (baseball), The First Major, A Good Walk Spoiled, The Legends Club, Season on the Brink, Quarterback, The Last Amateurs, A Season Inside, The Last Dance, The Punch (about the Rockets), Forever’s Team about Duke 78, A March to Madness about ACC
What are your favorites? Which ones are we wrong about? We hope you’ll join the conversation!
Kent Chezem on the Torg Stories Podcast March 12th, 2020 Edition
In the midst of all this coronavirus news, I’m joined by my friend Kent Chezem. With stops including Clinton Prairie, Covington, and Loogootee, Kent has spent 25 years as a head boys basketball coach in the state of Indiana. His teams have won over 300 games and four sectional titles. Kent and I were teammates at Olivet Nazarene University where he is the all time leader in assists.
Kent Chezem, his son Cade, and his wife Dara
Kent was named the District 2 Coach of the Year by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association in 2014. Kent’s wife Dara became the Superintendent of Schools in the district where I went to high school, Eastern Pulaski Schools in Winamac.
This edition of Torg Stories is a basketball-centric podcast. We spend a fair amount of time talking about issues related to coaching our kids.
The Torg Stories podcast is also available on iTunes.
In this week’s episode, I talk with the owners of a new theater in Asheville: The Grail Moviehouse. More on our collaboration here. It’s in an old warehouse that has been fixed up. There’s cozy chairs, beer from local breweries, and some stadium style seats in the back. It’s a great place to watch old movies on the big screen and see some new stuff you can’t find at the theater chains.
Before we get into the conversation, time to pay the bills. This week’s sponsor is called Seat Block. You know how when you’re on an airplane and the person in front of you jams their seat back into your knees…
No, I’m just kidding. One of the great things about the Torg Stories podcast at this point is that you don’t have to listen to me read any ads. But, you can still help us out. Go to iTunes, find the Torg Stories podcast and click on reviews. We don’t have ten reviews yet, but when we do, they will start showing up and help other people find the pod. If you have friends who are podcast listeners, send them a link to Torg Stories. Please.
This week, my family and I went to see Roger Ross William’s new documentary, Life Animated. It’s about an autistic man. His life story and how his family was finally able to connect with him through Disney films. Cool family. Dad is a writer. Protagonist is funny and touching. The film was a teeny bit on the intense side for my eight year old, but our ten year old really liked it. Movie for grown ups that can appeal to kids, probably ten and older. Also interesting as a teacher for thinking about working with autistic children.
Several ways to hear the podcast:
If you have an iPhone, click on the podcast app and search for “Torg Stories.” It’s a great way to listen; plus, you could review our podcast there and become a subscriber.
You can listen to the podcast below by clicking on the player.
The theater is just South of downtown on French Broad Avenue. Quite a bit of free parking, which is amazing, for Asheville. It’s become my go to spot for parking when I go to downtown Asheville.
Please consider liking, commenting, or sharing this post. Thanks for listening!
Torg Stories Podcast / Recorded on Saturday, June 11, 2016.
Today’s episode is with entrepreneur and business owner Georg Efird. George is my plumber, and I’ve been impressed with his savvy use of social media in order to grow his business, Blue Planet Plumbing in Asheville, North Carolina.
Georg and Miranda, owners of Blue Planet Plumbing
My primary interest in Georg’s work is related to the First Year Writing courses I teach at St. John’s University. Because students HAVE to take my course, I’m always trying to make sure what we do in class is relevant to the lives the students live outside of class. This means much of the writing we do is in digital spaces, and I’m always on the lookout for people outside the university who do a lot of writing so I can use their work as examples for the students.
Most impressive to me about Georg’s online accomplishments are the 215 reviews–he calls this customer feedback–posted on Google with an average rating of 5/5. Georg is obviously a savvy negotiator of digital spaces and does the kind of multimodal writing that makes use of images, links, color, and pictures.
Georg on the job for Blue Planet
When Georg was seventeen years old, he had his first child and found himself working at a fast food restaurant trying to support a family when a friend invited him to tag along to an interview to be a plumber’s apprentice. Georg’s friend coached him up to say the following during the interview:
I have zero experience, but I am a hard worker, and I am reliable.
The advice worked and Georg was hired as a plumber’s apprentice.
Pro tip from Georg’s first days as a plumber: a 1978 LTD won’t support 1,800 pounds of concrete.
Thanks to Georg for joining us on the Torg Stories podcast.
Thanks to you for visiting the website and listening to the podcast!
Torg 