We've arrived. And I'm incredibly busy. And the internet connection on my laptop is nonexistent (we're having issues with the DSL).
But we're here and I should be back to regularly blogging again. Bradley's got a description of the adventures of moving, so just go read that. At the moment, I'm taking a break from writing a syllabus for my Shakespeare course. I'm trying to stop myself from overplanning the course. I'm getting excited and I really should be working on the syllabus for the composition course. But of course, thinking about my field is more fun than thinking about the thing that I teach so that I can actually have a job.
Anyway, I should be back to reading and blogging this week.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Reading my world, the ongoing project
A hibiscus in reverse.This will be the last post for a while. We're packing up the moving truck tomorrow (and losing phone/internet service, too). Then we're heading north Tuesday. I don't know quite when I'll be back online -- and have time to blog. Because I have, you know, things to do once we get to the new place.
Aw, shucks
Dr. Medusa thinks nice things about me. Many thanks for that!
The rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.
Thus, I nominate Craig at Another Shakespeare? The Thomas Middleton Experiment
Mark at Culture Industry
Papatya at Reading for Writers
Pamphilia at The Freudian Petticoat
Bardiac
Horace at To Delight and To Instruct
and SJ at Let's Shall
The rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.
Thus, I nominate Craig at Another Shakespeare? The Thomas Middleton Experiment
Mark at Culture Industry
Papatya at Reading for Writers
Pamphilia at The Freudian Petticoat
Bardiac
Horace at To Delight and To Instruct
and SJ at Let's Shall
Monday, August 4, 2008
Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has died. I'll admit that when Bradley said "Hey, Solzhenitsyn died," my response was "Huh, he was still alive?" (This is a fairly typical response around our house. For either of us.)
I just picked up a copy of The Gulag Archipelago (okay, the abridged version. But the author-approved-abridged version), so I think I'll give that a read next.
edit: Bardiac has a nice post about first reading Solzhenitsyn and Russian literature. The post made me wonder how and why I missed that phase of gloomy Russian literature that most every other person I've encountered went through. Granted, I'm making up for it to some degree these days, but still.
I just picked up a copy of The Gulag Archipelago (okay, the abridged version. But the author-approved-abridged version), so I think I'll give that a read next.
edit: Bardiac has a nice post about first reading Solzhenitsyn and Russian literature. The post made me wonder how and why I missed that phase of gloomy Russian literature that most every other person I've encountered went through. Granted, I'm making up for it to some degree these days, but still.
Friday, August 1, 2008
On being a stupid member of a younger generation (or not)
I'm conflicted about Thomas H. Benton's latest column on The Chronicle. The column discusses a whole series of books that have come out in the last few years that discuss the anti-intellectual climate in the US right now. But the alternate read on these books -- and the one Benton seems inclined to highlight -- is the demise of respect for intelligence in modern US culture (which tends to devolve into "People are so stupid these days").
On the one hand, I agree that we're currently living in an anti-intellectual culture. On the other hand, I become frustrated with this idea -- even as I myself make the argument that it's the case -- because I'm not entirely certain that it's actually true. Certainly, the current administration doesn't really have a whole lot of regard for scientific fact over political expedience; the discourse of political campaigns tends to depress me; and I'm not particularly impressed by the current obsession with wanting to be famous via the internet or "reality" television (or both).*
Nevertheless, I'm not wholly convinced that this is actually all that different from anything that's happened in the past. Nor am I convinced that this is a whole lot more than the elders looking around at the youth culture and thinking that because they don't like it/don't understand it/don't want to have a part in it that it's stupid/worthless/soul-destroying. I mean, I'm at the very tail end of Generation X and all through the 1990s, we were told that we were slackers who wouldn't do anything of importance or value.
Very telling to me in Benton's column is his description of what happens when he tells people what he does for a living:
I think I've had similar experiences (and definitely the grammar one), but I'm not sure that those constitute any sort of empirical evidence of anti-intellectualism. Yes, I've been asked about political bias in the classroom -- but then again, the perception is all over the place and both Bradley and I have had similar conversations with members of our family who are both highly intelligent and highly intellectual. Those are people who have supported our choices to become academics (and even encouraged it, really).
I wonder if some of that conversation is supposed to be a sort of ice-breaker -- everyone has perceptions of different professions, and you've got to start conversations somewhere, right? Why not start with a little joke? I don't know Thomas Benton (or the man behind the pen name), so I can't really make judgments about how he interacts with people -- but my own experience has been that people haven't treated me like a snob just because I'm an English professor.** Perhaps I've had the benefit of meeting people in different circumstances (on vacation at a guest house, where everyone is polite and trying to get to know one another -- that's certainly a self-selected group of people. But plenty of them go jet-skiing, which I abhor). Perhaps I also have the benefit of meeting new people when I'm with Bradley, who is much better at talking to new people than I am (but I chalk that up to my own continuing shyness).
At the same time, of course, I do think we need to have a good hard look at the perception that we live in an anti-intellectual culture right now. To some degree, we probably do -- and we've moved away from those ideals of the Enlightenment. (Those ideas were so spectacular and so distinct, that they get their own title.) Still, I think that part of the answer is not to continue to bemoan "those kids today" or the unwashed masses -- some people (myself included) get rather defensive when they hear themselves called dumb or lacking in intellect just because they happened to be born after a certain time.*** My research is interesting and cool, but it's my job to show other people -- even if only my captive audience in my Shakespeare class -- why it's interesting and useful in the study of literature.
The other reason that I get frustrated with these arguments is that -- oftentimes -- they're made by English professors. Who, really, should know better than bemoan the state of youth culture and the way that it's destroying the intellect. This has been going on for centuries. Changes in art and culture have always met resistance -- and while some of them really are worthless, not all of them are (and it's always convenient to forget that really stupid pop song from your youth ...). After all, Philip Sidney complained in the 16th century about drama that "mingled kings and clowns." If everyone had listened to that, we would never have had certain works of literature.****
*Andy Warhol was certainly right on that one, as I'm sure everyone has realized by now.
**Which I can now actually say. Hooray!!
*** I still have this very strong memory of the way that my high school class was treated. We were the "dumb" class -- we didn't have as many high achievers and even those high achievers weren't really all that great. The senior class before us and the class behind us were much better than we were. We then proceeded to have the highest (to that point) average AP score on the calculus AP. And of the group of top 10 students in the class, almost everyone has graduate or professional degrees at this point. We're doing okay. Perhaps this is where some of my sensitivity derives from.
**** I am not, not NOT comparing Shakespeare to, say, Britney or Paris. But I do think it's important not to throw out all youth culture -- or all abilities of the youth -- that are different from what adult culture thinks is valuable. Certainly, students today have a different ability to process information and have different attention spans. But attention spans are variable in different eras. And work ethics are different in different times. Yes, I get frustrated with students who don't do the work or only make a half-hearted attempt. But we're also the point at which they can learn those things ...
On the one hand, I agree that we're currently living in an anti-intellectual culture. On the other hand, I become frustrated with this idea -- even as I myself make the argument that it's the case -- because I'm not entirely certain that it's actually true. Certainly, the current administration doesn't really have a whole lot of regard for scientific fact over political expedience; the discourse of political campaigns tends to depress me; and I'm not particularly impressed by the current obsession with wanting to be famous via the internet or "reality" television (or both).*
Nevertheless, I'm not wholly convinced that this is actually all that different from anything that's happened in the past. Nor am I convinced that this is a whole lot more than the elders looking around at the youth culture and thinking that because they don't like it/don't understand it/don't want to have a part in it that it's stupid/worthless/soul-destroying. I mean, I'm at the very tail end of Generation X and all through the 1990s, we were told that we were slackers who wouldn't do anything of importance or value.
Very telling to me in Benton's column is his description of what happens when he tells people what he does for a living:
As an English professor, I can attest to the power of that element in American culture, as can just about anyone in any academic field without direct, practical applications. When a stranger asks me what I do, I usually just say, "I'm a teacher." The unfortunate follow-up remarks — usually about political bias in the classroom and sham apologies for their poor grammar meant to imply that I am a snob — usually make me wish I had said, "I sell hydraulic couplers," an answer more likely to produce hums of respectful incomprehension.
I think I've had similar experiences (and definitely the grammar one), but I'm not sure that those constitute any sort of empirical evidence of anti-intellectualism. Yes, I've been asked about political bias in the classroom -- but then again, the perception is all over the place and both Bradley and I have had similar conversations with members of our family who are both highly intelligent and highly intellectual. Those are people who have supported our choices to become academics (and even encouraged it, really).
I wonder if some of that conversation is supposed to be a sort of ice-breaker -- everyone has perceptions of different professions, and you've got to start conversations somewhere, right? Why not start with a little joke? I don't know Thomas Benton (or the man behind the pen name), so I can't really make judgments about how he interacts with people -- but my own experience has been that people haven't treated me like a snob just because I'm an English professor.** Perhaps I've had the benefit of meeting people in different circumstances (on vacation at a guest house, where everyone is polite and trying to get to know one another -- that's certainly a self-selected group of people. But plenty of them go jet-skiing, which I abhor). Perhaps I also have the benefit of meeting new people when I'm with Bradley, who is much better at talking to new people than I am (but I chalk that up to my own continuing shyness).
At the same time, of course, I do think we need to have a good hard look at the perception that we live in an anti-intellectual culture right now. To some degree, we probably do -- and we've moved away from those ideals of the Enlightenment. (Those ideas were so spectacular and so distinct, that they get their own title.) Still, I think that part of the answer is not to continue to bemoan "those kids today" or the unwashed masses -- some people (myself included) get rather defensive when they hear themselves called dumb or lacking in intellect just because they happened to be born after a certain time.*** My research is interesting and cool, but it's my job to show other people -- even if only my captive audience in my Shakespeare class -- why it's interesting and useful in the study of literature.
The other reason that I get frustrated with these arguments is that -- oftentimes -- they're made by English professors. Who, really, should know better than bemoan the state of youth culture and the way that it's destroying the intellect. This has been going on for centuries. Changes in art and culture have always met resistance -- and while some of them really are worthless, not all of them are (and it's always convenient to forget that really stupid pop song from your youth ...). After all, Philip Sidney complained in the 16th century about drama that "mingled kings and clowns." If everyone had listened to that, we would never have had certain works of literature.****
*Andy Warhol was certainly right on that one, as I'm sure everyone has realized by now.
**Which I can now actually say. Hooray!!
*** I still have this very strong memory of the way that my high school class was treated. We were the "dumb" class -- we didn't have as many high achievers and even those high achievers weren't really all that great. The senior class before us and the class behind us were much better than we were. We then proceeded to have the highest (to that point) average AP score on the calculus AP. And of the group of top 10 students in the class, almost everyone has graduate or professional degrees at this point. We're doing okay. Perhaps this is where some of my sensitivity derives from.
**** I am not, not NOT comparing Shakespeare to, say, Britney or Paris. But I do think it's important not to throw out all youth culture -- or all abilities of the youth -- that are different from what adult culture thinks is valuable. Certainly, students today have a different ability to process information and have different attention spans. But attention spans are variable in different eras. And work ethics are different in different times. Yes, I get frustrated with students who don't do the work or only make a half-hearted attempt. But we're also the point at which they can learn those things ...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Early modern scholarship and the internet
The Chronicle has an article about digitizing the archives and other uses of technology in literary studies. (It's a subscription only article, sorry).
It's interesting -- and I love the incorporation of technology into our work. Though, I'll admit nothing actually beats sitting in a reading room physically holding the 400 year old books. Still, technology has always rejuvenated the work that we do.
Anyway, the article talks about the The Map of Early Modern London, a really cool site run by Janelle Jenstad. (Jenstad is someone I quote from with some frequency in my dissertation. In case you care.) As a tool, I think this can be useful not only in my research -- but also particularly useful in teaching. This will be a link that I include on my Blackboard site when I teach Shakespeare this fall.
It's interesting -- and I love the incorporation of technology into our work. Though, I'll admit nothing actually beats sitting in a reading room physically holding the 400 year old books. Still, technology has always rejuvenated the work that we do.
Anyway, the article talks about the The Map of Early Modern London, a really cool site run by Janelle Jenstad. (Jenstad is someone I quote from with some frequency in my dissertation. In case you care.) As a tool, I think this can be useful not only in my research -- but also particularly useful in teaching. This will be a link that I include on my Blackboard site when I teach Shakespeare this fall.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
A note on packing -- a PSA
Do not put all of your anthologies in one box. You will not be able to pick it up.
Why are they so much heavier than other books? And why do they pack together so nicely?
(In case you're wondering about the origin of this PSA, I did just what I said not to. I thought I'd be able to pick up the box. But no. I've since split the anthologies into two boxes and put much lighter books in with them. They're still heavy, but I think I can carry them. A short way at least.)
Why are they so much heavier than other books? And why do they pack together so nicely?
(In case you're wondering about the origin of this PSA, I did just what I said not to. I thought I'd be able to pick up the box. But no. I've since split the anthologies into two boxes and put much lighter books in with them. They're still heavy, but I think I can carry them. A short way at least.)
Caramelized Onions and Gouda Quesadillas
I love onions in my food. I grilled onions earlier this week for a pasta dish. I put them in stir-fry. I saute them. But my favorite way to prepare them is to caramelize them.
Yum.
These onions went into the quesadillas. Which are yummy goodness.
This recipe is out of my stand-by cookbook, The Big Book of Vegetarian, but I saw a version of these with fontadina cheese on Everyday Italian. (I'm still watching the Food Network, despite the fact that we can't eat a great deal of what they show. We quit meat, but I haven't quit watching people making it. Weird.)
Yum.
These onions went into the quesadillas. Which are yummy goodness.
This recipe is out of my stand-by cookbook, The Big Book of Vegetarian, but I saw a version of these with fontadina cheese on Everyday Italian. (I'm still watching the Food Network, despite the fact that we can't eat a great deal of what they show. We quit meat, but I haven't quit watching people making it. Weird.)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Big changes around here
So, things are changing. In big ways. Bradley and I have taken assistant professor jobs at a small school in North Carolina. We'll be in what's known as the Inner Banks -- an area that's adjacent to the Outer Banks, but is further inland.
We'll also be able to do all sorts of new exploring. There's lots of history in the area, including (of course) antebellum slave culture and the Wright brothers. Oh, and Blackbeard.
Most importantly, though, we're going to be fairly close to the Lost Colony on Roanoke. I've learned that they do an enormous outdoor play about the colony (boasting such alumni as Andy Griffith).
We'll also be able to drive to the Colonial Williamsburg area, which is adjacent to Jamestown (the first permanent English settlement).
And what would the coast be without ghost stories and legends?
So, if posting gets a bit light or non-literary, you've been warned. We're moving in about three weeks. And we just found out this week that we're doing this. Good times.
We'll also be able to do all sorts of new exploring. There's lots of history in the area, including (of course) antebellum slave culture and the Wright brothers. Oh, and Blackbeard.
Most importantly, though, we're going to be fairly close to the Lost Colony on Roanoke. I've learned that they do an enormous outdoor play about the colony (boasting such alumni as Andy Griffith).
We'll also be able to drive to the Colonial Williamsburg area, which is adjacent to Jamestown (the first permanent English settlement).
And what would the coast be without ghost stories and legends?
So, if posting gets a bit light or non-literary, you've been warned. We're moving in about three weeks. And we just found out this week that we're doing this. Good times.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Morning reading
There's actually not a whole lot out there that I'm going to recommend today. But I did think this discussion of teaching composition was interesting, even if I think the solution to the problem of student writing is a bit more complex than the author is making it out to be. Still, it's a pretty interesting commentary.
And speaking of writing instructors, the new poet laureate - Kay Ryan - teaches remedial writing at a school in California. One more reminder (to me at least) about redefining what academic success means.
And speaking of writing instructors, the new poet laureate - Kay Ryan - teaches remedial writing at a school in California. One more reminder (to me at least) about redefining what academic success means.
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