A new faculty member faces his demons
Category Archives: real life
You know you’ve read too much academic commentary when…
Every piece of academic commentary I’ve read this week has seemed to be going around in circles so fast that it was about to disappear up its own arse. Folks are mad at a faculty member who said that increasing … Continue reading
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One advantage of being a writer
Tonight I was supposed to attend my book group. I was really looking forward to it, since I had suggested the book we were discussing. But when I got to the group, on the other side of town, there was … Continue reading
The ‘go-to’ question
Long, long ago, in a land not so very far from here, I was appointed to Curriculum Committee. I had no opinions at all about the curriculum, so I attended my first meeting with an insecure feeling. What would I … Continue reading
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State Fair!
— doesn’t begin till August, but I got to start early by entering some knitted items. I really enjoy that behind-the-scenes look, in a room full of happy people with amazing projects to show. Highlights of today included: The two … Continue reading
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A Science Prof’s Take on Trigger Warnings
Brute Reason has an interesting post this morning about how people use trigger warnings. However, it becomes less convincing when it discusses the academic setting. Here’s where I started to shake my head: When people condescendingly claim that college students … Continue reading
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Use this word: Haze-fire
“haze-fire luminous morning mist through which the dawn sun is shining poetic” from Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane George Orwell wrote some good stuff about the project of controlling what people think by controlling their use of language, what words they’re taught … Continue reading
Moderating my position
It’s official, I’m a lefty! I take these political position quizzes every few years, and my position on the issues has barely changed. Yet every year I find myself more and more disaffected with the progressive side of the nation … Continue reading
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Thoughts on watching ‘Nashville’
Nashville is my favorite show, but watching it sometimes feels like that old game where you say a word over and over until it stops being anything except a sound. That word is ‘strong.’ In the Nashville universe, everything you … Continue reading
‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ by Jon Ronson
I preordered this book a while ago, and by the time it was delivered I was having second thoughts. I’d seen so many articles about it and excerpts from it that I wondered if there was anything left to be … Continue reading
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Mutiny on campus
This weekend my socks are steamed by a bit of gossip I heard at work. It goes like this: There’s one job where I work that most of us hate doing, but that needs to be done. The folks in … Continue reading
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