(originally written 10/11/11) I'm watching several friends take on this year's academic job market, and having just come off the market myself, I have one bit of advice I wish had been shared with me earlier in the application process. The job market is likely to be one of the most emotional years of your … Continue reading The Academic Job Market–One Thing I Wish I’d Been Better Prepared For
On Debates and Disappointments
Every season on American Idol, one of the heavy favorites goes home way too early. Chris Daughtry, for example, was sent packing even though he was apparently far more popular than the three contestants who survived him (including the winner, and subsequent flop, Taylor Hicks). So shocking have the departures been that the show instituted … Continue reading On Debates and Disappointments
Conservatives: Hanging Tough?
In the last few years, at least in the 8 years between 2000 and 2008, Americans got a good look at many forms of conservatism. One fundamental tenet of modern conservatism, especially if you recognize the views of people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Joe the Plumber as representative of modern conservatism, … Continue reading Conservatives: Hanging Tough?
What Really Scares Me About Evil, Deranged Lunatics
In the last 36 hours or so, Americans have been collectively weighing the shooting of 71 people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. There are already volumes of commentary on the pertinent issues, a healthy dose of which I’ve wallowed in since I saw the first headline yesterday morning. Although there are many troubling … Continue reading What Really Scares Me About Evil, Deranged Lunatics
“Where Have You Gone, Joe Paterno?”
In the week or so since Jerry Sandusky was arrested for violations that don't need rehearsing here, Penn State officials have been under the microscope. In particular, Joe Paterno, the revered coach of Penn State's football team and apparent icon of moral righteousness, has been castigated for his inaction after learning in 2002 that an … Continue reading “Where Have You Gone, Joe Paterno?”
The End of Books
I just finished reading an article by Urusula Le Guin in Harpers about the precipitous decline of book reading over the past few years. Le Guin, herself a novelist, is not particularly worried about the decline of book reading. (She notes, for example, that the polls surveying people's reading only accepted "literary" works as valid. … Continue reading The End of Books
Liberal Overreach
In the recent months, I keep hearing conservatives Republicans talk about the inevitable “liberal overreach.” Essentially, the logic goes, liberals will allow their power to go to their heads, and they’ll pass all manner of social programs that undermine the very fabric of capitalism, Christianity, and privilege that America was founded on. Eventually, conservatives will … Continue reading Liberal Overreach
Up from Gum
As someone who is professionally interested in language, I’m always on the look-out for ways to reconceive of or update old clichés. A common, and now much overused, cliché that I think could use a good revival is also the title of Tupac Shakur’s 1999 book of poetry: The Rose that Grew from Concrete. A … Continue reading Up from Gum
How Shakespeare and His Ilk Are Ruining Kids Today
Mark Bauerlein thinks technology is responsible for making today's youth the "dumbest generation" because social media only gets kids to talk to one another. Although there is some irony (and narcissism) in an grown-up academic arguing in a book to other grown-ups about the blight of kids talking only to one another, I think we … Continue reading How Shakespeare and His Ilk Are Ruining Kids Today
Summer Writing
This summer session is the first extended period of time I've had free from teaching or taking classes since the summer of 2007. During that summer, I graduated from my masters program, moved my family from California to Arizona, and had a three-week teacher training session to attend. Realistically, this is the first extended period … Continue reading Summer Writing
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