I want to thank the person who sent me this very thongy link. Apparently, there is another side to the thong phenomenon I wasn’t aware of. If I can quote Hamlet, “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
I am now thinking seriously about the meaning of [...]
Archive for June, 2008
The Thong, Part II
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Thongs on June 30, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Drunken Professors
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged academia, drunks, eccentrics on June 27, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I have to wonder whether there ever was a golden age of drunken professors, or whether in fact I merely romanticize what can be considered an abominable trait in anyone, academic or otherwise. More than one of my undergraduate profs imbibed, and did so frequently. And indeed, on many occasions I was asked to accompany [...]
Dear Marilyn Manson
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Marilyn Manson, music on June 26, 2008 | 2 Comments »
You know it’s over when your music appears on “So You Think You Can Dance.” Sorry.
Best of luck,
Grumpy
What About Teaching?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Berkeley, research, teaching on June 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Kristen Ghodsee’s April 25 column in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “A Research Career at a Liberal-Arts College,” struck a nerve. During her job search, professor Ghodsee had been counseled by her graduate school professors at Berkeley to avoid liberal-arts colleges, one of which had made her an offer:
Despite the attractiveness of the offer, many [...]
Are the British Smarter Than We?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged British education, English Departments on June 23, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Or is it smarter than us? A few years back I had the rare privilege of attending a conference in England. Most of the chaps at the conference were my age, assistant professors in their mid-30s to mid-40s. What I found remarkable was, first, their facility with languages. While most of them spoke English tolerably well, [...]
Two Worlds: Mind and Body
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged fantasy, fighting, kung fu, martial arts on June 20, 2008 | No Comments »
Occasionally I arrive in the classroom bruised and battered, with a fat lip or a purple eye. A limp. An inability to raise my arm above my head without wincing. Sometimes stooped with a back spasm.
I haven’t been grading papers, or preparing for class, or lecturing, or flitting through aethereal realms: I’ve been fighting. Mostly, [...]
Academic Politics: Fish Style
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Politics, Stanley Fish Watch, THEORY on June 18, 2008 | No Comments »
Stanley Fish is back at it, responding to his critics who believe that if your choice for president is political, then your choice of toilet paper must be too. This is at least his third or fourth foray into the now dog-tired issue, if issue it is, of too many lefties on campus. The match [...]
Student Teaching Evaluations
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged teaching evaluations on June 17, 2008 | 2 Comments »
It’s commonplace to grump about student teaching evaluations. So I’ll join the chorus. Some of my colleagues make the argument–and I do try to keep an open mind–that we can learn something valuable even from the dumbest of comments. But just as there are stupid questions, there are insipid approaches to evaluating teaching. I cannot [...]
But Is It Work?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Pleasure, WORK on June 16, 2008 | No Comments »
I’m happy when I’m at work–not terribly grumpy at all. Mostly because I know that it’s not really work. Not that I know exactly what that is. When I helped pay my way through college by moving furniture during hot summers in the South, that felt like work. After eight or 10 hours the best [...]
Jealousy, Envy, O My!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged ENVY, jealousy, publishing on June 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
You might be tempted to think that we, enlightened academics, harbor no professional jealousies, no petty schadenfreude, that we rise above base humanity and glory in our respect for all that is sweetness and light. But you would be wrong.
When am I going to get mine, is what I want to know. When will the [...]
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