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Archive for July, 2008

The Special

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 31, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I made the mistake of ordering The Special, both for the appetizer and the entree. I knew from experience, of course, that The Special would cost twice as much. But I expected–no, I hoped–that this would be different. I had eaten at this Japanese place before, but I had never had The Special. Where did [...]

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Going to the Olympics? Beware.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 25, 2008 | No Comments »

Don’t jaywalk. Don’t spit on the sidewalk. You might leave the chewing gum in your hotel room. Forget about urinating in public. 
Hands off Cain released a study that says that of the roughly 5,851 executions in the world last year, China was responsible for around 5,000. 
 
If I were you, I’d try to get a room [...]

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Teaching Composition: A Pissing Match

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on July 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »

There’s a useful debate happening at Inside Higher Ed and at One Flew East over William Major’s article on the teaching of composition in the academy. What it really looks like is a pissing match. Professors Gerald Nelms and Tim Mayers chide Professor Major for supposedly not knowing the important literature relating to composition and [...]

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Academic Politics: What Happened to the 60s?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 21, 2008 | No Comments »

The title of Patricia Cohen’s recent article in the NYT, “The 60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire,” was a little misleading. Indeed, those of us who were in graduate school during some of the most fiercely fought battles (for me, late 1980s through mid 1990s) understand that the culture wars were invariably the [...]

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A Leathery Woman; A Horny Man

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Here’s what I saw on my last evening on the beach, as I was enjoying a gin and tonic and trying to concentrate on the sunset:
A woman in her mid-50s–body sculpted by modern medicine and a legion of personal trainers–had donned what would have been a very fetching bikini had she been 20 years old. [...]

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A Sunny Day

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on July 17, 2008 | No Comments »

TGA has been on vacation. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that he has been relaxing. Indeed, he feels a bit vexed. The beach is quite a fertile place–a true resource–for people watching (almost as good as airports). And though TGA watches with some interest the usual manifestations of beauty that appear regularly amongst the sand and [...]

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The Sex Sounds of Grad School

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Sometimes we have to take stock of the things for which we are grateful. Today I take a look back and give thanks for the sounds of sex that filled the dull night air during my many days as a graduate student. As an undergrad, I slept well–never awakened, least of all by someone sleeping [...]

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Fuckwad Agents, Fuckwad Editors

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 3, 2008 | 3 Comments »

The beautiful thing about this blog phenomenon–and it is a phenomenon to me, who never paid the least bit of attention to it until now–is that we can bypass fuckwad agents and fuckwad editors, all of whom are looking for reasons to say “no.” I understand–because I have a big heart and was raised empathatically–that [...]

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A Very Grumpy Day

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 2, 2008 | 5 Comments »

For the most part, I really don’t fucking care about how most of my brothers and sisters spend their day, their peccadilloes aired for all the world to see on their blogs. Even my fellow academics seem to think that their mean little lives are somehow interesting, as if the world revolved around petty concerns. [...]

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