The Talented Mr. Student: Books, Class, and “Passing”

(x-posted to The Valve) It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations… Continue reading →

My Post (“Teaching Literature”) & Reassigned Time

Dear readers, In a little while, I’ll put up a link to a new Valve post on literature and class, in response to a heated ongoing discussion with Dr. Crazy and some of… Continue reading →

Teaching Literature

(x-posted to The Valve) Look, I realize that there is a serious danger inherent in only writing posts about teaching literature. It’s not all I do, it’s not something I want to do… Continue reading →

An Open Letter to Hugo Schwyzer

Published as a comment at his site, in response to this post. (Hat tip to Scott at Acephalous for reminding me of how these issues continue to simmer.) Hugo, You are wrong about… Continue reading →

In Response To Stanley Fish’s “Will The Humanities Save Us?”

(x-posted to The Valve) Bill Benzon calls our attention to a new blog entry by Stanley Fish, posted by The New York Times here. It is easy to imagine how, after a lifetime… Continue reading →

Parodying Academic Blogging

(x-posted to The Valve) Dear readers, In the spirit of the MLAde 2007, produced by two very funny UC Irvine grad students and distributed, guerrilla-style, around the conference, I’m pleased to present this… Continue reading →

The Return of the SoCal Bloggers: Tomemos, Uncomplicatedly, Girl Detective, Surlacarte

Dear readers, Happy new year! Blogging is a reflection of brick-and-mortar communities, and it creates and sustains new communities of its own. Discussions begin through blogging that could never have happened otherwise, and… Continue reading →