I saw the poet Christian Bök read the other night and I have not yet digested the event. He appears to be a very nice person and this is not negligible. The work, although interesting, seemed clever but cold. Some of the things I appreciated were his interest in French avant-garde writers, which I share, … More Sound Poems, Digital Speech
I received this e-mail and have been meaning to report about it, for the interest of Louisiana faculty. The Board of Regents has an ambitious agenda for the upcoming legislative session. The following link is to a story in the Baton Rouge Advocate. This quotation is from that story: “Leaders of Louisiana higher education are … More Incroyable
I I have some terrible habits of thought which I did not learn in graduate school, but rather as an assistant professor, in conjunction with Reeducation. As we know, Reeducation meant the acceptance of a standard interpretive paradigm which called itself ‘growth’ but was in fact asphyxiation. This weblog was created in part to cast … More Exhuming Banes III
This is one of the days on which my instinct to cut and run from the academic fold is very strong. These are some of the Banes with which I have always tried to work and to say are “all right” – but which are hard to handle in large doses, especially when there is … More Banes and More Banes
I have just finished a list of works cited. It was the pickiest such job I ever undertook, because I had never written anything that cited so many very old books. Getting the editions straight, and discovering the conventions for citing these particular people, seems to have taken as long as writing the article in … More Picky
Northern Russia is home to more than 40 indigenous peoples, all of whom have their own language. But many of them are on the brink of extinction. Fayina Lekhanova has a broad face with a flat nose and dark, deep-set eyes. She looks exactly like the Eskimos I remember from the books I read as … More On Citizenship and Language Death
Continuing on through the eternal present, we have Bob Dylan as broadcast on Folksongs and More Folksongs, WBC-TV, May 1963. My family did not yet have television. We listened a year or two later on the phonograph. Here are the lyrics; observe the mystical ending “somewhere in the distance.” Hollis Brown He lived on the … More Ballad Of Hollis Brown
This is, and these are the lyrics for The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, by Bob Dylan, a true story of 1964. The clip is from the Steve Allen Show, and it is blurry but worth it. William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger At … More Hattie Carroll
What I dislike about the academic advice which has been forced upon me over the years is that it was advice to lead the life this man describes. I have also been instructed to say no a lot – no to the more creative, interesting, or challenging research, teaching, and service assignments and projects because … More Alguien se levanta…
The university of vanity, said my friend, treats everyone like a child. As everyone is assumed to be a denizen of vanity, nobody is trusted to know what they are doing. No decision can be made without interference, sometimes known as “mentoring.” Standard advice abounds, and is reiterated whether or not it actually fits. It … More Elementary
coldhearted scientist وداد 