A question

I need and want more research and writing time. I am also teaching three different courses this semester that all need to go well. I am leading an upcoming round-table, and hosting an upcoming speaker. I am on four graduate committees and directing two undergraduate research projects, of which one due to involves some administrative … More A question

Instructions

I have to learn APA style and pull the shorter version of the piece from the non-refereed ‘zine where it was scheduled to come out. Look what I must do — I don’t think I have done such a complicated submission before, have you? Should I have any queries, I am to visit the Author … More Instructions

Illumination

My colleague said we had to assign writing because writing brings students to an act of intellectual discovery unavailable otherwise. I said yes, of course. I realized then that I never considered writing an act of intellectual discovery but a show of virtuosity. I never allowed myself the kind of risk I allow the students … More Illumination

Doom du jour

Board of Regents warns of serious adverse impact of budget shortfalls on higher education SACS institutional accreditation could be in jeopardy FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Dr. Katara A. Williams Asst. Commissioner for Public Affairs 225-342-4253 February 12, 2016 Baton Rouge, LA -Louisiana’s Commissioner for Higher Education says colleges and universities across the state are bracing … More Doom du jour

Sandemose — eller Jantelov, igen

“Jante Law is just as normal as the law of gravity,” newspaper editor and anthropologist Anne Knudsen assured me. “You find it everywhere, especially in peasant societies, and back [in Sandemose’s day] there were peasants peasants peasants all over the place in Denmark. This kind of ideology became the State ideology when democracy was established … More Sandemose — eller Jantelov, igen

Apollinaire

I It took me all afternoon to make a handout for a class. I have more to do than I can handle, and this handout is one of the things I could have not done, and those who say you must “cut corners on teaching” would surely say I put too much into it, but … More Apollinaire

Walter Benjamin

On Marianna Scheffer’s art blog we have a quotation from Benjamin and then a brief commentary from Marianna. In the appreciation of a work of art or an art form, consideration of the receiver never proves fruitful. Not only is any reference to a certain public or its representatives misleading, but even the concept of … More Walter Benjamin

It’s Carnival time!

It is this weblog’s eleventh Mardi Gras, and the first one was right after Katrina. It was beautiful and we saw Indians, New Orleans Indians and Lafayette Indians in box hats, bonnets carrés. This year again, I will be looking for Indians. The weblog was, effectively, born at midwinter, so this is its tenth anniversary. … More It’s Carnival time!