The avant-garde rules! I read R.U.R., Čapek’s 1921 play, and it is brilliant. You can read it right here. Our post for February 19, 2006 is archived here. It was an expansion on my statement of purpose, the other two key parts of which can be found in the first post (18.II.2006) and on the … More Reading For Pleasure Wednesday (late): Karel Čapek
1. Work on one thing at a time until finished. 2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.” 3. Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand. 4. Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time! 5. When you … More Henry Miller
Friday the temperature was still dropping, and the university had decided to save money by turning off the heat. One person went home to butcher a pig for Saturday, but we came home and made lunch. To fully grasp the atmosphere you have to realize that my dining table and benches were made by local … More Feast Zero, After Which I Discuss My Inspiration Award
Long ago I was reading an essay by Ernesto Sábato on José Ingenieros; I lost both my thread and the book. My notes resemble a poem, but are not yet one. I would like to find and read the essay, return to that barrio in Mexico City, and write the poem. For Ingenieros logic and morality … More Through a Glass, Darkly Wednesday: On Positivism
The days are noticeably longer. I need Mardi Gras presents, and it is a whole day’s trip to go and get them. I have ordered them by letter, to an old fashioned address: Hové Parfumeur 824 Royal Street New Orleans, LA 70116 Here is a fascinating book about Edgard Dégas, Kate Chopin, and George Washington … More Rue Royale
The 1984 documentary is available at Amazon, where you can watch a clip. Now there is also Randy Schilts’ book. I recently saw the new Milk at the Fairfax, which is in Marin County – one of the right places to see the film for me. I got to follow the original Milk events at … More Trailer Thursday: The Times of Harvey Milk and Occupation 101
The World That Made New Orleans both delights and instructs. So does John Pizer’s The Idea of World Literature. I recommend it to anyone, but especially to those in or interfacing with an English Department. I am also reading the Princeton Review. The website has a calculator which conjugates your GPA and test scores to … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Ned Sublette, John Pizer, and the Princeton Review
“Then the populace closes in again, so quickly and densely that it seems impossible it could ever have been parted, and negro water-carriers, muffled women, beggars streaming with sores, sinewy and greasy “saints,” Soudanese sorcerers hung with amulets made of sardine-boxes and hares’-feet, long-lashed boys of the Chleuh in clean embroidered caftans, Jews in black … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Edith Wharton
In this post we will discuss Neil Postman, whom I did read for pleasure, but first we will mention my least favorite book of all time: The Velveteen Rabbit. I avoid public radio at this time of year because it is given to reading this book. THE VELVETEEN RABBIT I dislike The Velveteen Rabbit intensely … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Neil Postman. A Book of Anti-Pleasure: The Velveteen Rabbit
Sunday’s NYT Magazine had a number of essays on higher education and university level teaching. I am going to read it. I have heard it is very good. I know I should want to read the Chronicle of Higher Education but am I the only one who finds it – well, goody-goody? Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 