“A writer’s work is the product of laziness”
05/07/2016
J. L. Borges on writing. Axé.
Category: Working
That Vallejo panel
05/07/2016
I must compose my to-do list: the Service Learning project, the Vallejo panel, the Curriculum and Instruction article, the Houston paper and its submission somewhere, and the Vallejo paper … not to mention the prison presentation. I also have the prize submission, the archival research, and the bureaucratic document on my own behalf. For Vallejo, … More That Vallejo panel
On Comparative Literature
05/07/2016
. . . in having to build its own comparative apparatus, the discipline is forced to balance breadth against depth. It can escape neither geographical reach nor philosophical literacy. It thus requires the achievement, and not the mere avowal of a multicultural perspective. What do you think of this piece? Axé.
The author as gesture, again
04/07/2016
I do not know that I understand this text, yet, well enough to explain it, but I do remember writing a paper in graduate school entitled “Poetry as gesture in the criticism of Baudelaire.” I might be able to find this paper again but it had ideas in it including the poem as event (something … More The author as gesture, again
Writing group report
28/06/2016
Last week I finished a draft of a report for the department on an ongoing service and teaching initiative. It has been judged good. I will keep working on it, two hours per week, and spend another hour or so a week implementing aspects of it, for the foreseeable future. I also got two conference … More Writing group report
Carlos Alonso on curriculum
28/06/2016
Here are some of his 2013 thoughts. Watch the video and tell me what you think. What is the value of the humanities education, the Ph.D., and the life of the mind generally? Axé.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
27/06/2016
A friend writes on this article: Let me see if I understand. This state university is essentially becoming a for-profit academy. They can’t afford not to spend the money to keep the grant winners. Of course, that money spent to keep grants is public money being spent primarily to make money, not to educate. So … More University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sur le temps
20/06/2016
I, too, dislike scheduling to death because it is altogether too intimidating. A schedule is good but it must have a great deal of empty space in it. But I am more than ever convinced that scheduling and time are small issues. It is far more fundamental not to allow unbearable pressure, to do what … More Sur le temps
Ce que j’ai fait
20/06/2016
“Yesterday, the first day of vacation, I worked on classes, met with students, and worked on classes again. I finished some more pieces of the departmental website and felt greatly relieved. “Today I am reading articles. Several students will take the foreign language reading examination. Each must have an article with no English abstract or … More Ce que j’ai fait
Dreams
19/06/2016
This was a draft post from three years ago. I had been asked to join yet another honor society and did not want to, I don’t have that kind of disposable income and if I did I would donate it elsewhere. But the chapter really wanted more people, needed me it said, and I was … More Dreams
coldhearted scientist وداد 