King Austin

It is the weekend, so we are singing the calypso Progress, by King Austin. Via One Day for the Watchman, a great new blog. Axé.

On Perfection

In ceramics, you have to aim for a perfect piece from the beginning, or you will not get one that is good enough. Good enough means that it holds together. If you only aim for good enough at the beginning, you will lower standards too far and the piece will fly apart before the end. … More On Perfection

Talking Race With the Emeritus Professor in the Days of Malcolm and Martin

This comes from a very interesting thread including a conversation on race and racism with Human. I realized that what I could have continued to say in the comments thread merited a post of its own. Now I am writing notes toward that post. I am too tired after four hours of faculty meetings to … More Talking Race With the Emeritus Professor in the Days of Malcolm and Martin

What Is World Literature?

Calling all English professors! Calling all professors of Comparative Literature! I have various graduate students who want to study “world literature” but only read English. They want to cover many texts from many centuries, continents and countries. What is “world literature” and how does it differ from Comparative Literature? How much should we expect someone … More What Is World Literature?

On Race and Racism

A commentator said in part: “[When I was younger] racism was something I was terrified I would be accused of. To be racist was maybe the worst thing you could be, but it was (I thought) very easy to accidentally do something that would result in some black person calling you racist, and as a … More On Race and Racism