How can we ask our students to read great literature and then criminalize them when they respond, on occasion, with the angry bitterness of Hamlet? Clearly, we’re not dealing with the proverbial “isolated incidents” here. FEAR ITSELF is loose in America and it needs to be addressed, strongly, powerfully, by all of us who teach…
Writing bad poetry is easy when you disregard meter, pace, and rhyming scheme. Just make sure to follow a few simple guidelines: 1. Never write about anything cheerful. Remember, you are a tortured artist. Be one. 2. Be sure to use the following words at least once per sentence, no fewer than 50 times per…
The final internet chatroom exchange took place on 28 June last year. “U want me 2 take him 2 trafford centre and kill him in the middle of trafford centre??” said one message. “Yes,” came the reply. Less than 24 hours later, a 14-year-old boy was critically ill in hospital with stab wounds in the…
It’s exciting to see the topic generate such interest and activity — especially since that’s one of the premises on which the Disseminary is based. One of the topics involves the question of what the various conversants mean by “open,” which I’d summarize with the following list of opennesses: “open source” (Stephen Carlson’s emphasis): primary…
Amusement parks just wouldn’t be amusing without all the warnings that we ignore. Whipper-Snapper Whiplash Worries Bull’s-Eye BS Astounding Amusement Park Physics —Dennis G. Jerz —Cruel Amusement Park Instructions (Jerz’s Online Reading Room)