Let’s conſider ſome ſurpriſing old type: “Did you ever hear ſuch a wind-ſucker, as this?”
I ſhall always treaſure the pleaſant ſurpriſe of ſeeing the “long s” while reading Epicoene, by Ben Jonſon.
Studying STEM Isn’t The Career Boost We Think
Turns out, getting a STEM education may help you get a good job early but if you want a good career, you’re better off in liberal arts lane. In other words, even if you’re only measuring money, a liberal arts education is probably worth a ton more than most people may think. […] [B]y the time STEM degree holders reach 40 years of age, more than half of them aren’t in…
You, Too, Can Have a Viral Tweet Like Mine: Demystifying Poetic Meter
Saving for the next time I teach “Intro to English Study.” It’s all well and good to sing “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” to the tune of “Hallelujah,” but why can’t you do it the other way around? For that matter, why does it work only when you limit yourself to the first two lines of the song? Why can’t you make the whole tune fit? Generally speaking, the answer…
The Hidden Subversive Messages of [MGM’s Screen Adaptation of] The Wizard of Oz
When I tried teaching The Wizard of Oz in a literature class, I was a little frustrated with myself that I couldn’t bring the class discussion much farther than “how this book is different from the movie” and lists of one-to-one symbolism (“the yellow brick road represents the gold standard,” or ‘the scarecrow represents agriculture, the tin man represents industry, and the cowardly lion represents the military”). Part of my…
In September 1999 I was blogging about
In September 1999, I was blogging about What makes a play worth seeing twice, according to Tom Stoppard The then-unrealistic expectations of voice-recognition software A critique of the “information wants to be free” mantra A Microsoft exec who predicted that digital publication would eclipse print publication within a decade How marketers are pushing your buttons with the help of technology and semiotic theory The storytelling genius and embedded racism of…
Me (glares in iambic pentameter)
Me: I need to post the opening lecture for my online Shakespeare class. Also me: I should compose it in blank verse. Me (glares in iambic pentameter): Also me: O for a Canvas of fire, to surpass The farthest distance of instruction. SHU tech is cool, but can a Macbook hold A seminar discussion? Can we cram Within an LMS the self-same class That does engage the students on campus?…