Missing Freshman Comp – Lingua Franca – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Have you hugged your college’s freshman writing course today? (Not the students, not the teachers—we don’t want disciplinary hearings. The course.) Like most who have worked in English departments, I was rarely excited to be assigned freshman rhetoric (as it was called where I started). The essay-grading was back-breaking and social-life-destroying, to say nothing of…

Reports suggest UVa board wanted president to eliminate language programs

Apparently, her defense of the classics and German was among the reasons UVa recently ousted the presudent. As a grad student needing to beef up my foreign kanguage credentuals, I took the summer German course Herr McDonald comments on here. William C. McDonald, director of undergraduate studies in German at the university, stressing that he…

Father’s Day Kirktopus

via Rainbow Hector Weblog Similar:Finished Reading The Chronicles of PrydainWe could hardly stop reading just before…BooksOne of my undergrad lit papers. Dot-matrix printed, with hand-written instructor annotatio…Academia‘Twelfth Night’ is a Shakespearean hoot, and Prime Stage actors Carolyn Jerz, Malcolm MacK…Why is Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Nigh…AestheticsAmazing McDonald's "Maestro Burger" CommercialJaw-dropping. So creative and joyful. …AestheticsIntroduction to The…

Teresa Sullivan fired from UVA: What happens when universities are run by robber barons.

On Monday Dragas, sensing that the university community might want some explanation for such a radical act, sent out a second message: “The Board believes this environment calls for a much faster pace of change in administrative structure, in governance, in financial resource development and in resource prioritization and allocation. We do not believe we…

My daughter playing “Alice in Wonderland” in her dollhouse

Stop drinking from random bottles, child! Similar:Ermahgerddon: The Untold Story of the Ermahgerd GirlDeciding against the coonskin cap, Golde…AmusingLiaisons (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 2) Picard is Marooned with a lovelorn …Rewatching ST:TNG Worf grumbles about…AmusingI did not know how much I would appreciate this detailed exploration of Star Trek: TOS pro…I’m amazed at…

Kindle iOS Update

I find it really amazing that it has taken this long for Amazon to finally shrink that ridiculously huge margin, which persisted like fake stirrups on a horseless carriage. Similar:First Day in the Theatre for Twelfth Night (May 3-12) Daughter: (is sad her “first day in …Culture5 of the Fiercest One-Liners in HistoryYes, the Spartans’…

9-Year-Old Who Changed School Lunches Silenced By Politicians

This young blogger has learned a very important lesson about power and privilege. I’m sure the story does not end here. We anguish about getting kids to be enthusiastic about healthy, sustainable food — to not prefer the bad stuff, not waste the good stuff, and not be entitled little monsters who whine about when their next…

Happy Flag Day from Stage Right Musical Theatre Campers (Greensburg, Pennsylvania)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BYkuRBVXN4 Similar:Samaritan Snare (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 17)(Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generati…DramaBook geyser. My latest #Blender3D practice.In a peaceful grassy setting, a geyser o…AestheticsLooking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 3) …Rewatching ST:DS9 Outside the O’Brien…AmusingLego goes steampunkBe still, my nerdy heart. Steampunk —…AestheticsRoss deserves better…

Grocery Store Lesson

As a kid, I loved the feeling of confidence that came when my mom handed me a few bucks at the pool and told me I could get what I wanted from the concession stand. Since my main responsibility for the afternoon was to keep the kids occupied, and I was in no rush to…

Testing

I’ve been having some problems with the WordPress iOS app. Just testing. This should be a robot inspecting a donut. Similar:In August 1999 I was blogging about Poohsticks Bridge, penmanship, Archimedes, and ebooksIn August 1999, I was blogging about …BooksIn October 2001, I was blogging about nothing, apostrophes, the anthrax scare, and Boilerp…In October 2001,…

Pride and Pedantry

“What’s a meme?” I took my daughter to the birthday party of a 12-year-old friend yesterday, and hung around with the adults as the kids splashed in the pool. After a round of Chuck Norris jokes with his dad (“When Chuck Norris goes into the water, he doesn’t get wet, the water gets Chuck Norrissed”),…