Panel for 2012 NeMLA Conference in Rochester

If you’re interested in the work of Jennifer Egan, intellectually invested in contemporary fiction, and/or engaged in studying the role/representation of technology in fiction, perhaps you’d like to send me an abstract? PANEL: Jennifer Egan, Contemporary Fiction, and the Digital Age This panel looks to examine the work of NeMLA 2012 Keynote Speaker Jennifer Egan, [...]

Practicing Diversity?

My school, like pretty much all educational institutions, is a place where “diversity and service to others is valued and practiced.”   It’s great that these elements are valued at this school and others: I believe they have much to offer in terms of broadening students’ educational experiences and enriching faculty and staff members’ work [...]

Perhaps You Know the Type

He’s a scholar arrived for a dinner party, an invited lecturer the next day at a well-respected university. The dinner has been arranged as a welcome and almost all of the attendees are themselves academics. He’s friendly in his attempts to ask at least one question of everyone there and duly complimentary to the hosts [...]

An Open Letter to Stanley Fish

Dear Professor Fish – I have very much enjoyed reading your recent three-part piece in the online version of the NY Times entitled, “What Should Colleges Teach?”: http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/what-should-colleges-teach/ http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/what-should-colleges-teach-part-2/ http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/what-should-colleges-teach-part-3/ I recognize that it is part of your role as an opinion columnist for the Times to provoke response, and based on the number of [...]

The Function of School Uniforms

It’s back to school time, and that means it’s time for some serious shopping, at least in our house.  Each year our kids grow bigger and it’s new everything – shoes, pants, socks, shirts, sweaters, you name it. At this time of year, and when the credit card bill comes due in a few weeks, [...]