AAAIIIEEEE

Everybody hit the store for bread and milk!

It was a Long Hard Slog

But I finally finished Pullman's Amber Spyglass. It took me about five tries to gather up the gumption to finish the blasted book, mainly because it just made me tired. Talk about landing with a dull thud--it's as if he forgot how to write an interesting story, opting instead for polemic. It's not even allegorical or all that symbolic. All the fascinating innovations he creates in the first couple of books? thud. And the banal, peurile ending . . . I know that many academics are enthralled with the series, particularly in its "daring" anti-religious tone and its clever ties to Milton, but their infatuation doesn't make it good, or, in the end, even readable.

Brr-rr-rr

Unexpected Weekend

W's grandmother passed away this past week after a long, painful illness. The family has gathered in San Antonio this weekend for a memorial service.

Piers and The Little Boy are remaining in West Tennessee; we will hope the house stays in one piece.

This is the One Thing I'm going to say about the Duke Debacle

Fun game: I'll give you two quotes. Which one is from a January 23, 2007 speech given by Peter Lange, the provost of Duke University, and which one is from a February 9, 1588 sermon given by Richard Bancroft, future Archbishop of Canterbury?

Number 1:

In respect of their conversation they are said to be humble and lowly in outward show, but yet of nature very contentious and unquiet, doting about questions and strife of words: whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, and evil surmisings. Their mouths do speak proud things and swelling words of vanity: likewise dangerous things. The are bold and stand in their own conceit: they despise government and fear not to speak eveil of them that are in dignity and authority. . . . they are libellers, and do speak evil of those things which they know not.

Number 2:

As we are all aware blogs and email have 'democratized' communication; anyone with access to a computer can get in the game as writer or spectator. In many ways this is a good thing, for it reduces the elitism of 'publication' and the control of opinion by opinion 'sellers.' Nonetheless, this 'democracy' is also permissive of saying almost anything, about almost anyone or anything, using any language, no matter how distasteful, disrespectful, or dismissive. . . . any reading of the rhetoric, and of the blogger and email traffic, on all sides of the lacrosse case, however, makes clear that at many times such self-awareness, not to speak of self-restraint, has given way to a speech intended not to clarify but to embarrass, punish, demean, or humiliate . . . these criticisms are often couched in language that reflects profound disrespect not only for the faculty member but for the university.

Bureaucrats are bureaucrats, I guess. I'm put in mind of a rant of Louis Menand's at MLA of a couple of years ago where he said, in effect, those folks who aren't as smart as we should shut up, sit down, and know to listen when their betters are talking. Some things don't change.

Life With a Toddler, Vol. 23

The Little Boy has discovered the flugelhorn. You didn't know Piers had a flugelhorn, did you? Well, here it is. The Little Boy alternately calls it his “tuba” or his “trumpet.” We tried to get him to say “flugelhorn,” but it came out something like “fufflhomm.”

The Big New Development around here

Our Rural King moved. Yes, now instead of driving all the way across town, we can procure our horse deworming kits, our bird feeders, our John Deere schlock, our tractor batteries, our baling wire, our weed & feed, and our meat saws by simply driving around the corner! We went to check it out on Saturday night, and the whole town must have been in there sampling the free popcorn.

BIG time news

W received some mind-boggling news yesterday. She drove to Jackson to meet with a therapist with whom she's partnering in a recent 'situation' at our church. She of course is more or less lay-counseling since she isn't licensed, and everyone's aware of that fact (an important legal consideration, natch)

Well, when she met with P, the therapist, he more or less offered her a paid internship* by which she can work toward her state license, have liability coverage, and get licensed supervision so that all her hours count. Now, she had never met the man before, and he basically met her with the offer. She thought they were going to talk about the clients!

Coming from CH, where W had to scratch and pull and strain to get even a modicum of help with her degree, where she payed upwards of $80 per hour of supervision, where the average response to her repeated requests was "eh? How old are you? You expect what now?" . . . this is a thunderbolt out of the blue. It'll force us to make a few decisions, but we are thrilled.

(*by "paid," I mean, she gets a percentage of the hourly rate he would charge his clients. She won't be raking in the dough by any means, but it'll pay for gas at least.)

Now *this* will make you sick to your stomach

On my Ghomepage, I read the following headline from the Washington Post:

"2008 Presidential Race Heats Up"

Lord, have mercy. We're not even out of January yet.

Life With a Toddler, Volume 22

He doesn't like haircuts, even when done by a professional:

Despite the thundercloud on his brow, he didn't fuss even once. Mr. M must have some magic in that comb.

Life with a Toddler, Vol. 21

We've had some trouble adjusting to the new bed, so on occasion we don't exactly stay in it all night. This is the result--one of the most pitiful things you can imagine:

Asleep, at about 9:30 pm, on the floor outside his door. Note that at least he brought Elmo.

Vanderbilt U

Total time spent in the library at Vanderbilt University since Thursday, Jan. 11: 20 hours.

I sure do miss having a good library.

More Spam names

This is fun! It's like making those Shakesperaean insults! (these are from W's gmail account):

Equalizer O. Adjournments
Tinderbox P. Necking
Incorrigibility M. Mumbled
Subplot S. Merits
Harelips A. Debris
Wristwatch K. Amputations
Lubricating A. Saccharin

2 Comments About that Alleged BCS Championship

First, it's been a go-oo-ood year to be a Gator fan.

Second, did the Big Ten lay an egg in the major bowls this year, or what?

MLA Report A

Thoughts on reading the Report from the "MLA Task Force on Evaluating Scholarship for Tenure and Promotion":

Good ideas buried and blunted in a document that reads very much like something that came out of an institutional committee. I have a lot of respect for John Guillory, both personally and professionally (especially since sitting under him at a Folger seminar a couple of years ago and after hearing him make an appeal along these same lines at MLA 2004), and I have appreciated Berube's words about the committee's intentions. I neither know nor have read anything by the other members of the committee. I believe they tried to do the right thing. Still, the firecrackers in here are pretty much smothered by committee-eese.

The most important things to come out of this report, in my mind:
1. Reevaluating the relative value of the monograph versus the article
2. Attempting to accommodate scholarly work in multiple formats and venues
3. Removing the amorphous "collegiality" criterion for tenure--a notion ripe for abuse, as several recent cases can attest
4. A reevaluation of the shape and purpose of the dissertation (i.e., perhaps everyone's not writing an embryonic monograph. see: Piers.)

This last point would have multiple ramifications, especially in tandem with the first point.

The problem, and the authors of the report somewhat lamely gesture toward it, is that the only way reform can take place is if top-level institutions (Ivy League schools, the top state institutions) adopt the recommendations. But I'm not sure what their incentive is, since current practices have served and continue to serve them quite well. If Berkeley or Harvard refuses to engage reform, then there's certainly no incentive for UNC or Duke to do so, and if they don't, then the UT system, where I work, certainly won't.

Points 19 and 20 in the summary recommendations say things like "The task force encourages discussion of. . . " and "Departments should undertake a comprehensive review. . . " Wow, calm down there, folks. Don't want to get too overheated! I recognize the report for what it is: it has multiple audiences, and certainly the priorities at this institution (where I work) are not and should not be the same as those at Indiana or Stanford. Still, reform is by its very nature hard to get going.

And since I left my annotated copy of the report at home, I'll have to close with this. To those of you who could not possibly care less about what the MLA does or doesn't say, my apologies. Carry on.

Ah, the trials of college

Here's an email (name deleted) from a student who got a C in my class this semester:

I still haven't heard back from you since my last e-mail. I know it's a lot to ask but if I was able to do some extra credit to pull off a B it would be great. I have just found out that my GPA might hold me back from being initiated. This is a problem because the reason my GPA was poor this semester was because of pledging and I feel this is a whole semester wasted. I hope you understand and hope to hear back from you.

Won't be initiated because pledging made you a C student?? Feel like you wasted a semester? Now that's a compelling reason for a grade change!

Waaaaaaah!

When entitlement meets Cry-zewski, this is what you get. I guarantee you that had they won that game (where was Redick The Wonder-Boy??), this wouldn't be an issue.

Duke's student senate voted last month to bar Chapel Hill's Robertson scholars from Krzyzewskiville, saying their actions ruined the game for many Duke students last season.

Cry me a river. How pathetic. Next they'll try to ban ALL Carolina supporters from Duke-UNC games held in Cameron.

Hmmm. . . any mention of University of New Jersey-Durham gets my knickers in a twist. Must be basketball season!

Course Evals

Comments from course evals:

I cannot write a paper to save my life but he really helped me to understand how to do not as badly.

Hated Paradise Lost. Too much God stuff.

Short essay good, long essay bad.

Thanks, Uncle D

It's been a while since I posted a picture, so:

Back at work, happy new year and all that

• How about the end of that Boise St. - Oklahoma game? How about W and Piers going to bed after the OU interception with a minute to go in the game? How about W and Piers missing the most exciting finish to a bowl game in recent memory?

• Chilling, because she says "coercion," and because the movement has legs. Get ready to defend your sody pop, oreos and fried chicken with your life!
  

• I'm making it a point to read through the MLA's report on tenure, etc. I'll be curious to see the actual substance of the report rather than the Inside Higher Ed or Chronicle summaries. More comment to follow. I also note that they're moving the meetings to after January 2. Great idea, especially since Piers and W celebrate their anniversary on Dec. 28.

• Little Boy Report: Quoting parts of books like The Little Engine that Could (favorite with Pappy) and Percy's Chocolate Crunch (favorite with Honey) from memory. And he can 'read' Not a Box all the way through, R & S.