Papa has directed his last anthem

We just returned from his final worship service as music minister at First Baptist Church, Nashville.

Today I submitted . . .

. . . my proposal for an NEH Summer Stipend, which will amount to $6K, and provide support for my current research on the Elizabethan Church. It's a long shot, but it sure doesn't hurt to ask; if I get it, I'll be able to afford a bit of research at the Folger this coming summer.

Adventures with Students, Vol. 8

or, "The Disgruntled Summer Term Student"

Yesterday I was alerted by one of my students to the following "cratering" review of my early british literature survey on the infamous Ratemyprofessors.com:

He's a horrible teacher as far as explaining his assignments and papers. He uses the textbook EVERYDAY so if you're on of those students that hate buying books, dont take his class!!

Life with a little boy, v. 3

The evidence is in--he is an Edwards:






He'll sleep anywhere!

Hugo Project #1

I've taken on a little project for my trashy reading: I'm going to try to read through the list of Hugo-Award Winners. That way, I feed my sci-fi habit and at the same time can convince myself that I'm not reading absolute dreck.

So, I just finished Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man, winner of the 1953 Hugo (the first one)

Verdict: Better than I anticipated. Some science fiction doesn't wear very well, becoming quaint or silly. In this case, I was surprised that the focus of the "science" part was psychology and Freudian psychoanalysis. It's based on the idea that there is a group of people (called espers) that can read minds at different levels. Bester uses this setup to write a futuristic detective story about a murder committed in an era when murder is almost literally unthinkable. Couple of strong characters--the perp and the detective--and an interesting conceptual take on 'talking' between minds, without words.

Uh Oh: Travel between planets and moons seems to be instantaneous--maybe Bester was better at psychology than astronomy. Also, the Freudian stuff is hard to take seriously.

To Virginia

We're making the annual pilgrimage to Wise, Virginia so I can attend the Medieval-Renaissance Conference up there. This will be something like my 5th or 6th year in a row--I've found it to be a much-needed boost every year. Bonus: we get to visit J and W Adrian!

How to break a daddy's heart

The Little Boy has been a challenge recently, no doubt. Every parent we talk to concurs that a three-year-old, though he doesn't have the mellifluous designation of "terrible two," really deserves the appellation more. It's just him trying out his will and his authority, seeing how far he can go before meeting opposition. There's been a lot of sending him back to his room.

But last night and this morning, he showed me something.

I'm in the midst of an extraordinarily busy period, with multiple essays due from my end to various people. I've been bringing a lot of work home with me, and that's after being in the office all day. Last night, I was finishing a bunch of papers and working on this weekend's talk, so I cloistered myself in the spare room, hunched over stacks and stacks. I did go out to sit with W for a few minutes, since we don't get many quiet moments together. Went back and did more work until bedtime. When I went in to check on the Little Boy, he wasn't in his bed, or under his bed, or on the floor, or in his closet, or in our bed, or in our closet (all places we've found him sleeping). Where was he? In the spare room, curled up in a pile of pillows on the floor, with a book nearby (the one I had read to him before I turned off the light). He had come in there and fallen asleep, and I hadn't noticed.

This morning, after reading him a book or two, he said he wanted to wrestle. Well, that's part of the morning routine: boy time before mom is ready to take over. When we got down on the floor, though, and I picked him up to mess with him, he went limp and just looked in my face. He didn't say a word, didn't even make a face (!), but just curled up in my arms. It was at that moment that I realized why he likes wrestling so much (hint: it doesn't have to do with the wrestling).

Well played, little boy.

The Little Boy now has a cousin

Daniel Tucker Edwards. A beautiful baby boy, born yesterday morning. We here at Luigi's Mansion are thrilled for Nate & Corri! W has already been cooing at pictures.

Adventures with Students, Vol. 7

Is this a compliment?

Heard after class: "This class reminds me of Zelda!"

mmmmmkay, then.

Glad they're paying attention to important stuff.

Prisons Purging Books on Faith. (NYT)

What the hell, excuse my language and no pun intended, do they expect to achieve, other than looking like fools?

Requiescat in Pace

Madeline L'Engle. It's been a long time since I read one of her books, but they've stuck with me--I still remember the first time I read A Wrinkle in Time. It hit me like a thunderbolt.

Life with a Little Boy, v. 2

Hey, this slideshow thing is fun! Let's try it again!

Below, pictures from A Day Out With Thomas:

"Life With a Toddler" now "Life with a Little Boy"

Click below for a brief slideshow.

JDH Summer 07