"Colonial discourse takes over as it takes cover." -David Spurr, The Rhetoric of Empire An ellipsis, like grief, calls attention to the presence of an absence. It can can do so in a couple of different ways. It can help a sentence trail off suggestively, opening the reader's mind to thoughts unexpressed or still to … Continue reading We Need to Talk About Ellipses
Repurposing Twain: We Need Another Film Version of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”
There are very few film versions of Mark Twain's works. Given the quality of the existing crop, we should probably consider that a blessing. Connecticut Yankee has been filmed a few times. There's a version from 1921, only 11 years after Twain's death, and a televised version from 1978, starring Richard Basehart, Bill Bixby, and … Continue reading Repurposing Twain: We Need Another Film Version of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”
U.S. Grant and H.G. Wells
I've been reading through Grant's Memoirs again, this time focusing more on the Conclusion. It's classic Grant: dry and to the point. Here's the opening sentence: "The cause of the great War of the Rebellion against the United Status will have to be attributed to slavery." It can't be put any more plainly than that, … Continue reading U.S. Grant and H.G. Wells
Some Thoughts on Group Conferences
So anyway, I decided to try something new this semester: small group conferences. Why? Well, with over a hundred students, single meetings are unworkable, even if I were detail-oriented, which I’m not. Also, I’m learning that conferences can be stressful for students, especially those with social anxiety, and asking them to come to my office … Continue reading Some Thoughts on Group Conferences
“Black Panther” and the Morality of Power
"With great power comes great responsibility." Uncle Ben was right. After all, it's the underlying ethos of all the superhero movies I've ever seen, from both the Marvel and the DC universes. The climax of most of the movies, especially the origin stories, seems to be that moment of self-actualization--"I am Iron Man!"--where the acceptance … Continue reading “Black Panther” and the Morality of Power
My Adventure with “The New Jim Crow”
The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander's 2010 racial critique of mass incarceration, is back in the news, thanks to a New York Times article on the surprising decision by North Carolina prisons to remove it from a banned books list. I had an adventure with that book, myself. A few years ago, I offered to … Continue reading My Adventure with “The New Jim Crow”
Garbage Out, Garbage In
The syllabus for ENG101 "[r]equires students to produce a minimum of 20 pages of writing." With six sections, and a rough average of 20 students per section, that amounts to a minimum of 2400 pages per semester. My Penguin Classics edition of Moby Dick is only 625, not including the "Explanatory Notes." Now I'm getting … Continue reading Garbage Out, Garbage In
