Don’t take my word for it. Just ask Heather Armstrong. If you’re going to mock someone and call them stupid for expressing themselves on the Internet in a way that puts their job at risk, don’t do so on the Internet (using your real name and telling people where you work) in a way that puts your job at risk. Moron.
Author Archives: ghw
as marvin gaye sang…
…”What’s goin’ on?”
The blogging has been sort of light here lately, I realize, but I have a perfectly good explanation. I’m just not sure how much of my life I can blog right now. The fact that Somebody got a great job is really good news, but it’s not as good as if the place where I work had seen fit to give Somebody a job. You see, we were hiring in Somebody’s area, and Somebody is eminently qualified for the job: published, grant- and award-winning, networked, and connected. But the job went to another person (who I’m sure will make a wonderful addition to the university). However, now my life has just gotten a lot more complicated, what with the travelling and the two places to live and the long-distance relationship and the video conferencing and…well, you get the idea. It’s hard not to be angry that this decision was made the way it was made. Mostly I’m feeling a complicated mix of emotions that are hard to sort.
People I work with read my blog, and that means that in this situation there are just some things that I cannot write. In fact, much of what I write about my new life might be stuff I’d rather not have associated with my real identity. I’m actually considering closing the chapter on this blog and starting up a new, truly anonymous one. However, doing so would mean that I cannot write about my research or teaching the way I have in the past. So do I maintain two different blogs? That just seems like more trouble than it’s worth.
In short, I’m still here, and I’m still reading blogs, even as I do not comment very much on what y’all are writing.
It’s spring break, by the way, and today we got a little snow. Yippee.
monday morning mp3: arcade fire
This is how cool our neighborhood Thai restaurant is: Last week, they were playing the Feelies, and I said, “Hey, is this the Feelies?”, and the waitress said, “Why, yes it is,” and I said, “Can I borrow the CD when it’s done playing? I own this on vinyl, but I don’t have a record player,” and the waitress said, “Sure,” and so I stuck the CD into my laptop and ripped it into iTunes, and then a little while later I burned a copy of the Arcade Fire‘s CD Funeral and gave it to the waitress, and she immediately stuck it into the restaurant’s stereo, and we listed to it while eating tempurah vegetables and pad thai and drinking whiskey. That’s how cool they are.
I believe that you’ll know within the first 15 seconds of the following track if you love this band or not.
“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” (MP3, 5.7MB)
MP3 files are posted for evaluation purposes only. Availability is limited: usually 24 hours. Through this site, I’m trying to share and promote good music with others, who will also hopefully continue to support these artists. Everyone is encouraged to purchase music and concert tickets for the artists you feel merit your hard earned dollars. If you hold copyright to one of these songs and would like the file removed, please let me know.
on quotations in student essays
Okay, academic blogosphere, correct me if I’m wrong. Here’s an email I sent to my students:
On Tuesday, we talked about incorporating quotations into your papers. Many of you thought that a quote could be a complete sentence within quotation marks, without being incorporated into one of your own sentences.
I said, instead, that you should make a quotation part of one of your own sentences, and that your sentence should introduce, explain, or provide context for the quotation.
Take a look at section 3.7 of the MLA Handbook (6th edition), which says, “You must construct a clear, grammatically correct sentence that allows you to introduce or incorporate a quotation with complete accuracy” (109). Look also at all of the examples of the use of quotations in that section.
I’m not dreaming, am I? When quoting someone else in an essay, you do not simply plunk the quotation down between two sentences of your own composition, even if those sentences explain the importance of your quotation. You have to incorporate the quotation into one of your own sentences in a grammatically correct fasion fashion…right?
My students were adamant that I am wrong.
only life
I’ve been blogging for two years now. What’s a blog for? Why, “It’s Only Life” (mp3, 3.6MB, from the Feelies’ 1988 album Only Life).
I went to SCSECS 2005 this past weekend at St. Simon’s Island, off the coast of Georgia. A paper was presented, beaches were walked, an ocean was waded into, and a good time was had by all.
Still mulling over all the big changes on the horizon of my life.
What does it mean?
What can you do about it?
What can you say?
You don’t even know about it.It’s only life.
MP3 files are posted for evaluation purposes only. Availability is limited: usually 24 hours. Through this site, I’m trying to share and promote good music with others, who will also hopefully continue to support these artists. Everyone is encouraged to purchase music and concert tickets for the artists you feel merit your hard earned dollars. If you hold copyright to one of these songs and would like the file removed, please let me know.