“Pillage and slaughter have emptied the earth of entire peoples.”

–Beowulf (trans. Seamus Heaney), lines 2265-2266

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

-Bob Dylan, “Masters of War”

USA Today is hosting an online chat today with comic book author, and subject of the current film American Splendor, Harvey Pekar.

The History of the Book and the Idea of Literature
Deadline for submissions: 28 May 2004
Coordinators: Seth Lerer (Stanford Univ.) and Leah Price (Harvard Univ.)

Continue reading →

Can you tell I’m going back through old emails? This NPR audio is from early August:

The Rare Book School at the University of Virginia is the only one if its kind in the United States. NPR’s Jacki Lyden took a tour of the school’s collection, and talked with elite scholars attending week-long sessions to learn more about the preservation and art of rare books.

An interesting looking “Online Virtual Seminar” on manuscript study hosted by the Learning Technologies Group at Oxford University Computing Services.