Via the Dish, I read Shikma Dalmia making the case against California’s attempt to increase black and Hispanic enrollment at their best public universities– still, after all of the neoliberal assaults and constant funding cuts, the best public university system in the world– and arguing that this defeat was a natural priority of California’s large […]
Continue reading →I’ve gotten a lot of good responses to my post on free speech and the social justice left. I appreciate both the praise and the criticism. I would like to take a moment and respond to one line of criticism, which is part of a particular frustration of mine: when I am told that attitudes […]
Continue reading →It’s a question I’ve played around with before. Generally, the response is something like “of course not, stop slandering us,” or whatever. But more and more often, I find that the answer from lefties I know in academia or online writing are answering “yes.” And that is, frankly, terrifying and a total betrayal of the […]
Continue reading →Technical difficulties!
Continue reading →So this “The Pointlessness of Unplugging” essay has been making the usual rounds. I hate to even write this post, because it’s so obligatory from me at this point, so I’ll keep it short: if the digital life is as fulling, untroubled, and complete as these essayists frequently make it out to be, why do […]
Continue reading →Here’s a brief catalog of panels and sessions devoted to labor issues for adjuncts and conatingent faculty here at the conference: First, the Program Chair Adam Banks, Conference Chair Howard Tinberg, and Exemplar Award winners Cynthia Selfe and Gail Hawisher all mentioned the needs of adjuncts in their remarks at the opening ceremony. The Committee […]
Continue reading →My various critics, enemies, and complaintents, please, use this space to make yourself heard. Don’t start on Twitter, it’s unseemly; if you aren’t willing to confront someone with your problems, you aren’t actually interested in solving them. Frankly I can’t keep track, at this point. So get in line or shut up. It’s pathetic.
Continue reading →The Conference on College Composition and Communication, where I’m hanging out right now, is organized by the National Council of Teachers of English. It’s good to be a part of that organization; John James deBoer, my paternal grandfather, was the 32nd president of the organization. A professor of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, […]
Continue reading →Hey guys, the comments moderation system has failed to send me notification of some comments waiting to be cleared lately, leading to a delay in me releasing them. I believe I have unleashed all the comments now. I apologize for the delay.
Continue reading →“Ricks is free to think what he wants about Greenwald and Snowden’s political beliefs and if he has some evidence that they have signed on to Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine agenda, as a top journalist I’m sure he can figure out a way to prove it. Otherwise this is just another example of a certain strain […]
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