Author Archives: fustianist

Last night as I was reading in my department building I heard a woman crying.  Not loudly, but the waves of unhappiness easily made their way down the hall. Imagine my sense of relief when I realized that the crying … Continue reading →

Stanley Fish and I don’t agree about everything (or, really, much at all), but I think he makes some nice points about Obama’s speaking style in his recent article.  Parataxis is something I love about poetry and even about some … Continue reading →

I thought that, after 8 years of education in rhetoric and textual analysis, I might know something about analyzing a written or spoken work.  Good to know, however, that I was wrong.  Apparently I am the only American out there … Continue reading →

So I’d gotten a little tired of people of people talking about supposed ‘inimitable Bushisms’ like misunderestimate. I’ve also gotten tired of hearing talk of Bush’s ‘Manichean worldview’, as, for example, in this article by Yale graduate and Pulitzer Prize-winning … Continue reading →

Arwyn has taken up the habit of sleeping under blankets. She’s improved a great deal in her ability to quickly get under them. ‘Annoying photographers.’

A couple of months ago: “I couldn’t go to a conference at the beginning of April, could I?” “Nope.  How about me one in late March, far from home?” “Probably better not.  We’re going to be joined at the hip … Continue reading →

1897: ‘… is almost sure to misunderstand and misunderestimate the significance of the question at hand’ (anonymous, ‘American Diplomacy on the Bosphorus’, The Outlook). 1975: ‘Now in the very earliest years of the eighteenth century it is understandable that, owing … Continue reading →

We got a scary-looking official letter in the mail today.  Sydney has been called for jury duty. I then spent 20 minutes explaining to my Canadian husband why the US government spent such stern language and such effort calling up … Continue reading →

Things are quiet here.  We’re spending lots of time at home, reading on the couch, cooking, playing with the cat.  We will be getting back to more studious habits today, though, since we know that this is just the quiet … Continue reading →

There’s something about our address that makes us difficult to find on some mapping services.  Google gets it right, Yahoo gets it wrong.  That means that it’s taken quite awhile to get the local mail and parcel delivery people to … Continue reading →