Monthly Archives: January 2007

It’s the second day of classes and I already feel like I’m behind in my reading! – Sydney

In-between classes today I finished up the last few pages of George Eliot’s Middlemarch. Just in time! It was my second time through this book, and my third 700- to 800-page novel in the last month. On a really basic … Continue reading →

I’m also off to the class I’ll be teaching: a freshman writing seminar.  I’m not a TA, so I actually have to do my own tap-dance with my students today for 50 minutes.  But why do I feel more like … Continue reading →

We’re about ready to head back to classes. The first class I’ll be attending will be PHIL 101, the class for which I will likely be TAing. So, yes, it looks like I’ll get to spend the semester with students … Continue reading →

So today Sydney and I had a trial run of being back in academia. We spent a fairly long day on campus, with a luncheon, lecture, a trip to the gym, reading in the lounge, etc. I must say, it … Continue reading →

So earlier in the morning I posted a link to Charles Murray’s article on why fewer people should go to college. Murray relies fairly heavily on the point that a college education is largely irrelevant for a great many occupations. … Continue reading →

1) I will return to wearing dress pants, skirts, and heels, rather than layering thermals, jeans, and sweaters good for lounging on a sofa. I refuse to wear uncomfortable clothing, but it’s nice to look different from my students, who … Continue reading →

So I was sitting on the couch, deep in a book, when Sydney says out of the blue, “So are you going to write a post about the catastrophic lunch we had today?” Note that no such post had been … Continue reading →

Charles Murray on why fewer people should go to college here. I’m quite sympathetic to his argument — I think college is greatly overrated in both the U.S. and Canada. – Sydney

One of my historian friends has posted a contest to see how your pick of influential Americans lines up with those of The Atlantic Monthly‘s panel of historians. I have some issues with the Atlantic‘s methodology (I think the weighting … Continue reading →