Monthly Archives: January 2009

The closer we come to having a child of our own the more a single question recurs in my reading and conversation with others: “Can you provide for a child?”  Next in line, of course, is the implicit, “For how … Continue reading →

Forget chairs. This anecdote is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while (from here): My college chemistry professor, of national renown in organic chemistry, told the following story on himself. One summer, the professors’ wives left on an extended … Continue reading →

Sydney and I have spent quite a lot of time at home recently.  He’s got a paper due shortly, I’ve got one due shortly after that, and we’re both feeling the need to make progress before the baby gets here.  … Continue reading →

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 →