Archive for December, 2006
traveling thesis
I leave Corvallis today for Portland, and from there, it’s off to Chicago and Iowa. I’m lugging some books onto the plane. Along with some journal articles, here’s books I’m gonna try to lug along (you have no idea how long I spent narrowing down this list):
James Berlin, Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English [...]
more from Brooke on writerly identity
In “Modeling a Writer’s Identity,” Brooke argues that students learn about writing through imitating other people, not through imitating texts. When imitation works, he claims, it’s becuase of the identity of the writers being imitated, not because of the forms of writing (23). It is more beneficial, therefore, to focus on writing purpose, exploration, and [...]
Robert Brooke on ‘underlife’
I really like Brooke’s concept of the “underlife” — or, more accurately, his use of Erving Goffman’s concept of “underlife.” Brooke defines the underlife as “the activities (or information games) individuals engage in to show that their identities are different from or more complex than the identities assigned them by organizational roles” (142). There [...]
bush and townhall forums (ha!)
The Daily Show is usually a good critique of Orwellian rhetoric from the Bush administration. A friend of mine sent me this YouTube Video from The Daily Show about Bush’s so-called “town-hall forums.” Hilarious:
Wendy Bishop on teacher identity and identification
I just finished reading Wendy Bishop’s Something Old, Something New: College Writing Teachers and Classroom Change. It’s nice to actually focus on reading an entire book now that break is here.
Sara Jameson and I are preparing for our talk at CCCC in March on online identity (esp. in relation to GTAs — we’re in the [...]
a public service announcement
As some of you may remember, Compy I (my iBook from last year) died a horrible death last February/March, and was replaced soon with Compy II (my current iBook). However, within a month of getting Compy II, hir’s screen began to go crappy. I’m finally taking it to AppleCare today, which means that I will [...]
on insecurities and grad school
Today, my friend Joscelyne (an undergraduate in philosophy) talked with Luke (graduate student in philosophy) and me about how happy she was that we were all honest with each other about our insecurities. I told her that when she goes off to a PhD program, that it’s important to find that community of people, because [...]
michael bérubé is a funny man
I read the chronicle of higher ed conversation (may be a temporary link) between Michael Bérubé and David Horowitz, the conservative academic who wrote The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America (Regnery, 2006). Frankly, I think Bérubé was funny as hell and kind of yanked on Horowitz a bit, but frankly I think [...]
on an upcoming philosophy paper
I have all my homework done for this quarter except a 12-15 page paper due Thursday. This is exciting - I’ve never had an easier finals week.
But it’s a little stressful because I want this paper to be good. I turned in an abstract of where I was thinking of going a few weeks ago. [...]
Reading Lolita in Tehran: good literature, imperialist dogma, or sentimental tripe?
Jim at Blogora sends readers to this interesting column on Slate: ‘Pawn of the Neocons? The Debate over Reading Lolita in Tehran. It’s an interesting column, so check it out if you have time.
