Never gets old...

12 June 2024: So delighted to receive this in the mail today. (I think it actually arrived last week, but I kept forgetting to carry the package down to my office from the mail room and open it...)

"The Pedestrian"

19 February 2020: I keep telling my students this semester that I wish every one of them was in every one of my classes because the material keeps intersecting in such unusual and unexpected ways. In American Ethnic literature, we've been wrestling with questions about identity, racism, and double-consciousness. In Young Adult Literature, we've wrapped up our discussion of Monster and are about half-way through The Hate U Give. In my seminar on gender and humor, we've finished Phoebe Robinson's book and spent our last class discussing 2 Dope Queens. 

So today's poem-of-the-day just really hit me. I love its use of the sonnet form, its title's double-meaning (as a noun and an adjective--as in, this is just an ordinary occurrence), and its quiet devastation. Give it a read.

Back to 2 Dope Queens...

18 February 2020: Spent part of this morning grades students' "Listening Responses" to episodes of 2 Dope Queens, an assignment in my "Gender and Comedy" seminar this semester. Basically, I told them to pick any episode, listen carefully, take some notes, and write some things down.

The students loved the podcast. Loved it.

And the assignments? These were really good. I am telling you, even their grammar was better than usual. What? How? A Phoebe and Jessica miracle, especially impressive for a show that isn't even producing new episodes anymore.

On snapping, missing male students, and other laughs...

22 January 2020: I'm having a heck of a fun time teaching my Gender and Women's Studies/Honors Seminar on gender and humor. Here's a sample exchange to illustrate why:

Me: Did the male student who just added [on Friday] disappear?
Student: Did both of the boys disappear?
Other student: Did we scare them away.
[Pause...]
Third student [quietly]: Oops.

Amazing.

Also today in class, on some sort of weird tangent, I was listing things I've never been able to do, including hit a three-pointer, tie my shoes the normal way, snap my fingers, and whistle. I also told them that anytime you tell people that those last two (especially snapping), they immediately begin doing it, as if to make you feel extra inadequate. After class, a student sent me this clip (of Peppa Pig being upset about not being able to whistle) which delighted me.

So yeah...good class!

Can your computer tell your gender?

Well check out this site for some convincing. The author has written a program that looks at your browser history to determine your gender. It's pretty darn cool.

Interesting story: the first time I used the program (a couple of weeks ago), I got a 90-something probability of being female. Since then, I've cleared my browsing history (a good thing to do every once in a while). Just now, I ran the program again and now my number is down to 55% probability of being female. I guess I've been doing some manly surfing lately. (It's probably all the car research I've been doing, although you think bettycrocker.com and some soap opera sites would balance that out more.)

If any of you try it, let me know what you get!