A new must-read blog...

A blog devoted entirely to things that look like ducks. Awesome.

Narratives of Community

I got this book in the mail the other day.


What's the big deal, you might be asking? Well, check out chapter twelve, baby!


That's right--written by yours truly. I'm actually pretty proud of this piece. I wrote it last year while teaching new four classes and doing the whole job search thing. On the other hand, I didn't have much of a life outside of work last year, so there's that to consider. Anyway, I think it turned out to be a pretty decent essay.

Want a copy for yourself? Buy one here. (Yes, it's expensive! You have my permission to wait for the price to come down--or for a paperback edition.)

Maybe she isn't cut out to be a teacher?

Threatening to sue your students because they disagree with you? Good grief. There are some days when I would love to have them disagree with me--because it means they are actually thinking. More here and here.

Dollhouse

So is it too early to be excited for next season's new TV series? Well, not if we are talking about Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. Ausiello and the crew over at TV Guide have had lots of info about casting for the show, but here's a nice post (a bit old) about the pilot script. Can't wait!

Professors and Wikipedia

I've been thinking the same thing that this writer discusses here for a while, but he says it much better than I could:

"It is time for the academic world to recognize Wikipedia for what it has become: a global library open to anyone with an Internet connection and a pressing curiosity. The vision of its founders, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, has become reality, and the librarians were right: the world has not been the same since. If the Web is the greatest information delivery device ever, and Wikipedia is the largest coherent store of information and ideas, then we as teachers and scholars should have been on this train years ago for the benefit of our students, our professions, and that mystical pool of human knowledge."

His proposal that all academics with research interests become identifiable editors is interesting, too. I've never been confident enough to even consider it.

YoungMe/NowMe

A fun gallery of people re-creating photos from their youth. Makes me want to find an old picture of me (when I was probably about two) happily sitting in a huge garbage can...

Sunday Morning Inspiration

Check out this video from this morning's CBS Sunday Morning. I have a loved one with MS, and although we've been very lucky that her illness hasn't progressed very far, it still hangs over our heads. Stories like this, though, give us lots of hope and inspiration.

TypeRacer

Uh-oh. I am going to waste a lot of time playing this...

Zombie links...

Those who know me well know I love zombie movies. My siblings and I grew up on a steady diet of horror movies, including the Night of the Living Dead films. So it should come as no surprise that I've got this little collection of zombie-fightin' links that I've been saving up over the past couple of weeks.

Read. Laugh. Learn. It may someday save your life.

Part I: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse.

Part II: How to Battle Zombie Hordes.

And if you are really hard-core, you can join the Zombie Squad.

Finally, it's never too early to shop for my birthday, so you might consider this little item that's been on my Amazon wishlist for a long time.

One sentence true stories...

Remember that post about six-word short stories and six-word memoirs? Well, here's a blog all about one sentence true stories. I suppose I should also include the warning that this has time-sucker potential.

When Nixon Met Elvis...

...it was awesome.

Check out this cool exhibit by the folks at the National Archives.

Weekend Visit

I thought I'd post a couple of pictures from my parents' visit last weekend. As some of you know, my mom had a pretty serious health scare and is still quite sick (no matter how much she protests--it's true), so this trip down (one that had been postponed when my mom was in the hospital) was a bit of a symbolic victory for them. We had a nice visit, too, including a trip to see Erin, who now lives about an hour and fifteen minutes away.


My mom at dinner on Saturday.


My dad at dinner.


Erin and Eric (the boyfriend).


Erin and I. A pretty cute, picture, I think.


They say women often marry men just like their fathers. That is all.


My cat niece, Sophia. Erin has another cat, too, named Sal, but he wouldn't come out of the closet. (Ha ha.)

Springtime Post, especially for Amber...

Shannon beat me to it, but here we go anyway...Spring is probably my favorite time of the year--for many reasons. Chief among them, though, are the pretty flowers you see everywhere. This spring, I am mindful of poor Amber, way up in Canada. As I told her, though, spring showing up here in full-force means it's that much closer to Canada.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been taking some pictures of the gorgeous trees and flowers and I am finally getting around to posting them. Not all of these trees were in bloom at the same time, but they do make a nice collection.


The trees in the faculty parking lots on campus.


A close up shot of one of those trees.


A lovely tree outside of Knutti, the building where my office is.


Knutti tree close up.


The awesome tree out behind my apartment, just before dusk. This tree is one of my favorite things about where I live. It was amazing to wake up and see the blooms out of my bedroom windows. And about a week later, when the petals feel down, it would look like it was gently snowing.


Close up of the apartment tree--this time facing away from the building.


Probably my favorite tree this spring--also in the faculty parking lot. To give you an idea of the time line, I took this one on Wednesday and the photos above about a week and a half ago.


Yet another close up shot.


There's this lovely (I need a new word, I know) garden out behind Knutti and all sorts of cool things have been springing up there lately, including these hyacinths. (For the record, I think hyacinths are my favorite flowers, period.)


Tulips.



Ummm...some pretty flower I don't the name of...


Daffodils...I think...

Hope you enjoyed!

Frequently Asked Questions about Poetry...

...answered by former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. It's awesome.

Complete this headline: "_____ Theft Panic Hits City"

"'It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny,' said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station."

What is Kalala referring to? Read here to find out.