Notes About Networks

This is one of 50 posts about cyborgs, a project to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coining of the term. Where Do Cyborgs Come From? The term cyborg is as evocative and cuts as elusive a figure now...

Posted by mistersquid on September 29, 2010 9:09 AM

Looking for a Job in California in Early 2010: An Anecdote

In July 2009, I notified my chair that I would not be returning to my job as a professor of literature. My departure was abrupt and left the department in the lurch. For that I am sorry. I am...

Posted by mistersquid on January 27, 2010 7:51 AM

The Decline of the English Department

Early in his analysis of The Decline of the English Department, William Chace asserts that what is at the root of the decline is the failure of departments of English across the country to champion, with passion, the books...

Posted by mistersquid on October 10, 2009 11:57 AM

Some Thoughts Regarding the Creation of Text-to-Speech Audiobooks Using Consumer-Grade Software, or One Possible Outcome for Academic Professionalism as a Result of Fully Digitzed Text

Codex Books, Audiobooks, and Assistive Devices: A Tale of Near Misses The last book I checked out of Alden Library while still a faculty at Ohio University was Clay Shirky’s 2008 Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without...

Posted by mistersquid on September 17, 2009 9:47 PM

Reorganizing This Movable Type Blog: Mistersquid Refreshed

Before returning to California after a 17-year adventure in the world of higher education (one that may not quite be done done), I restructured the way I was developing material for this blog. That restructuring was born of a...

Posted by mistersquid on September 13, 2009 12:48 PM

Friction and Its Discontents

Those of you who know me in real life probably aren’t surprised by my blogging hiatus. Those of you who know probaby aren’t either. I suppose I’m the only one who’s surprised. In the last year (has it been that...

Posted by mistersquid on May 4, 2009 10:27 PM

Aphasia

I was going to wait to write something about David Foster Wallace’s death, but after reading Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s comment about him in the New York Times I understood that I have something to say now. She had said that DFW’s...

Posted by mistersquid on September 14, 2008 9:37 AM

Name Goes Here

November, last month, is the month where I write the least. Nothing intentional. It's just that my brooding character lends itself to contemplation in my month of nativity. All the big questions: who am I? Why are we here? Where...

Posted by mistersquid on December 2, 2007 9:49 AM

Scripting Tag Clouds in MovableType

At the moment, I’m in the middle of proctoring the final examination for my afternoon American Literature survey (1918-present). Teaching a month into what is every other universities’ summer “breaks” (more accurately read “frenzied research period”) is one of the...

Posted by mistersquid on June 8, 2007 3:38 PM

Not No Renaissance Scholar

I’m overdue for a post, especially considering that two posts ago I made the silly error of taking “wherefore art” to mean “where are” as opposed to “why are.” The question Juliet asksO Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? (2.2.33)is,...

Posted by mistersquid on June 2, 2007 12:01 AM

Stupid Me

Before getting yesterday carried away by a gushy, embarrassing tide of love for my former and future loves, I started with the observation thatEarlier this week I made a push to begin (I always begin at the beginning) my first...

Posted by mistersquid on October 28, 2006 6:13 PM

The Postmodern Challenge

Today I was challenged to define postmodernism in ten words or less. I offered, proudly and tautologically, “Postmodernism is what comes after Modernism.” Pride and tautologies aside, a succinct definition of postmodernity is something I was reluctant to provide...

Posted by mistersquid on May 31, 2006 10:40 PM