Inmates at Guantanamo Bay are fighting over Harry Potter books ( Read more... )

Heidi Bond is sharp -- and not just because she likes chickens.

I continually murder my perfectionism, or try to -- it's quite resilient. And I function (or I think I'm functioning -- we'll see when I see my grades), but I still need reminders like this one. Thanks, Heidi.

What does this mean? It's the sort of thing I'd expect to read about in Isabella's chronicles; not so much on the local news.

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
Che la diritta via era smarrita.

***

Well, and it's true. But it's amazing how much refuge there is in simply being able to quote that. It's when there's nothing quotable in Dante that you have to worry.

... you reference Gilda Radner and your students don't know who you're talking about.

Some of them might, actually. I referenced her for a small group who are feeling insecure about making an arguable claim rather than a descriptive one. Every claim has a counterclaim, I said, so don't worry that yours does, too. The trick is to take control of ( Read more... )

Plato is so damned puritanical in the Republic.

But I'm beginning to feel like one as I find myself taking apart Plato's Republic. I keep landing on my mistake-as-trope fancy, and that's apparently ridiculously Derridean. I still haven't read enough Derrida. Which means hardly any. Gawain is much better.

Questions and dichotomies I'm finding so far in the Republic:
( Read more... )

Bowling was great fun. I'm not sure how to write about it without sounding patronizingly fascinated by the neon, the pulltab machines, and the clerk with a mullet and a dangling "K" earring. Or the terrible paintings all across the lanes of a curving abstract figure in pink against a blue background. Elegance isn't the goal of the Leilani Lanes ( Read more... )

Which British Literary Period are you?
Romantic
1785-1837--Wordsworth, Blake, Shelley. You are sensuous, and enjoy nature. You probably can explain the difference between the beautiful and sublime

( Read more... )

Cupcake Royale has opened in Ballard, and I'm just delighted. Slices of cake are too big; cupcakes are the perfect size. And there's buttercream frosting, and the cupcakes are moist, and the coffee is damn fine, to quote Agent Cooper.

Tonight I'm going bowling with kissame! I haven't been bowling since I was about 13, when one of my brothers had a ( Read more... )