Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Release the Kraken!

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I have a sneaking feeling that movie critics won’t be that impressed with the remake of Clash of the Titans, coming out this week. Maybe I won’t be, either, given that it has the potential to be a sort of … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture | 5 Comments

My Books, My Selves

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Having one of those stretches where it is really hard to get my head above water. Most of the time March and April are like this. One thing I’ve been doing when I have a spare moment is adding books … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 2 Comments

There In Spirit

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I’ve got a number of meetings at the college today, so I can’t be there myself, but my sister is right now at her confirmation hearing for her appointment to be Director of Operational Energy Plans and Programs at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 2 Comments

Bad Books and Bad Commentariats

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I’m far more deferential to general criticisms of professors than most academics are. At a certain point, however, it’s okay to just squawk about kneejerk anti-intellectualism. So, for example, take this response by Carolyn Kellogg at her LA Times book … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Politics, Popular Culture | 3 Comments

What Color Is Your Leaden Weight?

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Strictly in the department of anecdotes-don’t-make-data and a single year doesn’t make a trend, there’s been a slight acceleration in movement in enrollments this year at Swarthmore towards the sciences, particularly chemistry and biology. Reading enrollments anywhere is hard, even … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | 9 Comments

Teacher Teach Me

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Like a lot of other bloggers, I was impressed by Elizabeth Green’s article on teacher training in the most recent NY Times magazine. Green describes some movement towards improving the process of training teachers both before and after they’re on … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 8 Comments

That’s So Funny I Forgot to Laugh

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Timothy Burke

In the middle of a New York Times story on corruption in the World Food Program’s aid to Somalia, there’s this gem: “We have to tell these folks that you cannot go on like this — we know what you … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Good Quote, Bad Quote, Politics | Comments Off on That’s So Funny I Forgot to Laugh

Sacrificing Your Isaacs

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Sorry for the long silence. Busy couple of weeks and a stretch where I just felt impossibly fatigued. ———– I’ve been thinking a lot about the politics of budgets, a Gordian knot if there ever was one. Whether we’re talking … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 1 Comment

Rock and Hard Place

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Timothy Burke

When I was in graduate school, I had a strong reaction to Susan Harding’s ethnography of American evangelicals. Partly but not entirely for the sake of argument, I wrote a critique where I claimed that this was a case where … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 9 Comments

One Story Is Enough

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Why aren’t individual stories good enough? This is a question that has occupied a lot of my time for the past decade. I have a good sense of why various concentrated kinds of intellectual projects (such as social history) have … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Miscellany | 6 Comments