Category Archives: Blogging

Always Never Sometimes Generalize

In the discussion of my previous entry about Mark Edmundson’s essay, Alonzo raises a pretty fair challenge to the intensity of my reaction to that essay. I’ve been thinking about this issue a bit this morning. This is a discussion … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Blogging | 17 Comments

The Why of Culture War

One of the arguments I understand Rick Perlstein to be making in Nixonland is that American political life has been increasingly shaped by a public culture war since the 1960s because that was the distinctive political response crafted by Nixon … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Blogging, Politics | 6 Comments

On the Rebound

I’ve been quickly re-skimming Doris Lessing’s African Laughter, her musings on a number of trips to Zimbabwe after 1980. In 1988, reflecting on a friend’s growing disillusionment with official corruption, Lessing writes, “To be in love with a country or … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Miscellany, Politics | 9 Comments

Unpublish and Perish

Just to join in the frenzy, I’ll stake out my position on BoingBoing’s “unpublishing” of some of their posts. Like many others commenting on the action, I think it’s a bad idea in general, and specifically the kind of bad … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging | 3 Comments

Let Us Entertain You

I was curious about what the commenters at Cartoon Brew thought about Wall-E. While I was there, I was drawn into reading a much-commented upon entry about one of the writers for Kung-Fu Panda, and a blog entry he had … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging | 6 Comments

Abra Kadabra

Wall-E is terrific, but I also really liked the Pixar short, Presto, beforehand. There have been some attempts to recapture the spirit of the classic Warner Brothers’ cartoons over the years. As far continuing series go, I liked both Pinky … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Popular Culture | 5 Comments

Back to Not Out of Africa

Maybe because it’s April, I’m in one of my periodic bouts of skepticism about blogging. I spoke earlier this semester to a class about my practice as an online writer, and the occasion made me realize that I’m really starting … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Africa, Blogging, Books, Politics | 5 Comments

Lifelong Learning (Blog Style)

I’ve been thinking a bit about the use of blogs in courses. With a few exceptions, I don’t know that I see a lot of mileage in compelling students to keep an individual blog themselves. I really enjoyed some of … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Blogging, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 12 Comments

Barbarians at the Gate

I’m not the only one to take note of the New York Times‘ baffling decision to review Lee Siegel’s new anti-Internet broadside not once, but twice. Both times, moreover, the assignment was given to reviewers who were clearly predisposed to … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Books, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 5 Comments

Now You Know, and Knowing Is Half the Battle

Geeky Mom gets two things right about the recent Frontline special about children’s use of the Internet. First, that some of the parents shown in the show have no one to blame but themselves for not knowing what their kids … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 14 Comments