Academic Self II – The Joy of White Boards
Hey all, remember this? Yeah, this was our white board from last week. Last assignment of the semester. And for our last class, snow. A nice way to close things out.
Beyond the Crisis of Language Versus Literature A.K.A. The Stick Mr. English Needs to Remove
I most certainly agree with the points James F. English makes within his book “The Global Future of English Studies.” Linguistics are crucial to all intellectual individuals that ever want to achieve anything within the realm of academia. Without linguistics, you will fall into a cesspool of deep depression, death, and whatnot. Wait. WHAT? In…
Linguistics and Creative Writing – The Misfits of a BA in English
I remember toward the beginning of the semester, we tried to define the elusive term “English studies.” James English does a pretty good job of that on page 7: “English, meantime, no longer able to convincingly claim for itself the central and anchoring position among the disciplines, adopted a strategy of multiple positions, fostering a…
The Enemy of English! (except not)
What I thought was most notable in the chapters I chose to read was the idea that cultural studies is some sort of upstart, mucking about in traditional academic and ruining the precious canon: “the enemy of literature departments…a rapidly expanding threat to our discipline’s future” (149). That it turns out it’s not as big…
“English” is for English, Simpson is for Creative Writing!
The Global Future of English Studies by James F. English provided me with valuable insight into the field of creative writing via the section called “Creative Writing for a Creative Economy.” English’s text provided me with some useful information regarding the statistics of creative writing majors across the United States. He indicates, “As recently as…
“Oh! I Remember That Stuff! We Talked About That In English Class!”
I am not yet finished with The Global Future of English Studies, but I just wanted to take some time to reflect on all of this positive energy in the event it goes sour yet again. I really appreciate English’s approach to the English studies “crisis.” As his title hints, he takes a more global perspective.…
Debates in the Digital Humanities, What are the Digital Humanities?
The question of whether incorporating the digital works of writing in the 21st century into the realm of scholarly writing weighs heavily on experts in the field of English studies. The world has become digital and there is much more writing being produced than ever before. Although the writing being produced is not all of…
How the University Works, is this Reality?
Bousquet points out some harsh realities of the workforce and society in general. His chapter on UPS workers shed light on the mistreatment of warehouse workers, but I’m assuming is also a message on the mistreatment of university workers. The chapters seems to be almost allegorical. The story on “Employee of the Month” reflects the…
Actually, Samuel L. Jackson, I will.
I chose the Pulp Fiction meme to begin my blog post because there seems to be a major divergence when it comes to digital humanities. On one side, there are people in the “regular” humanities that don’t understand digital humanities and are fed up with hearing about this sub-discipline that’s ascending in popularity as other…
Graduate Education and Ethics of the Digital Humanities
The section on literature majors and proctors needing to incorporate technology into their work was very logical and informative. The crucial point made by Alexander Reid within this essay is one that cannot be ignored by current and future educators. Inevitably, because technology and digital literacy (via ebooks, research, etc) has become such a large…
Democratic Scholarship through the Digital Humanities
Most of what I carried away from these readings was the understanding that the ubiquitous nature of digital information provides students and scholars more opportunities to self-publish work and collaborate with others more than ever before. I guess I should jump on the bandwagon with this. Especially after reading the selections from Debates in the…
#IwanttogotoUCLA
That Unfortunately I will miss class this evening for the very fortunate opportunity to hear Lena Dunham and David Sedaris speak at Carnegie Hall. I say (at least in a minor sense) unfortunately because I really enjoyed this text and would have loved to hear discussion tonight. For my blog I want to focus on…
All Hands on Deck…Fire the Canons!
This week’s post will focus on Chapter 14: “Canons, Close Reading, and the Evolution of Method. ” Let me first start off by saying this may be my favorite piece that I have read this semester. I found it to be short, sweet, and to the point. And I wasn’t left feeling like I wanted…
Ugh like this MLA convention is so boring don’t u think :/
I was shocked, yet simultaneously not, to read about Twitter in relation to MLA conventions. That’s what our world is coming to, as much as I don’t want to admit it. At the very least, I hope those “tweeting attendees” use proper spelling and punctuation! Another surprise for me was Matthew Wilkens’s statement about reading…
Social Collaboration in the Digital Humanities
“If you are not making anything, you are not…a digital humanist” (Ramsay qtd. in Gold, x). With this broad idea, we are introduced to the concept of the digital humanities. It seems so huge, too huge to be of any real use as a label. What helped me narrow it down was understanding the digital…
I’m Not Cut Out for the Digital Age…Posted Bousquet #2 to the WRONG BLOG!
How the University Works by Mark Bousquet continues to enrage me simply based on the solid facts that he consistently provides about the pitfalls of higher education. In Chapter 4, “Students Are Already Workers,” he successfully portrays the depressing reality that most college students face when forced to decide how to fund their college education. …
The Digital Age is All the Rage…..NOT!
The main part of Debates in the Digital Humanities that resonated with me the most deals with the discussion about copyeditors and the future of correction. Unfortunately, I did find myself skimming over this text because the author does not seem to possess any personality in his writing whatsoever. However, he did allow me to…
Get connected, fo’ free…
After reading “How the University Works,” and discussing various issues in class, I was reminded of the commercials for Education Connection. With their quippy songs and catchy jingles they portray the idea that it is easy to go to school and get a degree and you can still work. Then I was reminded of the…
Money makes the world go round!
In education, what does it all come down to in the end? As much as I’d love to say it’s about the welfare of students and teachers, Bousquet has made me pull my head out of the clouds. Yet again, I am both depressed and incensed after reading the last few chapters of How the…
Higher Education is an Industry…and I’m a Factory Worker
“Higher education is an industry,” Marc Bousquet writes, “like others in the service economy, that is…reliant on youth labor” (148). I hardly consider myself youth any longer, but in terms of my life situation as a returning student, I am relegated to this category. A student who works. This system places me in an unenviable…
Fee, Fi, Fo, Fordism: How Business Has Destroyed the System
“Implicit in the informational mission was the disavowal of responsibility for making things happen; instead, the task is to describe, forecast, and advise; ideally, in exchange for a fee” (Bousquet, 193). — Chapter 6: The Rhetoric of “Job Market” and the Reality of the Academic Labor System This continuous theme of providing the necessary “fee”…
Intro to English Studies @ KU 