This item from the NYTimes today shows us why Academic culture is a Zombie culture. It's more than College Misery. It's Undead College Misery. There's a fun link within the article, too.
If your institution subscribes you can use their password and log in. The librarian should give it to you.
And here's a super-secret surprise: As long as they keep up the subscription the password and log in never expire. I'm using the same one from three schools ago.
I LOVED the RYS article in the Chronicle this morning. I have to admit I know which moderator Pfefferle was at RYS, but unless he wants to out himself officially here, I won't say a thing.
I can say he's a very funny dude and a great writer. I had the chance to hear him read his work at a conference a few years ago, after his Poets on Place book came out.
Why would you say that Morose? He's published a couple of books that were well received. He's got a very successful record teaching in his field. I don't see what the problem is here. If he ever goes looking for another job, there's nothing in this article, or in the fact that he was a moderator at RYS, that could possibly be held against him. I can't ever recall him writing anything on this site or on RYS that anyone could possibly see as objectionable.
Getting back to undead ideas, the British government is pushing Behaviorism on the masses as an attempt to contine the status quo.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/
That by the way is the blog of Adam Curtis, the documentarian who made "The Power of Nightmares", a film about the rise of neoconservatism and the mirrored rise of Islamic terrorism that makes a convincing argument that Al-Queda didn't really exist until after 9/11.
On RYS: I always saw the site as the academic version of a pirate radio station, and in the pirate radio game, you never give out your real name. I really don't want to know who actually ran the site, where they teach, etc. because then it just becomes another work blog. I like mystery.
@Fab: And here I thought "W.T. Pfefferle" was a pseudonym, too. I guess it sounded sort of like pfeffernusse -- the German spice cookies that show up at this time of year.
@Morose: I may be naive, but I can't see the problem, either. The article itself is serious, and it looks like he has some other serious -- and innovative -- publications. Any department that doesn't want a faculty member who's willing to step back and look at the collective enterprise seriously doesn't deserve to have one (and will ultimately be the worse for it).
"The Walking Dead" is a social commentary about human behavior when "law and governance" cease to exist, not a horror show. Although the tension in the first few episodes when you think something is about to happen and it never does can mess with you just as much as when the zombies actually "do" something. Like eat a horse. {Shudder}
Did anyone see this link in the Chronicle this morning? If you have a subscription and would care to share the whole article, I'd love to read it.
ReplyDeleteIf your institution subscribes you can use their password and log in. The librarian should give it to you.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's a super-secret surprise: As long as they keep up the subscription the password and log in never expire. I'm using the same one from three schools ago.
I liked the Chronicle article. It's a nice concise history of RYS by one of the moderators.
ReplyDeleteOnly six comments on it so far, but I'm sure the flaming by the self-righteous, moralistic Chronicle readership will begin anytime now.
I can't access the article. I no longer subscribe. Is there a way to see the text?
ReplyDeleteThis RYS article is very good. I see it's by the same person who had an article in the Chronicle earlier this fall called "One Good Student."
ReplyDeleteAre we supposed to know who he was on RYS? Is it Calico?
Does he know it's published under his own name and that he's outed himself?
@Reg
ReplyDeleteYour "outing" comment reminded me of the April Fool's joke they played.
I LOVED the RYS article in the Chronicle this morning. I have to admit I know which moderator Pfefferle was at RYS, but unless he wants to out himself officially here, I won't say a thing.
ReplyDeleteI can say he's a very funny dude and a great writer. I had the chance to hear him read his work at a conference a few years ago, after his Poets on Place book came out.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe RYS article in the Chronicle makes it sound like a Kumbaya fest over there, lots of earnest souls searching for an answer!
ReplyDeleteThat's bullshit or revisionist or something.
It WAS a profoundly funny and profane place, though, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
My all time favorite post from there is this one, the Ice Cream Man!
Non subscribers can't see the article you're talking about. Why not just put it up?
ReplyDeleteFuck RYS and Fuck the Chronicle. They've never published my work. But here, I'm like a star!
ReplyDeleteKiss me, love me, you know you need me.
Respect,
T(NJ)
Hasn't this person just thrown his career away?
ReplyDeleteWhy would you say that Morose? He's published a couple of books that were well received. He's got a very successful record teaching in his field. I don't see what the problem is here. If he ever goes looking for another job, there's nothing in this article, or in the fact that he was a moderator at RYS, that could possibly be held against him. I can't ever recall him writing anything on this site or on RYS that anyone could possibly see as objectionable.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it.
Getting back to undead ideas, the British government is pushing Behaviorism on the masses as an attempt to contine the status quo.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/
That by the way is the blog of Adam Curtis, the documentarian who made "The Power of Nightmares", a film about the rise of neoconservatism and the mirrored rise of Islamic terrorism that makes a convincing argument that Al-Queda didn't really exist until after 9/11.
On RYS:
I always saw the site as the academic version of a pirate radio station, and in the pirate radio game, you never give out your real name. I really don't want to know who actually ran the site, where they teach, etc. because then it just becomes another work blog. I like mystery.
@Fab: And here I thought "W.T. Pfefferle" was a pseudonym, too. I guess it sounded sort of like pfeffernusse -- the German spice cookies that show up at this time of year.
ReplyDelete@Morose: I may be naive, but I can't see the problem, either. The article itself is serious, and it looks like he has some other serious -- and innovative -- publications. Any department that doesn't want a faculty member who's willing to step back and look at the collective enterprise seriously doesn't deserve to have one (and will ultimately be the worse for it).
What IS it with the Zombie stuff? I'm watching that AMC show about Zombies. It's not frightening. Have I become zombie-immune?
ReplyDelete"The Walking Dead" is a social commentary about human behavior when "law and governance" cease to exist, not a horror show. Although the tension in the first few episodes when you think something is about to happen and it never does can mess with you just as much as when the zombies actually "do" something. Like eat a horse. {Shudder}
ReplyDeleteWalking Dead is great, and Sawyer is right about it. It's not a zombie show at all.
ReplyDelete