“I think it's so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary--you're happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.” ― Georgia O'Keeffe
Shift the onus to them
This is a great article on classroom management: Why shouldn’t students feel entitled? You’ve relieved them of responsibility. Think about it. You assess by legislative fiat, document attendance, lord over technology, interact with students 24-7 via email or text, keep students on track via Blackboard or Canvas, treat students as customers, are blamed for grade... Continue Reading →
Some people have bad hair days; I have bad technology days. This morning, the OneNote app on my phone stopped syncing with my work account (most likely due to the hyper-vigilant Internet security protocols at my workplace--a problem our IT department perennialy insists on deflecting to faculty). Otherwise, I'm still recuperating from TESOL proposals, which... Continue Reading →
An informal introduction to American allophonic variation
This makes for a narrative introduction to the North American pronunciation of the intervocalic /ɾ/. she also touches on the difference between the Spanish and English varieties. As I began hearing Beto's name said by a variety of acquaintances and the national media, I noticed that often the pronunciation sounded just slightly off.Read more: What's... Continue Reading →
There’s a reason the English call it a “full stop”
I made this observation at a writing-group session a couple of years ago, so I was happy to find my linguistic intuition supported with research. I used to have friends I texted several times a day, and I noticed that subtle changes such as this communicate even more with someone you text on a daily... Continue Reading →
Is anything more glorious than blossoming Jacaranda and roses bathed in the warm hues of magic hour?
A remedy for annotating academic literature in Microsoft’s OneNote
OneNote offers an ideal way to consume academic literature with its draw-on-screen feature. Nonetheless, people sometimes eschew the product due to problems that arise as a result of the way OneNote embeds PDFs into its pages, as images, rather than document pages. Problems occur when a touchscreen user inadvertently moves the page image. If annotations... Continue Reading →
Old guard music education
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com posted Michael Chapdelaine's performance of Albéniz's "Mallorca," to comemorate the Spanish composer's birthday, and the performance is delightful. In the notes at YouTube, nonetheless, the artist links to a masterclass Segovia conducted at USC, in which Segovia berates Chapdelaine's performance of the same piece. https://youtu.be/wiAbqfaYGwk Segovia's manner with the student exemplifies everything that's wrong... Continue Reading →
College admissions should replace service with hospitality
Today in writing class, my students conducted a seminar on the article "Serving in Florida," by Barbara Ehrenreich, in which the author relates the trials and tribulations of waiting tables in an American restaurant. Since the subject content this semester has dealt with the shortcomings of higher education, the article reminded me of the expectation... Continue Reading →
If you work in higher education, there’s a new book to tell you what you already know
The book titled Cracks in the Ivory Tower, written by a professor at Georgetown and a researcher from The American Institute for Economic Research, excoriates the moral and ethical shortcomings of higher education, and according to Scott Jaschik, writing for Inside Higher Ed, the authors find fault with everyone. Universities are perplexing places. They are... Continue Reading →
