Author Archives: jbj

Once, long ago (before Twitter!), a man named George had a simple idea: since so many faculty members blog, why not start a carnival “devoted to gathering select blog entries related to teaching issues in higher education”?  And so he … Continue reading →

Around Christmas, 30boxes announced a new feature for their slick online calendar: a daily digest of your schedule, arriving in your e-mail inbox around midnight.  Especially after the demise of Sandy, this is a useful feature to add. Right now, … Continue reading →

This morning at an on-campus retreat for FYE faculty, a presenter mentioned that, soon, universities will have to print textbooks, ISBNs, and prices in online catalogs for registration and such.  I thought, “nah, couldn’t possibly be true”–that’s ridiculous.  And yet, … Continue reading →

. . . are up at Blog of a Bookslut.  Highlights include a bunch of contemporary Italian poetry, Kenyan poet-bloggers, and Robert Frost Christmas cards.

Over at Bookninja, George Murray points to this depressing, though slightly inflammatory article about parents who won’t read their children traditional fairy tales because they’re insufficiently PC and positive: Favourites such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and … Continue reading →

Music As I look through iTunes, these are the top five albums that I bought this year, irrespective of release date: The Hold Steady, Stay Positive  (tracks: “Ask Her for Some Adderall,” “Slapped Actress,” “Stay Positive“) The Drive-By Truckers, Southern … Continue reading →

My review of Rose George’s The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters appeared a couple of weeks ago in the New Haven Advocate & the Fairfield Weekly.  I will say that shit never gets … Continue reading →

Grades are due at 8am tomorrow, a deadline I will largely make.  Also, winter session courses start tomorrow, which will be a little dicey . . . but I’m pretty sure I can get us through the opening of Bleak … Continue reading →

Writing in his Chronicle-sponsored blog today, Mark Bauerlein notes that psychologists have identified rising rates of narcissism among teenagers over the past several decades.  There are multiple causes for this, the research suggests, but Bauerlein focuses on one in particular: … Continue reading →