February 2011
“Plastics make up various products, from plastic shopping bags to stationary,...”
– A student’s paper, confirming that people under age 20 or so do not know what stationery is.
Feb 1st
11 notes
Feb 1st
4 notes
January 2011
Jan 31st
35 notes
“The world is not being kind / But there is the sensation of kindness.”
– Dan Beachy-Quick, “Museums”
Jan 31st
2 tags
ListenJanet Jackson - What Have You Done For Me Lately
Jan 30th
4 tags
Things I Am Currently Contemplating
Buying a plane ticket to NY for the first weekend in March, even though that’s the weekend before my field exams and I should probably be doing nothing but studying at that point Going for a run in the rain, even though I HATE running in the rain Making myself pancakes, even though I already ate breakfast
Jan 30th
45 notes
Grading papers on the weekends always just results in me counting down the hours until it is socially acceptable to start drinking.
Jan 30th
1 tag
Jan 30th
71 notes
3 tags
Jan 29th
19 notes
A Reading List: Prose Stylists
sarahwrotethat: I received terrific responses to my call for a list of notable women prose sentence-makers. It’s always striking with reading lists how pantheons differ and one person’s favorites are another person’s also-rans or never heard-ofs. It’s a strange to me to think how no one could hope to read all the books published in even a single year, and the extent to which anyone’s sense of...
Jan 29th
13 notes
“The brain is an instrument of action and not of representation.”
– Henri Bergson
Jan 28th
5 notes
“…the secret is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. It’s...”
– Buster Keaton tells you how to fall, 1914. (via elisabethdonnelly)
Jan 28th
11 notes
2 tags
I’m sitting in the lecture affiliated with my writing class, and the professor of this lecture is SERIOUSLY flawed. The following exchange just occurred:  Professor: What’s your name? Student: June. Professor: What? Student: June. Professor: Jerry? [N.B. The student is a girl.] Student: No, JUNE. Professor: What? Other student: Her name is June, like the month. Professor: OH,...
Jan 27th
14 notes
Jan 26th
322 notes
1 tag
Jan 26th
7 notes
2 tags
Jan 26th
2 tags
Jan 25th
3 notes
Jan 25th
I Need Song and Dance Men
chriscantwell: I’m looking for two really talented tap dancers (male, late 20’s to mid 30’s), at least one of which who can also sing well, and both of which who can act comedically. This is for something I’m going to be developing over the course of six months and it all hinges on the performances, so I want to start looking for the right guys now—all-around classic entertainers and showmen. ...
Jan 24th
8 notes
Anonymous asked: Accepting Facebook friend requests from your students: thoughts?
Jan 24th
1 tag
Jan 24th
10 notes
1 tag
Jan 24th
Jan 23rd
7 notes
Jan 22nd
23 notes
Jan 22nd
3 notes
Jan 21st
45 notes
The 2011 Tournament of Books →
1) I love the Tournament of Books. 2) I cannot tell you how excited I am that Anne Carson’s Nox is in the running this year. 
Jan 21st
6 notes
1 tag
Jan 21st
3 notes
Jan 20th
15 notes
1 tag
Jan 19th
2 tags
Jan 19th
10 notes
4 tags
I’m currently answering some questions about my yet-to-be-fully-conceived dissertation that are supposed to help me write a prospectus. Questions that are making me laugh and then quietly shake with something resembling tears: About what aspects of the topic do you feel confident and competent right now? About what aspects of the topic do you feel anxiety, bewilderment, doubts? To your...
Jan 19th
12 notes
2 tags
Jan 19th
15 notes
1 tag
Gold Line Press's first annual Chapbook... →
Many many congrats to Heather Aimee O’Neill for her manuscript “Memory Future,” which we’ll be publishing this spring. So excited to put out our first chapbook! 
Jan 18th
7 notes
2 tags
Teaching with a fever:
Y/N? Actually, I don’t really consider “N” an option, because it’s only the second week of the semester and if I crap out now, we’re ALREADY going to be behind schedule. So, let me rephrase: Teaching with a fever: what drugs will make me the least loopy?
Jan 18th
8 notes
1 tag
barelytolerable asked: Angel?
Jan 17th
3 notes
sometimesagreatnotion asked: What is the poem that made you first want to write poetry?

Also: what is your favorite thing about how awesome I am?
Jan 17th
5 notes
2 tags
8 miles this morning
I’m BACK IN THE GAME.
Jan 16th
6 notes
chriscantwell asked: Hey, why is your face all weird?
Jan 16th
undertrees asked: What's your favourite kind of low-brow entertainment (guilty pleasures, etc)?
Jan 16th
lifebeforeaesthetics asked: I'm not sure how I stumbled onto your blog, but as a sophomore english major living in southern california, I adore hearing the sort of rants/complaints/mockery that I KNOW my professors are thinking. Where do you teach?
Jan 15th
sometimesagreatnotion asked: What is the poem that made you first want to write poetry?

Also: what is your favorite thing about how awesome I am?
Jan 15th
thisismyfavoritesong asked: Where have all the cowboys gone?
Jan 15th
fictionz-deactivated20120304 asked: What's the best thing in Los Angeles?

Then, what's the worst?
Jan 15th
2 notes
barelytolerable asked: Angel?
Jan 15th
chriscantwell asked: Hey, why is your face all weird?
Jan 15th
undertrees asked: What's your favourite kind of low-brow entertainment (guilty pleasures, etc)?
Jan 15th
thisismyfavoritesong asked: Where have all the cowboys gone?
Jan 15th
lifebeforeaesthetics asked: I'm not sure how I stumbled onto your blog, but as a sophomore english major living in southern california, I adore hearing the sort of rants/complaints/mockery that I KNOW my professors are thinking. Where do you teach?
Jan 15th
fictionz-deactivated20120304 asked: What's the best thing in Los Angeles?

Then, what's the worst?
Jan 15th