Dan Punday

Wow, those are beautiful. I do a little pottery. I suppose they're three separate pieces, each with that great green glaze over a white clay base? Porcelain, I'm guessing?

I dunno, don't tell Erza Klein. This doesn't sound like "practicing politics the right way."

Did I add WCW's "This is Just to Say" to my lit survey syllabus just so I could reference all the internet memes? Yes, yes I did.

www.amazon.com/Slightly-Irr...

I find the second-order effects of thinking this way problematic. When I was a department head, I wrote like a zillion emails a day just because I had to. But I *wrote* them, and the people receiving them knew I wrote them. Once we start saying, let the robots write this stuff, why read it?

I've been allowing students in my lit survey classes to bring a one-page "cheat sheet" to the exams. Front and back, as small as font as they can read. They think it's a concession, but they put so much time into these things. Don't tell them they're basically writing a paper in prep of the exam.

I totally don't get this. Why go into the field if you don't want to actually read the stuff you're writing about? It's not like any of us are getting rich. Do the work you signed up for.

So, is this a Platner thing? Guy seems to have a good explanation about how he was a dumb kid, got a tattoo and regretted it. I find that convincing. We really want to make room for imperfect candidates that connect to voters.

Plus, seriously, Dems are all about funding ICE? Get a grip.

Plus the Femmes in the third-smallest font!

Invited to a 4-year-old's birthday party on Sunday and, as one does, bought him a copy of Donald Bartheleme's *Slightly Irregular Fire Engine*.

Dunno, man. Listened to him on Pod Save this weekend and he seemed fine. The tattoo thing is bad, but his explanation seems convincing. And we really really want to make space for candidates who have had messy life experiences. I'd say give us more Platners.

FFS, dude. Good guy, somewhat inept. This is who you spend your time hating?

Got a haircut today. She gave me the "Jacques Lacan."

Career earnings by college major - The Hamilton Project See the accompanying economic analysis, “Major Decisions: What Graduates Earn Over Their Lifetimes.”   Over the entire working life, the typical college graduate will earn $1.19 million in today’s dol...

I don't know if you know this resource: www.hamiltonproject.org/data/career-....

It lets you look at earnings based on different majors over the career. I use this all the time to push back on the money thing: there are differences between majors, but they usually add up to a few thousand a year.

Taught *The Waste Land* today. Warned them it was tough sledding, and expected them to mostly complain. But all the students (those who talked, at least) loved it. Go figure.

Last week, students compared "In the Station of the Metro" to a banana duct taped to a wall. Students are weird.

Imagine a 2.0 version that doesn't just do the work, but sends Canvas messages to the prof asking for advice. That drafts work in that scattershot way undergrads do, and finishes projects at 2:00 AM to make it look natural. Then sends the student a summary of his/her interactions each day.

Shocking. But I have to say that I've spent the last two semesters in this all in-person mode, and it's not bad. Canvas for only announcements, an occasional extra reading, and the gradebook. Students seem more relaxed, and the classes have been nice.

I hate these dummies. What is gender but ideology? I'm in a Jane Austen novel and it's super important I get married! Gender ideology.

How far back in time can you understand English? An experiment in language change

www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba...

I cannot speak as to the accuracy of the piece yet I found it a fascinating exercise @adamroberts.bsky.social @drlauravarnam.bsky.social

A load of laundry should earn you a candy bar, at minimum.

This is why I always buy like 8 bottles of wine. So much harder to misplace.

I don't agree. I want student to come out of class wondering who wins the Booker prize next year. I want them to go to poetry readings the way they go to football games. I tell them, it'll be a cool story when you're trying to impress a guy/gal: I heard this interesting thing at a poetry reading...

I'm so old, I learned to type by taking a typing class in middle school where we practiced on an IBM Selectric. That was a sweet ride: what a great keyboard feel.

I always tell new conference presenters (mostly grad students) that no one ever complains that a paper in a 20-minute slot only goes 18 minutes. Practice your paper to be a few minutes short. Everyone will appreciate it.

I had a (admittedly, somewhat more anxious than average) student say that she hates writing papers in this moment because she's afraid of being accused of AI use and be unable to prove she didn't use it.

We have a very strong memory of this. If my son had been born a girl, she'd have been named Bailey, after Bailey Quarters from WKRP in Cincinnati.

In my Am Lit survey, students came into class this week worked up about (of all things) late 19th C defenses of the novel by Howells and Norris. One student furious about Howells's insistence on realism, and another passionate in defending the "romance" of life Norris describes. Love these kids.

Blooming orchid in pottery pot.

So gratifying when you get an orchid to re-bloom. Plus, I threw that pot!

5 classes:

1. Existentialism with Alexander Nehamas (my 1st semester!) when he was still at Pitt
2. Russian novel via Bakhtin
3. Grad philosophy class on Paul de Man (I know I know)
4. Beowulf in Old English; I was the only registered student
5. Class where the only text was an 80-page Husserl book

The Chicago brand Room & Board is great. Super high quality, and prices are actually pretty ok. Got a chair shipped to Mississippi a few years ago, and didn't cost that much, so I think it's an option even if you're not in Chicago.

www.roomandboard.com