Because the Washington Post is worrying about nerds, or more specifically, why Americans don't respect math and science.

The nerd stereotype is a peculiarly American prejudice, which Anderegg (with substantial help from historian Richard Hofstadter's "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life") traces back to our nascent literary days. Indeed, he ( Read more... )

WARNING: This post contains lots of profanity.

Much handwringing at year's end from the Times Online which I have yet to learn to *not* read in order to protect my blood pressure.

It was a year in which a certain type of person died - Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Norman Mailer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Jean Baudrillard. These were ( Read more... )

Encouraged by the NEA report, there is much handwringing at the New Yorker. You know things are dire when there are quotes by Proust, McLuhan, and Ong.

(Me, I'm just flashing back to the lectures of the "Media and Literature" course at UGA. Long live Dr. Menke and his obsession with The MatrixAnyhow, Caleb Crain briefly posits the possibility of ( Read more... )

Research Report #47 from the National Endowment of the Arts.

The NYT reports more here.

Will report more fully myself once I'm done with the thing.