An recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the value of first-year composition as a way to move past intractable debate and create a more civil discourse.

Of all the words that might be applied to Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments about Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke - "vile," "misogynistic" and "repulsive" come ( Read more... )

Holly’s post about Consent Culture is wonderful:
A consent culture is one in which the prevailing narrative of sex-in fact, of human interaction-is centered around mutual consent.  It is a culture with an abhorrence of forcing anyone into anything, a respect for the absolute necessity of bodily autonomy, a culture that believes that a person is ( Read more... )

I just contacted overlithe on batmanjoker to see if she wanted to set up a fic exchange or kink meme/anon meme for the holidays. Now that I've finished my thesis, I have time to get my fic on again and would love to work with someone else's prompts (honestly, what I have is a bunch of stuff that will be loooooong and I won't have time in the break to finish them).

But ( Read more... )

  I have sooooo much to do before finals this semester. Luckily, I've ironed out my paper topics early ( Read more... )

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  I have this idea for my class which I am calling 'Stupid Questions.' I usually front-end my classes with a lot of lecture and, afterward, I ask if anyone has questions and no one ever does but their writing reflects that they don't really understand what I'm saying, which means I spend some time reviewing. So, I thought, instead of the usual "It' ( Read more... )

  For my English 101 classes, I'm thinking of doing the entire class or a unit on feminism. Mostly because a lot of my students are science/engineers, so they won't be taking women's studies classes. And also because the furor of sexism in atheist circles has reminded me that, unfair as it is, it's my duty as a teacher to help to make my students ' ( Read more... )

  For a long time I've been perturbed by the apparent powerlessness and lack of political will in the American Left. I asked myself how this happened. How did we get from the 1960s, with it's powerful intellectual and political movements, to the paralysis of the last 3 decades? I used to think it was simple apathy--maybe people just didn't care ( Read more... )

  It is my birthday (33) and I am happy. Only one final left and I'm done with the semester. W00T!

A big thank you to the 33 people who responded to my survey. I am writing the paper over the weekend and you all saved my life, srsly.

THANK YOU!