Comments for Critical Mass

Comment on Quote for the day by david foster

david foster — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:07:19 +0000

Thought you’d enjoy this, Erin: “The Wire” as Victorian fiction

http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/03/when-its-not-your-turn-the-quintessentially-victorian-vision-of-ogdens-the-wire/

Comment on Quote for the day by UM history grad

UM history grad — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:56:51 +0000

“UM History grad” is, Dr O’Connor, in ascending order, the Vietnam war vet and rightist Dr James Albert DeLater (BA, MA, MA, PhD–U of Washington–Life Member, VFW), the “outer” of “luther blissett,” one of his long leftist antagonists and persistent earlier “outers” on various sites. Dr Matthew Merlino (PhD UPenn), English teacher at Holy Names Academy in Seattle has confessed to his role as “luther blissett” and has since peacefully reconciled with Dr DeLater.

Yr hmbl srvt, James DeLater

Comment on Palpitating for credit by “Come See the Violence Inherent In the System!” | Professor Mondo

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:04:37 +0000

[...] O’Connor has written about this species of propaganda on several occasions, and David Foster has had a bit to say as well, pointing out [...]

Comment on What’s wrong with this picture? by “Come See the Violence Inherent In the System!” | Professor Mondo

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:01:25 +0000

[...] O’Connor has written about this species of propaganda on several occasions, and David Foster has had a bit to say as [...]

Comment on Quote for the day by UM history grad

UM history grad — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:44:22 +0000

Ms O’ Connor, a “person” of interest to you named “Matt” (apparently a former grad student at U-Penn, now a high-school teacher somewhere) something or other, is, not to put too fine a point on it, getting his clock cleaned over at CHE Brainstorm by a classicist and translator, James Albert DeLater, not entirely unknown to you for his “epic” contest against Michael Berube (“Broob”) several years ago. Enjoy!

Comment on The dustbin of history by UM history grad

UM history grad — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:13:55 +0000

Yes, Dave S., thanks for the link. However, as one peruses the Classics course lists, one notes that in this list (not always accurate or indicative of regular offerings) history courses are few, and naturally, language and literature predominate, in addition to courses offered in ancient philosophy, art, etc. In a history department of 14 plus one should expect one ancient historian and one medievalist I think.

Comment on The dustbin of history by Dave S.

Dave S. — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 05:02:12 +0000

UM history grad: if you’re affiliated with UM, you should know that they have a classics program (http://www.cas.umt.edu/mcll/classics/facultyList.cfm) with three professors, an emeritus professor, and an instructor. That’s where you’ll find ancient history.

Comment on Quote for the day by Ali

Ali — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:20:25 +0000

I love how Robinson stresses the importance and value of fiction. So many times, I hear people say something like, “Well, if/when I want to read, I really only like to read nonfiction. I think fiction is a waste of time because it doesn’t teach me anything or impart anything.” I think such a view of fiction is so limited! Good fiction does enlighten us and can make us feel like we are not alone in this world in our experiences. One of my favorite writers, Jennifer Egan, noted in a recent article in the Atlantic Wire that while nonfiction provides us with knowledge, fiction has the ability to broaden our experiences. I could not agree more with her. Here’s the link to the article: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/05/jennifer-egan-what-i-read/37208/.

Comment on Quote for the day by Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » Labels, Stories, and Personal Experience

Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » Labels, Stories, and Personal Experience — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:05:57 +0000

[...] This Post Tweet This PostErin O’Connor links to George [...]

Comment on Quote for the day by david foster

david foster — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:51:24 +0000

“Probably, if we could ascertain the images called up by the terms “the people,” “the masses,” “the proletariat,” “the peasantry,” by many who theorize on those bodies with eloquence, or who legislate for them without eloquence, we should find that they indicate almost as small an amount of concrete knowledge — that they are as far from completely representing the complex facts summed up in the collective term, as the railway images of our non-locomotive gentleman”

Here’s C S Lewis in That Hideous Strength, describing his protagonist (a sociologist)…

“..his education had had the curious effect of making things that he read and wrote more real to him than the things he saw. Statistics about agricultural laboureres were the substance: any real ditcher, ploughman, or farmer’s boy, was the shadow…he had a great reluctance, in his work, to ever use such words as “man” or “woman.” He preferred to write about “vocational groups,” “elements,” “classes,” and “populations”: for, in his own way, he believed as firmly as any mystic in the superior reality of the things that are not seen.”