Anyone have anything to say about rhetoric, hockey, what can happen on skates? This is my first Blackberry blogpost, so forgive any infelicities. But watching the Pens v. Redwings reminds me of rhetoricians from Hariman to Keith. GOAL!

Anyone have anything to say about rhetoric, hockey, what can happen on skates? This is my first Blackberry blogpost, so forgive any infelicities. But watching the Pens v. Redwings reminds me of rhetoricians from Hariman to Keith. GOAL!

According to Huffington Post here. Is this going to go all the way to the convention, folks? I’ve been avoiding my Hillary-supporting friends of late–any pro-Hillary readers want to weigh in here?

That’s What She Said

"Gah, it’s too hard"

"twss"

Already Twenty Years Gone: Our 1850 Farmhouse

Reagan was alive and president, already officially forgetting,
the spring you found us the farmhouse. A rental. Forty acres.
Prelapsarian. A hundred and a quarter a month.
I landed there — Chicago-sotted, puzzled –
needing, apparently, to be a wife.
You dug an ambitious garden but did not amend the soil.
You fenced it, but the groundhogs still got in.

Bush the First ascended a mere six seasons later.
Already you were asking why I kept to the edge of the bed.
Now a wall of stones marks where the barn was.

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The refined art of being just late enough (5 minutes or so) to give the impression that you are a busy, popular person that was held up with other business.

She arrived at the party fashionably late.

The CIA’s “redaction” looks like a perverse Mark Rothko painting. More here from the ACLU.

I’m happy to announce that we just received approval for our second joint position in rhetoric/women’s studies in my department at Texas A&M. I’m taking the liberty of posting the announcement here. Please circulate widely, and help me out with possible suggestions for candidates:

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Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy is pleased to announce the winners of the annual Kairos awards.

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CALL FOR PAPERS: Edited Collection on Technology-Focused Collaborative Research in English Studies

WORKING TITLE: “Investigating Digital Tools, Texts, and Use Practices: Collaborative Approaches to Research in English Studies”

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The story of Alex, who has high-functioning autism, being voted out of his kindergarten classroom in Florida, has caused a lot of media/blog comment this week. I’m kind of curious–for those of you who know Florida–what kind of school district this is. Our family experience with our two autistic children has been that the wealthier/more professional (especially university professionals) the school district, the worse is the treatment of the disabled.

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By Dai Smith, reviewed here by the playwright David Hare. Williams is one of my heroes–I still can’t read the end of Border Country without bursting into tears. If there is ever to be a Decent Left again, it will have to start with what Williams learned, about how to be neighborly growing up in Wales, about the the value of military service during WWII, and his insistence that socialism will be local, among many other things.

You wanted greater still, but love forces
All of us to the ground; suffering bends powerfully,
Still our arc does not for nothing
Bring us back to the starting point.

Whether up or downwards, does not prevail in the Holy Night
Where quietly Nature contemplates the days to come,
Does not prevail in the crookedest Orcus
One straightness, one Law?

This I experienced. For never, in the manner of mortal masters,
Have you Divine Ones, you who sustain our world,
Yet led me on the straight path,
Not with intent, not that I knew it.

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While it’s not Sex in the City (thank goodness), the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been receiving a lot of media attention lately. On Friday, May 30, the semifinals will…

The accelerator pedal in your car during times of high gasoline prices. So named because it’s prodigious use will lead to more cash spent on gas.

You wouldn’t be putting $100 a week in that thing if you would just be a little smoother on the cash pedal.

I think Webb’s pluses outweigh the minuses, but what do I know? Kathy G.’s argument here.

Russell Berman’s scathing analysis (I suspect a lot of folks at UT won’t like this, but Berman fills in the ’60’s historical context in a useful way).

A review by Richard Wolin of Detlev Claussen’s recent Adorno bio. This line from the late Adorno haunts me: “The single genuine power standing against the principle of Auschwitz is autonomy, if I might use the Kantian expression: the power of reflection, of self-determination, of not cooperating.” Let us say Ah-mayn. . . .

BusinessWeek reports that IBM has been experimenting with social bookmarking and social networking systems in house. Beehive, their social networking application, has 30,000 employees using the software.

Kairosnews editors have been planning on exploring how social networking might be effective for this community as well. Once Drupal 5x contributed modules necessary for building such a site get converted to Drupal 6x, expect to see major changes here on Kairosnews.

Writing in Britain’s Observer newspaper a few years back, Italian-born journalist Cristina Odone argued that America is “the land of the irony-free”:

Americans don’t like humble pie: they regard themselves–collectively…

A condition resulting in a failure to process basic facts or comprehend common knowledge, due largely to having a mind full of useless information.

Kali’s numerous typos were a result of her suffering from attention spam.

I found RSA Seattle exhilirating. It was a joyful reminder of why I feel so honored to be able to research and learn in this field. The intersection between discplines/approaches was refreshing and intellectually stimulating; the people (both old and new) were intellectually generous and inspiring; and the panels, IMHO, were engaging.

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Jenna Bush Hager (and Mom) on Ellen Today. Alert Dr. Dobson. . . .

He just keeps getting better.

Will today be the big day for any of these important cases: death penalty for child rape in LA, prisoner rights at Guantanamo, and (to my mind the big one) DC’s gun control law?

Some snippets:

Seattle in May is a perfect city for a conference.

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An of offer of credit from a financial institution.

Wife: What did we get in the mail today?

Husband: Just an Application for Debt.

This situation defies understanding.

A memorial to the ‘unknown’ soldier should mean an ‘unknown’ memorial to the war that shouldn’t have happened. What does not happen cannot produce memorials. This is my thought for Memorial Day…to put and end to the need for war memorials.

On a BBC radio program in the late 1940s, philosopher Bertrand Russell playfully conjugated an “irregular verb” as “I am firm; you are obstinate; he is a pig-headed fool.”

What…

Phrase originating in the Back Country Skiing arena. To trek up through the back country usually to a summit so as to descend. Usually in a remote area of the back country not accessible via ski lifts.

AKA: EYT

To ski that mountain you gotta Earn Your Turn.

A term used to describe those rare days where everything you say is funny.

Jane was at that special time of the month where everything she said was just hilarious. She was so on the laugh rag.

I was finally able to step away from panel life and get internet access in the hotel lobby. Seattle is beautiful, and the conference promises to be a good one.

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Who first used the term Acid test and where does it come from?

Review of An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology by Anatoly Liberman.

A one-time generic name for a lady’s maid., Abigail, may be from a Biblical allusion.

Midnight showing on the day of release of a highly-anticipated film, typically of the science-fiction/fantasy genre.

"I’d like one adult ticket to the Early Nerd Special of ‘Star Wars Episode 3′."

So: who is livebloggin RSA in Seattle?

Sure, sometimes we write because we have to–those reports due at the office, the term papers due at school. But a lot of us also write because we want to….

A vacation that is spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer.

Even though I live and work in New York, I don’t always get to enjoy all it has to offer, what with my work commitments, but I sure did have an awesome time here during my spring staycation.

the (often annoying to others who don’t share it) overly happy attitude of early birders - often associated with a great eagerness to call 7am committee meetings and to embark on sales-related shopping trips that mimic dawn raids on enemy encampments

"it’s his earlybirditude i can’t stand - he doesn’t seem to realize that if i’m awake at 6am it’s because i’m still up from the day before, not because i had a sudden urge to go running"

"only the most manic earlybirditude could make the shopping mall seem appealing the morning after thanksgiving"

Virtual pii-pii.

New on The Hyperliterature Exchange for May 2008: a review of ‘Le Reprobateur/The Reprover’ by Francois Coulon.

“Le Reprobateur… exudes selfconfidence, playfulness and humour; it attempts to do a lot of things at once, and by and large it succeeds in everything it attempts…”

To read the whole review, go to http://www.hyperex.co.uk/reviewreprobateur.php .

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According to the exit polls, 20% of the voters in the Democratic primary in Kentucky admitted they would not vote for a black man. More disturbing than this, however, is Hillary Clinton’s silence on the issue. As a reader puts it on Andrew Sullivan’s blog tonight:

“When will Hillary ever speak out against how horrible, how evil it is to vote against a black man — because he’s a black man? Seriously. I saw the same exit polls tonight and started to feel sick. 20% in Kentucky had no problem telling a total stranger they proudly voted against a black man?

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Are you ready for a 60-second quiz on matters of style and usage? All right then, let’s go:

Is 25 grams a collective noun? 25 grams is consumed or 25…

A person who eats meat virtually to the exclusion of vegetables. The meatatarian often claims to be conserving veggies for those who would actually eat them, and keeps the veggies out of the waste stream, helping the environment, or keeping produce costs down.

Waiter: "What can I get you?"

Mary: "A cheeseburger delux, hold the lettuce, tomato, coleslaw, and pickle."

Waiter: "So you just want the burger and fries."

Mary: "Yep, I’m a meatatarian."

This looks like a great conference:

Call for Papers:
The Obama Effect
October 23-25, 2008
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

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Christopher Hitchens praises John McCain’s recent proposal to allow Congress to grill him directly on a regular basis, as in the British parliamentary system. If Jeffrey Tulis is largely correct (I believe he is) in The Rhetorical Presidency that the POTUS’ ability to circumvent Congress through mass media appeals to the general public is a fundamental subversion of our constitutional order, McCain’s proposal is a really fine idea. Any thoughts, dear readers?

Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy is pleased to announce the release of Issue 12.3, our special issue for Summer 2008 with Guest Editors Scott Lloyd DeWitt and Cheryl E. Ball. This is the Manifesto Issue: “[w]rought with connotation, politically and emotionally charged, manifestos call us to action and demand change—in the streets, in the workplace, in our classrooms, in our minds, and in the virtual spaces we inhabit.

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The speaker is Garry Kasparov, chess grand master and Russian political dissident (be patient for a minute or so):

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Basic cheap thongs (flip-flops), typically black, which have the strap secured by two plugs under the sole.

He was wearing a flanno, wife beater, stubbies and double pluggers

Basic cheap thongs (flip-flops), typically black, which have the strap secured by two plugs under the sole.

He was wearing a flanno, wife beater, stubbies and double pluggers

Does anyone else find this article in the Atlantic by “Professor X” as annoying as I do? I reissue my call at ARS for rhetoricians (especially in rhetoric and composition) to do a better job of shaping the national debate on higher education by writing for popular publications.

Because it’s Monday morning, and in honor of Joshie Juice’s lead article in QJS on love, and, needless to say, for Miriam: my favorite love song:

A relatively recent phenomenon from the Bay area (specifically Oakland) in which people modify bicycles to resemble (either functionally, aesthetically or philosophically) the famed "scrapers" of the hyphy movement.

Man, you see the homemade spinners on that scraper bike? Shit is tight!

The whole grim story.

Language lovers should be sending thank-you notes to Mark Davies, Professor of Corpus Linguistics at Brigham Young University. Dr. Davies is the creator of the new BYU Corpus of American…

A relatively recent phenomenon from the Bay area (specifically Oakland) in which people modify bicycles to resemble (either functionally, aesthetically or philosophically) the famed "scrapers" of the hyphy movement.

Man, you see the homemade spinners on that scraper bike? Shit is tight!

Andrew Koppelman does a superb job of showing how to read the logic of a judicial opinion–in this case, the California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. (Like some of the commenters, I think he’s wrong about this being a substantive due process argument.)

Along the lines of the ‘where were you when..’ thread, check out an NPR piece today about the Catonsville Nine (including Father Berrigan), who broke into a Selective Service office to gather records for drafting soldiers and then burn them on May 17, 1968. This is nothing less than a backdoor draft, and recent reports bear this out.

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Eating breakfast (or any other meal really) while standing at your kitchen counter instead of sitting at your kitchen table.

My dad drives my mom crazy eating his bachelor breakfast of burnt toast.

Eating breakfast (or any other meal really) while standing at your kitchen counter instead of sitting at your kitchen table.

My dad drives my mom crazy eating his bachelor breakfast of burnt toast.

Obama got into a little trouble for calling a woman reporter “sweetie” last week. Salon’s Broadsheet explains

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…could an Israeli-born businessman and his son finance a Hard Rock Cafe (Myrtle Beach, SC), a Bible theme park in Tennessee (Bible Park USA), an Iraq theme park in Dubai, and harbor a past career as a photographer for Penthouse Magazine. According to one report: “Mr. Bar-Tur, manager of Safe Harbor Holdings, a New York-based investment company for wealthy individuals, plans to pour millions of dollars into developing the Qur’an Park- Baghdad Experience. The park, a massive American-style ‘edutainment’ complex will feature the largest prayer rug in the world, a ‘guess that dowry’ game, a Qur’an museum, pita bread toss contests, re-enactments of sentences based on Sharia law, and the ubiquitous bomb shelter; all designed by firms developing Bible Park U.S.A., a Christian based theme park in the U.S. enthusiastically welcomed by local residents and clergy.”

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Where does the traditional Irish curse Bad cess come from?

Does Cock and bull story really come from the tall tales of travellers at two English inns?

An invention of the late Arthur Koestler, Struthonian is extremely rare but not quite defunct.

Italian hardcore soccer/football/footie hooligan or supporter.
In a lot of cases politically extreme winged (right or left).

Inter of Milan tifosi threw several flares to the pitch during the Champions League match.

Italian hardcore soccer/football/footie hooligan or supporter.

In a lot of cases politically extreme winged (right or left).

Inter of Milan tifosi threw several flares to the pitch during the Champions League match.

From CNN:

During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman. “That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

Chris Matthews gives a lesson in history and grammar:

Link via TNR.

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The mood or feeling one experiences after having just filled his or her vehicle with $4.00+ per gallon gasoline. (Usually consists of a sense of great economic despair, impending doom, anger, frustration, depression and/or a combination of all the above)

"Leave me alone. I’m having a bad fuel day!"

“Style has got a bad name,” said British critic F. L. Lucas. Too often style is “associated with precious and superior persons who, like Oscar Wilde, spend a morning putting…

The mood or feeling one experiences after having just filled his or her vehicle with $4.00+ per gallon gasoline. (Usually consists of a sense of great economic despair, impending doom, anger, frustration, depression and/or a combination of all the above)

"Leave me alone. I’m having a bad fuel day!"

A link to the California Supreme Court opinion (and oral arguments and briefs) on gay marriage. Glenn Greenwald (as always) has good commentary and links to various reactions to the decision. This was hardly a case of “judicial activism,” given the relevant precedents and the fact that the CA legislature has *twice* voted to legalize gay marriage.