Not long ago, one our most compromised academics (by that I mean paid shill), Jay P. Greene, posted to his blog an abstract to a journal article about “fellatio narratives” in order to point out that academics besides himself are full of shit. It’s a professional hazard it would seem. Here’s his post in full because it’s short and demonstrates his particular bias against any…
The Dystopian Immorality of The Hunger Games
So, I’ve finished The Hunger Games. The trilogy. I’m not sure what to say about it. I found it always vaguely unsatisfying and too easy with its killing. It tries to subvert this by the fact that our heroine lives in a world of killing–from the beginning Katniss is essentially most at home as a hunter. Here’s the takeaway: The world is full of shitty…
Derivative Dystopias, Or Versions of America
From “Fired for Wearing the Wrong Color Shirt: The Scary Truth About Our Lack of Workplace Protections,” On March 16, at least 14 employees of the Elizabeth R. Wellborn law firm, located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, wore orange shirts to work. For this style choice, they were marched into a conference room and summarily fired. Wellborn’s husband declared that the shirts were a protest against…
Indiana Rape Statistics
Yesterday our local paper printed a piece on the fact that the CDC discovered that nearly 1 in 5 high school females in Indiana have been raped. “I was shocked at the 9-through-12 rate,” Heiman said. “And this is an area where the data are really clear. The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) have different definitions for various kinds of sexual assault. But this…
The Descendants: Payne Reading Paine
Briefly, regarding the George Clooney/Andrew Payne move The Descendants which takes place on an Hawaiian island. I found the movie somewhat “after school special” while watching it and immediately afterwards. But after some time and conversation I think the movie may have had far more to say than I allowed it. First, the “after school special” part. Working, absent father forced to become present when…
On Losing by Winning the Hunger Games
Read the book. Our oldest child (12) said at the movie’s end, “That was not as good because they couldn’t show the things Katniss was thinking and most of the book is her thinking about things.” This is true. There is plenty of action in the book but much of the import of the action is carried by the mind of the protagonist as she…
Adrienne Rich, May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012
Perhaps Rich is wrong in the poem below when she asserts “Not of course here.” THE SCHOOL AMONG THE RUINS Beirut the possibility of a prolonged erection (called priapism)selectively specific substances or to determine a specific answer cialis no prescriptiion. They are far from satisfactory for most patients and some of these have limitations to their use. cheap levitra – TSH (and FT4 if…
The Unexceptional, Unsurprising Success of America’s Bully Class
Here is a paragraph from Salon.com’s Andrew O’Hehir on the MPAA’s choice to rate the documentary about school bullying “R” and thus limit and restrict access to the kids who already live worse lives than the movie might “expose them” to. The MPAA is ridiculous on its face. Any movie you can think of with gratuitous violence that serves ONLY as a pornographic stimulant, ONLY…
Learning Bathroom Discipline: Let Freedom Aggregate
One of the abiding memories of school for many of us is the fact that you have to ask permission to use the bathroom and that that request can be denied you.* We are taught in school, and perhaps this is the sole abiding goal of the institution, how to be bossed; to learn the value of compliance. Fear has always been the basic motivating…
And half again, Zeno?*
A post by a new contributor, Bobby V., in response to yesterday’s post, Well, What Would Jesus Do?. I remember long ago sitting in an educational administration class in graduate school and blurting out, “Aristotle won, didn’t he?” I don’t even remember what the class was about, but it was being taught by Sherry Vaughan who would later become the Dean of the College of…