Not of General Interest

I'm getting ready for something for which have to get the writing done-- have to. I've been paralyzed with anxiety about writing. Wh...

The MLA Job List opens today (September 10) at https://www.mla.org/Resources/Career/Job-Information-List . Remember, this isn't the be...

It's been fascinating to see the shift in opinion on Joyce Maynard and her memoir At Home in the World. A few years back, when I was c...

It's fall and time to shed some things, mostly ideas. 1.The idea that computer tech is necessary, as A. O. Scott reminds  in the New...

Dear Ms. Undine, I recently wrote an email to a person in my department, trying to set up a meeting a month from now. This person had he...

Waking up at 4:30 a.m. when the local Starbucks (closest food) does not open until 7:30 a.m. isn't ideal, but it did give me some time t...

The Washington Post r eports that "Leisure reading in the U.S. is at an all-time low," which is one more piece of news that doesn...

There's still lots of summer left, even if the days are getting shorter. The writing is sort of moving along. I met a couple of (overd...

Inspired by gwinne's recent post about productivity and television , let me say this: I am too (experienced, old, productive, tired of a...

Figure 1. Orson Welles, wunderkind. At a conference recently, I talked to a few people about their careers and about the wall of writing...

Oh, Chronicle, Chronicle, Chronicle. You brought up this "no faculty offices" idea in 2010. I guess you figured it was time to rev...

All across the country, academics are saying "there, that's done!," turning in grades, looking up, stretching their arms, an...

What familiar person or character has the following traits? lies constantly and often, saying impulsively whatever makes him look better a...

1. So, Undine, what are you going to tell anyone who asks about your summer plans? There's a million things I haven't done, but ...

Can you stand another post about grading? I was struck by something making the Twitter rounds a few weeks ago. Someone (can't find the...

What do you mean it's only Tuesday? Academic Lesson 1. Will work for food, or less. Did you hear the one about the university that i...

Oft I have travelled in the realms of gold. Or maybe just traveled. And then traveled some more. But recently everything feels out of cont...

1. Call for papers comes out.  "That looks so interesting, and the conference is in a cool place!  I have to submit something. Do I h...

 Well, let's see what we've learned in the past few weeks. 1. At InsideHigherEd.com, we get our annual confirmation that "fem...

The things that you learn about writing and about yourself accrue over time, don't they? Figure 1. The Abbey he's actually not a...