Not of General Interest

In class the other day, I was teaching some of my favorite stuff--call it dinosaur studies . I had put extra time and effort into the brie...

I've been rewatching Mad Men because there is no outside world in Mad Men, no politics, no brinkmanship, no, well, madmen on the loose. ...

It's that time of year again. Let's play summer break bingo--but you'll have to imagine the squares. Give yourself a point for e...

I spent the last two weeks doing eldercare, cleaning and cooking and chatting and problem-solving and strategizing and being on the phone wi...

I've been reasonably active on Twitter for a while now and have noticed a few things happening in the last few months. Bear in mind th...

TCM showed the old Spencer Tracy-Elizabeth Taylor version of Father of the Bride the other night, and I watched the last half of it. It...

In years past, I have written on this blog about the job market --advice about cover letters, about where to find resources, and about the M...

Figure 1. Not me. This is not the post where I reveal that I have become a Stepford wife, and I do not wear a straw hat while shopping. ...

Anand Giridharadas's takedown NYT review of Jared Diamond's latest book points out, to devastating effect, the book's essentia...

Let's have some writing inspiration, shall we? 1. First, Dame Eleanor's good post on getting started again, with these words: T...

2/26/21 Naomi Wolf is even more bats**** than you might have thought. Forget I ever said to give her the benefit of any doubt. Content warn...

First question: Did you know that The Chronicle's Forums feature was going away? It is. https://www.chronicle.com/forums/index.php/top...

My mind isn't on writing right now; it's about dealing with the last of the family members with dementia (the other three are now go...

I know I've written about Robert Caro before, but I'm about to dive into On Working . Here's a roundup of recent articles by and...

The New York Times reports that cursive handwriting is making a comeback, and the headline is this: "Cursive Seemed to Go the Way of ...

Gwinne and Dame Eleanor have good posts up about time management and schedules and also links to people who write about time management an...

I'm at a conference where I do not know a single solitary soul and where no one knows me. I'm incognito! This has advantages: Fir...

There's an episode of Arrested Development that perfectly encapsulates my experiences with copyedited material.   Michael: Well, ...

If I have to endure one more lecture         Or email         Or posted screed         Or self-righteous comment         Or public o...

In "No, you can't ignore email. It's rude", Adam Grant makes some good points about why you should respond, though. Here a...