I’m teaching a course on “Existentialism” this semester, which is not only one of my favorite philosophical movements, but also one of my favorite things to teach. As I’ve said to my colleagues many times before, existentialism is the one philosophy that seems to have been created for 18- to 25-year-olds. The list of existentialist…
Read MoreI know, I know. I should be writing about Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’m still shocked and dismayed that I didn’t see one single non-white face in the Convention audience on television last night. And I’m also still amused that, at one…
Read MoreA few months ago, on the New York Times book-blog Paper Cuts, over 400 people reported what they believed to be their own personal “literary dealbreakers.” In a followup article (“Love Me, Love My Books”), Molly Flatt described the “dealbreaker book” as follows: “This book so deeply resonates with your soul that if a potential…
Read MoreJohn McCain announced his running-mate (in this case, his running-matron) yesterday, barely before the Democratic Convention euphoria could even begin to wane. When I first learned of his choice, Alaska Governor and former “Miss Alaska” Sarah Palin, I was a little embarrassed that I had no idea who she was. No worries, though. Apparently, neither…
Read MoreI finally got around to watching Sidney Lumet’s critically-acclaimed 2007 film Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Of course, Lumet really is one of the best of American directors, especially adept at manufacturing and sustaining cinematic tension, as is obvious from many of his previous films like 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The…
Read MoreAbout a week ago, I noticed that the “hits” on my blog almost doubled overnight, and they have only continued to increase after that. Since I haven’t been speed-dating or indiscriminately publicizing my blog site, this really didn’t make any sense to me. So, after a little further investigation, I discovered that somehow, I really…
Read MoreAs I mentioned in a previous post, I find myself in the unprecendented situation these days of having several (very smart and relatively decent) “scientist” friends. Now, I’ll readily admit that I don’t know a lot about science (outside the grand philosophical tradition of scientia, that is), but I find some scientific questions eminently, sometimes…
Read More… and I still haven’t found a way to reproduce the monster style of my younger self. Check out those sleeves!
Read MoreI had a somewhat odd conversation with a friend and colleague of mine recently about the implications of being considered a “cool” professor by students. Neither one of us were really sure what our students think of us, but we both guessed that if there were a kind of Kinsey Scale for such a thing,…
Read MoreIt’s time for my annual tribute to Elvis Aaron Presley, who (may have) died 31 years ago today on August 16, 1977. So, I say again, on behalf of all of us who have inherited that amazing hybrid of rock-n’-roll: Thankya, Elvis. Thankyaveramuch. The King is dead. Long live the King.
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