I received an email requesting an essay I wrote in 2011. Not unusual: while publishers charge lots of money for academic journals, most of us are happy to give away copies for free of our own publications. Print journals used to give (maybe still do?) extra offset copies for precisely that purpose. What was odd,…
Category: academia
UConn Medieval Plays
UConn officially killed the Medieval Studies program from which I received my MA and PhD. They had been strangling it for years, so in a way this was an expected yet no less painful a blow. The same neoliberalism that has been turning education into a pipeline for industry — a funnel to the capitalist…
The Umpteenth Dog
The Umpteenth Dog I lost hope yesterday, briefly. I have been raging with an incandescent fire for some time now over [waves hands helplessly] all the things, but especially lately the dismantling of the federal government. For all its many [many many] faults, there are so many who depend on it, on the distribution of…
What Not to Say
[Written March 2023 & submitted to something that did not happen; it seems apropos now] What not to say to a sixty-ish woman whose university announced it will be closing the end of the academic year: Are you scared? I’d be an idiot if I weren’t. Will you be looking for another job? Do you…
A Blow on A Bruise
“A blow, expected, repeated, falling upon a bruise with no smart or shock of surprise, only a dull and sickening pain and the doubt whether another like it could be borne.” Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
‘We never took our foot off the gas…’
So that’s that. Maybe it’s just the way it’s hitting right now but ‘we never took our foot off the gas’ sounds like they went down burning money all the way, which is a good picture of what happened (Got a problem? Hire a consultant!). A colleague forwarded an email from the president of Russell…
EUPop2023 at Stirling
I will spare you most of my photos taken as notes but the campus itself was gorgeous and full of oystercatchers who nest between the buildings which are then closed to keep them safe. So lovely! I was planning to go up to the castle and cemetery during our free afternoon — mostly to think…
Checking Proofs: Black Alibi & Leopard Man
In an email that looked surprisingly like a phishing attempt, I got the link to my proofs for the forthcoming collection on Cornell Woolrich. I get to jazz enthusiastically about Black Alibi, Leopard Man, Val Lewton and Ardel Wray so that’s fun. There’s not a whole lot of academic work on Woolrich (and some of…
PCA/ACA in April
The Easter Bunny usually brings a good egg: the PCAACA conference. Virtual again this year for safety’s sake, many of the usual crowd are gathering to bring you great discussions about the popular culture you love. Here’s my schedule including the much-anticipated round table with pals: I’m still digesting Archive 81 and need to check…
From Dundee to Prague
I should have been in Scotland weeks ago. I miss my family, I miss Dundee, I miss livable weather, too. I miss idling in the Howff and dropping by my favourite paintings in the McManus or standing on the little observation deck in the V&A watching the Tay flow past. I miss all of us…