My to-do list was overwhelmingly long, and so yesterday I found myself procrastinating in every possible way. I decided, for no clear reason, that I needed to consolidate my working bibliography to incorporate all of my research sources from graduate school onward. I don’t know; someday that might come in handy. I decided to go back and pull the works cited lists from my Master’s courses. In a further act of procrastination, I read some of my early attempts at scholarly writing. I quickly noticed two things: my bibliographical skills were horrendous (never-ending apologies, Jill Levenson! Your valiant efforts were clearly in vain), and my writing style was cringingly bad. [Read more…] about On Finding – and Refining – One’s Voice
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Reflections on Rejection
There must be a way to improve the rhetorical appeal of rejection. Should authors consider the response of their readers? I think they should In the courses on Writing and Communication that I teach to first-year Georgia Tech students, I spend a lot of time talking with them about how to phrase criticism in a constructive way. It is important, I tell them, to remember their audience and reception as they write. I work with them on framing observations in ways that will produce results. It is not a question of coddling, or being hyper-sensitive to feelings. It is a question of moving forward.
CFP: Renaissance Studies and New Technologies
Since 2001, the Renaissance Society of America annual meetings have featured panels on new technologies for scholarly research, publishing, and teaching. At the 2013 meeting (San Diego, 4-6 April 2013), several panels will cover these new and emerging projects and methodologies. [Read more…] about CFP: Renaissance Studies and New Technologies
Wrestling Titus – The Final Takedown
Tomorrow my students are presenting their final group projects on Titus Andronicus. They pitched the projects to me in class last week, and some of them sound fantastic. Most of the students came up with some really interesting – and sometimes unexpected – takes on themes and characters, and how they should be considered in light of current issues and trends. [Read more…] about Wrestling Titus – The Final Takedown
Wrestling with Titus – Round Two
What a difference reading a few blog posts and in-class discussion makes! After my disheartened post of Sunday I went back and read through a number of the course blog posts and comments that students posted last week regarding their reactions to watching Titus and its relation to their experiences reading Titus Andronicus. Their observations were thoughtful, insightful, and while most were still skittish about the representations of violence many were able to transcend that and consider why Taymor had pushed the violence to an almost cartoon-like level.