Some random mid-week thoughts...

Hello. Here are some random thoughts.

1) I had my first "back to school" nightmare the other night. I went into the classroom imagining I was teaching one class and my students informed me they were there for another class, one I had never heard of before. Terrifying.

2) Tonight I was reminded about the power of science fiction/popular culture. I was watching Dr. Who. The Doctor & Amy took Vincent Van Gogh to the Musee d'Orsay in order to see his works in a museum, and to hear himself be praised by the curator. At this point in his life Van Gogh had thought himself a failure, worthless. It was brilliant, sorrowful, and ecstatic all at once. Two thoughts. It's not only artists, musicians, or authors whose works are appreciated much later in their life, perhaps after they're gone. How wonderful it'd be to the spirit to have a time machine and see your work realized after you were gone.

Secondly, I'm always disappointed with the marginalization of "pulp" fiction in the Literature context. There seems to be two ways it's presented in a classroom, either as a gateway to other more important texts, or as a means to practice rhetorical/literary theorems before tackling the big stuff.

3) My cobbled together reading summer list as of now. I've just finished #2.

1. The Book Thief
2. A Confederacy of Dunces
3. In Cold Blood
4. The Grapes of Wrath
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. Stranger in a Strange Land
7. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

There's several libraries full of things I've never read or even heard of.

4) I've so far forgotten to thank all the great support staff who work ALL summer long, including the custodians, secretaries, administration, and IT techs. Thank you!

5) I've been awful about responding to comments on the blog so far. Perhaps I'll change that this week...