If you come into any restaurant in a sour mood, or if you only have just enough money in your pockets to get the daily special, then do all of us in the restaurant industry a big favor and go home. Don’t be a rude guest. When guests walk through front doors being held open […]
Don’t Be a Rude Guest Read More »
My friend, colleague, and fellow native Alabamian, Gary Walker, wrote an excellent USR essay reflecting on being a writer who just happens to be from the South. Despite others’ expectations that he write about red dirt, hunting, fishing, football, the land, and the people, Gary confessed that he doesn’t really feel motivated to write about
Follow the Red Dirt Road: Some Thoughts on Being a Southern Writer Read More »
Why should anyone be bothered with a fifteen-year-old analysis of an undistinguished right-wing hack’s ephemeral newspaper column? Simple answer: virtually the same column, written by a different right-wing hack, showed up a few days ago in the Colorado Springs Gazette. The good professor Walter Williams, Olin (see below) Distinguished Professor of Economics and recipient of
Same Old Song, Same Old Dance (2020) Read More »
This is the true story of diamond engagement rings. It is a story of fortuitous timing and brilliant marketing. It is not a tale of romance, but of finance. Once upon a time, women were property and marriage was a business transaction. In an era when female virginity had financial value because it ensured a
Ringing True: Why Diamond Engagement Rings Are Extravagant Junk Read More »
I’ve never written a rhetorical analysis. Over the last decade of teaching composition at the community college level, a semester hasn’t passed without me assigning it to some poor group of souls, telling them, like they’re taking medicine, “You won’t like it, but it’s for your own good.” I lie. I’ll admit there is value
When my students hear that I love teaching, sometimes the education majors loudly proclaim their intent to become a teacher. I love it when they label themselves right on the first day. Those who choose to become educators will benefit from an added incentive to succeed—my extra-detailed scrutiny of their work, and their work ethic.
Welcome to the No-Slacking Zone, Education Majors Read More »
