May 31st, 2017 → 5:35 am
I’m back from a brief family vacation. Trying to get back into work again. I sat at my desk all day yesterday subdued…quiet…pensive, like the professor I am.
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
May 18th, 2017 → 5:25 am
In this passage Katherine of Arragon is describing Cardinal Wolsey after his fall. It is impressive the similarities to Donald Trump. Both men were fat (“unbounded stomach”), egotistical (“ranking himself with princes”), chaotic (“tied all the kingdom”), corrupt (“simony was fair play”), narcissistic (“his own opinion was his law”), prone to lying (“he would say untruths”), pitiful (“pitiful”), and eventually, nothing (“his performance, as he is now, nothing”). I only wonder what will be Donald Trump’s end.
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People
May 14th, 2017 → 5:56 am
The next two weeks are family time. In-laws come to visit, then a quick trip to Legoland with a six year old. We’ll see who knows who by the end of it…
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
May 10th, 2017 → 5:47 am
Apparently yesterday was national teacher’s appreciation day, or Teachers’ Day. I didn’t realize this until a student reached out to me to thank me. I’m always so humbled by that. Especially as it is easier to be the teacher, than the student sometimes. Shakespeare clearly understood that.
May 6th, 2017 → 5:29 am
“These news are everywhere; every tongue speaks ’em.” – Henry VIII
Apparently in the 16th century ‘news’ was considered a plural noun. Today, it is “singular in construction.” When did that happen? I often forget whether ‘data’ is considered singular or plural. Politics? Economics? They can be both. It’s exhausting, this protean nature of language!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
May 2nd, 2017 → 5:28 am
I wasn’t familiar with this pithy aphorism before reading it in Shakespeare the other day. (Warning, I’m currently re-reading Henry VIII, so I’ll likely be quoting it a lot in the next few weeks.) It is true, though: to get something big done, pace yourself.