My version

Perhaps more information should be dealt out regarding the move to Arizona.

When January freezes the rolling hills of Omaha, Judy starts underlining the job notices in the back pages of the Journal of the American Veterinary Association. This year, after seeing the roof in danger of leaking once again (after 72 hours of repairing the ceiling, painting the bedroom, and rolling out new insulation), she pointed out the multiple opportunities in Phoenix. They all promised high salaries, quality of life working conditions, and exceptional benefits. In some cases, signing bonuses were offered.

Having been the poor slave who performed all the labor in the above mentioned 72 hours, I told her to go ahead and inquire about the jobs, just to see what they really meant. More information is always better.

The I travelled to

Cincinnati

and remembered what it was like to really push myself intellectually, something I wasn't doing at Dana. Or, at least not the way I wanted to push myself. All my energies were diverted into teaching. I struggled to find any time to write scholarly work.

As Judy and I talked, we realized that Dana wasn't going to be the last stop for my career, but it was making the next stop nearly unreachable. We thought it would be worth the risk to quit Omaha, head west for the money, and open up some time for me to write.

We are gambling, but we didn't feel like we risked a lot. More money makes the prospect of not teaching acceptable if not any less worrisome.

Who Writes: At the Desk

Going around the room: at the desk
from the Valve
http://www.thevalve.org/go

It’s been a little while, but I still feel we’re not best friends yet, so if you could just answer the following questions:

1. Do you compose on the computer? Why or why not?
Oh definitely the computer. When the magic gets hot, its like the thoughts just appear on the screen. The hands, the keyboard--not even there.

2. Does carbon paper make you nostalgic?
nope, just itchy.

3. Do you have a stationery and/or a pen fetish?
I have 8 glass quills that I still think I will write with. And sometimes I do write letters on high quality paper, pen dipped in an inkwell.

4. Do you remember the first “grown-up” book that you ever read?
nope. Does the Hobbit count?

5. What embarrassing book from the distant past brings back a flood of recognition?
The absolute devotion I had after reading either Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead or Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind

6. Are you a scholar, or a critic? Or neither?
Can I be both--I do criticism for newspapers, scholarly work for...well, apparently not for much reason at all.

7. When did you decide to become a scholar/critic/neither? Did you decide?
1993, when Judy was going to graduate and I had to figure out what I was going to do with life.

8. Has blog writing affected the way you write in other venues? The way you read?
No, not at all.

9. Do you still read blogs or other webpages even if the design/print is unappealing or difficult to read?
Yes, but not as often.

10. Have you ever bought a book because of the cover/design? Which book(s)?
Nope, I don't think so. But I was strongly influenced to by Bad Subjects when I saw the book itself.

11. Do you think these questions are irrelevant?'
8-10, yes.

Life in Phoenix?

The rumors are true. Ciela is going to become an Arizona baby. I finally get to move south to the desert heat. I have accepted a position at a small animal clinic in Scottsdale and we have our house on the market. We have been swamped with preparations for the move, our jobs in Omaha, and corralling a baby on the move. We still don’t have a place to live in Phoenix or a moving date, but we will keep y’all informed. Hopefully the warm sun, mountains to hike in, and Cubs spring training will make this all worthwhile. -Jude

Dana: the hub of the film criticism universe

My colleague John Lyden makes the cover story of USA Today. Dana, still the center of it all.USATODAY.com - 'Star Wars' universe revolves around Vader

A Man without a Home

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

25% Dixie

20% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Funny that I am from the Midwest, have lived my whole life in what most people would call the Midwest and yet I rank nothing in the Midwest category. Louisville still must be the South, at least linguistically, but I'm sure people in Tupelo would consider Louisville in the Midwest. Then again, we were on the wrong side of the Ohio during the War of Northern Aggression.

Babes on the Beach

A life of ease

Ciela in FL

Pilgrim/Heretic: Nebraska day

So I'm bouncing around blogs instead of putting together a grammar test and I come across this bashing/celebration of Nebraska. Those of you who remember jo(e) from the post-election fireworks will see her comments on the state of Nebraska are surprisingly provincial from somebody who likes nature so much. (ah, who am I kidding--I'm leaving the state myself. Not exactly a vote of confidence).

What is weirdly coincidental is finding out that Pilgrim/Heretic is related to Mick's, my favorite bar in Omaha. The boundaries of unreality are so permeable. One never knows when one will be dropped into a fiction.

Phoenix

Phoenix as a city seems the embodiment of a society that has forgone the luxury of reflection. It acts. It acts immediately. And it acts without proper concern for long term consequences. It piles up more and more and more. And it subsequently has greater and greater wealth. But its spent on the most meretricious environment I've seen outside of Vegas.

And yet, I may move there. Funny that.

Book Meme

from Psycho Kitty via profgrrl



If you had to pick five fictional literary characters who would best embody you (in some aspect, either now or in the past), who would you choose?

Jan O'Deigh, The Gold Bug Variations, Rick Powers
title character from Straight Man, Richard Russo
Codi, Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot
Hazel Motes, Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor
(these were difficult and probably none to reliable)

Which five books (any genre) have had the greatest influence on you?

The Gold Bug Variations, Rick Powers
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
The History of Sexuality, Vol 1. Michel Foucault
Getting What You Came For, Robert Peters
The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler


What is your favorite commonly censored book?
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

If you would ever burn a book (God forbid), which book would it be? Why?
The Bible except for Leviticus. You gotta love Leviticus.

Are you a monogamous reader, or do you like to read around?
Monogamous by nature, but my job forces me into reading multiple novels at once. On the personal front, always one novel at a time. Still getting through Cloud Atlas each evening.

Last one, and be honest: Do you skip ahead to the ending?
No. As if the ending is important. I prefer to be lost in the funhouse.