This is a follow-up to my last post about the Future of Folkloristics conference. The conference participants talked about the skills of leadership and "followership." Many people don't think that they are, or can become leaders. They feel more comfortable as a follower. I don't have a problem with that, except the rules for good leaders …
Category: academic life
The Declining English Degree
I was interviewed for an article for Inside Higher Ed a week ago. It appeared today in Slate: Major Exodus By Colleen Flaherty Humanities advocates sometimes dispute data about declining numbers of majors in their disciplines: They don’t always reflect double majors, or overall enrollment in courses, or the diversity of majors now available to students …
Student Tuition now supports Higher Education more than State Governments
From the Washington Post: It used to be that attending a public university all but guaranteed graduating with little to no debt. State governments funneled enough money into higher education that families could send their kids to a local school without worrying about taking out a second mortgage or private loans to pay their way. Not so anymore. …
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Keep Writing!
Inspiration for those days when you can't get started.
About the Field School: How Folklife Archives Work
The Folklore Studies Program at George Mason University is one of the few programs in the U.S. the offers comprehensive instruction in ethnographic methods and data collection. Thirty-seven years ago, my colleague, Professor Emerita Margaret Yocom founded the Northern Virginia Folklife Archive. Students have been submitting original work to the archive since. In 2011, working …
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Waiting for my Rooster to Crow
I read about the new Rooster App on the Washington Post, and it sounds perfect for me and my newly busy life. I grieve the fact that I don't have blocks of time to read fiction, but this seems like the perfect solution:You don’t need to wait at the docks for the latest installment of …
Why I am working so much?
"Respect the sanctity of the snow day," said one of my wise colleagues earlier this year. As a department chair, I make every effort to remember her advice, but usually not for myself.Today our university is closed in response to the Titan winter storm, but I'm still working, grading papers, reviewing dissertation drafts, and the …
How we spend our days is how we spend our lives: Annie Dillard
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with …
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Amtrak Writer’s Residencies
I love taking the train, even if it would make sense to fly. Trains are like ideal mobile offices. You have a view, the ability to walk and go out to lunch, but your away from your daily routine and interruptions. Then today I read this on The Wire, so I guess I'm not …
Living Ethnography 