Monthly Archives: June 2010

Bad Students, Not Bad Schools: A Progress Report

Posted on June 30, 2010 by profmondo

The nice folks in the Mondoville College library acquired a copy of Robert Weissberg’s book, which I’ve lusted after for a while. Because I’ve been wrapping up my summer term, I’m only about 15% into the book, but my initial … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 5 Comments

Blazing Saddles and Higher Ed

Posted on June 29, 2010 by profmondo

One of my favorite comedies is Blazing Saddles, and I love the sequence where Governor LePetomane is talking with Hedley Lamarr and various apparatchiks to take care of their Rock Ridge problem. “We’ve got to protect our phony baloney jobs!” … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Politics | 3 Comments

How Twigs Get Bent, and a Recommended Rushumentary…

Posted on June 27, 2010 by profmondo

Rush was a very significant part of my adolescence. No, not this guy. These guys. Really, there was no way to have avoided it. I was a well read teenaged drummer/poet living in what I saw as the endless conformity … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

What Time Is It?

Posted on June 26, 2010 by profmondo

Time for a healthy dose of surrealism, on one of my new obsessions, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time. While the network’s “Adult Swim” has long marked the network as being Nickelodeon for stoners and slackers, this new series brings the bizarre … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Family | 1 Comment

Milton and Marcus Aurelius

Posted on June 24, 2010 by profmondo

I just wrapped up teaching Paradise Lost in my Brit Lit Survey, and as I’ve mentioned, it’s a work with which I find myself connecting, given the past year of my life. Another work I’ve been reading in the past … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Faith, Literature | 1 Comment

Student Affairs

Posted on June 22, 2010 by profmondo

As a professor, one of the things I get to see is how students deal with an increasing level of choice. This sometimes means that I get to see kids who blossom, finding interests and capabilities that they might not … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Education | Leave a comment

Decadence at the Abyss’s Edge

Posted on June 21, 2010 by profmondo

One of my standard lines is that I thought we were working-class when I was a kid, but it turned out we were just kind of bohemian. Mom and Dad were both commercial art majors in high school, and quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Literature, Music | Leave a comment

Summertime… but the Reading is Cheesy

Posted on June 20, 2010 by profmondo

A number of colleges — not Mondoville, but many others — have required summer reading programs for incoming freshman. The idea is typically that the readings mark the transition to college and a new intellectual community. While the idea is … Continue reading →

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The Agony of Defeat

Posted on June 19, 2010 by profmondo

I’m not a fan of soccer. I understand that large chunks of the world love the game, but growing up in Tennessee and Kentucky, it isn’t part of my cultural DNA the way baseball, football, and basketball are — and … Continue reading →

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Friday Night Garage

Posted on June 18, 2010 by profmondo

A few songs I’ve been enjoying a lot of late… The Yardbirds — “Mister, You’re a Better Man Than I.” Apparently every teen band in 1966 did a version of this one, and hearing the definitive version, you can see … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Leave a comment