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Cliopatria

  • Jul 1, 2005

    The Unappreciated Genius of News Radio

    by Cliopatria

    Now that Marc is gone, let’s lower the level of the discussion a little bit. Courtesy of Sportsguy’s intern, we get a site that reminds us that the most underrated show ever might have been News Radio. If you need a reminder, check out this site. And if it does not depress you too much to rea
  • Jul 1, 2005

    Carnivals and Memes ...

    by Cliopatria

    History Carnival XI is up at Siris! Go have a look and linger over it. While you are there, tell Brandon Watson what a fine job he did.

    Jonathan Dresner will host Carnivalesque, the early modern festival, here at Cliopatria on Tuesday 5 July. Send your nominations of posts appearing in the last two months about the period from roughly 1450 to 1850 C. E.

  • Jun 30, 2005

    Bush's Speech: Why It Failed

    by Cliopatria

    Bush's speech the other night was a failure. I am confident that his numbers won't go up; indeed, I expect them to drop--just as they did after his speech announcing the necessity of an 87 billion dollar appropriation to fund the war. The speech was grim. Americans are yearning for hope.

    The America people, as Lawrence Kaplan showed in a great piece in the New Republic 2 years ago, want victory in war. ("Willpower" New Republic, September 8 & 15, 2003.) Bush canno
  • Jun 30, 2005

    IHE and Collegiality

    by Cliopatria

    As someone with a painful first-hand experience with the criterion, I oppose the use of collegiality in personnel matters. In theory, of course, it's better to have a department peopled with professors who work well together. But in practice, I don't see any way to structure a system that can ensure that the criterion won't be abused.

    A couple of recent articles in Inside Higher Ed illustrate the point. The

  • Jun 30, 2005

    Biographers beware?

    by Cliopatria

    Terry Teachout calls our attention to this astonishing example of a biographical subject's heirs taking their objections to new heights.  According to the author, Deirdre Bair:

    This is a chilling moment in the annals of Jungian scholarship. The heirs of C.G. Jung, led by their spokesperson Ulrich Hoerni, have raised objections concerning the alleged

  • Jun 29, 2005

    Things Noted Here and There ...

    by Cliopatria

    History Carnival #11 will go up at Siris on Friday 1 July. Send your nominations of posts that have appeared in the last two weeks to Brandon Watson, branem2*at*branemrys*dot*org, by Thursday evening at 11:00 p.m. Jonathan Dresner will host Carnivalesque, the early modern festival, here at Cliopatria on Tuesd
  • Jun 29, 2005

    The Wonder of the Indie Rock Subculture

    by Cliopatria

    One of the defining characteristics of your average indie-rock (or, as Robert Christgau calls it, “semi-popular music”) fan is their passion. This passion manifests itself in a range of ways that range from the inspiring to the annoying to the disturbing: Loyalty that borders on obsession; condescension toward those outside of the inner sanctum of the cognoscenti; rampant elitism; proprietary claims to the music that are utterly inexplicable; and an almost preternatural sensitivity to perceived
  • Jun 29, 2005

    The Supreme Court, Kelo, and Cronyism

    by Cliopatria

    Sorry for the long silence. I had a major grant writing deadline that absorbed the first two weeks of June followed by a two week trip to Oklahoma and Texas to visit relatives. Those of you who view the “Red States” with fear and loathing may be pleased to know that our Kerry/Edwards sticker did not attract any hostility. (Of course, some people may not have remembered who Kerry and Edwards were.)

    The Supreme Court made some interesting decisions while my wife and I were traveling.

  • Jun 29, 2005

    To Watch: 30 Days

    by Cliopatria

    Shamael and Sadia Haque are first generation Pakistani Americans living in a suburb of Dearborn. Shamael is a neuropsychiatry resident in Detroit while Sadia is in a law school in Lansing. Tonight's episode of Morgan Spurlock's FOX show 30 Days, is a documentary of how they hosted a devout Christian, David Stacy in their house for 30 days.

    I am quite keen on watching the show and wanted to bring it to your att
  • Jun 29, 2005

    Same-Sex Marriage: A Victory For Conservatives?

    by Cliopatria

    In a historic vote, Canada's House of Commons this evening passed C-38, the bill to legalize same-sex marriage throughout the country. It was in real terms something of an anticlimax, since by this time only two of the country's 10 provinces (Alberta and Prince Edward Island) still lacked such laws. Nevertheless, on the symbolic plane the law (once approved by the Senate and granted the Royal Assent) will carry great weight.

    There has been an extraordinary amount of political games
  • Jun 29, 2005

    Harry Reid and the Supreme Court

    by Cliopatria

    Senate Democratic Minority leader has proposed several names of 4 moderate Republican Senators, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mel Martinez of Florida, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Mike Crapo of Idaho, as candidates for the (so far) non-vacancy on the Supreme Court, adding that they were bright and able lawyers who would make outstanding justices. It is difficult to know what is the stranger spectacle--a minority party leader publicly offering such advice to the President of the opposing par
  • Jun 28, 2005

    The Greatest American Hero

    by Cliopatria

    Look at what’s happened to me-eee
    I can’t believe it myself
    Flying away on a wing and a prayer
    It should have been somebody else…

    Alas, this post isn't really about the 1980s TV series, “The Greatest American Hero.” But now that I've got everybody of a certain age humming the theme song, the last line of those lyrics may at least be apropos. The Discovery Channel has just completed a TV series called “
  • Jun 28, 2005

    America and the World (Or: Do They Like Us? Should We Care?)

    by Cliopatria

    The recent Pew Global Attitudes Project Report has some interesting, disquieting, fascinating date about how citizens of an array of countries perceive other countries. America’s standing in the world is up slightly, but is still in the depths. As my colleague, area coordinator (i.e. boss) and periodic Rebunk reader Roland Spickermann (who first sent me the link to the full report) pointed out to me, China is more highly regard
  • Jun 28, 2005

    Dorn on Searches

    by Cliopatria

    Sherman Dorn has a fascinating post--with which I completely agree--on possible ways to guard against intellectual uniformity in department searches.

    Dorn offers two suggestions: (1) Conducting external reviews of assistant-professor candidate pools, modeled on the procedures used when candidates go up for tenure, in which outside reviewers would take a look at the qualifications of the final pool, those who just missed the cut

  • Jun 28, 2005

    The Court and the Plame Case

    by Cliopatria

    Today's Timesreflects the widespread consensus in the journalistic community that the inquiry into the Valerie Plame matter threatens the freedom of the press. In stirring language (to borrow a sarcastic term from Justice Scalia's opinion on yesterday's Ten Commandments cases), the editorial page criticizes the Court for not overturning lower-court contempt citations against Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper. The case, raged t
  • Jun 27, 2005

    Paths Not Chosen

    by Cliopatria

    For some reason, at first reading, this story of terrorism in Israel gave me pangs of anguish more than many among the unrelenting deluge of atrocities we have all read about in the last five years. (Thanks to Judith Apter Klinghoffer for the heads up.) Here we have a young Palestinian woman who has suffered from an egregious household accident in which she suffered extensive burns. It seems at least in pa