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Cliopatria

  • Jun 9, 2005

    More Noted Things ...

    by Cliopatria

    Terry Teachout's"Culture in the Age of Blogging," Commentary sees blogging as a sign of the disintegration of a common culture in the United States. Now two years old, his blog, About Last Night, is a part of what he calls a" culture archipelago" of blogs of related interest on the net – decentralized, balkanized, atomized and far more immediately interactive
  • Jun 8, 2005

    Shortell Is Out

    by Cliopatria

    As Inside Higher Ed and the New York Sun report this morning, Professor Timothy Shortell has withdrawn his bid to become chairman of Brooklyn’s Sociology Department. I have generally been a critic of BC president C.M. Kimmich, but in this instance, Kimmich handled the controversy just right. Early on, he exercised his own free speech rights and issued a public statement
  • Jun 8, 2005

    More Noted Things ...

    by Cliopatria

    Endow This! Let's say you've got $1,000,000 to invest and you'd like a good 10% secure return per annum. Here's the deal: you endow a chair at a state university and it gets $750,000 matching funds from the state. You are then hired to fill the chair and draw $100,000 a year in salary, without having to do any work to show for it. Everybody wins, right? Scott Jaschik is on the case.

    Getting to the Program: At

  • Jun 7, 2005

    Conspiracy Theories

    by Cliopatria

    In response to James Fallows' latest attempt at futurology (he's so good at the present, but he tries so hard to be relevant and edgy that it's painful), as reported by Adam Kotsko, I said that"Most futurology that depends on conspiracies between nation-states are deeply flawed." [ed. Yes, there's a number agreement problem there. It was a comment.] Being a liberal (I can't find the quote, but I read once that a liber
  • Jun 7, 2005

    A note on history and the gay rights movement

    by Cliopatria

    Hugo Schwyzer is an American author, speaker and professor of history and gender studies at Pasadena City College

    After my post last week about teaching my Lesbian and Gay American History class once again, Rick Shenkman at the History News Network asked me to consider a post on the topic of the future of the gay rights movement.  Rick wrote:

    Given the many backward steps taken this year--states amending their
    constitutions to restrict gay rights and codify in the basic law a
    prohibition on gay marriage--is the gay rights movement in danger?

    Many keep pointing out that young people are much more open to gay rights than older Americans, so the trends are reassuring.  But once these
    constitutions get amended, it is very hard to change them again.

  • Jun 7, 2005

    The Limits of Cultural Competence

    by Cliopatria

    Last week, Inside Higher Edreported on the University of Oregon's Orwellian proposal to make" cultural competence" a key factor in all hiring and promotion decisions. As Boris Botvinnik, a math professor, noted, the plan seemed designed to"tell us what to do in terms of research in mathematics." The implications for History professors would be equally grave: taken literally, the diversity plan would allow the hiring and promot
  • Jun 7, 2005

    Rebunk Reviews

    by Cliopatria

    Following my review of Cinderella Man, here are some recommendations for pop culture you should, you must, consume. In keeping with Rebunk traditions that Tom and I in particular have embraced and made our own, some of these are not especially new, although just to keep you on your toes, a few are.

    Books:

    Last fall when I was over in England I almost picked up a copy of Mark Haddon’s the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. Waterstone's, the UK's equivalent to