Monthly Archives: February 2010

“Goals, Values, and Wisdom: Unsolicited Advice to Young College Students”

Posted on February 26, 2010 by | Leave a comment

I’m about to dim the lights around the EMUTalk.org control complex in honor of winter break– not shutting down entirely, since I will not be traveling to an undisclosed location this season but will instead be hunkering down right here, apparently under a never-ending snowfall.  If there are any loyal EMUTalk.org readers going to warmer destinations that include umbrella festooned drinks, a) consider sending me a picture to post, and b) have one for me.

Anyway, before we are officially in break mode, let me share some reading sent to me by Walter Moss, a recently retired professor and friend of the site.  It’s a piece he wrote titled “Goals, Values, and Wisdom: Unsolicited Advice to Young College Students.” I haven’t read it yet, but I look forward to doing so sooner than later.  If you beat me to it, why not post a comment here?

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Posted in Blogosphere, Faculty Life, Student Life

“Tenure,” the movie

Posted on February 26, 2010 by | Leave a comment

An alert EMUTalk.org reader sent me information about an article in the current Inside HigherEd about a forthcoming movie called Tenure, which will apparently star Luke Wilson.  Here’s a quote describing the project:

Blowtorch Entertainment will next month begin filming on “Tenure,” which is about a college professor coming up for tenure (Luke Wilson) and facing off against a female rival who recently arrived at (fictional) Grey College. (The part of the institution will be played by Bryn Mawr College, where the movie will be shot.) David Koechner will play the professorial sidekick to the Wilson character, and the production company is planning kickoff events next year to promote the film in college towns.

Brendan McDonald, the producer, said that he viewed academe as “one of the interesting worlds to explore” and said that he viewed the project as “lampooning the tenure process.”

To make another movie reference (namely, a line from every character in the Star Wars movies), I’ve got a bad feeling about this.  Those feelings are summed up with this passage in the article:

Addy N., the blogger whose recent promotion made moot the blog title What an Untenured College Professor Shouldn’t Be Doing, said via e-mail: “I guess the problem I’ll have with the movie is that it will be what Hollywood thinks the process should be like, rather than what really happens. I guess if they told the real story it wouldn’t be as entertaining, though. There would be lots of people sitting at computers writing papers and grant proposals.” If the producers “make the movie in a way that the masses will enjoy,” then “we academics will say ‘that’s not how it works.’ “

I am looking forward to the trailer at least.

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Posted in College Fun, Faculty Life, In the media...

Oh, and speaking of other stories involving naughty parts

Posted on February 26, 2010 by | 1 Comment

Also on annarbor.com, “Naked man steals children’s books from Ypsilanti District Library, police say.” The opening sentences:

Ypsilanti police say a library patron took off his clothes and exposed himself to an employee today before fleeing with children’s books in hand.

The man hasn’t been located by police.

Sure, harass a couple college kids about making a perfectly innocent snow erection but don’t catch a naked man running down Michigan Avenue in the middle of the day. And as my wife (a Children’s Literature scholar) asked upon reading this story: “what books did he steal?”  We may never know.

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Posted in Blogosphere, In the media..., Ypsilanti

Ypsi’s finest fight the fight against snow penises

Posted on February 26, 2010 by | Leave a comment

I came across this gem in Annarbor.com:  “Builder of ‘obscene snowman’ isn’t upset police told him to destroy it.” Here’s the meat of the story (so to speak):

Police responded to (Mike) Scoffins’ North Summit Street home about 3:31 p.m. Tuesday after someone called to report an “obscene snowman,” a police incident log said.

Scoffins said the woman complained the 6-foot-tall sculpture was offensive and some “kids were asking about it,” so she had to explain it.

A police officer told Scoffins he had to destroy it, which he did as the officer watched, he said. Shortly after, another person showed up in a city of Ypsilanti vehicle to ensure it was destroyed, he said.

Here’s a link to a picture of it. I will admit that the boys do get a certain amount of “style points” for realism, but I also think that is in part to the angle and lighting of the photo.

Scoffins apparently was happy to oblige in letting his sculpture go limp, but I’ve got to say that this strikes me as problematic since I’m pretty sure that a snow phallus does not rise to the level of “obscenity” as described by the Supreme Court.  I don’t think I would have been quite so cheerful and cooperating.  Of course, I probably wouldn’t have been making an erect penis in my front yard either.

Good thing the kid didn’t point to the Water Tower, huh?

BTW, the comments on annarbor.com are pretty funny too, and already, the AnnArbor.com editors, notorious for over-censoring their comment areas, are in form here.

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Posted in College Fun, In the media..., Student Life, Ypsilanti

“Former Lions QB Charlie Batch, six others going into EMU Hall of Fame”

Posted on February 25, 2010 by | 3 Comments

An alert reader sent me this, though I had also seen a press release about this too:  from Freep.com, “Former Lions QB Charlie Batch, six others going into EMU Hall of Fame.”

Good for Batch and the others included– Denise Allen (basketball), Jerry Cerulla (track), Angela (Springer) Johnson (track), Sharon McNie (gymnastics), Gary Patton (football), and Gary Strickland (athletic trainer), according to the article.  But I have to wonder:  EMU has an athletic hall of fame?  Really?  Is this a place on campus, or is this more of a metaphoric, symbolic “hall?”

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Posted in College Fun, In the media..., Sports

Wow, this sounds unpleasant

Posted on February 24, 2010 by | 2 Comments

This notice just sent around from Edward Mullens:

From the Physical Plant:

Construction on the new science complex during winter break (March 1-5) will impact cooling units in Halle Library. Temperatures inside the library may become warmer than normal, possibly as high as 85 degrees. People using the building may want to dress in layers. Halle Library has reduced hours for winter break — check the library website for details http://www.emich.edu/library/about/hours.php or call 487-0020, ext. 2100.

Good Lord, 85 degrees inside while it’s 20 degrees outside?  Watch for sudden thunderstorms developing around the entrance of the building!  And going from Michigan winter to Michigan August is a lot of layers.  Hopefully, this will just last for the winter break.

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Posted in Administrator Life, Buildings and Grounds, Faculty Life, Staff Life, Student Life

“Campus Rape Victims: A Struggle for Justice”

Posted on February 24, 2010 by | 2 Comments

I’m listening to a good and important story on NPR’s “Morning Edition” just now, “Campus Rape Victims: A Struggle for Justice.” The audio part of the story won’t be available until later today, but the text is there now. I think it illustrates the problem of rape on college campuses, and it also mentions EMU in and the Dickinson murder:

The federal Department of Education regulates schools under the Clery Act. But it has fined offending schools just six times. Most fines have been small. The biggest — for $350,000 — came against Eastern Michigan University. Administrators there covered up the 2006 rape and murder of a student, 22-year-old Laura Dickinson, letting her parents think she’d died suddenly of natural causes.

Though that mention of EMU didn’t make the audio portion of the story….

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Posted in Buildings and Grounds, Dickinson Murder, In the media..., Security and Safety

Lost Landscapes of Detroit

Posted on February 23, 2010 by | Leave a comment

This is a little off-topic, but I know there are plenty of Detroit-city fans in the area, and for all I know, there are some Ypsilanti clips in here, too:  via the great site boing-boing comes this just over an hour long collection of old film clips featuring Detroit between 1917 and 1970. I tried to embed it here, but no luck– go take a look at that site.

Back in the day, right?

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Posted in Blogosphere

Dilbert mocks “Project EMU”

Posted on February 22, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Loyal reader/friend of the site Publius Crabgrass alerted me to this fine Dilbert comic:

Dilbert.com

Notice that our PowerPoint presenter is discussing “PROJECT EMU.”  Coincidence?  Well, yes, probably so.  But I think I’ll be checking back at dilbert.com this week to see if there is any mention of our fair campus and/or my favorite flightless bird.

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Posted in Blogosphere, College Fun

“NYU Business School Professor Has Mastered the Art of Email Flaming”

Posted on February 22, 2010 by | 1 Comment

This comes to me via something called Deadspin: “NYU Business School Professor Has Mastered the Art of Email Flaming.” It’s a little long, but the gist of it is that Scott Galloway, a NYU business professor and entrepreneur-type responded to an email sent to a student who was trying to explain why he showed up an hour late to Galloway’s class (the student was “shopping around” for other classes that met the same night).  The response, which includes the advice that the student ought to “get your shit together,” has apparently made the rounds.  Allegedly– these emails that get passed around have a way of being embelished.

The responses on Deadspin suggest they think the professor is being a bit of a “dick” (their terminology), but I have to say that I have a great deal of sympathy for Galloway.  Granted, I’ve never sent an email to a student that literally encouraged them to “get their shit together,” but that’s not because it never crossed my mind….

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Posted in Blogosphere, College Fun, Faculty Life, Student Life