By Any Other Nerd

In the last post, I discussed the ways that college education is like a car .  In extending this analogy, I also want to talk about elements of the vehicle (degree) that again, not all students really consider.  Vehicles can indicate a great many things about a person.  Some of these things might be true and some may not; and often, the car-owner’s opportunity to explain choices comes when being asked.  The person driving a new Porsche might be perceived as financially stable and potentially successful while the one driving a beat-up shitbox be poor or a slob.  The person driving the hybrid might be understood as an environmentalist or an elitist.  Driving a big-truck and tailgating people could be understood as aggressive and anti-social behavior or someone in a rush.  The clichés and stereotypes are endless; we all know them.  A person’s degree (and the transcript, resume, etc) are going to be interpreted in many different ways, often well-b...

A college education is like a car.  We own and use cars for a variety of reasons including (but not limited to): Travelling more efficiently (essentially reclaiming time) Getting to new places (Not entirely the same as reclaiming time—and that will make sense below). It is a requirement of where we live/work (Living in certain suburbs, it does become a practical requirement and some jobs do require or provide a vehicle). Cruising about to enjoy the sights (That is, merely enjoying the act of driving and what it offers). Before any of that can happen though, one needs a license, first.  The license is a great achievement; it indicates some sense of competency in driving (This is the same with a high school diploma or GED certificate.).  It doesn’t imply you will automatically get a car or that you will be a masterful driver; but merely that the state has deemed you knowledgeable to drive a vehicle (The student has proven a certain level of competency but it doesn’t g...

Unions Don’t Always Go Hand-in-Hand Of late, I’m feeling like Jurgis; the protagonist of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle .  Of course, my situation (as of right now) is not as dire, but the sentiment and issues still seem to be percolating. The concern over adjunct faculty and their place within higher education has certainly gotten attention over the last two months.  While the Boston Globe dedicates a full article, The Nation certainly talks about (or at least around) the subject.  Meanwhile both The Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed continue to make mention of and discuss some of the concerns of the ever-growing adjunct faculty nation in Academe.  Meanwhile, adjunct faculty are voicing their own  outright opposition to the status quo in hopes of creating a solidarity movement across campuses and secure rights for adjunct faculty who are largely left in some rather Kafkaesque situations . To read the full article, check it out here at Adjunct Nation...

“That’s cheating.”  I hear it all the time, but I’m not listening.     And so what if it is?  I’m Rhett Butler and “I don’t give a damn.”  I’ve carried on with this illustrious affair for more than half my life now.  In fact, it’s been highly profitable and entertained me for thousands of hours.  It was a curiosity thing at first.  I simply flirted and fooled around.  But somewhere along the lines, it turned into something more; it got serious.  I never construed it as “cheating” because I believed this relationship afforded me something that I couldn’t get elsewhere at certain times and places in my life.  Quite honestly, it was a harmless endeavor that hurt no one directly and while it did on occasion cost me some money to add some gadgets to the mix, it worked out best for everyone in the end. Audiobooks--My Kryptonite I’m talking of my love for audiobooks of course.  Those hard-to-pinpoint products that some in...

Here is my most updated list of Recommended Readings. I’ve broken them down into general categories and listed them alphabetically by author’s last name.  Without a doubt, I’ve missed a few and I’m sure some are bound to raise an eyebrow. LITERATURE I'm Not Scared by Ammaniti, Niccolò Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, Ray A Clockwork Orange by Burgess, Anthony The Awakening by Chopin, Kate The Good Earth by Buck, Pearl S. The Souls of Black Folk by DuBois, W.E.B. The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, Alexandre The Three Musketeers by Dumas, Alexandre Invisible Man by Ellison, Ralph Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney Bartleby and Benito Cereno by Melville, Herman The Odyssey by Homer  The Iliad by Homer Brave New World by Huxley, Aldous The Metamorphosis by Kafka, Franz The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver, Barbara To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee, Harper Mary Reilly by Martin, Valerie Beloved by Morrison, Toni Lolita by Nabokov, Vladimir Animal Farm  by Orwell,...

Scheduling Classes and Learning to Cry on the Inside “I’m sorry, I can’t teach that class.”  Now, I say this in a calm and mature tone.  But in my head, I’m screaming, kicking, and pouting like the five-year-old I know. I really am.  Recently, I was offered the chance to teach a course at a college I hadn’t taught at yet.  It was not the standard introductory course many adjuncts are stuck with after full-time faculty choose the crème-de-la-crème; it was one within my specialty. For the rest of this blog, check out this Adjunct Nation . Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and  check out some of my other posts! . You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by  signing up for them via email. This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

My sidebar write up in Library Journal about being a judge for the Audies. While many of my teen peers were making mixtapes, I was popping audiobooks like potato chips. In 2003, during my first official audiobook-reviewing stint, for the now-defunct AudiobookCafe.com, the managing editor there invited me to apply to become a judge for the Audies. Naturally, I jumped at the chance. Having now judged the competition every year since—in categories including adaptation, audio drama, sf, classics, and humor—I have seen firsthand the effect that the growth of the audiobook industry has had on judging criteria and procedure as well as the ways in which it has shaped the nature of the competition overall. For the full article, visit Library Journal .  Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and  check out some of my other posts! . You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by  signing up for the...

My interview with Simon Jones in Library Journal: With over 30 years of film, radio, television, and theater experience, Simon Jones ( www.simonjonesinfo.com ) has moved many an audience with his clear, distinct, British-accented voice and often deadpan delivery. An audiobook narrator since 1986, he has recorded over 60 titles, many of them Audie Award nominees and one—Mitch Cullin’s A Slight Trick of the Mind (HighBridge Audio, 2005)—a winner of that award. Among his most recent recordings are Daniel Ariely’s The Upside of Irrationality (HarperAudio) and Robert Harris’s Conspirata (S. & S. Audio), both released in 2010. Eaton:  What have been your favorite audios to record to date? Jones :  Jonathan Stroud’s “Bartimaeus” books: The Amulet of Samarkand , The Golem’s Eye, Ptolemy’s Gate , and [the prequel to that trilogy,] The Ring of Solomon (Listening Library, 2004–10). I have really enjoyed relishing the role of Bartimaeus, evil demon extraordinaire....

Digitalizing the Freeway Flyer Recently, I listened to the audiobook of Chris Anderson’s “Free:  The Future of Radical Price” for free .  The premise is that behind the digital revolution is the mass amplification of cheap goods and services to be offered will increase and what people will get is the most basic model; if they want a more specialized version, they will have to pay.  Anderson expands upon this in a variety of ways , but that’s the gist.   This has me thinking about the uses and benefits of digital freebies as it relates to the classroom and the Freeway Flyer. Too read more, check out the full post here ! Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and  check out some of my other posts! . You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by  signing up for them via email. This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

b So for those that do not know or have not figured out, I’m a big fan of books.  No, I’m not a full out bookslut nor would I call myself a bookwhore and I’ve worked extremely hard not to be a book-hoarder .  Yes, I have lots of books.  In fact, I recently treated myself to two ginormous bookshelves for them (see below).  Two 7 feet tall by 4-feet wide bookshelves from The Mill Store .  Worth every cent!  So in the end, I’m a big fan of books and have accumulated a good amount. Whenever I’m about to criticize someone’s collection of hub-cabs, pez-caps, etc, I look to my shelves and say; am I really any different?  Sure, I can make the argument that my books have “knowledge” and “stories” and have taught me a great many things.  But often, that is the case with any collector.  I could argue that I only keep the “really important ones”; which is amusing since I have hundreds (I’m afraid to actually count and discover that number might even...