Tag Archives: obituary
Pacing yourself
Even before my senescence began blooming, I enjoyed reading obituaries. The well-written ones are edifying distillations of character and action; their omissions are bolder than doomsday. James McMeel cofounded the Universal Press Syndicate, which distributed Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” and the … Continue reading
RIP Geoff Nunberg
I aspired to rise to the level of acumen, clarity, and courtesy of this marvelous linguist, knowing of course that I could never get close. Listen to some of Nunberg’s commentaries for NPR’s “Fresh Air” program. — 22 August: The … Continue reading
The Arch Obit
Obituaries must be charming. When a writer conveys the deceased subject’s wicked faults yet still elicits empathy from the reader, the reader has been charmed into a kind of forgiveness for the dead. When the writer seeks to elicit no … Continue reading
Community College
I teach at a regional, commuter university, near Vancouver, BC: It has superb programs in traditional academic disciplines as well as in the trades. It enrols both the unusual and the usual suspects as students. Teaching them is a challenge … Continue reading
Editing and Gender
The New York Times obituary of famed film editor Anne V. Coates is very charming. Ms. Coates vowed to find a way to make a career in cinema. She would need to overcome not only her family’s resistance but also … Continue reading
The ‘Fuzzy Logic’ Man
“He always took criticism as a compliment,” said Stuart Russell, a Berkeley professor who worked next door to Mr. Zadeh for many years. “It meant that people were considering what he had to say.”
Battle
In the New York Times obituary section recently I came upon one for Jacob Neusner, a scholar (and polemicist) who published more than 900 books in his lifetime. I calculated – on the back of a napkin, as it were – … Continue reading
Smart/Dumb
In my profession some colleagues believe that marking hard – giving more D’s than B’s, for instance – correlates with a high level of “rigour” in teaching. To my mind, though, there is often no connection between grade distribution and … Continue reading
