A visual exploration of how the place of physical education at the university has changed over the past two hundred years. What does taking the bird’s eye view allow us to see? Is anything to be gained by treating a football stadium as the subject of poetry?  Let me know what you think. I Nothing moves.Not even the eye of the blackbird.  Queen’s College, established in 1766, middle right.   II Three squares.I am of three...

What’s the difference between the one-point-oh world and the two-point-oh world? Here’s a picture of Tech Support in the 1.0 universe: Earth = Tech Support; End-Users = Saturn At the center of this universe is Tech Support. Everything in the system revolves around its–literally–unmoving center. If you require support in this universe, you do your best to relay a message in from Saturn but, given the distance from the...

The Death of the Humanities, Act five, Scene four: Action! Messenger enters stage left, exasperated: “How can you still be still there, typing? The barbarians are at the gates. Can you not hear their fury? The rattling of the chains?” The professor looks up, surprised. “But I am fighting, can’t you see? I’m here, in my office, writing a letter to SUNY’s President right now. “A letter?” “Yes....

1. Does this activity involve research*? Now, this is a good question. As you can see by the asterisk, the definition of research appears to require further specification or qualification. Funny thing is, though, there’s no other asterisk on the form. So, really, this is just research getting all twinkly, like a Christmas tree, as Rainman would say. 2. Do the individuals that will participate in this activity meet the definition of human...

The following is not exactly an obit for the humanities, but rather evidence that the humanities died long ago and now walk the earth, haggard and decaying, accompanied by the sound of the swarming buzz and hum of the undead. It’s a call for papers for a conference on “Sex, Death, and Boredom”–in just that order, as one would expect from the undead. (First comes sex, then comes death, then comes boredom in the baby...

I know, you’re thinking, what hair-brained connection are you going to propose next? But, bear with me while I trace the arc of the boyless balloon sailing over the open plain and a fiscal plan that rounded out the oval of the RU football stadium, complete with the biggest hi-def scoreboard, per seating capacity, in any college stadium. I’ll admit that I wasn’t there for the whole balloon boy saga. I caught the first feed about...