Comments on: Walter from Waxahachie opens up a can of whoopass

By: The_Myth

The_Myth — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:24:30 +0000

RYS is mostly venting.

Do you really, seriously think people would be that obnoxious and then brag about it? If you read most of the posts, you’ll see most of them actually represent exasperation at sometimes-atrocious working conditions.

It’s mostly all the stuff we *wish* we could say but don’t.

And, yes, they have published about a dozen of my submissions.

And, no, I am not “Wicked Walter.” I am part of the apparently small group who finds him unappealing…

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:01:12 +0000

Thanks Ortho! I was going to mail a hard copy of the mag to Historiann.com HQ. Could you possibly send her a link to the TOC and the report on evaluations? Otherwise I might just send the whole thing out in any event.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 01:29:06 +0000

It’s kind of addictive–and I certainly don’t condone everything there. But, like I said: guilty pleasure!

By: ortho stice

ortho stice — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:27:25 +0000

Walter sounds like a mean-spirited bully. If he was in my department, I’d run away.

Historiann, here is a link to the NY Times Magazine’s profile of “The Thinker”: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/magazine/21jolley-t.html

Of course, this was my favorite section of last week’s “College Issue”: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/09/16/magazine/20080921-STYLE_index.html

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

By: Knitting Clio

Knitting Clio — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:30:35 +0000

I told one of my graduate students about this website, and now she spends much of her day checking it!

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:06:55 +0000

If I don’t have a link I’ll send you a copy, Historiann; I think the part about disciplinarity v. departmentality would be a great topic to air here, if you’d care to. It’s part of a special magazine section on education, with a great piece, too, on course evaluations and the terrorizing of adjuncts, even by high-end SLACs!! I’ll send you the whole mag, now that I think of it.

That’s now my second favorite all-time turkey leg story, second only to discovering that you could actually buy a hot roasted drumstick at Tiger Stadium in Detroit in its last year of operation, 1999–my only time there. But that you couldn’t wash it down with a Vernor’s Ale, because the team was owned by a Pepsi franchiser!?! I bet you could get both at a Mud Hens’ game, though.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:04:11 +0000

Indyanna–do you have a link for that NYT story? Some of us actually read our own local papers instead!

Yes–Walter could be a giant bully. He also might be a bracing reality check on our precious, precious selves. But, that’s why he and RYS are the evil twin/s of Historiann/Historiann.com! (But, you have to admit that his line about becoming dean, eating a turkey leg, and wiping his face with the former tenure policy is pretty funny.)

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:52:59 +0000

Whoo! That’s some smelling salts for a sudden anomie attack, although I guess anomie doesn’t really attack as much as it just envelops. It’s enough to make that Auburn philosophy prof profiled in the Times on Sunday, who said: “My view is that you really fall into a trap when you start allowing what you believe about your students to dictate how you teach your discipline… I care about the discipline of philosophy more than the academic fate of any individual student–and I think I should” seem like he just pulled a sheet of chocolate chip softies from a hot oven! (I got a critical review of the guy on Saturday from somebody with an inside perspective, but I nevertheless think the pith of his remarks bears cogitating). But wouldn’t either Walter or “The Thinker,” however refreshing, in practice provide more great camo for the bully culture? It would be very easy to go faux on either of those gonzo tropes, and then launch off into hammer-headed narcissisia.

I heard of a different version of RYS called “Profs Strike Back,” where I guess you actually annotate the barbs of presumed or inferred specific students of yours.