I'm teaching a visual rhetoric course at my new university this year. It has been so much fun to create and just as much fun to teach. I have mostly upper-level English majors and minors in the class, and they are delightful, prepared, and interested. Our first few weeks of class focused on Molly Bang's... Continue Reading →
In early April, I visited Valencia, Spain, for an academic conference. I spent a few days there and had time to do a little sightseeing. I haven't yet posted about it, and I wanted to share with you the falles, and the museum that houses the best one from each year, since the early 1900s.... Continue Reading →
Malia is a teenage artist who lives in my neighborhood. I've know her since she was a young girl, and I'm so impressed with her talent that I'm sharing it with you today. In addition, she does work by request, as you'll see below, and she would welcome doing a family portrait for you. Here's... Continue Reading →
Most women enjoy or appreciate Jane Austen's work. I am one of those women, and although I don't necessarily like everything I've read by Austen, and while I haven't actually read all of her books, I do appreciate what I have read. I also liked a recent movie called Austenland that took a comedic take... Continue Reading →
I refused to read The Da Vinci Code (2003) by Dan Brown and number 42 on the BBC book list for a long time. It was a bestseller and everybody was talking about it. Some annoying celebrity on Oprah, when shown at her posh home lounging on a snow-white couch and reading a book, had... Continue Reading →
Once in a graduate class, a fellow student stormed out when the teacher asked us to think about how Christianity connects to and informs the contemporary American literature we were reading. The student later told me that he was offended because he isn’t religious and he thought it unfair that the professor was forcing religion... Continue Reading →
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 