Douglas Dowland

Talk about a neat course idea!

I have decided to take this as a compliment.

Academics, I am curious about your tiny selfish hobbies. Not "I run marathons" or "I spin my own yarn" but the things you do in a spare thirty minutes or an hour that serve no pragmatic purpose. Signed, Someone who really needs to get off her phone and stop turning interests into side quests

I mentioned this discourse in passing to my students--and they didn't believe me. Now I have a recent example!

Trying this one out in the medical humanities course next semester. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670270...

I finally got one of those fake book club scam e-mails.

Ordered!

Please circulate! Tenure-track, assistant professor search in Religion. Details below. jobs.chronicle.com/job/38050518...

Please circulate! Open-field, tenure-track assistant professor search in English. Details below. jobs.chronicle.com/job/38050517...

It's condensation and displacement weekend as I grade two dozen dream interpretations in the style of Freud.

The students have informed me that my standard lunch is very "granola mom."

"You took me to the vet."

And on the seventh day, he caught up on his grading.

My grading assistant might have the right idea.

Today's side-discussion in the disgust course was talk about our favorite writing tool. Much to my surprise and delight, each student shared their favorite pen or pencil, and its backstory.

Look at this terrific batch of books.

I’m having trouble enough with the one I have, thanks.

My coffee snobbery journey is about to take a new turn.

Someone got tons of attention at the department picnic and is now totally pooped out.

Trying my highly experimental blue book and Biscoff pedagogy today.

Good thinking on my part to run the disgust course mid-afternoon.

Catching up on my reading with this fascinating article by @matthewlevay.bsky.social.

When you're department chair and your university switches to multi-year scheduling.

It’s okay that I like the Phoebe Bridgers album, right?

I have the pleasure this semester, once a week, of meeting with the new majors. Their first essay will be to identify and reflect upon their own “gateway books.” thepointmag.com/examined-lif...

The disgust students might be getting a treat next week.

Second week of the disgust course is going to be off the rails. www.vice.com/en/article/i...

Third time I've assigned it, and Murata's "Convenience Store Woman" really teaches itself.

Looking forward to sharing my thoughts at this roundtable for MLA in January.

Getting ready for the first day of the disgust course.

I do not quite know what to make of this.

When faculty need to decide who’s chairing a committee.

Me trying to land this Didion chapter I've been working on.

Post your faculty lounge.

Do what Professor Dillon does!

Slowly working my way through converting a MLA talk on Joan Didion into a chapter. I gave the talk in 2023, two years before the now-infamous "Notes to John" was published, and in itself, a difficult read. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_t...

Just finished a remarkable article by @becimay.bsky.social on “The Last Line.” “And the hardest of all is to make them hatch”—a stellar (hatching!) last line of its own.

Two terrific articles in the latest issue of PMLA, one on creepiness by James Draney (who I don't think is on here) and another by @pdkindig.bsky.social on cruising, which has me thinking more about the potential erotics of closeness and distance in close reading.

Lighthousing.

Nova Scotia fast food is wild.

Status: Nova Scotia.

Joanie took my spot while I was out of the room and expresses no repentance.

I was raised on these streets

Do take @dem8z.bsky.social's advice--and mine! The folks at UVA Press are terrific to work with. They made my book all the better, right down to the title. www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5889/

Catching up on my reading with this timely issue of @asapjournal.bsky.social.

Lazy Sunday.

My weekend reading. Adams’s opening axioms are worth a class in themselves. cup.columbia.edu/book/love-mo...

Catching up on my reading, this book is a fresh and thoughtful reflection on why it's so much fun to read together. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...