danielshankcruz

Missing Chess

I had a vivid dream about playing in a chess tournament last night. I haven’t played in a tournament in nearly two years, which was the last time I even played a game. My life is much too busy these days to go back to playing chess because of the all-encompassing nature of my professionalContinue reading “Missing Chess”

Books Acquired Recently

Smith, P.D. City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age. London: Bloomsbury, 2012. I love cities! I am interested in how they are planned, how they function, and how they shape their inhabitants. I have recently begun to integrate this amateur interest into my literary scholarship, focusing on works/writers that are somehow urban. So when I heard aboutContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”

Shaking the Rust Off

I haven’t written anything other than emails and lesson outlines in almost a week. The new semester is kicking my butt! I need to find a way to budget time into my schedule for writing so that I don’t get too out of practice and lose my edge. Luckily, today is the first meeting ofContinue reading “Shaking the Rust Off”

An Odd Typewriter: Mystery Solved!

Last month I wrote a post about an old typewriter that I found in a vintage shop which did not have a 1: https://danielshankcruz.com/2012/08/11/an-odd-typewriter/. Yesterday I was talking with an older friend who learned to type on a similar model that also did not have a 1. She said that she was taught to useContinue reading “An Odd Typewriter: Mystery Solved!”

Manchester United: Exciting But Inconsistent

Manchester United’s 3-2 victory over Southampton today was thrilling, but also troubling for United fans. New acquisition Robin van Persie showed his brilliance with a hat trick–including two goals in the last five minutes of the match–to give the Red Devils the three points. But on the whole United looked flat, creating few scoring chancesContinue reading “Manchester United: Exciting But Inconsistent”

Being Grateful for Education

I always assign an essay early on in my first-year composition classes that asks students to reflect on their educational experiences and how those experiences have led them to enroll in college. This afternoon I read one of these essays by a woman who grew up in Afghanistan. Her family moved to Pakistan when theContinue reading “Being Grateful for Education”

Book Acquired Recently: Stephen Beachy’s Distortion

Beachy, Stephen. Distortion. Binghamton: Harrington Park, 2001. I bought this book as a part of my recent obsession with Beachy’s fiction (see my entry for 28 August for more details about this). It just arrived today from the United Kingdom, which has more aesthetically pleasing mail than the U.S.A. does. Even though the book shippedContinue reading “Book Acquired Recently: Stephen Beachy’s Distortion”

Books Acquired Recently

Beachy, Stephen. The Whistling Song. 1991. New York: Norton, 1992. I recently read and loved Beachy’s novel Boneyard, and thus have ordered several more of his books, as is my usual practice when I discover a new author. There’s another one on the way. Creekmur, Corey K., and Alexander Doty, eds. Out in Culture: Gay,Continue reading “Books Acquired Recently”

UHF and the Loss of Cultural Memory

Last night for some reason I was thinking about Weird Al Yankovic’s 1989 film UHF (the film’s imdb.com page is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098546/). It occurred to me that this film would completely baffle my students because they would have no idea what a UHF dial is, having grown up solely with remote-control televisions and cable (myContinue reading “UHF and the Loss of Cultural Memory”

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!

I had this classic Monty Python sketch in my head this morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tym0MObFpTI It struck me that now when I hear the words “Spanish Inquisition” my first reaction is to laugh rather than to be horrified by all of the lives it unjustly destroyed. I am not sure how to feel about this. I suspectContinue reading “NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!”