11/19/10

Just don't sign off a letter to me with "cheers"

This month's Chronicle piece, lambasting the academic pose.

3 comments:

Captain Hairdo said...

Nice piece. The Mills quote reminded me of Orwell's Politics and the English Language. I think the world would be a better place if everyone read that essay and took it to heart.

Chee- er, uh- XO,
Ryan

Rachel said...

Couldn't agree more. I make every student read that essay, and also "Shooting an Elephant." Oh, and Strunk and White.

xo
Rachel

Captain Hairdo said...

Wow, I should have taken one of your classes! I bought a collection of essays by Orwell and both of those are in it. I wish I'd read "Shooting an Elephant" when I was twelve or thirteen; it sounds cliche but it changed my life. I'd tell you the ways, but that would be a long, long comment.

My favorite line from Strunk and White: "Modifiers and leeches in the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words." Awesome!