Jacob Bender's Blog, page 11

Non-Directive Writing Centers...

...are like Cross-Fit: looks impressive, but is mostly ineffective.

I'm already falling out of the habit of sending my students to the Writing Center.  My international students especially come back from there with no greater understanding of English organization or grammar than when they first entered.  Look, guys, I understand that grammar is a "lower"-level concern, but that doesn't mean it's not a concern!

I can cover grammar principles all day in class with students, but lecture...

In Defense of Difficult Literature

On Valentines Day, I bet my girlfriend that if she read The Brothers Karamazov, then I would run a triathlon with her.  Now, I'd bought her a copy of Villette over a year earlier that she still hasn't finished, so naturally I assumed I would never run a triathlon.  She finished Ilyusha's funeral a week ago.  Crap.

Of course, as a classmate noted, it's a fair trade.  In both cases, muscles are being strenuously exercised.

Literally.

As Ben Marcus notes in his famed 2005 Harper...

This Is Not A Photograph

Oh hi!  So, a critical edition of Nephi Anderson's Dorian just came out on Peculiar Pages, and it contains (among other things) an essay I wrote a couple years ago! Anderson is kinda considered the grandfather of LDS fiction, and Dorian was his final, long-out-of-print novel, which is re-published now in the midst of a recent critical reconsideration of his contributions to Mormon letters.  It's a rather charming coming-of-age tale set in rural Utah near the turn of the 20th century...

Beyond Calorie Counting

So I've packed on a few pounds since I've been back to PhD school (as most grad students do).  And, you know, I've started working out more in response (at least as much as my schedule will allow), and cutting down on my sugar intake.  I've even a-times flirted with calorie counting, as some of my friends already do; yet anytime I seriously consider it, I recall that every other time throughout my adulthood when I've lost weight--in Puerto Rico, in China, in Mexico--it was never thr...

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine primer

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was arguably at least as good a show as TNG--it certainly found its footing much faster than the latter--yet for whatever reasons doesn't get quite the same level of love.  Possibly that has to do with its stationary status--it literally takes place on a space station, which involves a whole lot less "boldly going forth" and a whole lot more "crazy things coming to you," which, while still rousing, mayhaps does not inspire quite the same awe and romance. &...

Star Trek: The Next Generation Primer

A couple years ago, a buddy of mine fool-hardily jumped into Star Trek: The Next Generation on Netflix on his own, based on the strength of his love for Patrick Stewart in the old BBC I, Claudius.  Needless to say, he found himself lost in a mess of season 1 awkwardness, campiness, and borderline racism.  (It's a testament to the dedication of '80s-era Trekkers that they supported the show through two straight craptastic seasons before the show finally got its act together).  N...

On Puerto Rico, Voting, and Taxes

A recent John Oliver bit has been going around today, about how it is, frankly, kinda weird that U.S. territories--such as my beloved Puerto Rico--despite being populated by ostensible U.S. citizens, do not have the right to vote in U.S. elections.  I shared this clip with my Rhetoric class for discussion.

Where I was swiftly reminded of what everyone outside of Puerto Rico I've ever met ever has said when I bring up Puerto Rico's voting status: "Yeah, but they don't pay taxes, right?" ...

Star Trek primer

In honor of the late, great Leonard Nimoy, I hereby declare this Star Trek month.

There's an old Futurama bit wherein Fry tries to get Leonard Nimoy's disembodied head to admit he was on Star Trek.  "You know? 1966? 79 episodes? About 30 good ones?"

Trust me, that joke is hilarious, because the ratio works; for at its best, Star Trek could transcend its cheap sets and hammy acting to deliver moments of true sublimity.  But the rest of the time, it was just a "BAM!" and "POW!" away fr...

Lived Long and Prospered: RIP Leonard Nimoy

The following scene is the one that probably solidified Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn as my new favorite movie whilst a lad of 10--a love which, unlike most other childhood loves, has strengthened, not lessened, as the years progressed.  When my Trekkie fandom was oft-tested by the likes of Voyager, Enterprise, Nemesis, and the "Sub-Rosa" episode of TNG, well, this was the film--and this the scene--that always reminded me why I fell for the series in the first place.

And now I'll never...

Requiem on the Final Decade of NBC Comedy

There's an early xkcd cartoon wherein Randolph Munroe pleads with Jim Davis to "Throw off your commercial shackles.  Challenge us.  Go out in a blaze of dadaist glory."  The past decade of NBC sitcoms--in particular The Office, 30 Rock, Community, and Parks and Rec--has felt like that cartoon brought to life.  And it was glorious.  It all ended in flames, with ratings that fell like a meteor and burned so bright that they may have permanently destroyed NBC comedy for...