Category Archives: theory-in-practice

McLuhan and Baseball

Posted on July 18, 2009 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a re-reading of McLuhan’s Understanding Media; I wanted to share this paragraph on baseball. McLuhan articulates something I have felt without being able to express for sometime. I think my interest in sabermetric evaluations of defense … Continue reading →

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Rhetorical Thoughts on Michael Vick

Posted on May 20, 2009 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

This started as a comment on FB, but I figured I’d post it here. I’ve been thinking about this for about a week–what Michael Vick needs to do to “prove his remorse.” (I assumed that this is what spurred Cody … Continue reading →

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Colbert on the”Danger” of the Internet

Posted on February 26, 2009 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

This comes from Colbert’s interview with Keen–it is presented as something of a nightmare. But I think it adequately describes a digital/rhetorical/sophistic new media environment, one in which there is not getting outside the cave. Responding to Keen’s claim that … Continue reading →

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Santos on Fish on Donoghue Take Two

Posted on January 21, 2009 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

My last post came on little sleep, so I thought I might try again. Actually, I already tried again in an email exchange with an old friend. He wrote to get my thoughts on Fish’s piece. Here’s my (hopefully) more … Continue reading →

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Productive Mess Hits the Airwaves

Posted on January 16, 2009 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Here’s some shameless self-promotion: the new issue of Kairos includes my article with Nathaniel Rivers and Ryan Weber “Productive Mess: First-Year Composition Takes the University’s Agonism Online.” The article has two main arguments: first, it discusses how to better integrate … Continue reading →

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Jack McCoy, Ciceronian Rhetoric, and the art of Pathetic Conclusions

Posted on January 14, 2009 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Tomorrow I’m planning a quick, introductory lecture on Ciceronian argument. As such, I’ll be referring to the six-part structure extracted from the Catiline Orations and discussed at length in De Inventione. In brief: Exordium [prepares the hearer… this can be … Continue reading →

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Expository Writing as Digital Citizenship

Posted on January 6, 2009 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Its a new semester, and I am teaching two sections of upper-division expository writing. I am excited to return to a previous approach: blogging as composition. Last time I tried this with freshman we and we were quite pleased with … Continue reading →

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I not We, Me not US

Posted on November 10, 2008 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

As I’m finishing my Levinas chapter, I’m feeling how hard it is to apply his ethics to academic writing–at least my academic writing. I am so used to using the plural, collective pronouns: we and us, that it feels disorienting … Continue reading →

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To My Students

Posted on October 26, 2008 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Every semester I write a letter to my students that comments on my position in relation to the readings we are working through that semester. I delivered my letter early this semester, since I am trying to get them to … Continue reading →

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Not the Negation of Science

Posted on June 30, 2008 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

My love affair with Kevin Kelly continues; his recent post on the non-death of theory is definitely worth a read. Kelly responds to Chris Anderson’s recent article on The Death of Theory, in which Anderson argues that massive, computational approaches … Continue reading →

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