Women & Football

I have a small, abiding sense of loss occurring lately. The summer winds down, and fall is next.

Fall, in this relationship, means a good deal of football. What is it about football? Baseball, basketball, I can relate to, but football - not so much. This pensiveness leads me to wonder why I have a slight aversion to football. Perhaps because it it uber-masculine. Although, in the Detroit area there is a women's football team (one of my students was on the team), I think women are clearly left on the sidelines with this sport. The players are big, burly, and look like they could easily wring your neck. The play is rough and crushing.

Another reason I feel outside the game on this one is that the sport itself seems a little slow. Baseball, yes, can be a bit slow, but it is suspenseful, I think. There is a certain anticipation in watching the pitcher get ready to throw, and in watching the hit on the pitch. With football, it's just a matter of watching guys lumber around and get back into position. Boring. And, those time-outs! Ugh.

Another reason is that football seems overly-complicated. I am not completely ignorant about the sport, but the rules seem very elaborate. Maybe it's because I am not a big fan. Maybe the Lions have made me that way. Even though we all crave a great team, the Lions are the Lions. Perennially at the bottom of the pile.

During the winter, spring, and summer, we have the Tigers and the Red Wings to enjoy. The Pistons are fun too. But in the fall, the Lions return once again to distract my man, and disappoint us all. Maybe if the Lions could, somehow, turn it around, I could be back on the couch, next to the Admin and a beer, enjoying a good game of football.

www.fantasycrowd.com

fantasycrowd.com

I've been using a fun site lately for sports social networking. You can be interested in any sport from fishing to Nascar, meet other sports lovers, make comments, add a blog, post discussions, that sort of thing. Also, if you are a fantasy football lover, this site is ideal. It was created and designed in the Detroit area by some local e-entrepreneurs. If you are a sports fan, and like to talk sports, join up. We'd love to see you there!

Becoming a Dinosaur

The other day as I walked across campus a startling thought occurred to me: what if the analysis of literature soon becomes archaic? I was contemplating the challenge of bookstores lately, thinking of the heavy promotion of Borders books in the movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic and Borders’s current struggle to survive. So, if books are no longer a viable product, how will the analysis of literature be viable or relevant? Well, of course, there are many reasons why the analysis of literature is relevant. It helps students develop critical thinking, and also exposes them to the canon of literature, works that form our culture. Eventually, though, studying literature might only include the study of ancient literature. It does indeed seem very likely.

Where then, I wonder, will that leave me, an English major and an English instructor? I guess we will be like Latin teachers that still teach a dead language that has limited relevance to the real word and limited connection to other studies? Do students learn Latin to help their English skills? Possibly. What will be the worth of studying literature? It already seems like I have to convince students of the value of reading and studying literature. In many ways, also, studying literature is like studying art; readers analyze how and why a writer constructed a story. Perhaps that’s how the study of literature will be used. Either way, I think literature becomes more obsolete by the minute.

For the Sake of Blogging

Taking a moment to do a bit of writing. I haven’t been doing as much lately. Why? I do not know. Possibly it’s because I have been spending less time on MySpace. It’s funny about writing and me. It’s a love –hate relationship. I think that I am fairly good at it, and once I start it, I enjoy it, but it’s just the getting to it that’s difficult. Sometimes I have to wonder if anyone really enjoys writing. It just seems like something that is important, that you should do. Like exercise. Like eating broccoli. I wonder if people like Stephen King, or Ernest Hemingway (an unlikely coupling) really enjoyed writing. Hmmm….. And, I used to write so much more often! I suppose my earlier output had much to do with the fact that I was in graduate school and doing so much more reading of literature and poetry.

Sometimes I think that I should try photography or increase my jewelry-making skills; work in some other artistic medium. Yes, perhaps.

So, there you go. I have written.

The Fever has Finally Taken

Just a note because I am so pumped about the new Presidency!!! Who doesn't like this man? Who doesn't want to see this country confident, stabilized, and reinvented?! I think this could mean so much to this nation, and the world. We don't have to be the cowboy hero anymore; the world doesn't need that. We need cooperation, compromise, and connection.

A most hopeful day. From here, it seems, you can see a better forever.