The Liberal Academy

If you're even tangentially part of the academy, you're probably aware of the eternal debate over whether and why American colleges and universities are so politically liberal. Myself, I think that American higher education is laudably, permanently liberal (though often in some pretty shallow ways) largely because the goals of liberalism as a political movement are so directly related to the goals of higher education - for instance, equipping people to think critically, rather than reverently, about those who hold political, social, economic, or some other kind of power, and to act to alter present arrangements of power, rather than simply maintain them.

A new study proposes that one reason conservatives are underrepresented in the academy is that people who are politically conservative prefer to either get jobs right out of college (rather than pursue PhDs) or to start families (again, rather than pursue PhDs). Interesting stuff:

The study — “Left Pipeline: Why Conservatives Don’t Get Doctorates” — argues that the much debated minority status for conservatives in higher education may be the result of differing priorities of graduating college seniors of different political persuasions. The study presents evidence that conservatives are significantly more likely than liberals — at the point when college students decide whether to apply to graduate school — to value raising a family and having money. In contrast, liberals at that point in their lives are significantly more likely to value writing original works.

The authors of the study do not dispute that conservatives are a distinct minority in academe and that the imbalance is problematic. They also hold open the possibility — much proclaimed by other authors at the conference of the American Enterprise Institute where all of the work was presented — that there may be bias against conservatives (although they question whether this has been proven). But the authors of the work on the pipeline say there is considerable evidence that could show conservative self-selection out of academic careers.

Wednesday Lyric Blogging – Thanksgiving Edition

Thanksgiving Song Lyrics
Adam Sandler

Turkey for me
Turkey for you
Let's eat the turkey
In my big brown shoe
Love to eat the turkey
At the table
I once saw a movie
With Betty Grable
Eat that turkey
All night long
Fifty million Elvis fans
Can't be wrong
Turkey lurkey doo and
Turkey lurkey dap
I eat that turkey
Then I take a nap

Thanksgiving is a special night
Jimmy Walker used to say Dynomite
That's right
Turkey with gravy and cranberry
Can't believe the Mets traded Darryl Strawberry
Turkey for you and
Turkey for me
Can't believe Tyson
Gave that girl V.D.

White meat, dark meat
You just can't lose
I fell off my moped
And I got a bruise
Turkey in the oven
And the buns in the toaster
I'll never take down
My Cheryl Tiegs poster
Wrap the turkey up
In aluminum foil
My brother likes to masturbate
With baby oil
Turkey and sweet potato pie
Sammy Davis Jr.
Only had one eye

Turkey for the girls and
Turkey for the boys
My favorite kind of pants
Are corduroys
Gobble gobble goo and
Gobble gobble gickel
I wish turkey
Only cost a nickel
Oh I love turkey on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Skyway or the Highway

I loved the skyways when I worked in downtown Minneapolis - until I had to walk through them after normal business hours. *shudder* Two well-known urban designers think they're a blight on the city.

When two of the world's top urban designers drop in for a visit and come away with the impression that your city — in this case Minneapolis — is a relic of the 1970s, ill-equipped to thrive and compete in a new century, and that its only hope is to tear down its skyways, well, that gets your attention.

"I feel sorry for Minneapolis," said Jan Gehl, the celebrated Danish architect whose work around the world has linked the rising importance of good public spaces to a city's success.

Thirty years ago, Minneapolis was thought to be a leader among winter cities. But taking people off the streets and putting them upstairs, "under glass," hasn't worked in Minneapolis or anywhere else, Gehl said, to the point that Minneapolis is no longer "up to the beat of the world-class cities of the 21st century."

Gil Penalosa, a noted public parks developer in both Latin America and Canada, said that the skyways lend a defensive, pessimistic air to the downtown core when, in reality, they are needed for only a few weeks of the year. "They suck the public life out of the city," he said.

Given the fat chance that Minneapolis will remove its eight miles of skyways, both men agreed that finding a solution poses one of the toughest design challenges faced by any city in the world: creating vitality at street level when most foot traffic has been shifted to the second story.

The biggest problem, both said, is that people in Minneapolis don't realize that great cities — even cold cities — are now defined by the vitality of their street life. "People here don't see a crisis," said Gehl. "They don't yet see themselves as behind the times."

Finnegan's Wake, the Picture

Envisioning works of fiction as images is a challenge (unless they're graphic novels, I suppose). But here is a fascinating attempt by Hungarian Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy to represent Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. I guess Ulysses was too easy.


The Guardian has much more on Moholy-Nagy, a brilliant designer and artist who could also toss off some good lines: "It is not the person ignorant of writing but the one ignorant of photography who will be the illiterate of the future."

Wednesday Lyric Blogging

Last night I was flipping through iTunes and started listening to some of my old Cracker albums. Listening to David Lowery made me think about Camper Van Beethoveen and I thought, “I need an upbeat, absurd, fun song. From there, “Take the Skinheads Bowling” was obvious. Bonus: You Tube of the video from MTV’s 120 Minutes.


"Take the Skinheads Bowling"
by Camper Van Beethoveen
from Telephone Free Landslide Victory

Everyday I get up and pray to Jah
And he increases the number of clocks by exactly one
Everybody's coming home for lunch these days
Last night there were skinheads on my lawn

Chorus: Take the skinheads bowling, take them bowling.
Take the skinheads bowling, take them bowling.

Some people say that bowling alleys have big lanes (have big lanes X 2)
Some people say that bowling alleys all look the same (all the same X 2)
There's not a line that goes here that rhymes with same (anything X 2)
Had a dream last night but I forgot what it was about (what it was X 2)

(chorus)

Had a dream last night about you my friend
Had a dream I wanted to sleep next to plastic
Had a dream I wanted to lick your knees
Had a dream it was about nothing

(chorus)
(chorus)

I Swear

Linguistic and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker on why swearing matters and why we should care about it. Fucking brilliant.

Wednesday Lyric Blogging (Belated)

Well, I seem to have misplaced my mind. A weekend that involved a visit from the mother-in-law, a great wedding with a reception filled too many White Russians (while the wedding was in “nordeast” Minneapolis, I’m talking about the drink), and the end of this new daylight savings time jibber-jabber, bled into a day off of work, and another day of working from home. The net result is that it’s Thursday, not Wednesday. On top of that I can be somewhat forgetful.

As Kyle aptly pointed out, today would be a great day for "Where is My Mind?" Hell yeah. In high school Surfer Rosa was a breathe of fresh air (and a nice album cover or so I thought). So in a nod to forgetfulness and great alternative power pop, here we go.


Where is my Mind?
Performed by Pixies
Written by Chris Thompson/ Black Francis/Frank Black

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?

Way out in the water
See it swimmin'

I was swimmin' in the Caribbean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin' to talk to me, coy koi.

Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?


Way out in the water
See it swimmin' ?

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind?

Oh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Oh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Oh
Oh

Why the Modern World Sucks

Things like this are invented with a straight face:

Via Engadget.

Blogger in Costume

A member of my household is wearing the guest-blogger costume at a cool online mothering magazine, MotherVerse, right now. Go see!

Wednesday Lyric Blogging – Wedding Edition

This week’s edition of Lyric Blogging is a fun one – “I Want You To Want Me” by power popsters and my home town heroes Cheap Trick. According to a Diet Coke commercial, this gem is perhaps one of the best pop songs ever recorded. EVER! And who’s going to argue with a commercial for a product that contains phenylalanine and aspertame? Not me, that’s science. For the record, so to speak, the live versions, especially Budokan, are much better than the studio version from In Color. Bun E.'s drums are not well served in the studio on that album.

This song is rumored to be on the band’s set list for the reception celebrating the wedding of Eric & Rin. Best wishes to them for a wonderful, happy, and AWESOME life together.

I Want You To Want Me
Performed by Cheap Trick
Lyrics by Rick Nielsen

I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I'd love you to love me.
I'm beggin' you to beg me.

I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I'd love you to love me.
I'll shine up my old brown shoes, put on a brand-new shirt.
I'll get home early from work if you say that you love me.

Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?
Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?
Feelin' all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dyin'.
Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?

I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I'd love you to love me.
I'm beggin' you to beg me.
I'll shine up my old brown shoes, put on a brand-new shirt.
I'll get home early from work if you say that you love me.

Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?
Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?
Feelin' all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dyin'.
Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?
Feelin' all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dyin'.
Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?

I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I'd love you to love me.
I'm beggin' you to beg me.
I want you to want me.
I want you to want me.
I want you to want me.
I want you to want me.

Star Wars Trumpet Solo -- Oh Yeah!

Googled to Death

I lovingly use a half-dozen Google products every day (like the one I'm using right now), but this interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan is kind of a buzzkill. Vaidhyanathan is writing an online book, The Googlization of Everything, to analyze the pervasiveness and power of Google, "the most interesting institution in the world right now." He claims that Google

is working its way into our consciousness and daily lives at a remarkable rate that is unmatched by any company in human history. And it is doing so in a fairly novel way through the aggregation of our choices. We are choosing to use Google every day. We are not forced or seduced into using it. It actually means Google is laying out a new model for advertising and communication.

That's interesting, and a bit scary. Wholly scary, and just as interesting, is this:

We can't expect a company to be as transparent as the government is. That doesn't mean we shouldn't push at it to be more responsive to our concerns, especially about user confidentiality and privacy. That is the hot-button issue. Most of us are not Google's customers. We are its content. It sells our attention and our user data to its customers and they are all the businesses that advertise with Google. Google is not necessarily more secretive than Coca-Cola, but the difference is Google knows everything about us.

*gulp*

Wednesday Lyric Blogging: Dear Prudence

It’s a beautiful day in Minneapolis, “the sun is up, the sky is blue.” So today’s lyrics are from Lennon & McCartney, apparently they had a couple of hits or something. As a kid, I listened to my dad’s Beatles records quite a bit. I remember being fascinated with the packaging of the White Album, especially the pictures of each of the Beatles inside.

Dear Prudence
The Beatles (aka The White Album)
Lyrics: John Lennon, credited to Lennon & McCartney

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out and play

Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?

Look around round
Look around round round
Look around

Dear Prudence let me see you smile
Dear Prudence like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence won't you let me see you smile?

He just went GAY all of a sudden!

So: Dumbledore is gay.

I gotta say, that rings absolutely true to me, though I wouldn't have thought about it if Rowling hadn't said anything. I LOVE that she said it when and how she did, because you better believe she knew the kind of uproar it would cause, and I love that she thought it was more important to give a kid an honest answer than to protect herself and her books from bigoted assholes. JK, you are one classy dame.

(50 bonus points if you get the reference in the post title.)

R-Suicideville

Love it.

The Republican candidates for president of the United States sharply escalated their attacks on one another, clashing over which of them is the most conservative, most experienced and most electable in a debate that one likened to a "demolition derby."

The debate Sunday night stood out for the intensity and personal nature of the exchanges as Republicans tried to distinguish themselves, a tactic that risked highlighting the unhappiness among conservatives with much of the field.

But as they scrimmaged, the leading candidates took even stronger aim at just one Democratic candidate: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. In addition to helping them score points with Republican voters, their attacks on Clinton may have the side effect of helping her score points with Democrats.

This situation disproves the maxim that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Cosmetic Biking

In a week when the Republicans decide they don't want to give poor kids health insurance, it's hard to find bigger jerks. Luckily, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) is doing double duty by bravely fighting the "Diversion of Funds From Bridges to Nonpriority Items"

At a time when the Nation’s roads and bridges need attention – as demonstrated by the recent collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis – the Federal Government continues to divert large amounts of money to bike paths and other cosmetic projects that could be funded locally.

It's good to know that bike paths - by reducing the number of cars on the road, improving public health through exercise, cutting pollution, breaking our oil addiction, and being generally good for property values and quality of life - are merely cosmetic.

I hope Rep. Ryan gets his tongue caught in a derailleur.

(Via Silent Sports Sounds Off.)

No Really

Someday soon, I'll blog more frequently again, and choose a topic other than Radiohead, but for now, check out Pitchfork's review of In Rainbows, paying particular attention to the rating.

But do I have to move to South Carolina to vote for him?

So by now I'm sure you've heard that Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for President of the US in South Carolina. Better yet, he's running as both a Democrat and a Republican, so there's truly something for everyone in this campaign. Thank god THAT decision is over. Now if I could just decide what to wear tomorrow ...

Wednesday Lyric Blogging - Wilco

In a soft and loose way of honoring the 50th anniversary of On The Road, I thought that I’d pull one out of the ol' Wilco catalog. I can always find excuses to grab a Wilco or Radiohead song. “Passenger Side” is from Wilco’s first album A.M. The album generally, and this song specifically, highlight a very different band than the one we know today (both in roster and sound). They were far from abstract with the lyrics and had more of a alt-country, beer drinkin’, toe-tappin’ kind of feel.

The video below is Wilco joined by The Bottle Rockets.

"Passenger Side"

Hey, wake up, your eyes weren't open wide
For the last couple of miles you've been swerving from side to side
You're gonna make me spill my beer,
If you don't learn how to steer

Passenger side, passenger side,
I don't like riding on the passenger side

Roll another number for the road
You're the only sober person I know
Won't you let me make you a deal,
Just get behind the wheel

Passenger side, passenger side,
I don't like riding on the passenger side

Should've been the driver, could've been the one
I should've been your lover, but I hadn't seen...

Can you take me to the store, then the bank?
I've got five dollars we can put in the tank
I've got a court date coming this June
I'll be driving soon

Passenger side, passenger side,
I don't like riding on the passenger side
I don't like riding on the passenger side

Radiohead Shocker

LONDON -- As Radiohead celebrated the news that In Rainbows went platinum in just three days, the oft-proclaimed "world's greatest band" was today rocked when its reclusive and little-used sixth member, singer-guitarist Lee Greenwood, announced that he would leave the band.

Holding an impromptu press conference just outside the security barriers at Heathrow, where he was catching a flight back to the “U.S. of A.,” Greenwood read from a prepared statement. "I love my brothers Jonny and Colin, but I was getting sick of their constant promises to put ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ on the next album, and then never delivering. I even remixed the song with some of the e-lec-tronic stuff that Thom likes so much, but they still refused to put it on the Over the Rainbows [sic]. Something about 10 tracks on 10/10 or something. I wish Thom, Colin, Jonny, Ed, and Phil all the best, but frankly I am happy to finally strike out on my own and look forward to playing for audiences around the world.”

Folding the statement and picking up his guitar case, Greenwood added, “I hope this doesn't surprise too many fans, but it's been a long time comin'. I mean, you have to listen to OK Computer pretty hard to hear my vocals or strummin’. It's there, especially on ‘Lucky,’ but pretty deep in the mix, and I think it’s time for my voice to be up front and center. Plus, I have a line on a good tour of casinos in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. When is Radiohead going to tour?”

The members of Radiohead could not be reached for comment.