Wednesday, September 14, 2005

A Few Asides

Why'd I turn off comments on the last piece? Because the nastiness of them was getting right up my nose. If you don't like my stuff, go bother some other blogger. Or start your own. I don't seek or need universal approval, but the personal insults go too far.

Two fine young student journalists have interviewed me in the past week. Thank you, Natalie and Will, for asking better questions and for caring more about accuracy than any of the professionals I've encountered over the past few months. You were prepared and you were on time. That's 99 percent of the job right there.

Lots of theater to see this week. If you're in the Dallas area, I highly recommend the new one at Kitchen Dog Theater at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary. Tracy Letts' Bug is one you won't soon forget. There's full-frontal nudity, simulated freebasing of cocaine and some extremely realistic violence. Also, a phenomenally dark and funny script. Knocked me out, start to finish. Here's the link to my Dallas Observer review of it.

14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep. That's right: only those nasty old right wingers are bad. Lefties are nice, never hypocritical...and certainly never say anything rude about folks with whom they disagree.

I have worked with academics all my professional life, and indeed most are left of center. But the majority are extremely rude and insulting to folks with whom they disagree--and that is at least 50% of the population.

You see, if you just spend all your time with people just like yourself, you end up thinking that other ways of thought are necessarily evil, stupid, and so forth. Prof makes this point well. It would serve her well to cease the snarky comments about the right, and open her own mind, just as she wishes to open the minds of others.

And she does make snarky comments, consistently, about the politics of her students...and I have seen very few "self-examining" hits about her own possible political blinders.

9:10 AM  
Blogger Eddo said...

I am extremely conservative and I love president Bush, but I don't bash Prof for having her opinions and I hope she won't bash me for having mine.

Why is it that people get all uptight these days about every little thing? People chill. We live in a country where we have freedom of speech but you can't say anything anymore without ruffling a gaggle of feathers.

I am going to start selling dead horses and sticks to beat them with because they are such a hot item!

Dead Horses $5
Sticks to beat them with $300

10:33 AM  
Blogger Red River said...

I really like the Prof.

As an Ex-SMU MBA student and a Dallasite, I find her and others' portraits echo my own years at SMU and time spent working for Dallas firms and charitable organizations.

The Prof has poked fun at herself and shown both the good and bad sides of people in several articles. I still laugh about Hot Pockets.

Those who recoil at Mean Mary need to think about Teddy Roosevelt.

Teddy Roosevelt's first wife died and he went West. He entered a different world among the cowboys and farmers of Montana. A very rich man in both wealth and intellect and connections, his time in the West showed him how most people lived and how the world really worked. He saw in his loss the losses that others endured and he grew. When he returned to New York, he saw clearly the Mean Marys of the world on BOTH sides of the aisle as well as the real human costs of corruption.

Mary lives in a self-reinforcing world no different from that which many people at all levels put themselves in. She is incapable of monitoring her own thoughts nor can she see how she is perceived by others. Or the absurdity of much of her utterances and actions.

I don't see how this is related to being a Dem or GOP.

12:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd like to hear more profiles on SMU guys. We've heard of Brads and such, but there are more, right?

4:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sure, I'll give ya some.

Greg: He's VP of his fraternity, plays intramural rugby. His brown hair is highlighted and he's usually wearing Ralph Lauren polos, although he wears Armani Exchange when he's out at Village Station with his boyfriend from another school (but don't mention that to his fraternity brothers)

Josh: Engineering student. Didn't rush because he's never really been interested in partying. Plays Dungeons and Dragons on weekends with other engineers and Japanese majors. Thinks Ashleys are plastic, but is secretly intimidated by them. Attracted to engineering females (Kates), but is also intimidated by them because there's one Kate for every ten Joshes.

Andy: Always clean cut, very attractive. Has never had sex. Active member of Campus Crusade for Christ. Goes to Mustang Corral as a student leader with the purpose of "introducing students to SMU," but it helps that there are so many people to introduce to Campus Crusade as well. Wants to pastor a church someday. Is surprised when the New Testament class isn't like Sunday School. Really, really, really wants to get married.

5:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

phantom prof - my page reloaded... can you please delete the duplicate? thanks...

5:01 PM  
Blogger Mikki Marshall said...

nice andrea

7:17 PM  
Blogger writer said...

Andrea:
Hilarious! Want to write a few chapters for me?
Great stuff.

10:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I knew of an "Andy", frat bro to my brother-in-law. Had a serious girlfriend, both virgins waiting until marriage. I was at the frat house one night, heard him and his girl in the room next to us, laughing and crashing around. After mentioning something about them getting freaky, the others told me about the waiting until marriage, and that they played nerf basketball to work off energy. Totally explained the slamming into the door I kept hearing. Those two were going be sore newlyweds after the honeymoon.

I'm not sure if it was funny or sad when the two of them would get a confused look after somebody made some sexual reference or Freudian slip.

10:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nerf basketball?
not Bible study?

heathens.

Oh, here's another couple for you.

Marco: The man-whore. Either "too cool" to be in a frat or else they didn't accept him because his cologne doesn't always cover his body odor. Can normally be found dating two or more girls at a time. In an extreme case, is married to a woman outside the country and is sleeping with all the girls here that he can get - usually first-years. Smart girls wonder how he gets so much attention, because he is sleazy while somewhat attractive (or charming and not attractive at all) but somehow, his belief that he is God's gift to women turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Rocky: the personality transplant. Was quiet and bookish in high school. Had brown to black hair, glasses, nerdy. Teachers, parents and math club teammates called him John. The second he sets foot on campus, he dyes his hair red, changes his name to something more 'daring' and becomes interested in an obscure martial art, which becomes his life philosophy. Comes home with tattoos at winter break. Mom cries. Mutters something about the need to go through pain to attain something beautiful in life. No one at home understands, or even recognizes him anymore.

Ask me how I know. Or rather, don't.

1:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like you best when you're writing about the uni and its unfortunate students.

*pony ears down* at Mary Sunshine.

My SO is getting close to finishing school and looking for a professoring job. If we wind up anywhere near your little flat of hell, then you may say about me, well, I also shouldn't be so judgmental. :)

8:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I married a Josh. While he would vehemently deny being intimidated by the Kates, I note that he never dated one for more than a few weeks, and did not marry one. Too bad for them, they missed out.

I will not speculate about what kind of category I fall into, except to say that I'm dead certain I'm not an Ashley.

4:21 PM  
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