On 9 Oct 2010 at 16:04, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > Perhaps you could gin up a reading group for the City University of Santa Fe > Spring Coffee House Seminars. Do we know anybody with a PhD in English who > would lead us?
I know that, being unacquainted as I am with the CVs of the Friends and Relations of this august body, I am about to put my foot in my mouth, but I'll do it anyway: Why would you want to ask a PhD in English to "lead" you? Ph.D.s in English are to the joy of reading fiction or poetry as firefighters are to fires. (Go on, Nick, tell me about all the high old times you had with Stanley and Ginger and Fern and the gang at English House, chewing the literary fat, slicing and dicing metaphors and leading the animals two by two onto the narrative ark. Doubledogdareya!) Of course there are exceptions, just as there always turn out to be a few arsonists in every volunteer fire department. (You might call them "the Firebug Variations".) And I'm sure any FRIAM-related Ph.D.s in English are just like that! Lee ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
