Maximum Go in the Resulting Hogshead

Friday, May 27, 2005

Favorite sentence from a student essay I just graded . . .

"She describes the beautiful landscape of farms and orchards, the vibrant wildflowers lacing the roads, and the multitude of animals gracing the earth with their presents."

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Anyone for Einstein?

If your institution has a subscription to the journal of the History of Science Society, Isis, online or in print, I would suggest you take a look at the most recent issue, the table of contents of which just arrived here via email.

Typically, or up until a year ago anyway, I would have said that there is not much in Isis that a non-member of the Society, or a non-practitioner in history of science, would appreciate. However, under its new editorship, the journal has been transforming over the last year. Isis has become far more accessible than it once was and now has begun to offer topical sections that should have interest for more general readers. (And, for those of us in the field, I believe they provide good examples of what can be "taken" into the world from history of science research, as well as examples of how one may approach some problems in the field. But I won't bother you too much with these internal matters.)

Anyway. The reason I point you to the most recent issue is that I believe this issue's Focus, titled "The Elusive Icon: Einstein, 1905-2005," should interest a lot of you AND give you an idea of what it is that we historians of science actually do. I can't tell you how many times I am asked what it means to be a historian of science, and how difficult it often is to explain what I do or why. Here you'll get a taste of the work of four wonderful Einstein scholars. If you still have questions about history of science after reading these, go ahead and ask me. Not that I am any kind of expert, mind you. I'm just in training.

Here is the abstract from Peter Galison's introduction to the Focus section:

As Einstein's portrait comes increasingly to resemble an icon, we lose more than detail -- his writings and actions lose all reference. This is as true for his physics as it is for his philosophy and his politics; the best of recent work aims to remove Einstein's interventions from the abstract sphere of Delphic pronouncements and to insert them in the stream of real events, real arguments. Politically, this means attending to McCarthyism, Paul Robeson, the Arab-Israeli conflict. Philosophically, it means tying his concerns, for example, to late nineteenth-century neo-Kantian debates and to his own struggles inside science. And where physics is concerned, it means attending both in the narrow to his responses to others' work and his reactions to his own sometimes misfired early work on, for example, general relativity and to the wider context of technological developments. Einstein remains and will remain a magnet for historians, philosophers, and scientists; the essays assembled here represent a strong sampling -- but only a sampling -- of a fascinating new generation of work on this perennial figure.

And here is a link to the Focus section online (assuming your institition has a subscription, otherwise please check your library if you are interested).

Sunday, May 22, 2005

I'm back . . .

. . . from an incredible week at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. I also saw the insides of the airports of Boston, Atlanta and Las Vegas, which was a lot less incredible. Let me just say that going from the northeast corner of this country to the southwest corner, and vice versa (a short long day vs a long long day), is suck. It is very suck to the highest degree. Especially when you're on the red-eye and your seat won't recline.

Pictures and details to come (no, not of the airports). Actually, all of my pictures are from the bar in Woods Hole -- The Captain Kidd. What can I say? The bar is about 150 years old, so of course we historians were very interested in unearthing its secrets. Luckily there are other pictures that I didn't take, and maybe I will post a few of those.

: Name: Matthew Shindell; Location: San Diego, California, United States

Matthew Shindell used to live and write in Phoenix, Arizona. He now lives and writes in La Jolla, California.

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Go to the Poetry Postcard Project website to see the project and find out how to participate.

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Where are my poems?

Read a PDF of my chapbook, Were something to happen it would be both funny and interesting. Copies of this limited edition chapbook are no longer available.

American Letters and Commentary (Coming Soon) - "Hoo Ta Ta, Hoo Ta"

American Poetry Review July/August 2004 - "It sounds like a saxophone tugging across a field"

Black Warrior Review v30n2 - "Sidekick"

FENCE v6n2 - "Drinking with the Ventriloquist's Dummy" & "Parable of the Boy inside the Deer"

Hayden's Ferry Review #25 - "The Willow"

Hayden's Ferry Review #35 - "The Monkey's Skull: Where Do Good Newsmen Come From?" & "Made Easy"

Jubilat 7 - "But Emerson Says, 'The body is a metre. The eye appreciates finer differences than art can expose."

The Melic Review - "In Short, a Pleasant Day :: The Man Arrives, Hooray!" "The Same Words :: Order of Harpoons," & "A Birdâs Head Rolls Into Two Baskets :: Walkie-Talkie"

No Tell Motel - "Order of Harpoons :: Digitalia :: Dobre Vecher" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Read my discussion of the poem here.

Northwest Review - "Clink" & "Bear-Caught"

Octopus 4 - "About the Author," "Four Star General" &
"The Day :: Born :: The Red Door"

Pleiades 24:2 - "Speech of Artificio, a Character in My New Play" & "Inc."

Tarpaulin Sky v2n2&3 -
"Two Jokes About Bears"

Unpleasant Event Schedule - "He Called Her Forest (or was it Forest?)" & "The Brain Full of Bourbon (concerning the doctor and the simulation of Switzerland)"

Read my online poetic project, Jubilee's Daughters, the ongoing and evolving tale of Isabgol in Ronomok.

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Typo
Unpleasant Event Schedule
Word For/ Word

Favorite sentence from a student essay I just graded . . .

Anyone for Einstein?

I'm back . . .

About Me