FAQ

Do you like Superman? I totally could see you being superman or something haha
I wrote a review of Superman: Birthright earlier this year where I touch on some of the ideas about why Superman is awesome, and he really and truly is awesome in the way that the word used to be defined. Superman represents the best of what humanity has to offer because you have a guy that has the power to pretty much do anything, and he chooses to do good. What better example of humanity can there be? So, yeah, I like Superman.


Would you ever consider teaching at a college?
I'd consider it, but my Masters is in Education, which means I could only ever teach in that subject area at which point I would slam my thumbs into a car door. It would be much more appealing to me to teach English at the college level should I ever go back to school for my Masters in that subject. However, that's many years away, if that. Besides, getting a college teaching job is pretty difficult lately.


did you ask yourself all of these questions?
I did not. With the exception of the bottom seven questions that I created as a lark, these were all submissions through comments, just like this one.


Omg omg omg omg! The Back to the Future 25th anniversary is almost here! ARE YOU EXCITED?!
I would be if I owned a Blu Ray player, since that's the place where people can finally see the Eric Stoltz footage for the first time ever. Also, I'm not sure I think this is really a pertinent question for the FAQ. Why do people keep posting comments on this page as opposed to the entries? This FAQ page has turned into a makeshift Formspring account, and I'm not a big fan of that.


Towards the end of first quarter I began to get into old habits, which resulted in my grade dropping down to a C. Do you have any advice for second quarter and is it too late to pull an A?
Do the work. There has never been a student who has done every assignment and failed my class. If a student actually makes the effort to do every single assignment (not just turn every assignment in, but complete it to the best of their ability), the lowest grade they would get would probably be a C. Plus, as of this writing, we have just completed the first quarter. The class has completed roughly 600 points worth of work. There are about 750 to 800 points left, minimum. Honestly, there are probably more than that, especially with my plan to increase the value of the CD Creation assignment. I would like to think that would be enough time for someone to raise a C to an A, but old habits tend to die harder than Bruce Willis. 


Are you or have you ever considered writing a book? Or does the blog suffice as a writing outlet?
Some jerk on the Internet once wrote that writing is like a muscle that needs to be exercised or else it atrophies due to a lack of use. At the same time, I like to think I have a book in me somewhere that needs to get out. That's the great paradox of approaching writing seriously: inspiration comes together with hard work. In the meantime, the blog will have to suffice until the two meet.


PC or Console gaming?
Mine is an Apple house, which has always been a good excuse as to why I don't participate in computer games. The fact is that I don't care for anything offered outside of console games, and I'm a casual gamer at best. I'm no good at first person shooters (the exception being Bioshock), and prefer to focus all of my attention on a single new game and then revert back to either of the recent UFC or WWE offerings after that as my standbys. Recent games I've played include the aforementioned UFC Undisputed 2010, Red Dead Redemption and, hopefully soon, Dead Rising 2, all on Xbox 360.


Do you feel that as an English major that you have the ability to say comebacks more with much more complexion than others?
Wit is wit, and people get better at utilizing it as they get older. I don't think I'm particularly good at zingers or comebacks. What helps me is that I'm coming from a position of power in the classroom and respect, ideally. If I say something halfway clever, it's aided solely by the fact that I'm the guy in charge, and everyone has their idea of what a teacher should and shouldn't (or can and can't) say. When I exceed those expectations, then it makes me look better but it doesn't really speak to my ability to get a righteous burn on someone.


I'm aware that it is possible to know who students are by their IP addresses. I'm not explaining how simply because you might not know how to do this. Do you know what students post what even if it's under anonymous?
Anonymous is anonymous for a reason. The Internet is both great and awful because it allows people to be jerks anonymously if they choose to do so. I moderate comments on the off-chance that someone will make an off-color or inappropriate remark. So far, that has not been a problem, and I hope it remains that way. I do have a stat counter on the page that records IP addresses which I can match to a time stamp on a comment. That's ultimately more keen detective work than I want to do. It's nice to know that the option is there, but I can't foresee myself being so curious about random Internet comments that I need to hunt the offender down.


Also, this blogging endeavor is intended to be fun for me and informative for students. If it ever gets to the point that I feel the need to search out a student based on an anonymous comment, then it stops being fun and I'll either stop blogging or just ban comments altogether.


I raely leik yuor class. Do you taech al fuor years of englis?
I'd like to think that this is one of those ironic jokes that sometimes go over my head because, initially, it looked like the person wrote that they "rarely like" the class. Now I see that it's more likely that they intended to write "really like" and may or may not have spelled it incorrectly on purpose.


The answer is that I teach journalism, frosh and seniors. I have not taught sophomores or juniors before, but I won't rule that out for the future.


What's with the hair?

Haircuts are usually disappointing, so I stopped getting them. In the lead-up to moving, I decided that I didn't want to have to deal with long hair becoming a nuisance or a distraction, so I got rid of it. However, it's hair and it can (and will) grow back. I hope to be like Dave Grohl in that regard as he constantly grows his hair long and then chops it all off so he can start over. Plus, he and I share the same birthday.

Your wife is pretty.

This isn't a question, but it is true.

Music?

I like it, but that's like saying a person likes breathing.

Movies?

Those are good, too.

Television?

If this were Facebook, I would click that "Like" button.

Are you proud of these so-called "clever" answers?

No.

Are you done?

Yes.


If you have a question that hasn't been addressed on this page that you would like me to include, simply make a comment and I will oblige. All comments will be screened. Newer questions will appear at the top of the page.