I teach at that university and came to know her when she was there as an adjunct and on that one year appointment. She was disliked by all of her colleagues and most of her students not for her conservatism but for her dogmatism, bitterness, and her inability to defend anything she wrote or said with an argument. I dismantled her silly letters to me again and again, refuting the factual claims, pointing out the lack of argument, and logical fallacies when she actually attempted an argument.

It is a sad comment on how utterly stupid the right has become in America and that is not a good development for a democracy. We need intelligent people on all sides not wingnuts and bigots like Mary Grabar.

Hang on, a lot of Palestinians are Christian, aren’t they? Or at least were, until their land was occupied and so on and so forth.

Christian population has declined from 15% in 1950 to 2% today. Though some of that may be due to strains of Israel-Palestinian conflict, wouldn’t that affect Muslims as well? Another pressure on them is anti-Christian activity coming from the Muslim side. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20061112/22861.htm

I am in shock, really, at how crappy that is. She has no style, no depth and makes every amateur Community College Creative Writing class mistake possible.

“The woman was six feet tall and pale. Her whiteness was emphasized by black hair framing a face with cheekbones high and wide and lips painted scarlet. She had an exotic look about her despite the eyeglasses and hair in a tight bun. A tweed suit hugged a shapely form that towered on long legs above stiletto heels.
With an expression befitting Milton’s pensive nun…”

That’s the beginning of Chapter 1, for all you who do not care to investigate that link (and I understand; there be dragons) yet still want more proof of how poorly she writes. The column above is no anomaly; she really ought to be unpublishable, not because of her views, but because she is a terrible, untalented hack.
Anyone care to rewrite that opener? I want to see how many people here could do a better job than Grabar can.
Once again, she got a PhD?!? Talk about degree devaluation…

this concludes your dance nerd minute for the day.

Doesn’t she post at Unfogged now and then?

Hang on, a lot of Palestinians are Christian, aren’t they? Or at least were, until their land was occupied and so on and so forth.

Out of curiosity, I surfed on over to Columbia University to see what their offerings were like. The big splash at Columbia College’s site (http://www.college.columbia.edu/)? “Core Curriculum: Bringing Classics to Life.” “Contemporary Civilization” provides students with a comprehensive survey of Western Philosophy from Aristotle to Foucalt.

That’s about right. All the far right types who wanted university jobs and think it’s their politics that kept them out — well, in a way, but not in the way they think. Scholarship is fundamentally about doubt, about subtlety, and about nuance. It’s about questioning everything we think we know, and about seeing the complexity of the world. The authoritarians we mistakenly call “conservatives” in this country don’t do doubt, nuance, or subtlety. They don’t ask questions and they don’t think the world is at all complex. This mindset tends to lead to shoddy scholarship and uninspired teaching. Not that those are absolute disqualifications for academic jobs, but they sure don’t help.

1. Fresh Ph.Ds who need that first job for their CV. Adjuncting for them is like getting a tryout in the minor leagues to see if that have what it takes to move up to the majors.

2. Those with jobs elsewhere who like to teach and/or need a little pocket money. I did this a couple times in the mid 90s. If you enjoy teaching it’s better than the night shift at McDonalds!

3. Those who are making a mid-life career switch. That’s where I am now. I left my non-academic job (with a nice paycheck, sigh) to play in academia again. My first book is coming out in 08, my first article later this year and I am hoping to God I can avoid the next group…..

4. Those who have the degree but can’t hit major league pitching. They’re like the career AAA level baseball player who stays in Louisville or Columbus their whole life.

I suspect Dr Grabar has moved from group 1 to group 4. She’ll always think it’s because of her politics but it’s really because she’s just not good enough.

“Dr” Mike would understand (see world o crap)

Amazingly, hardened children stopped mid-chant and skipped toward this man who held out his arms to them.

I can’t be the only person who read this sentence, failed to see the comma, and thought: well now, that’s certainly a novel approach to reinterpreting the New Testament.

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn’t the same.

i imagine a vengeful jesus in full battle dress, walking the earth dispensing vigilante justice one double aught blast at a time. first to go: chickenhawks, then the rude. cut in line? rapture!

Mine sincerest apologetics!