xykademiqz
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I was this close (imagine me holding thumb and forefinger at 1 mm distance from each other) to yelling at my graduate student. What he gave me with the words, “I am really proud of this manuscript,” was a completely unedited pile of $hit. He’s a fourth-year student, not a newbie. There were so, sooooo…
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Alas, I speak not of the fun kind, the province of randy college youth… Nay… My tale goes far back, all the way to the last millenium… And it is a dark one. Every year, come October, the pearly gates windows for NSF unsolicited proposals swing open. As if in a trance, thousands of pilgrim scientists gather to worship at…
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It’s Friday evening and it’s raining. I’m sitting in my car, waiting for my middle son to finish his outdoor flag-football practice. My phone is low on battery, so useless for killing time. I have with me a student’s manuscript draft, which I have been carrying around for a couple of weeks; I have done…
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♦ Obvious, yet somehow always surprising: Grading a midterm for a class of twenty leaves one with significantly more will to live than grading a midterm for a class of a hundred. ♦ It’s not that your story isn’t good, it’s that others are better. – A posh literary journal I can’t locate right now. Also,…
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I hate it that Saturday is such a slow day on the web, so here’s my contribution to the fight against the contentless slump: I read Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter a few months ago, but never posted about it. It’s a sci-fi thriller and it’s really good. The title is stupid, has nothing to do with…
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1st place ($10 Amazon gift card): BREW YOU by Ballpoint 2nd place, shared ($7.50 Amazon gift card each): RESILIENCE by Roseicapilla & ALMOST COST ME MY ACADEMIC LIFE by Distinguished Professor 3rd place ($5 gift card): … AND THE SILVER SPOON by Big boy blue Thanks everyone for playing! Distinguished Prof, if you want…
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*fanfare* Here are the stories that were submitted to the Xykademiqz Short-Fiction Contest! They are listed in the order in which I received them. Please read them all and vote for your favorite in the poll below. I said there would be three; the fourth was belated, but I’m including it anyway. To the author…
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I hate that Saturday is always the slowest day in the blogosphere. To counter the sound of crickets, here’s my offering for today. On Monday, October 2, starting at 00:01 EST, I will post the short stories that were submitted to our little contest. I only received three 😦 , but they are all pretty…
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Last day today to submit your 300-word story. Stories will appear starting Monday, Oct 2, and the readers will vote on them — chance to get small prizes! SUBMIT YOUR SHORT STORY HERE Here are the rules: Please submit a short story under 300 words. 1. The submission should include: a) your pen name…
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A former student of mine and I had a conversation right before he left; I remember it often. (The student has been working for a software giant ever since he graduated and he seems happy.) During the conversation, he said that the job that I have, which he characterized as having to come up with…
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