Making the rounds today is the story of an adjunct professor at SMU, who was not renewed, perhaps because of her blog, which included sharp observations about professors and students. Not surprisingly, she's writing a book. And she should: the writing's really good. Let's hope that, freed from her job, she'll write more and better stories about campus life.
The blog is The Phantom Professor. I'm putting her on the blogroll.
Did the school do anything wrong if it cut her because her stories disturbed faculty and students and their parents? It would be at least foolish, because there will always be another blogger to write about the school, and now those bloggers will be reacting to anti-bloggism. And since The Phantom Professor observed the basic decencies of changing names and identifying details, her telling descriptions and insights did no serious harm. And it's usually better to appreciate satire and laugh at yourself.
For example, I'm still laughing at this -- scroll down and keep scrolling, all the way down -- even though it makes me a little nervous sometimes.
UPDATE: Judging from the comments on this post, people think that last link actually takes them to The Huffington Post. It doesn't! And, really, look for my name, which appears about 20 times.
ANOTHER UPDATE: That is, about 40 times. (And, no, I'm not a secret co-author of that blog.)
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The Instapundit spoofs made my day. Hilarious.
Holy cow that HuffingtonsToast thing is a scream. I haven't read anything that funny in ages. I particularly like Glenn's picture.
Lee: I actually think a teacher-blogger should steer clear of writing anything that would hurt a student. I don't think I've ever made fun of a student on my blog (including anonymously or with changed names and details). I think it is hard enough to be a student without worrying that the teacher is going to use them for humor material. An adjunct professor might feel disempowered and less aware that disturbing students as a misuse of authority.
Oh, yeah, the Numa Numa guy. I remember him.
I know some of the blogroll links are little jokes. Cute. Mine really goes here those. If you click the right ones you can find out who some of the writers are. I'm not surprised.
Gerry... yeah, that's why I appreciated it so much. When the Numa Numa Dance thing started to hit, I followed all of the news reports about Gary Brolsma, a clerk in a Staples store in NJ. Apparently, the poor guy was really sorry for having made himself a worldwide phenom. I thought it was a really interesting story, not unlike a lottery winner who turns out to regret the whole thing. I also went to a lot of trouble to track down and buy a CD of that music.
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