the last hurrah: or, dispatches from the first week off

I suppose it's unlikely most of you will ever check this blog again, now that Advaced Comp is over. But here goes anyway.

First of all, I want to offer an imaginary pat on the back to everyone who posted and actually used this blog as a legitimate tool for learning. Those of you who didn't, well, I'm not worried about you reading this and getting offended. The thing is, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, and virtually ever other major (and often minor) publication out there has full time bloggers on the payroll. Their job is to blog. Why? Because the New York Times knows a thing or two about trends. They can see the future coming a mile off, in a sense. So when they catch a whiff of change in the air, they jump on it. They embrace it. And they devour it and assymilate. It's what the Romans did, and that was enough to make them the greatest empire in history despite rampant hedonism, disease, war, and imbreeding. So why not the NYT, eh?

The point is, bravo to Mahoney for using this not-so-cutting-edge technology properly as a pedagogical lever. If those of you who felt it's effects are out there, I think we owe Mahoney some very real gratitude. He didn't drag his feet and resist. He didn't drag the sluggish memory of "how things used to be" in "the good old days" around, trying to beat one more run out of a broken horse. Instead he saw that change was upon us, and reacted. He said, shit, we can't just stand here...we'll be bulldozed! And lo, he began walking forward. And English composition class using communal postings as a means of workshopping? Brilliant! Fucking unadulterated trendspotting. If you're around next semester, and if you bothered to post and read the blog, stop by Lytle and shake Mahoney's hand. He made you smarter.