New Years Resolutions
Since Jason gets the ball rolling at Dr. Mabuse, I thought I'd reflect on some of my goals for the new year.
1) Finish the book.
2) Watch more silent features. There are plenty of holes in my film historical knowledge, but the noncanonical films of 1920s Hollywood have to rank high among them. Fortunately, TCM regularly shows silent films that otherwise do not see distribution or revival.
3) Keep up better with current scholarship. I started this blog by reading and reviewing recent journal articles and books. That's fallen off a lot.
4) Take more time to read outside the discipline. There are specific areas that I want to explore, other work is worth approaching more serendipitously. Obviously when we specialize, we cannot be jack of all trades or even as well read as we'd like to be, but I also think that disciplinary knowledge is strengthened by contact with other areas.
5) Learn to understand my intellectual foils better. I increasingly subscribe to the belief that the hallmark of a good scholar is the ability to put forth convincingly the case for a position she or he disagrees with.
I may not have had Chuck Tryon levels of productivity, but it's been a good and productive year for me. I only hope to continue to keep the nose to the grindstone.
Furthermore, blogging here at Category D has so far been both enjoyable and good for my work. It would be nice to continue to explore what an academic blog can be and do without, obviously, being too great a distraction from my research and writing. Thanks to all who take the time to read.
1) Finish the book.
2) Watch more silent features. There are plenty of holes in my film historical knowledge, but the noncanonical films of 1920s Hollywood have to rank high among them. Fortunately, TCM regularly shows silent films that otherwise do not see distribution or revival.
3) Keep up better with current scholarship. I started this blog by reading and reviewing recent journal articles and books. That's fallen off a lot.
4) Take more time to read outside the discipline. There are specific areas that I want to explore, other work is worth approaching more serendipitously. Obviously when we specialize, we cannot be jack of all trades or even as well read as we'd like to be, but I also think that disciplinary knowledge is strengthened by contact with other areas.
5) Learn to understand my intellectual foils better. I increasingly subscribe to the belief that the hallmark of a good scholar is the ability to put forth convincingly the case for a position she or he disagrees with.
I may not have had Chuck Tryon levels of productivity, but it's been a good and productive year for me. I only hope to continue to keep the nose to the grindstone.
Furthermore, blogging here at Category D has so far been both enjoyable and good for my work. It would be nice to continue to explore what an academic blog can be and do without, obviously, being too great a distraction from my research and writing. Thanks to all who take the time to read.
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