News & Views

Attending a Tale: More Joy in Heaven by Sylvia Townsend Warner

September 13, 2023

I’m going to write a bit here first about a book you are unlikely to read. This of course poses a problem for you as

The Trick of Teaching: Magic and the Classroom

September 9, 2023

Since the title of my recent book is The Last Vanishing Man (and the title story includes historically-accurate descriptions of stage illusions), it shouldn’t be

Telemarketers

August 31, 2023

I expect the title of the new HBO documentary mini-series Telemarketers may limit its audience. Not that the title is inaccurate. This is a documentary about

He Gave Us Each Other: In Memory of Jeffrey Pratt Beedy

June 4, 2023

Today, I gathered with friends, colleagues, acquaintances, former students, former teachers, and former staff members at the New Hampton School, the high school I graduated

When It’s Fun to Grade

May 3, 2023

This morning I was grading work for a 2-credit, half-semester course I teach called Cluster Learning Springboard. While going from one assignment to the next,

Disciplined Making

March 1, 2023

In The New Yorker, there is a long and depressing article titled “The End of the English Major” by Nathan Heller, an article that explores

Academic Integrity?

January 18, 2023

The ChatGPT handwringing of late has bothered me, not least because it is cloaked in a kind of shock, like the domain of higher education

Generous Thinking Now

April 22, 2022

“We’re in a bad time for everybody. There are very few models as to our way to be drawn upon in any community. There certainly

The Strength of Kindness

February 5, 2022

1. Take a moment, settle yourself, and note your immediate emotional response to these words: kindnessjoycontemplationgenerositylovepeace Now think about them in the context of your

Matthew Cheney

Occasional Writings

For older writings, see the archive of my blog The Mumpsimus (2003-2023)

This page also includes posts originally published at my academic and pedagogy-focused blog, Finite Eyes (2018-2024)

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