OLPC Ottawa-DC meet up at Nortel in Ottawa, Canada.

Clevergirl organized an OLPC meetup in Ottawa recently. Check out her report and pictures.

Two-Year in Hell :: Inside Higher Ed

Anyone in higher ed needs to read this: Two-Year in Hell :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs

Job Listing #666. University of Hell at Seventh Circle. Visiting Assistant Professor, two years (with possibility of converting to tenure-track position at culmination of two-year appointment). Beginning September 2009. Teaching load of forty-three courses per semester, with no more than thirty-nine preparations (i.e. instructor will teach more than one section of some courses). No official committee duties, but will be expected to contribute occasionally to departmental administrative work. Competitive salary, given local economy. Candidate must exhibit evidence of strong potential for both research and teaching, and significant flexibility in his/her expectations. For further information, repeat the name “Mizrakreth, Chair of Hiring Committee” three times.

Anne-mania goes global; Canada’s most famous literary export is being feted around the world

Anne-mania goes global; Canada’s most famous literary export is being feted around the world

The Japanese, on the other hand, emphasize Anne’s almost mystical worship of nature and Montgomery’s lyrical descriptions of the Island because those aspects of the novel tie in with Shinto — the native religion of Japan, which includes a belief in spirits associated with a particular place.
There are other reasons Anne appeals to Japanese fans.
The Japanese translation was published in 1952, when the horrors of the Second World War were still fresh and there were many orphans.
Anne also provides a complex model of femininity that resonates for Japanese women, according to Irene Gammel, author of Looking for Anne: How Lucy Maud Montgomery Dreamed Up a Literary Classic. “Anne is tempestuous, she has outbursts. Yet at the same time she is a good girl.”
Constrained by traditional gender roles, Anne’s mostly female Japanese fans appreciate the way Montgomery’s heroine “negotiates with people living in a narrow minded community which reminds them of their own society,” notes Japanese-born, Toronto-based Yuka Kajihara, a founding member of the L.M. Montgomery Research Group.