The end of education as we know it? Probably not

February 6, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: writing.

During the past few weeks, artificial intelligence (AI) writing software programs, led by something inharmoniously called ChatGPT, have gained the attention of reporters and editors around the country and thus generated headlines that are scary and puzzling, particularly to those of us deeply invested in teaching writing to young people. As Hetal Thaker writes on • Read More »

The emerging picture that alcohol is bad for you

February 5, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.

A slow, underground movement – well, maybe not underground, but slightly below the surface – is emerging, and many of the articles I have read lately that come to the conclusion that alcohol does you and me good. First, there was the “dry January“ month that is now passed. People were urged to lay off • Read More »

Victor Navasky and the power of opinion

February 4, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: editing.

From the end of World War II to the present, the American political left has had many writers of depth and eloquence to espouse progressive ideas and to rail against those who, for instance, have restricted civil rights and promoted the war in Vietnam. None wrote with more depth and eloquence—and whenever possible a touch • Read More »

The late editor of The Nation, the dangers of alcohol, the novel of a friend, and the improbable end of education as we know it: newsletter, February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, First Amendment, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, February 3, 2023. During my academic career, I was fortunate enough to be able to write and publish several textbooks. Writing textbooks was a central focus of many of my efforts, and I enjoyed it immensely. One of the things I enjoyed • Read More »

John Stonehouse: He was a fraudster, but was he a spy?

January 28, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.

If you have never heard of John Stonehouse, it is probably because of Lord Lucan. The British peer, Lucan, disappeared on November 7, 1974, after the murder of Sandra Rivett, his children’s nanny, and the attempted murder of his wife, Veronica. Lucan was never seen again by any officials, even after extensive international searches. Many • Read More »

The disappearance of an MP, keys to college success, how we got the First Amendment, and more:newsletter, January 27, 2023

January 27, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,753) on Friday, January 27, 2023. My tour of news sites that attempt to avoid the “bad news bias” continues with a site that is not exactly “good news” but is filled with good information—and probably the kind of information that you can apply directly • Read More »

American football, the game we love in spite of our better selves

January 22, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.

Americans’ love of football remains undiminished despite the spectacle of Damar Hamlin collapsing on the field during the Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals nationally-televised game a couple of weeks ago. Hamlin had just taken a normal hit to the chest on the previous play, but this hit sent him into cardiac arrest. He nearly died. It was • Read More »

Setting a standard for the police procedural, how we got the Smithsonian, and the love of American football: newsletter, January 20, 2023

January 20, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, sports, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,829) on Friday, January 20, 2023. As promised in last week’s newsletter, I continue to present websites that attempt to avoid, as best they can, the “bad news bias” of many of the mainstream media. This week’s entry is YES! magazine. YES! emphasizes what it • Read More »

Harriet Preston Spofford and the first female-authored detective series

January 14, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

Her work had been published in a variety of newspapers and magazines, but most of them were low circulation periodicals. Harriet wrote incessantly, sometimes as much as 15 hours a day, because the money that she received from her publications barely covered the family’s expenses. In 1859 she wrote a story that she believed was • Read More »

The first female-authored detective series, the gun-slinger who became a sports reporter, and the Tylenol murders: newsletter, January 13, 2023

January 13, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, history, journalism, newsletter, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,753) on Friday, January 13, 2023. The “bad news bias” of the news outlet that I regularly visit has been all too obvious lately. I know enough about journalism not to blame the messenger. There’s plenty of bad stuff out there that we need to • Read More »

Metta Victoria Fuller Victor and the first American detective novel

January 6, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

You have probably never heard the unusual name Metta Victoria Fuller Victor, but from now on whenever you hear the name Edgar Allan Poe, you should try to remember Metta’s name. Poe is the undisputed (mostly) father of American detective fiction. He wrote three short stories featuring Inspector Auguste Dupin, and he wrote about detective • Read More »

The first American detective novel, an ode to libraries, and the first published poet in American newsletter, January 6, 2023

January 6, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism, libraries, newsletter, watercolor, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,753) on Friday, January 6, 2023. Some people blanche at the word “resolution” especially at this time of year. They believe, often rightly, that New Year’s resolutions are meaningless if not harmful because they raise expectations and often result in frustration. I don’t really subscribe • Read More »

Jonathan Swift, Andrew Greeley, and things about good and bad book reviews: newsletter, December 30, 2022

December 30, 2022 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2, 491) on Friday, December 30, 2022. As with most authors, I am of two minds when it comes to reviews of anything I have written. Reviewers who are kind are obvious geniuses able to perceive the many profundities—written with the appropriate amount of self-effacing • Read More »

George Smalley, JFK on open government, sports writing, and Safire on words: newsletter, December 23, 2022

December 23, 2022 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2, 491) on Friday, December 23, 2022. In order to give myself a couple of weeks off, the newsletter this week and next week will be populated mostly by material from the JPROF.com archives. Much of this was originally posted a decade or more ago, • Read More »

Constance Garnett and the translator’s dilemma

December 16, 2022 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

When we read a book or see a play that has been written in another language and translated into English, what exactly are we reading or hearing? Are they the words of the author or the words of the translator? This is the eternal dilemma of translation. Each language has its own words, phrases, structure, • Read More »

The translator’s dilemma, advance copy readers, and General Grant as public writer: newsletter, December 16, 2022

December 16, 2022 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2, 491) on Friday, December 16, 2022.   This month brings to a close my four-and-a-half-year tenure as the writer-in-residence for the Blount County Public Library. This association with what has to be one of the best local libraries in the nation has been one • Read More »

British government report calls for supporting and improving libraries

December 10, 2022 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.

We conclude that libraries remain an important part of communities’ cultural infrastructure, particularly in deprived areas, and call for further support to improve these services. That’s the last sentence of a summary of a report published by the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. The report • Read More »