Author Archives: Robert Basil

Editing and Gender

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Robert Basil

The New York Times obituary of famed film editor Anne V. Coates is very charming. Ms. Coates vowed to find a way to make a career in cinema. She would need to overcome not only her family’s resistance but also … Continue reading →

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Peers

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Robert Basil

Clarissa has a couple of words: In a way, the censorship in US academia is worse than the Soviet kind. The Soviet censors were mostly dumb, uneducated people, and it wasn’t all that hard to pull wool over their eyes … Continue reading →

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Update

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Robert Basil

The Atlantic has fired Kevin Williamson. Odd, though, that the publisher cited workplace-environment concerns as the impetus rather than the “especially violent belief” itself: The top editor emphasized that Williamson’s firing was not a result of his being anti-abortion—a common … Continue reading →

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The New York Times – subscription cancelled

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Robert Basil

Very few times in my life have I not believed my eyes. And the news on these occasions was never good. This morning I had such an experience, reading a column in the New York Times by Bret Stephens, who … Continue reading →

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Mindfulness … and exasperation

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Robert Basil

As a Stanford University graduate I am a bit sickened to have read this: “Mindfulness begins with leadership,”  said Dr. Leah Weiss, who teaches compassionate leadership at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. told CMO.com. “The best way to introduce mindfulness … Continue reading →

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Readiness

Posted on February 18, 2018 by Robert Basil

“Talent alone won’t make you a success,” noted Johnny Carson. “Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is, ‘Are you ready?’” This quote came to mind while watching … Continue reading →

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Don’t think with your fingers

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Robert Basil

Biographer Robert Caro’s books are marathon-long, though very much worth the time it takes to read them. His laceration of Robert Moses, “The Power Broker,” is almost 1300 pages. In a wonderful interview published in The New York Review of … Continue reading →

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More on editing

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Robert Basil

In an early NoContest.CA post on editing, I described “the 9 C’s” I use when evaluating another writer’s work: completeness conciseness clarity convincingness currency correctness consistency congruency courtesy I added: Almost all writers need a second set of eyes to assess … Continue reading →

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Grad School is tough enough already

Posted on November 18, 2017 by Robert Basil

The Republican House of Representatives’ tax plan would transform “tough enough” into *impossible* for tens of thousands of graduate students who receive fellowships that allow them to study “for free.” (Of course these students also usually teach as well, and … Continue reading →

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Transformative learning and student autonomy

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Robert Basil

No Contest co-founder Tierney Wisniewski has written a beautifully conceived and composed Master’s Thesis. Here’s the abstract. [I’ve added some paragraphing for ease of online reading, because abstracts by requirement are very, very fat.] Self-determination theory (SDT) is a well-established theory … Continue reading →

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