♪♪ Twilight, Snooki, 3D movies, These are a few of my favorite things ♪♪

Let me just start off by saying that there aren't three other things in the world that i detest as much as the listed above. Well . . . that may be a lie, I hate a lot of things, and if you are rocking back and fourth in your computer chair while hugging your knees in anticipation of a list of such things, I'm sorry, that isn't what follows, but just pay attention and I'm sure they will slowly leak out in my blogs. And, I know there is someone out there who is reading this title and my following comments and is currently constructing an effigy of me to sacrificially burn to a totem of Stephanie Meyer, but that person is probably 12 years old and still thinks The Beatles are the greatest rock band of all time, so I really couldn't care less.

My intention for this blog is to leave things as open ended as possible as to facilitate a dialogue between AFLM staff, readers, and contributers alike before my next blog, wherein I intend to discuss the issue more finitely. Here goes nothin'.

By what criteria are we judging artistic merit?


I was urged to write this open ended blog when, earlier today, I went to a local Barnes & Noble (what can I say, not even my - at times - suffocating pompousness can refuse holiday coupons) and saw a copy of James Joyce's ULYSSES purposefully placed next to a copy of the bestselling A SHORE THING by snooki on a table that determined them "Recommended Reading". I was appalled to say the least and stormed out the bookstore in a fitful literary tirade.

If Snooki's book is popular around the world, and Joyce, and other such under-appreciated authors, is popular only with the pinnacle of academic aesthetes, does that make us academics just better than everyone else? I say HELL YES!

Okay, now I feel like I'm rambling so I will leave everyone with the question,

By what criteria should art be judged or attributed value?

Think about it. Comment, argue, re-comment, I want to hear everyone's thoughts.

P.s. I would love to read how professors feel also. Yes, that means you Dr. Corley, I know you surf around these parts every so often, so, instruct us.


Queasily,

Eric W. Strege