Meet the new blogger, same as the old blogger

As I wrote in my last post at (and as) La Lecturess, I'm moving over into this new space and this new identity for several reasons. Most importantly, I'm moving because, as of turning in my grades earlier this month, I'm no longer a lecturer. This disruption and potential identity confusion is vexing, but there's really no help for it; if I were actually going to be lecturing in my new job, I might have kept the pseudonym--and for the sake of continuity I did consider a variety of other titles involving the article "la," but none of them were really speaking to me.

However, I'm not entirely sorry to move locations, since there are a few things I'd like to do differently in this new space and under this new name. For the most part, you can expect the same old complaining and navel-gazing that made La Lecturess so darned much fun, but I'd also like to speak more specifically about my teaching and some of my scholarly interests than I felt comfortable doing in my previous space. Partly this is because I'm no longer on the job market; partly it's because I intend to be much more circumspect about my geographic location; but mostly it's because I don't care that much about maintaining my pseudonymity. Were it not for the ferocious powers of Google and my desire not to have my life on display to my students and casual acquaintances, I'd probably eventually start blogging under my own name. That's still not out of the question, but it's not in my immediate future.

So here's what you need to know: from here on out I'm Flavia, a recent English Ph.D. and former lecturer in the process of packing up my life and moving to a new city to start my first tenure-track job at what I'm calling Regional University (RU). I'm also an Early Modernist and primarily a Miltonist.

As for the name of this blog: the ferule and fescue were the two most important instruments of the schoolmaster of old--his rod or cane (ferule) and his pointer (fescue). I'd like to think that these items represent the twofold nature of my work as a teacher: I guide students toward knowledge, pointing them in the right general direction and letting them do the rest--but I also, sometimes, have to beat it into them. (Same goes for myself and my own scholarship.) However, the title comes, indirectly, from Areopagitica, where Milton uses the two terms to represent a hopelessly blinkered and pedantic approach to learning. . . so, imagine some irony in the name as well.

As you can see, I've kept my template for now and I'm keeping a link to my old blog under archives--so hopefully that eases the transition for y'all.

Questions? Comments? You know where to send 'em. Thanks for sticking around.