I finished teaching my half of the Lewis course. It didn't go as well as I would have liked, but nevertheless the experience was worthwhile in a number of respects. First, I get paid $900, and I'm already shopping for a high-definition TV. Second, it was nice having an excuse to read Lewis again, and I picked up on some themes that I overlooked in previous readings. (E.g. I just now noticed how prominent the theme of integrating the rational with the emotional and imaginative is in his writings.) Third, my best student, a genuine Lewis enthusiast and Roman Catholic who would be classified politely as "non-traditional," would like to introduce me to her daughter, a law student at Notre Dame who is (in her admittedly biased opinion) "the brilliant one of the family."

Touchstone article: The conservative Kerouac. (Dharma Bums is one of my favorite novels, pure escapism that manages not to be cloying.)