And Now We Are 1: Nine Kinds of Pie Retrospective, 2010-2011

Nine Kinds of Pie made its debut in July of 2010.  Looking back on the 158 posts I’ve done since then, here are nine of many subjects covered.

1. Children’s Literature. Since the blog takes its title from Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon, of course much has been devoted to stories for younger readers.  There have been pieces devoted to the works of Tim Egan, Lane Smith, Dr. Seuss, J.K. Rowling, Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, among others.

2. Comics. Unsurprisingly, many of these posts concern Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby.  But Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac, and political cartoons by Syd Hoff and William Gropper have also made appearances.

3. Music.  I thought I would post more mixes than I have done, but… I have posted a few – mostly themed ones.  There’s been a “Halloween Box Set,” a “Rapture Box Set,” a “Summer Box Set,” and a few Christmas mixes, among others.

4. Biography.  Chronicling the revisions of The Purple Crayon and a Hole to Dig: The Lives of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss (forthcoming 2012), I’ve shared far more than is likely to interest readers.

5. Advice.  Most of this advice has been geared towards academe (such as How to Publish Your Article or Prograstigrading), but some of the publishing advice (such as How to Publish Your Book) would be useful to non-academics.

6. Academia.  The most popular of these was What Do Professors Do All Week?, a week-long series in which I chronicled just how a professor spends his or her workday… by chronicling exactly how I spent each day of February 19-25.

7. Brief Essays. Some of these will form part of longer works – for example, “Can Censoring a Children’s Book Remove Its Prejudices?”  Others will not, such as the brief opinion pieces like:

• “Humanities Majors Learn More,”
• “The Picture Book Is Dead; Long Live the Picture Book,”
• “Speaking Out,”
• “Martin Amis, Brain Damage, and Children’s Literature,” and
• “Those Who Can, Teach. Those Who Cannot, Pass Laws About Teaching.”

I’ve also posted a couple of reviews, such as those on Chris Van Allsburg’s Queen of the Falls, and Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated the Falls in a Ship of Her Own Making.

8. Humor. Items in this category overlap with items in other categories (cartoons, children’s books), but since there are 14 posts tagged humor, this appears to be developing as a theme.  Highlights: Remy Charlip’s It Looks Like Snow and How to Talk Nonsense (on a pedagogical experiment using nonsense).

9. Autobiography.  Inasmuch as bits of my life may be instructive to others, I’ve written a few pieces about me – many (possibly all) of these might be cross-listed with advice.  Some such posts include “Introvert Impersonates Extrovert” (on overcoming shyness), “My Book About Me” (on my first book), a pair of posts on moving from adjuncthood to professorland, and the blog’s inaugural post.

Are there any subjects that readers would like to see more of?  Since I don’t have a counter on this blog, comments are my only way of gauging a subject’s popularity.  (And, yes, I know I should install a counter.  Any suggestions?)