Charmed, I’m sure

Rose Woodhouse 19 Comments

After several guest posts, Dr. Saunders and some other Ordinary Gentlemen have decided to make an honest woman out of me and make me a co-blogger on Blinded Trials. I’m honored!

A bit about me and my interests. If anyone is interested in a particular topic, please let me know in the comments and I’m happy to start with that! I am ABD in philosophy (the dissertation is 60% done, unless you are my advisor – then it is 80% done). I am in a polyamorous relationship with aesthetics and philosophy of mind, but I occasionally stray. I am also very interested in ethics – both ethical theory and applied ethics. Bioethics might be especially well-suited here. I’ve been teaching undergrads for seven years at a giant state U, where the student body is perhaps more intrigued by basketball than Hume. So I’ve got some thoughts on higher education, as well.

I am also a suburban mom with a husband, three very young kids, and a minivan. So parenting takes up a large portion of my brain. One of my kids has a ridiculously rare form of a ridiculously rare genetic disorder and is severely disabled – he has serious mental retardation as well as psychomotor issues. This has given me handicapped parking pass (score!) and a lot of opinions on disability issues. He is also a sweet pie. My momhood is, perhaps, a bit of an explanation of why I’ve been teaching for seven years and have not finished my dissertation (for those who might have wondered).

I love TV, books, movies, cooking, and food. Mmmm, food.

Look forward to writing for you and hearing from you!

Rose Woodhouse

Elizabeth Picciuto was born and reared on Long Island, and, as was the custom for the time and place, got a PhD in philosophy. She freelances, mainly about disability, but once in a while about yeti. Mother to three children, one of whom is disabled, two of whom have brown eyes, three of whom are reasonable cute, you do not want to get her started talking about gardening.

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19 Comments

  3. Oooh… aesthetics. That’s what I spend most of my time wondering about (if allowed to wonder about what I want).

    • Oh Jaybird, PLEASE stop dropping these annoying,faux, Taoist Qwai Chang Cain pearls of wisdom. Enough IS enough. This wordplay nonsense of yours can get so tiresome. I appreciate the beauty of the space between musical notes, but this is not that.

      • Hi, Abbie. If you are who I think you are, you’d best look down and note than the ice you’re on is incredibly thin. Rose is free to tolerate whomever she chooses, but you should not presume that your welcome here has somehow been renewed.

  4. Hey Rose! Welcome!

    My own spousal unit is already a big fan and will be pleased to know about this permanent move.

    I work with a large number of organizations that support folks with developmental disabilities, and as such it’s become a cause of mine – I’m looking forward to hearing any takes on disability issues that may be forthcoming!

    • Great! Always glad to hear when someone takes an interest in developmental disabilities, and look forward hearing your thoughts on it!

  5. Awesome! I’ve very much enjoyed your guest contributions, though I didn’t have the common decency to say so (positive reinforcement was never my thing — just ask my kids).

    • Thanks! I’m not big on positive reinforcement either. I always have to tell my students that if there are no comments on their paper, that means they did well. And in WaPo the other day: http://wapo.st/ywvYdK

  9. I was starting to worry about groupthink here, but then realized that was impossible. However, a woman’s touch is a woman’s touch. Welcome aboard and many happy returns!

    BTW I don’t get to the sub blogs that often, so I’m hoping you get above the line often or people point to you here to remind me to look around more.

    • truth is far stranger than fiction, my dear.
      You should be glad I don’t guest blog about cats.

  12. My old mentor was a professor of aesthetics. When he retired, he gave me some of his miniature books. I gave him one of my drawings on the occasion of the last class he would ever teach.

    He had this theory which went along these lines. Art attempts to expose what reality tries to hide. The artist puts out his trawling net into the sea of his own life and gives us this Art Thing, be it a book or a painting or music. Thereafter, the Art Thing takes on a life of its own, engaging in a dialogue with the viewer.

    Dr. Kilby said art changed when artists started putting their names on their art. It changed the nature of the dialogue between the Art Thing and the viewer. Be careful, he’d say to would-be artists, to let your art speak for itself or you’ll just be one of those repulsive stage mothers, forever spoiling the conversation.

    Here’s a thought, potential grist for the mill. Write up something on two pieces of art which speak to the viewer in different ways. Describe why.

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