I may have some trouble remembering the name...it's something both genital and cardiac...

"What was it? Clot? Angina? Oh, I remember, it's Valva!"

Sphincter would have been more vivid.

Steve - sorry for being so abrupt- but could you please blog about Dundes? I would do it myself but I am not going to resurrect Glosses just for this, and you have a much bigger audience.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/03/31_dundes.shtml

You can email me if you want. I was in that seminar.

Lest I be misunderstood, while I think that "The Valve" is a rather odd name, this enterprise is an estimable one, and in my culture references to sphincters are in no way derogatory or demeaning, but entirely honorific. I was playing off Abdul-W.'s comment.

Yeah, Renee, what happened to Glosses? I feel orphaned...

"Abdul-W."? Who is that? Makes me sound like George W.'s long lost Palestinian brother.

No, my fellow, the name's Abdul-Walid.

I approve of sphincters, the inspired little puckers. That would be a GREAT name for a literary enterprise.

Oh, I dunno, LH...
Your recommendation worth loads, so I went and spent my first-coffee-cup high on the introductory statement.

My conclusions:
1. If Mr.Holbo is sincere about his intention of engaging non-academic types (who can't afford to languor on his virtual patio indefinitely while being on paid time) his enterprise's presentation style would benefit from some editing.
2. Connected to the p.1.
The length of the introduction is a symptom of author's lack of clarity on a subject, in my eyes. A manifesto should be brief and clear, to stick. And to underline uniqueness of this particular publication: if one of the functions is to provide room for interdisciplinary academic debate, how is it different from, say, "Crooked Timber" or other chatters?

3.And it shows in the banner/headline, too. Is the main goal of this new e-publication "to improve circulation" [in academia, I presume]? Or to "vent steam"? Or, as one of the commenters elegantly quoted from OED,[Ent] to "serve to attach the male more firmly to the female in copula"? All very valuable functions; each one could afford a solid niche in the blog "market" to a magazine (what John Holbo is concerned about, as I understand) - separately. Dude, make up your mind!

4. If, on the other hand, this intro is intended as a poll of readers' opinions on what should be a content (much better approach, IMO,) -then why not to be frank about it? By resulting comments you'd see the size of your exclusive-club/non-democratic target audience and range of subjects that interest them. IMO, again.

In short: my impression - too many intentions in too many words in a too narrow column format with too wide margins (although I rather liked that particular shade of mossy green)

And wth is ALSC?

1. If Mr.Holbo is sincere about his intention of engaging non-academic types (who can't afford to languor on his virtual patio indefinitely while being on paid time) his enterprise's presentation style would benefit from some editing.

As Confucius said, "Give away free ice cream and people will complain."

PS I have had the thought that it would be a curious literary exercise -- well, "stunt" might be a better word -- to maintain a blog consisting entirely of unauthorized, anonymously edited, shorter versions of John Holbo posts, as a service to the larger blogging community. Since he does often seem to ramble a bit. But I would disagree with the implication that the stated aims of Valve put him under any obligation to do other than what he has done there with his inaugural post.

More seriously, the energy of the responses both positive and negative to the Valve announcement suggest that the project is "on to something", i.e. that it uncovers not just one but perhaps several possible previously-unrecognized directions for online publication!

As Senator Palpatine said, we shall regard its future career with great interest.

Pierre, as Engels said, " free cheese only occurs in moustraps"

I agree - for possibly the first recorded time ever - with Tatyana: Holbo would be a better writer if he was ("were") a worse typiste.

But what if he has one of those speech-to-text softwareses?

Pierre:
haven't you paid attention? " but I can't reach my shelf and am typing{bold is mine} too fast to stop" (Maestro HimSelf)
Des:
"Couldn't beleive it myself. But it's a good thing(!?)" (c)John Emerson

...something both genital and cardiac...

The cockles of your heart?

Tell me, where is Cockle bread,
Or near the **** or near the head,
How begot, how nourishèd?
Reply, reply!
'Tis kneaded there, by maidens' thighs:
Between the knees, and it will rise
As it's baked, before your eyes.
Let us sing, and cock'll swell:
I'll begin it - ding dong bell.
All: Ding? DONG? Sheesh...

With apologies to... well, just about everyone.

I often agree with Tatyana, except when she's disagreeing with me.