8.1580, FYI: WILMA, The Chomsky Barometer

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-8-1580. Mon Nov 3 1997. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 8.1580, FYI: WILMA, The Chomsky Barometer

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=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Sat, 1 Nov 1997 14:49:38 -0500
From:  Monica Macaulay <mmacaula at facstaff.wisc.edu>
Subject:  WILMA

2)
Date:  Mon, 3 Nov 1997 20:25:32 -0400
From:  Randy Allen Harris <raha at watarts.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject:  The Chomsky Barometer

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 1 Nov 1997 14:49:38 -0500
From:  Monica Macaulay <mmacaula at facstaff.wisc.edu>
Subject:  WILMA

ANNUAL FALL ANNOUNCEMENT:

****************************************
                                WILMA
     (Women In Linguistics Mentoring Alliance)

                          A Project of the
 Committee on the Status of Women in Linguistics
                              (COSWL)

               Linguistic Society of America
****************************************


WILMA is a project which provides women in Linguistics with mentors to help
them with general survival skills and advice.  We pair junior women with
relatively more senior women at different institutions, creating ongoing
mentoring relationships.

All women in Linguistics are eligible.  Membership in this group is
self-defined, but possible criteria include being a student or having a
degree in Linguistics (or a related field like Linguistic Anthropology,
French Linguistics, Psycholinguistics), membership in the LSA and/or other
professional Linguistics organizations, and so on.  Participants include
graduate students, faculty, women outside of academia, and undergraduates
applying to graduate school in linguistics.  Women in countries other than
the US are also welcome to join (however, we caution you that it may be
more difficult to make appropriate matches in such cases).  Our aim is to
be as inclusive as possible.

We have been in operation since January, 1997, and have made numerous
matches at all levels.  At this point we have a large backlog of women who
need mentors, so we strongly encourage women who are interested in
participating to volunteer to be mentors as well as mentees.  (Of course we
are still accepting women who only want to be mentees as well.)

For a copy of the WILMA brochure and/or questionnaire, contact:
     Monica Macaulay, mmacaula at facstaff.wisc.edu

We operate almost entirely via email, but hardcopy will be sent out if
absolutely necessary.  The snail mail address is:
     WILMA Project Director
     University of Wisconsin
     Department of Linguistics
     1168 Van Hise Hall
     1220 Linden Drive
     Madison, WI  53706








-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 3 Nov 1997 20:25:32 -0400
From:  Randy Allen Harris <raha at watarts.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject:  The Chomsky Barometer

A curious example of Chomsky's cultural status, from a Canadian radio
programme ("Richardson's Round-up", 3 Nov 97, CBC National Radio).

There is evidently some furor over a song, "Barbie Girl", by Aqua, in which
the famous doll is represented as a shallow, pliant boy toy, and this show
featured a (fake) comic interview with a (presumably fake) representative
of Mattel.  He claimed that Barbie's appropriate image is actually that a
profound thinker.  Ken, on the other hand, who is represented in the song
"as a bit of an idiot" ... "really is a bit of an idiot".  Mattel,
therefore is scrapping Ken and coming out with a more appropriate companion
for Barbie, the Noam Chomsky doll, complete with a tweed jacket and a
miniature copy of _Manufacturing Consent_ ("abridged for the kiddies").
Jocularity aplenty follows (there are several models, including a "Malibu
Noam Chomsky"), but what I find interesting is the extent to which his
intellectual prowess is treated in proverbial terms; also, twice in the
'interview' he is referred to as a Nobel Prize Winner.

(All quotations are approximate, but anyone so motivated could probably get
a transcript or an audio file; CBC Radio has a
web-page--http://www.radio.cbc.ca/)


                            -----====*====------
                             Randy Allen Harris
               Rhetoric, Linguistics, and Professional Writing

  Department of English, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON CANADA N2L 3G1
     raha at watarts.uwaterloo.ca; 519 885-1211, x5362; FAX:  519 746-5788

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