another one turns 42

My buddy Mike turned 42 this past June 15. Another buddy named Mike turned 42 on August 29. Two days later, it was my turn. My buddy Dr. Steve turns 42 today; later this year, in November, two more of my friends turn 42.

Since today, September 12, is Steve's birthday, my immediate thought is to embarrass him on this blog. How to do so...?

Let's link to the YouTube videos he's made for his students!

And here's his Rate My Professors page! Ha ha!

I've been friends with Steve (and I'm apparently the only one allowed to call him "Steve") since the eighth grade. He and I have some deep and abiding disagreements about the proper significance of postmodernist and poststructuralist thought, but in the cosmic scheme of our friendship, that disagreement is a fairly recent-- and innocuous-- development. Steve worked hard and got his doctorate at the beginning of the 2000s, and has been working his ass off as an excellent teacher ever since. He's also the author of a wacky mystery-adventure novel called The Shaker (click the "novel" link on this page to get the unabridged Google Docs version), a story I keep hoping he'll publish. His dissertation was, in the grand tradition, made into a book: History and Refusal: Consumer Culture and Postmodern Theory in the Contemporary American Novel, available for the low, low price of $53 at Amazon.com. As with all my friends, Steve's character and accomplishments make me want to be a better person. I wish him the happiest of birthdays: next year, 43 puts us all back into prime-number hell.


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