User Profile

I am the host of this site and of the Grammar Discussion Board and Message Board. My credentials are stated on the home page, but here's another version:

My entire professional life has been devoted to teaching English (primarily composition) at the college level or to editing a variety of documents (primarily survey research and marketing research reports). I hold a B.A. and M.A. in English and have done some doctoral study but did not complete the degree. I am now officially retired, but I still teach one section of English Composition each semester at the local community college. Writing remains my principal hobby. Studying the English language and passing on what I have learned to others continue to be important to me – almost to the point of obsession.

I am a self-appointed curmudgeon (an old, irascible grouch) – hence my nickname "The Mudge." This condition is exacerbated by the abuse of the language that assaults my ears and eyes every day. The American public schools are, I believe, infected with a self-perpetuating cancer of ignorance; the basis for this belief is the increasing number of high school graduates who are virtually illiterate. Not one to sit idly by and pretend that this is not happening or does not matter (or to blame it on TV, drugs, and sunspots), I have devoted my declining years to an attempt to preserve the integrity of the language, by writing and teaching.

Consuming as this undertaking is, I have many other interests, some of which are reflected in the pages of this site. Literacy is, after all, not an end in itself but a means to an end – the path to a vast array of ideas and interests. For that reason, I have chosen not to limit this site to one message board but rather to provide two. On the Grammar Discussion Board, I am both host and resident expert, though we have several members with considerable expertise in writing and language. On the general Message Board, I am host and participant, eager to chime in when I have something to say but not pretending to be an authority on every topic that might be introduced.

You will, of course, permit me an occasional curmudgeonly outburst. Indeed, you have no choice, as my nickels pay for these forums.