College of Humanities Newsletter

Spring 2012, Volume 6, Issue 2

In This Issue

Departments and Programs

  • Asian American Studies
  • Chicana/o Studies
  • English
  • Gender & Women’s Studies
  • Liberal Studies & Humanities Interdisciplinary Program
  • Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures
  • Philosophy
  • Religious Studies
  • Office of Interdisciplinary Studies:
    • American Indian Studies
    • Central American Studies
    • Jewish Studies
    • Linguistics
    • Queer Studies
    • Russian Studies
    • Sustainability Studies

Not quite the PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE . . .
Part Four

Drake Langford
Assistant Professor of Japanese, MCLL

Drake Langford
Photo courtesy of
Drake Langford

Dr. Langford earned his Ph.D. in East Asian languages and literatures at Yale University. His areas of specialization include Japanese classics, pre-modern Japanese drama, and early modern Japanese literature.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
In no particular order: fresh bread with butter, a hammock at midday, my wife’s smile (any time of day), a tall Hairy Eyeball with my brothers, long urban walks, moleskins, the smell of fresh ground coffee, storytime with my daughters, BBQ, marathon reruns on TV, vinyl records, hotcakes with maple syrup, onsen, meandering conversation with honest friends, country roads, used book stores…

What is your greatest fear?
Boarding the school bus in just my socks and underpants.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Marcel Proust’s poor cousin? I do suppose it’s heartening that the best work of playwright Tsuruya Nanboku came in the autumn of his life. I suspect that’s a form of identification, wishful as it may be.

Which living person do you most admire?
Ah, but why name just one person among many friends, each of whom I admire for different and unique reasons?

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Inertia.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Happiness combined with success. (One or the other, okay; but both?!)

What is your greatest extravagance?
Watching TV reruns in bed on my iPhone (but please promise not to tell).

When and where were you happiest?
Asleep in a dream.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Lately, watching TV reruns in bed on my iPhone—without getting caught!

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
First, allow me a quick Namu Amida Buddha. Okay, next question?

What is your most treasured possession?
Sorry, that’s secret.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Mute loneliness.

What is it that you most dislike?
I’d say personality questionnaires are high on the list today.

Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability, at will, to acquire any talent I want. More modestly, though, I’d settle for the capacity to mono-task.

What is your motto?
Lately, “Less is more.”

Kenneth Luna
Assistant Professor of Spanish, MCLL

Kenneth Luna
Photo courtesy of Kenneth Luna

Dr. Luna earned his Ph.D. in Hispanic languages and literatures at the University of California, Los Angeles. His areas of specialization are Spanish phonetics, phonology, and intonation; dialectology; syntax; and Caribbean Spanish. He subspecializes in Portuguese linguistics and romance linguistics.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Being a workaholic.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Not walking your talk.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Collecting fountain pens.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting my Ph.D.

What is your most treasured possession?
All the knowledge I have acquired throughout my life.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Ignorance.

What is it that you most dislike?
Mediocrity.

Which talent would you most like to have?
Being a violinist.

Julie Yoo
Assistant Professor, Philosophy

Dr. Yoo earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at Rutgers University. Her primary areas of specialization include philosophy of mind and metaphysics. She is also interested in cognitive science, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of language.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A long evening filled with lots of good food and wine shared with family and friends.

What is your greatest fear?
Being underprepared!

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I don’t identify with these people, but I certainly admire them: Benjamin Franklin, Julia Child, Bertrand Russell, and Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.

Which living person do you most admire?
Aside from my parents, Noam Chomsky.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Being a sore loser when I lose at Scrabble.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Aggression (especially in the Whole Foods parking lot).

What is your greatest extravagance?
The precious garage space I gave up to convert into my office. (Fortunately, my car enjoys the egalitarian camaraderie of street parking.)

When and where were you happiest?
I get pretty close to ecstatic after I grade a pile of papers.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
TBA

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
I’d definitely want to be reborn as a (free) dolphin. Definitely.

What is your most treasured possession?
My 2000 VW Golf.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
I get pretty close to abject misery when I hear people misuse the expression “begs the question.”

What is it that you most dislike?
When students start playing with their phones and computers to ignore my lecture.

Which talent would you most like to have?
When students start playing with their phones and computers to ignore my lecture, I’d like the ability to freeze their device. I guess this is more of a superpower…

What is your motto?
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” —Virginia Woolf