That's something that's sometimes missing from academia, that kind of an idea of an intellectual - someone who is literally in love with ideas.

He's always really thorough with them and really interested in talking about writing and helping students become more efficient and more learned writers, so I really see a dedication to students.

The students who I know who've taken his classes always say that he's really engaging and very provocative and thoughtful and consciousness raising and those are things that are really important.

He's really mellow. Not mellow in a boring way. Mellow in his laid-back, comfortable with himself kind of way. You can learn a lot from that kind of personality type. He works really hard, but he balances it all really well.

I can't be a pessimist because I'm alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter.

I kind of cherish at least the idea of Midwestern candor and openness. But I couldn't live there.