About Us
(un)Enlightened Academy is an amalgamation of (un)Enlightened English and its sister site (un)Enlightened Philosophy. However, during the redesign process in which we merged the sites, we saw other trends emerge that the authors/creators wanted to discuss. The Academy went from just Philosophy and English to Education and Technology as well. These subjects converge and diverge in incredible ways: technology impacts the education of English and philosophy for one, and philosophy theorizes about educational, technological, and linguistic/literary practices for another. The idiosyncratic tendencies of academics to specialize, yet our students to generalize, allows us this flexibility in the unE Academy.
Returning authors are Kelly Centrelli, author and co-creator of (un)Enlightened English; Joseph Centrelli, author of (un)Enlightened Philosophy; and Charles Centrelli, “mastermind” and developer of both (un)Enlightened English and Philosophy.
Kelly’s posts on the Academy site will focus mainly on English and education, as she is entering a PhD in literature this fall and has taught composition at the collegiate level at CUNY Queens College. She has presented at national conferences about integrating technology into the composition classroom, as well as regional conferences about eighteenth century literary satire. Her dissertation, she hopes, will blend the field of composition and literature in a way few scholars have attempted before.
As the philosophy guru, Joseph will focus on contributing to the philosophy section. He is entering an MA program this fall in philosophy and has presented at regional conferences on Schopenhauer. His interests lie in blending Eastern philosophies to the Western world.
Charles’s, although he functions primarily as the developer for the site, interests lie mostly in the technological realm. He is the “go-to” guy on the latest gadgets and tends to theorize about our current and future technological position in the global market. He is currently completing an MBA from Indiana University while working full-time as a consultant.
This site may seem like a “family affair,” yet all members involved have their own specialties, opinions, and perspectives of each subject. It may not be uncommon to see the authors criss-cross sections and, likewise, you should not hinder yourself from reading a section with which you may not be familiar. Each author is well versed in his or her subject matter and you may feel free to post questions, comment, and share the site. As any good Academy, we welcome free and open discussion so long as nothing said is ad hominem or inflammatory.
We hope you enjoy the revision of the (un)Enlightened sites, and many thanks for stopping by.
about 2 years ago
Your site blocks long comments as “a bit spammy” even though the comment posts are moderated. I can’t get around leaving what I think is valuable information in response to questions in other comments because Why can’t you set it up so it doesn’t automatically block a comment when AI thinks it’s “spammy” and let the moderator(s) handle it?
about 2 years ago
The comments go through for approval (I approved them in the Shakespearean English post), so I’m not sure why it’s indicating that they’re blocked for spam. I’ll have to fiddle with it a bit, see if I can replicate the error, and fix it. Thanks so much for pointing it out!
about 2 years ago
Hi!
I just wanted to thank you for writing such a splendid blog. I’m also a Writing Center-employed English Master’s student, and your posts have helped me explain complex concepts to deer-in-the-headlights First Years. I searched your site for an e-mail address to send this to you personally, but I was unable to find one, so I’ll simply ask here: Would it be OK to feature your blog posts on our WC Bulletin Board? There are many entries that the students would find to be helpful, and I would make sure that you are properly cited (in MLA, of course).
Thanks!
Another Literate Kelly
about 2 years ago
Kelly,
I would love to read your insights on the current trend toward the verbification of nouns.
“I texted…” “He friended…”
Also, have you also noticed a recent surge in the lost art of contractions? One particularly disturbing error I see frequently is “W- C- Should’ve” presented as “W- C- Should of”. Maddening!
—Cindy
about 2 years ago
Thanks for an interesting blog. I want to subscribe to its feed, since I’m a writer and also take on copyediting roles from time to time. I hope you’ll push this on and update! It’s very helpful. Thanks again, Kelly!
about 2 years ago
Verbing nouns isn’t as recent a development as you would think! It’s actually quite common. For example, “cup.” We have the noun form and the verb form “to cup” (as in one’s hands). In this particular case, the action of cupping emulates the shape of the noun. Today’s verbing is particularly interesting in relation to Google–”I Googled it.” I don’t believe I know many instances where a PROPER noun becomes a verb.
The particular should’ve/should-of error is something I run into a LOT. ESL students make this mistake because it sounds like “should of” (at least so they’ve told me). Native English speakers frequently are not taught this particular contraction, and it’s not necessarily the type of contraction you would find in a novel or online. The approach I take is this: “Let’s say I want to take out the ‘should.’ Could I say ‘I of’? No. Could I say ‘I have’? Yes. ‘Should’ is part of the verb form. ‘Of,’ as a preposition, works with nouns.”
about 2 years ago
Yeeeeeeeeeah, I was busy with my MA for awhile, but now that I’ve completed it, I should probably update more!!
about 2 years ago
don’t you mean, “an adjunct composition professor?”
about 2 years ago
er, i meant to say instructor, not professor. point was that i think you meant to say “an.” but who’s proofreading?
anyway, enjoyed your site. i am an esl instructor and i came across it via a google search for some grammar rule.
other fun ones – began/begun (someone actually said “be begun” to me recently and i was surprised it worked), further/farther, jealousy/envy, take over/overtake.
anyway, thanks for the posts, good work!
about 2 years ago
Ugh, how embarrassing.
Fixed–thanks!
about 1 year ago
Grammar Guide
A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun in a sentence. These function in the same way as nouns; a pronoun is also a “person, place, or thing.” However, there is a slight difference. A pronoun replaces a noun–that noun is called the “antecedent.”
(Looks like you’re using an n-dash here, between “noun” and “that.” That’s GREAT, except you should insert a space on each side of the dash. Otherwise it reads as a hyphen.