The American Dissident: Literature, Democracy & Dissidence
The Editor's Bio
G. Tod Slone, aka P. Maudit (cartoonist sobriquet), is the founding and sole editor of The American Dissident, which was created in 1998 as a direct result of the corruption experienced first-hand at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts (see genesis).
Check out his (i.e., my) Curriculum Mortae, A Dissident's Curriculum Vitae, a creative example of realia that would certainly not land someone a job in academe.
At Fitchburg State, I was a tenure-track professor of French and Spanish. After arbitration hearings during my fifth year overwhelmingly pointed to intrinsic institutional corruption, I was offered a year's salary as settlement, but not further employment and, of course, no apology whatsoever.
Many personal conflicts and events helped to form my critical nature and passion for the First Amendment. The following include a small sample of them.
—Permanent trespass w/o due process from McKay Campus (Fitchburg State) due to the complaint of one professor, friend of chairperson DeCesare, who wanted me out, that she was afraid of me.
—Three-month Trespass w/o due process from Watertown Free Public Library due to the complaint of the reference librarian, Ardis Francoeur. I'd attempted to get her to get the library to subscribe. I challenged her intellectually with that regard; she called the police. I did not holler, swear, or block patrons.
—My arrest and incarceration in a Concord jail cell for a day because of a non-violent dispute with a Walden Pond State Reservation Park ranger.
—Permanent trespass from Sturgis Library, my very neighborhood library, due to written criticism of Lucy Loomis, its director. In particular, I'd criticized the egregious hypocrisy of her collection development statement that "libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view." In that endeavor, I attempted to get her to subscribe. Then I offered a free subscription, which she refused, proving my point about the collection development statement.
BTW, I also taught full-time (except the last three) at the following institutions:
2 years at Université du Maine (le Mans, France)
4 years at École Supérieur de Mécanique (Nantes, France)
3 years at Elmira College (Elmira, NY)
6 months at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School (Oak Bluffs, MA)
2 years at Bennett College (Greensboro, NC)
2 years at Grambling State University (Grambling, LA)
2 years at Davenport University (MI)
2 months on the USS Boone (Panama and Columbia)
2 months on the USS Bataan (Caribbean)
5 years part-time at American Public University
Because I tend not to turn a blind eye regarding the institutions employing me, evident requisite for a "successful" college-teaching career, I ended up fired from my last job at American Public University because I disobeyed a direct order from the dean and chairperson to cease responding to criticism against me. For excerpts from my published books and unpublished manuscripts see Books & Manuscripts. See also Interviews.
Prior to obtaining my doctoral degree at the Université de Nantes in France, I taught a year at Our Lady of Nazareth Academy in Wakefield, MA, and worked at diverse other occupations including bank examiner for the FDIC (South Dakota), graveyard shift check proofer for New England Merchants Bank, accountant trainee at Continental Can Corporation, graveyard shift radiation monitor at the submarine base in Groton, CT, graveyard shift welder at the shipyard in Quincy, MA, census taker, carpenter, Boston Back Bay cabbie, grape harvester in Dijon, France, and interpreter (11 years) at the famous 24 Heures du Mans automobile race also in France.
Evidently, I am a fervent critic of academe and its literary milieu of highbrow diversion and entertainment. Other interests besides dissident literature, include running, foreign languages (French, Spanish, Italian & German), astrophysics, drawing, landscape gardening, and of course travel (Québec, Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Europe, Mexico, etc.).