Features

Cyberculture | Drama | Personal | Technology

Sam Shepard Giggles, Doesn’t Google

I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on the plays of Sam Shepard. I took my first-ever date (hi, Maria) to see Shepard in The Right Stuff.

He’s dressed in country clothes – a checked shirt and a nondescript jacket – and, unlike most writers, he has an outdoors complexion; a lived-in face. But what’s most [...]

Amusing | Design | Personal

Portraits of my 11yo: Pretty, Goofy, and Pretty Goofy

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Aesthetics | Culture | Design | Modding | Personal | SciFi | Technology

Lego goes steampunk

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Be still, my nerdy heart.

Steampunk — which has inspired books, art and fashion — hinges on the idea of a future in which we use steam, rather than oil or electricity, as our primary source of energy. Still confused? Think 19th-century fashion and technology, but applied to a futuristic world. Or check out bing [...]

Academia | Education | Home | Personal | Science

Seton Hill Chemistry Club Hosts 30 Homeschool Students for Chemistry Day

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Academia | Culture | Education | Essays | Humanities | Personal | Psychology

On Office Hours and Student Contact at the Small Liberal Arts College

I don’t expect students to be constantly after me—and I wouldn’t want them to be. I also know that what looms large for them are their friends, families, and personal lives. But I’m beginning to learn that if students at large universities are starved for personal attention and connection, students at small colleges have so [...]

Academia | Amusing | Culture | Drama | Literature | Personal

Oh the Overthinks You Can Overthink: Horton the Elephant, the Wickersham Brothers, and Masculinity in Seussical

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Yesterday, I performed in a school matinee for Suessical, dashed back to campus to advise with students working on their 20-page term papers for Literary Criticism, served on oral exam panels for four graduating seniors, then went back to the theater for an evening performance.

Somewhere along the way, I found myself chatting in [...]

Current_Events | Design | Personal

Stage Right’s ‘Seussical’ offers songs, messages

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The Tribune-Review does a great job covering the local arts community. Here is their preview of this weekend’s Suessical. (My daughter plays one of the baby kangaroos, and my wife and I play Whos and various other supporting parts. I also play Judge Yertle the the Turtle and the Grinch’s dog, Max.)

TribLIVE.

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Aesthetics | Books | Culture | Design | Education | Humanities | Personal

Richard Scarry unfinished manuscript to be published

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Some of my happiest memories of fatherhood include introducing my kids to the Richard Scarry books.

Featuring a huge anthropomorphised cast, with recurring characters such as Sergeant Murphy, traffic hound and pursuer of miscreants, and solid, cheerful, lederhosen-wearing Huckle Cat, Scarry’s tales of mishap, derring-do, industry and shopping always feel deeply, richly safe. Some aspects [...]

Current_Events | Drama | Education | Personal

What about Socialization?

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Sometimes, I worry that by homeschooling my kids, I’m depriving them of the opportunities to gain confidence, face challenges, and develop social skills.

Just kidding.

Here’s what my kids did last weekend.

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Business | Culture | Cyberculture | Design | Essays | Games | Media | Personal

LucasArts’ eulogy reminds us of the inhuman cost of game development

Game development culture often involves 18-hour work days during crunch times that last for months. I remember as a teen or college student enjoying a “lost weekend” of doing nothing but playing the latest game (the X-Wing games, The Dig, and Full Throttle come to mind), but expecting the professionals who produce games to work [...]