Pics from Thursday's dress rehearsal of Shrek: The Musical. This weekend only! @stagerightgbg

Briefcase, from the New York Public Library "Grow Up" work accessories collection.

Youth Can Check Out Briefcases, Neckties via NYPL Grow Up Work Accessories

The New York Public Library has a program that lets youths check out briefcases, handbags, and neckties for job interviews or other formal occasions.

3 days ago in Business, Culture, Design, Ethics, Literacy.

Me: (Starts writing a routine email for textbook adoption committee.) Me: (Accidentally paraphrases part of Roy Batty's "Tears in rain" monologue.) Me: (Checks IMDB to refresh my memory of the full quote.) Me: (Checks Blade Runner Wiki to confirm umlaut in Tannhäuser Gate.) Me: (Looks up Wagner's opera Tannhäuser.) Me: What, what was I doing? Me: (Writes this up for blog.)

I watched E-mails glitter in the dark…

Transcript: Me: (Starts writing a routine email for textbook adoption committee.) Me: (Accidentally paraphrases part of Roy Batty’s “Tears in rain” monologue.) Me: (Checks IMDB to refresh my memory of the full quote.) Me: (Checks Blade Runner Wiki to confirm umlaut in Tannhäuser Gate.) Me: (Looks up Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser.) Me: What, what was I doing? Me: (Writes this up for blog.)

3 days ago in Academia, Culture, Literacy, Psychology, SciFi, Writing.

Newspaper For Sale: The Growing Threat of News Deserts in Western Pennsylvania

As circulation has declined, local newspapers have had to adjust for the loss in revenue, sometimes by shrinking the size of their staffs, sometimes by selling out or closing up shop all together.

4 days ago in Business, Culture, Journalism, Literacy, Media, Rhetoric.

The Decline of Humanities Enrollments and the Decline of Pre-Law

It’s a myth that humanities majors don’t care about post-graduation employment. What changed was the safety valve of subsequent law school enrollment.

Law school was long the default post-graduation plan for majors in qualitative fields. As long as you had the prospect of a lucrative legal career after college, you could safely major in English or poli sci. Those students didn’t ignore the vocational imperative; they just postponed it. And for a long time, that worked pretty well.

But the Great Recession, combined with AI and offshoring, did a number on law as a career option.

4 days ago in Academia, Business, Culture, Education, Humanities, Politics.

I had a grand time recording this little story about a misunderstood genius who just wants to build a wall. #amontillado #masonry #poe

The Cask of Amotillado (read by Dennis Jerz, for WAOB Audio Theatre)

How Trump Is Making Journalism School Great Again

This is an important time to teach people what journalists do and why it matters. “The media” is much larger than “journalists devoted to the objective coverage of the news.” If you don’t like the slant, or the shallowness, or the opportunism of the media you run across, then check out several different sources, including reputable ones with slants that differ from yours. (If nowhere on the planet can you…

Top U800. #chesstournament

Chess tournament in Monroeville.

Under my academic robes… photographer vest with 3 frozen ice packs. #heatwave #HonorsConvo @setonhilluniversity

Poetry Writing: 10 Tips for Writing Poems

If you are writing a poem because you want to capture a feeling that you experienced, then you don’t need these tips. Just write whatever feels right. Only you experienced the feeling that you want to express, so only you will know whether your poem succeeds. If, however, your goal is to communicate with a reader — drawing on the established conventions of a literary genre (conventions that will be familiar to the…