In September, 2003, I was blogging about the emerging fad of internet plagiarism, ethnically diverse anthropomorphic recyclables, EverQuest, and VeggieTales
In September, 2003, I was blogging about What the NY Times called the “campus fad” of Internet plagiarism. “What Does a Professor Do All Day?” (Clearly we are wasting our time whenever we are not standing in front of a classroom.) “Graphic Artist Carefully Assigns Ethnicities To Anthropomorphic Recyclables“ Leni Riefenstahl Dies (although she distanced…
Amazing McDonald’s “Maestro Burger” Commercial
Jaw-dropping. So creative and joyful.
What It Means If You’re A ‘Paragraph Texter’
A very fluffy article that does a good job diving into an everyday thing and sharing expert opinions. While some of these sources are simply random people, others have specialized skills and training that makes their opinions newsworthy enough to provide some substance to a not-exactly-hard-news story. Some of us just can’t get our thoughts…
Support the arts in your community! @geyer_pac Hello Dolly!
Media Bias Chart version 11, Aug 2023 — Journalism sorted by bias (Left / Center / Right), reliability (Fact vs Fabrication) and medium (Web/Text, Video/TV, and Audio/Podcast/Radio) (Ad Fontes Media)
Whether a source is biased towards the left or right is not as important as to whether the story depends on facts and fact-dense analysis (best), fact-supported and fair opinions (okay), or taunts, propaganda, and fabrications (fringe stuff that’s harmful to our civic well-being). This version of the Ad Fontes chart shifts the AP a…
How to Keep Students Writing in the Age of AI Tools
In a writing-intensive class, students need to write extensively to the point that the teacher cannot possibly grade all of it. — Edutopia via NCTE Good advice from an article by Kara Douma, reprinted by NCTE. I need to hear that. The referees don’t score every practice. The coaches don’t give you feedback after…
Tom Jones, librettist for “The Fantasticks,” dies at 95
I was so glad to see my daughter in this show at The Theatre Factory a few years ago. Flashback!
Police stage ‘chilling’ raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and cellphones
The Marion County Record reported that restaurant owner Kari Newell kicked their staff out of a public forum last week. When a third party told the paper that same restaurant owner had a DUI conviction that could have affected her eligibility to get a liquor license, the paper chose not to run the story. “We…
‘One of the great American stories’: the incredible life of playwright August Wilson
The host was Bill Moyers, former White House press secretary under Lyndon Johnson. The guest was August Wilson, one of the great playwrights of the 20th century and unofficial laureate of African American history and culture. It did not go well. “Don’t you grow weary of thinking Black, writing Black, being asked questions about Blacks?”…
PLS York Plays 2025 — Prof. Matthew Sergi’s Call for Theatrical Participants
Very excited to see this project coming together at the University of Toronto. As a grad student, my first scholarly publication was an explanation of my own 2D simulation of the York Corpus Christi pageant. On Saturday, June 7, 2025 (rain date Sunday, June 8, 2025), starting at 6:30am and continuing past midnight, we will…
Hospice/Honeymoon
“Hospice.” Once the word is uttered aloud, there is a seismic shift. You will feel it. Like a (very short) thread through the eye of a needle, swiftly in and swiftly out. The air itself becomes thin, steely. At the periphery of your vision, an immediate dimming. The penumbra begins to shrink. In time, it…
We ask 3 Broadway photographers: How do you turn a live show into a still image?
Great story about the art of photographing theatre performances. Given that the choreographers and lighting designers and set designer and costume, hair and make-up people have already done a lot of work, not to mention the contributions of performers themselves, I just love grabbing 1000 or more shots during a show, and culling them down…
The ChatGPT Lawyer Explains Himself
As Mike Edwards notes, “AI doomers will eagerly tweet this article, unaware that it’s not about the dangers of LLMs: it’s about *information literacy*”
In a cringe-inducing court hearing, a lawyer who relied on A.I. to craft a motion full of made-up case law said he “did not comprehend” that the chat bot could lead him astray.
Not sure whether I should be proud or embarrassed…
As part of a journalism lesson about brand names, I just wrote this sentence: The term “Winnebago Vista” is a rollicking road trip for the ear, and no oath was ever minced with more tangy intensity than we find in the fricative phonemes of “Cheez-It.” I’ll probably murder that darling tomorrow, but right now I’m…
Media Bias Chart version 11 — Journalism sorted by bias (Left / Center / Right), reliability (Fact vs Fabrication) and medium (Web/Text, Video/TV, and Audio/Podcast/Radio) (Ad Fontes Media)
The very useful “media bias chart” is one of several useful ways to classify sources of journalism. While individual items published by any of these sources can vary considerably from the general location depicted in this chart, the takeaway message is that journalism can still be valid and useful even if it has a slant,…
Congrats to all the winners at the Pittsburgh 48 Hour Film Project! Bit-Sized Productions was nominated for something like 12 awards for “Long Live the LARPers!”
Bit-Sized Productions was nominated for something like 12 awards for “Long Live the LARPers” and won the audience choice, best acting ensemble, best song, tied for best choreography… I lost track of the rest. What a fun night! I’ll post a link to the film as soon as I can!
Public service announcement! If you are feeling awkward at a social event and you see me there…
Students must learn how to get things wrong. Only one subject does that. [English.]
I invest a lot of energy asking my college students to unlearn the pattern of summary and personal reflection that was enough to to earn a good grade in high school. I emphasize repeatedly that their high school teachers didn’t do anything wrong by teaching them what they needed to do in order to get…
Headlines matter. Were they migrants, people who happened to be at a migrant center, pedestrians, or manslaughter victims?
Do the headlines encourage empathy, or do they “other” the victims of crime? (Click to zoom in.)