Pop song lyrics use more negative words (“hate”, “sorrow”) than 50 years ago

The use of words related to negative emotions has increased by more than one third…. If we assume an average of 300 words per song, every year there are 30,000 words in the lyrics of the [Billboard] top-100 hits. In 1965, around 450 of these words were associated with negative emotions, whereas in 2015 their number was above 700. Meanwhile, words associated with positive emotions decreased in the same time period.

My students seem increasingly confused by the difference between journal title vs. article title

Sometimes students will submit bibliography entries that repeat a title — either the journal or the article.  I assume they are using an online citation generator and I assume they’re not bothering to check its output. What I had previously thought of as a random careless error now seems evidence of a paradigm shift. I’ve…

Pen Pals (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 15) Data Hears a Who

Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation A new-to-me “Data Hears a Who” character story, featuring a multi-layered philosophical jam session in Picard’s quarters, a substantial B-plot for Wesley, and some tacked-on science-fictiony frippery for the groundlings. I started watching the show late at night, and lost interest when Wesley was steeling himself in the hallway…

Emily Dickinson Fun Page #literature #amusing #dashes

Emily Dickinson Fun Page #literature #amusing #dashes Similar:Most Television From Before 2000 Is Trapped in the Uncanny ValleyJust as the technological innovation of …CulturePope calls Argentine kiosk owner to cancel paper deliveryThis is a very cute story, further illus…AmusingEarth doesn't need more 'successful people'.The plain fact is that the planet does n…AestheticsThis is what happened…

The Staying Power of “A Christmas Carol” — Dennis Jerz, for WAOB Audio Theatre

What makes WAOB Audio Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol” unique? Why is the story so well-loved? Voice actor and English professor Dennis Jerz discusses all this and more! Similar:Multiple Choice = GoogleNo big surprises here, but this blog pos…AcademiaI had a grand time recording this little story about a misunderstood genius who just wants……

A Christmas Carol — new audio adaptation

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‘You deserve that’: Commissioner’s wife arrested after dumping soda over a reporter’s head

  It was supposed to be a county budget meeting in Chattooga County, Ga., last Friday — but before it could even begin, the county commissioner’s wife stormed in and dumped a soda on a reporter’s head. The shocking moment, captured partially on video, stunned the room into silence. Chattooga County Sole Commissioner Jason Winters’s…

Point Park cancels ‘The Adding Machine: The Musical’ after student objections to offensive content

Citing student objections to offensive content, Point Park University canceled its production of The Adding Machine: The Musical, which was scheduled to run Dec 6-15. The PPU Globe reports that during an emotional “town hall” meeting that included the cast and crew and more than enough members of the public to fill the Highmark Theater,…

The difficulty is the point (teaching critical thinking skills differs from teaching facts to memorize)

In the past few years I have seen more students who are very bright, hard-working, and grade-conscious, who are very comfortable when they have a list facts to memorize, or a formula to follow. Rather than thinking of a revision as an opportunity to develop, these students think more transactionally than organically about their learning, and prefer to see revision as a punishment for not getting it right the first time. I see it instead as an integral part of the critical thinking process.

The Measure of a Man (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 9)

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Data’s autonomy is at stake in a taut, character-driven courtroom drama that resists pandering — no distracting fist-fights or space battles. This episode not only succeeds as a stand-alone meditation on the human condition, it meshes narratively with events from past shows and offers affordances for future story arcs…