I really hate that little sparkly icon which reminds me of all the human labor that was stolen to create a product that enriches the tech barons while contributing to the environmental destruction of the planet. I absolutely to NOT want to ask my book questions. I’m reading a book precisely because I want to…
Twelfth-grade reading scores are at historic lows, and college professors, even at elite schools, are increasingly reporting difficulties in getting students to engage with lengthy or complex texts. Perhaps that is to be expected in the era of TikTok and A.I. Some education experts believe that in the near future, even the most sophisticated stories and…
Anyone seen “Hamnet”? I was not too impressed by “Shakespeare in Love,” which perpetuated the biographical fallacy — that the key to unlocking the one, true meaning of a literary work is listing how each detail in a literary work “could represent” some detail in the author’s life, and that once you’ve constructed that list,…
My auditory processing disorder makes it hard for me to process speech when I can’t see the speaker’s lips. My wife is being treated for an ear infection. We are asking each other “What?” after somebody coughs, after we ask each other “What did you say?” and after we answer each other “Never mind.” In…
On my ride into work yesterday, my mother mentioned “That popular singer has a song about a Shakespeare character.” I had seen social media posts about Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia,” but hadn’t investigated yet. I watched the video right before teaching my “Shakespeare in Context” class, and I felt kind of overwhelmed. I…
Similar:Carolyn at about 7yo drew Titania in love with Bottom. #tbt #midsummerArtSynergistic Synthesis XVII Sub B1 Chair by Kenneth SmytheAfter my daughter’s theater workshop, I …AestheticsYoungster in a tight spot has an inspirationhttps://twitter.com/TheFigen/status/1550…AwesomeIndiscretion #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 5) Kira teams up with a rival to tr…Rewatching ST:DS9 New-to-me episode i…EmpathySuspicions (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch,…
The following comment appeared recently on one of my YouTube lectures, “Historical Context for American Literature.” American???? So where are: CANADA, MEXICO, GUATEMALA, CUBA, COSTA RICA, BRAZIL, CHILE ARGENTINA, PERÚ, COLOMBIA, PANAMÁ, URUGUAY, PARAGUAY, EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, VENEZUELA… ETC ETC ETC. STOP SAYING THE UNITED STATES IS AMERICA! Here’s how I responded: Geography and names…
From an essay that includes a reflection on discovering AI-fabricated quotes while peer-reviewing a scholarly essay for potential publication. (Academics don’t get paid for the labor of pre-reading scholarly drafts for potential review. An author who uses AI is squandering the resources of human peer-reviewers.) Humanistic study once promised — and for many, still delivers…
Essays like this remind me why I picked my English major. There are other ways to get facts. Newspapers are full of them, as are podcasts and documentaries. Travel shows proliferate, take your pick. But even then, there is nothing like the view of the world via a novel. Novels can go beyond merely being…
Fences was performed in the backyard of August Wilson’s boyhood home.
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company
Support the arts in your community!
Similar:Adding a media project to a semester-long paper assignment is like adding a jetpack to a d…AcademiaWhy the British Tell Better Children’s StoriesIf Harry Potter and Huckleberry Finn wer…BooksJust an elegant retro keyboard for a #steampunk #cgi project. Procedural materials mean I …AestheticsThe Justice Department Deleted Language About Press Freedom And Racial Gerrymandering…
A cast of hundreds participated in a public medieval re-enactment dramatizing the Christian story from Creation through Final Judgement at the University of Toronto a few weeks ago. I attended as the event videographer. I had at least three cameras running at all times — sometimes five — while a roving camera also caught the…
I had a great time playing Hastings in this audio adaptation of a classic Agatha Christie classic. A smart, young woman must “prove her wits” in order to find her uncle’s will and receive her inheritance. Does it count if she hires the world-renowned detective, Hercule Poirot? Find out when you listen to “The Missing…
Similar:Letter Grades Deserve an 'F'In a points-based grade book, the studen…AcademiaCombating Shakespearean shrinkage – Shakespeare & BeyondThe worst reaction to Shakespeare’s comp…CultureStory Pitch: How writers present an article idea to a busy editor I hoped this slide would appeal to m…AmusingPrime Stage's THE OUTSIDERS Stays Golden at the New HazlettCherry, the upper-class go-between spann…BooksThe Princess…
I first taught Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle during an intensive 3-week online course during the 2020-21 winter break, during the Time of Covid. The nature of that course was such that I could only reasonably require students to read 6 of Wilson’s 10 plays; I think I required everyone to read 4, and then split the…
My years of watching MacGyver definitely paid off. (Not that my GenZ students got the reference.) I’m doing a lot more in-class work with paper, giving students handouts to annotate in class, asking them to write in copybooks. For the midterm I gave students a short academic article, excerpts from a play we haven’t read…
Similar:"Jewish priests do this. It's where Leonard Nimoy got the Vulcan sign," says the geekling,…CultureIt's probably safe to throw these out.PersonalIf you care about things like acting, or people, go see "Orphans." I'm over…PersonalGender and Language — Revisiting Advice I Posted in 1998When I was in college and active in a Ca…CultureDuke stops assigning numeric…
Carving out some time to enjoy this show as I prep to teach the Pittsburgh Cycle @SetonHill Similar:Syllabusing Like a BossAcademiaLove This Headline: "He took a date to the park where he was gored by a bison, figuring it…DramaDrumming Kid Is Epic. That Is All.https://youtu.be/MRvHI8tgx8A Aesthetics‘Snow White’ gets a new musical There’s a buzz of…
I’m far from perfect, and injustice and suffering and tragedy in the world won’t be much affected by the story I’m about to narrate, but as I was walking in the mall with my son, I dictated a 500-word email response to a student whose paper topic didn’t work out and who asked for my…
When I went off to college to be an English major, my father (who passed last December at 90) told me a story about how his respected professor at Northwestern University spent a whole lecture on the seven levels of symbolism in Melville’s Moby-Dick. Being of an analytical mind and precise mind, my father copied…