In Suzanne Bradbeer’s play FULL BLOOM, Jesse (played by Seton Hill’s DeShaun Herzog) owns a prized Hank Aaron Rookie Card. The girl he likes from school, Phoebe (played by Carolyn Jerz), has always wanted the rookie card of her personal hero, Roberto Clemente. As Phoebe goes through a tough emotional struggle in this play, how…
They weren’t the most newsworthy part of Trump’s Florida rally yesterday, but I’m just taking a moment to acknowledge a journalist who is using muted language, in keeping with the charge of journalists to report objectively. It’s perfectly neutral to place, deep in the body of the article, a note about the president’s claim that…
Similar:Amazing High School Yearbook Politics SpreadI’m gobsmacked by the creativity that we…AestheticsVulcan mind-melds from Star Trek: The Original Series, in the order that I can think of th… With Dr. Simon Van Gelder in Dagger …PersonalTimeline of Donald J. Trump's Statements on Coronavirus OutbreakCultureWeaponizing Empathy: You reacted to the outrageous claim that I crafted specifically…
16yo Carolyn Jerz performs “A Little Priest” with 14yo Ben Federico. A video clip can capture only part of the magic created by a huge, committed cast, live musicians, and an attentive audience. (Support the arts in your community!) Similar:The Skin of Our Teeth Panel Discussion (Seton Hill University, October 2021; Carolyn Jerz,…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k03kQ7Ot…AcademiaConflict Strategies for…
Similar:The Fantasticks (Oct 18-27, Theatre Factory) https://youtu.be/SYp1jQaSwjo …CultureFreshman writing students present their research projects in a suitably decorous setting. … PersonalRude mechanical sighting! Shakespearing it up with @newrentheatreco.PersonalSignage failure at Seton Hill, c. 2008.PersonalDrinking milk and using the #WaybackMachine to fix broken links in a 10-year-old blog post…PersonalToday’s #blender3d modeling, inspired by a satellite photo courtesy…
Here’s a thought… nothing you can write can possibly encourage me to click through 40 separate chunks of text. Bye. Similar:Because Internet: the new linguistics of informal EnglishI’m planning to begin my online Shakespe…CultureTrump communications director Murtaugh rallies supporters by tweeting fake Washington Time…Here’s more evidence of just how crucial…CultureMaking Interactive Fiction Mainstream: ReadersJon Ingold…
Sometimes my students get nervous because I ask them to learn writing by, you know, writing. For some other subjects, it makes sense to ease students into the work, having them memorize facts to recall for points on multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank quizzes. But writers gotta write. That means taking risks, and occasionally stumbling. In a…
After I read Mark Sample’s blog post “What about Blogging Keeps Me from Blogging,” I tried to post a comment lamenting that I miss blog comments. I ran into these fun problems. Similar:The Search for IT Relevence — Featuring Seton Hill IT Guru Phil Komarnyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGh6MasSU…AcademiaPhoto of William Crowther, 2012I just noticed that a few…
Words apparently spoken by the President of the United States. If you trust the news organization that reported what he said. But the President has no reason to mislead the public. He loves the public probably more than anybody. Believe me. Similar:Cameras and Masks: Sustaining Emotional Connections with Your Students in an Age of…
Verrit, like Snopes, Politifact, and a host of other fact-checking sites, reflect fundamental misunderstandings about how information circulates online, what function political information plays in social contexts, and how and why people change their political opinions. Fact-checking is in many ways a response to the rapidly changing norms and practices of journalism, news gathering, and…
Helping my students understand how my role as a college literature teacher differs from the role of a high school English teacher is a sometimes daunting task. Preparing students for a standardized reading test is completely unlike teaching them about a work of classic literature. In an English class addressing The Great Gatsby, depending on student ability…
In my freshman writing class, my job is to teach students how to write a researched essay. I encourage students to pick topics that interest them, but I warn them that if they go into their project already convinced that one answer is correct (that euthanasia should/should not be legal, that abortion is murder/healthcare, that…
Similar:Work / Life Balance: UnlockedI think I must be doing something right …AcademiaFull Bloom opens next weekend. Tickets 724-527-5777.PersonalCarolyn choreographed a fight-dance adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.PersonalZooming into the abyss: Black squares don’t contribute much to the learning environment.PersonalSigma Tau Delta English Honors Society induction ceremony. Congratulations new members. #s…PersonalChess with my son. As usual,…
Similar:This is the first time during the pandemic that we’ve brought this game out. Very topical.PersonalAcademic Writing BluesTwo days ago my problem was that I had n…AcademiaWhat blogging wasI’ve maintained this blog since the spri…CybercultureI wish I could credit the designer. This is brilliant.PersonalOne of my students is demonstrating the perceived value of brand-name vs…
On this date in 1999, I first dated an entry in the collection of web links I had been curating since at least that January. Similar:A Book Itself Is a Little Machine: Emily Short's Interactive FictionWords do some things much better than pi…DesignA selfie with a Chekov action figure after learning of Anton Yelchin's deathCurrent_EventsA…
Above is my response to a meme that makes some shaky assumptions about the purpose of an English classroom. Exploring the intent of the author is a huge part of the English discipline, but it’s far from the only way to study (or teach) literature. Author intent, new historicism, reader-response, structuralism… the list goes on.…
I can sympathize with the sentiment, but the top part of this meme (the white text on black background) is not how I’d frame the situation. My take (which I’ve added underneath the original) is that when two sources disagree, assuming that one must be right and the other must be wrong is a form…
This fascinating essay, by the grandchild of a Nigerian slave trader, explores a complex cultural legacy. At least as provocative as “Did Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love Each Other?” and the stunning, bitter “Molasses to Rum (to Slaves)” from the otherwise cheery musical 1776. African intellectuals tend to blame the West for the slave…
My wife Leigh received a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant towards producing the small-cast drama Full Bloom. She’s found a good space and found the right cast, and so we’re doing the whole crazy “Hey, let’s put on a show” thing again! If you’re within shouting distance, and you think the arts should matter…
This is why journalism matters: The Atlantic offers a good overview of the confusing fact that the official transcripts published by the White House and the Russian government don’t match the video. Compare this transcript, of what actually happened, to the White House’s version. Here is the record of what took place, starting with the…