Another fun show! Great job, cast and crew. Similar:Today I didn't save the world, but I did help a student while power-walking at the mall.I’m far from perfect, and injustice and …AcademiaThere are many Star Wars references in Dani Girl, so I made this tribute to Tom Jung's 197…CultureCreating textures for background buildings in a…
I’ve given an in-class presentation on “The Shape of an Academic Paper” enough times that I’m ready to turn it into a stand-alone web page, which I’ll ask my students to read for homework, in order to save more class time for writing workshops. Musical friends, I’d welcome your feedback on point #5, “Think of…
I don’t particularly miss the splash landing pages, rotating animated logos, and “click here” web design of the 1990s. But one of the great things about it was that people experimented, sometimes doing crazy things. Rob LoCascio, who in 1995 “came up with the technology for those chat windows that pop up on websites,” notes…
Thanks(?) to social media, it’s very easy for us to learn, in a personal context, all about bad things happening far away from us. And the impressions left by people grieving and pointing fingers at each other leaves a toll. And when we do not know, or when we do not know enough, we tend always…
When I’m looking for a picture I’m going to use in an academic project, I typically search Creative Commons; however, Google’s image search is quite useful. The interface is changing to make it easier to view a picture in context (and a little harder to download an image without visiting the source page). The the…
Every Friday since Columbine, one schoolteacher has asked her students to to submit a list. Who would they like to sit next to next week? Who has been an exceptional classroom citizen this week? Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s…
Don’t use that “18 school shootings since Jan 1” meme. It’s misleading. I’ve lost track of how many times this image has popped up on my social media feeds. The 18 “school shootings” marked on that map include an instance in which a third-grader accidentally pulled the trigger of a police officer’s holstered gun (nobody…
I announced that my 300-level Media and Culture class would spend an hour in monastic silence, collaborating on a Google Doc. I expected the students would understand I was helping them get into the mood to appreciate the 14th century setting of The Name of the Rose. What I didn’t expect was an awesome drum…
Okay, on closer inspection I see the red hearts, but the sentiment is clear. Similar:The science of fake news: Addressing fake news requires a multidisciplinary effortThe rise of fake news highlights the ero…AcademiaStick to facts, but write news your readers will actually want to read. Students who put a lot of effort int…AcademiaPict Free Summer…
Similar:Carolyn's "waiter with wobbly stack of plates" bit from Hello DollyPersonalShy Preschooler Won't Say Her Lines in "Peter Pan" Rehearsal (Stage Right! Greensburg)Little Maggie isn’t so sure she wants to…DramaAnother lovely variation of a #steampunk control panel. #blender3dart #neovictorian #desig…AestheticsAnd again I ush.PersonalI have more to do than mark 99 assignments, but this is…
Those who remember Jane Eyre solely as required reading in high-school English class likely recall most vividly its over-the-top Gothic tropes: a childhood banishment to a death-haunted room, a mysterious presence in the attic, a Byronic hero, and a cold mansion going up in flames. It’s more seemingly the stuff of Lifetime television, not revolutions. But as…
The top suggestion for a Holocaust search no longer points to a denier’s website, but Google’s search algorithm still makes some truly awful suggestions. (I’ve turned off the suggested search feature on my browser.) The top result for “Black lives matter is a hate group,” for instance, leads to a link by the Southern Poverty…
Our local paper did a story on how libraries are changing to meet the needs of students. I’m teaching a course on the history and future of the book, so we’ll be talking quite a bit about the physical medium; however, printed material is no longer central to a college education, so the print collection is not central to our library.
Similar:West Side Story (One-Minute Preview)From Mrs. Lovett two weeks ago to Maria …AestheticsMy more or less daily 10cm section of a #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dart…AestheticsMTV VMAs: Will Smith Family's Reaction Was to Gaga, Not Miley (Video)I didn’t watch the show, but I did see t…BusinessBar Association #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 16)…
I got an email this morning from someone who went to my high school a few years behind me… she is now a high school teacher, and had asked the lit magazine editor to dig up a spoof of Beowulf she remembered reading back in the day. I only barely remember writing it. This excerpt…
Similar:I've missed doing this! Another 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel goodness. #blender3d …AestheticsMy contribution to WAOB Audio Theatre’s plan to record all the proverbs.My contribution to WAOB Audio Theatre’s …CultureThinkGeek :: Star Trek Enterprise PlushSet phasers to “Squeee!” ThinkGee…AestheticsTapdance / jazz music outing with the girl. Tapdance / jazz music outing with …Academia‘Broken…
Last year, SHU did not sponsor a bus trip to Washington D.C., so I did not arrange a field trip to the Newseum. Seeing a chunk of the Berlin Wall, an antenna from the World Trade Center in front of a display of 9/11 front pages from around the world, Ted “Unabomber” Kaczynski’s cabin, and…
Me: It took a few days for the spool of microfilm to arrive via interlibrary loan. I’d use this steampunk contraption to manually seek the right page in the book. But I found it. Crying stock photo child: (Sniff) Checking sources was scary ‘n’ hard in 2006! Me: Yes it was, crying stock photo child. Yes…
Facebook has monetized access to online content. The mobile apps make it difficult for you to actually leave Facebook to follow a link, which means Facebook is increasingly showing other people’s content, bypassing the creator’s own ads (and their “subscribe” and “comment” and “contact us” and “archive” buttons). As Internet comedy writer Matt Klinman puts…
It was pleasurable to encounter a familiar reference to Plato’s Phaedrus (which I just assigned in my Media & Culture class) in this Atlantic article on memory in the digital information age. With its streaming services and Wikipedia articles, the internet has lowered the stakes on remembering the culture we consume even further. But it’s…