No spoilers here. (I managed to avoid all spoilers, and hadn’t even seen the trailer. I did see still pics of porgs, though, and I knew the name of the character the StarWars Bros were hating on, so thank you to everyone who did their part to keep the secrets.) No intellectual critical distance for…
In the bird-flight simulator at the Pittsburgh Aviary, the girl twists and turns, careening around buildings, dive-bombing alleyways, and comes to a perfect landing in the middle of the street just as her timer runs out. The boy immediately heads up to clear the buildings, then flies toward the horizon to see how far he…
Pope Francis recently addressed Italian journalists: Your voice, free and responsible, is fundamental for the growth of any society that wishes to be called democratic, so that the continuous exchange of ideas and a profitable debate based on real and correctly reported data can be guaranteed. In our time, often dominated by the anxiety of…
If you were this person’s attorney, you’d probably want this social media blurb phrased a little differently. The headline attached to the story is clearer. Yes, the social media blurb is shorter, but I’d rather cut the “Twp” and make room for the unambiguous “and.” Derry man accused of assaulting female witness and attorney jailed…
Right now, I’m teaching “American Lit 1915-Present” for the last time. It’s the companion course to “American Lit 1800-1915,” which I’ll also never teach again. They are required courses for English majors who need to cover American Lit, but they were also designed to serve as electives. My colleagues and I have trouble covering the depth that we know our English majors need, without overwhelming students who are just looking to sample a bit of AmLit to fulfill a course requirement. So we’ve revamped both these courses, starting next fall. One new course will be “American Lit 1776-Present,” which will obviously cover fewer works than we can fit into 2 terms, but the benefit is we can be confident that any student who’s taken the course will have a clearer understanding of the scope of American literature. Another new course will be “Topics in American Literature,” which will allow us to go into some depth, without needing to cover a little bit of everything. I’m thinking of picking the focus “Literature and Government,” which could include “Rip Van Winkle,” All the King’s Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, Invisible Man (Ellison, not H.G. Wells) and Farhenheit 451.
“If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press… And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.” — Republican Senator John McCain, in a Feb 2017 interview on…
The euphoria of getting my grades in Friday was short-lived. Similar:Many things in the world are awful, but my latest #Blender3D work on my #steampunk control…One of many steampunk control panels I’v…AestheticsGirlhood 2014They don’t even seem to want to watch Fr…CultureWhen students don't show up during office hours: I adjusted the cabinet and added a…
Similar:Hamlet. #tobePersonalDesk trays, with procedural wood materials by Blendermada. #blender3dAestheticsGirlhood 2014They don’t even seem to want to watch Fr…CultureFacebook, Now You Remind Me of a Half-Drunk Cocktail Party SchmoozerLast week, Facebook asked me what sports…BusinessIn-person classes heighten age-related hearing problems (opinion)My family tells me I’m starting to speak…AcademiaMy schedule every Friday this term. (Payback for…
Similar:After the haircut. The girl seems to like it.PersonalI'm not tired of @shu.pippin yet! Final performance is sold out.PersonalThe automatic doors on my fantasy steampunk cruiser do work… kinda TThe automatic doors on my fantasy stea…PersonalI actually don't mind Canvas — it just happens to be the course management system I have …AcademiaNo more braces!PersonalKinetic…
Similar:Ave atque valeWhat is a liberal education and what it …AcademiaFacebook’s Censorship Problem Is What Happens When a Tech Company Controls the NewsFacebook makes editorial decisions that …BusinessHow the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive The ink used in a fountain pen, the …CultureWhy teens need live theater in the age of YouTubeA good article from the…
Similar:If Wishes Were Horses (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 16) Hallucinations become…Rewatching ST:DS9 Quark tries to inte…CultureSpring 2022 Midterm Grades: SubmittedPersonalAfter your shift at the protocol station, join me in the officers' lounge, just up the spi… AestheticsOn the Virtues of a Dadsplained Literary ChildhoodThe last book I read to her was Wutherin…BooksSiblings gotta…
Similar:Another chess tournament with the boy.GamesWhat are you eating at midnight breakfast?PersonalDress rehearsal for The Nutcracker.AestheticsI just finished recalibrating the port scanner station and lookout post. If you need help … AestheticsChess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.The boy’s personal best in terms of win-…CultureTeaching myself the #Unity3D game engine. Each step requires a…
This clever freshman writing student created a project in Texture, which is designed for branching narratives (such as the Choose Your Own Adventure stories). In the next few screens, he put up nodes showing older and more recent writing samples, asked me to choose which one showed the better writing technique, and gave me feedback…
Peter looks forward to his Wednesday evening visits to the Monroeville Chess club. (Last one until mid-January.) Similar:Star Wars, Star Trek And V Author Ann Crispin Passes AwayAs a high school student, I wrote a fan …BooksAnd you thought your last teleconference was rough!PersonalI rather like my instructional page on writing effective dialogue. I created…
I haven’t taught a developmental course at SHU, but when I teach freshman writing, I often encounter students who struggle with the transition from high school to college writing. Those who were praised all their lives as good writers can tell good personal stories, and they can deploy accurate summaries of non-controversial, “correct” facts. I give…
Saturday, Donald Trump tweeted that he knew Flynn lied, and that’s why he “had to fire” him. Critics immediately raised concerns, noting that if Trump did in fact know Flynn had lied, then Trump’s request that FBI Director James Comey “let this go” amounts to an obstruction of justice. Sunday, Trump’s lawyer John Dowd told…
Pop quiz for public relations 101. Scenario 1: You run a wildly popular app that incorporates video with a live host. You learn that a reporter is writing a personality profile of your host. Do you offer some cheerful quotes and then make a note to get your host to sign a new contract that handles…
Similar:Yes, Duolingo is free and I’ve learned a lot. No, I don’t like the psychological manipulat…Yes, Duolingo is free and I’ve learned a…Ethics"I might be putting a little too much effort into designing the cravat for the captai…AestheticsThe chief engineer has a forward-facing station, on a platform above the technical staff c…PersonalNot doing well. As…
Similar:Thinking about physical therapy and cheerful, chatty older gents…I feel like I’m living in a sitcom. A…CultureA #neovictorian #steampunk ship-of-the-line needs a dramatic flag and a conveniently locat…AestheticsI am happy with how this turned out. My mother told me about this story when I was little,…PersonalA familiar performer choreographed and dances the "Canaan Days" tango…
During the original run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, my college roommate and I invited our friends over to our duplex for Star Trek parties. Our local TV station ran the show at midnight Sunday, which was a terrible time, but we sometimes had 30 people over. Though we kept in touch virtually, I…