This is a challenging writing task. Presidential biographies are a staple of children’s book publishing, and of classrooms across the country. Nonfiction for children is a surging category, particularly in light of a Common Core mandate that schools put greater emphasis on it in their curriculum. Publishers like Penguin Young Readers, Scholastic and Time for…
All of us with Facebook accounts do work for Mark Zuckerberg. Our tagging, sharing, and liking gives Facebook valuable information that advertisers use to reach us. This article describes how Facebook has been courting news organizations, asking them to provide content tailored to Facebook’s needs. Facebook is not interested in an informed, educated public that…
My kids have never seen The Princess Bride. (This is an odd pop culture gap for my 80s-obsessed girl.) Similar:Facets #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 3, Episode 21) Dax's colleagues channel the personal…Rewatching ST:DS9 The lead characters c…MediaA tiny bit of rogue news leaked through the ads.Hey, Newsweek, alert your webmaster. I c…BusinessStunning, bleak unemployment chart…
A literary work is a powerful tool for simulating what it’s like to inhabit someone else’s life. Not just tolerating difference, or grudgingly giving “the other side” equal time; but generating real empathy for the diversity of humanity. There is no Frigate like a Book To take us Lands away Nor any Coursers like a…
It’s extremely important to understand what a wide range of people are thinking about, and that includes being exposed to influential ideas that I disagree with. I’d rather not hide from an idea that has power, especially if it turns out I can do something about the issue. The headline is a little misleading… there…
NASDAQ.com throws shade via Reuters: Snapchat is popular among people under 30 who enjoy applying bunny faces and vomiting rainbows onto their selfies, but man yon Wall Street are critical of its high valuation, slowing user growth and lack of profitability. Joel Randewich, NASDAQ.com Similar:Support the arts in your community! I’m here for the daughter…
Free speech is valuable. It’s dangerous to set the precedent that it’s okay to censor speech as long as you side with the censor and against the position being silenced. A New Jersey school district has suspended a teacher after yearbook photos of two high school students were altered to remove President Donald Trump’s name…
Similar:Sold out show today. Carolyn gets tomorrow off, then a final week.PersonalUnder my academic robes… photographer vest with 3 frozen ice packs. #heatwave #HonorsCon…PersonalThe Last Jedi: Oh, the Feels.No spoilers here. (I managed to avoid al…MediaStudents present their research for the Celebration of Writing @setonhilluniversityPersonalThe lighting doesn't really convey that this is supposed to be…
Similar:That time three-year-old me spotted a Mary Cassatt painting at the Art Institute of Chicag…My mother had a framed print of Mary Cas…AestheticsWhy ‘Cats’ the Movie Fails So FlamboyantlyI can’t seem to get into superhero movie…AestheticsJust a #neovictorian avatar in spats and a tailcoat, checking out the back porch and bridg… AestheticsCan't upload photos…
Similar:"I'm a geek. Deal with it." –my 11yo daughter. #geekgirlproblemsAmusingAnalysis | President Trump is losing his war with the mediaMy Media Aesthetics students are studyin…Current_EventsWhy Do People Share Fake News? A Sociotechnical Model of Media EffectsVerrit, like Snopes, Politifact, and a h…CultureIs Babylon 5 secretly the most influential TV show of the past 25 years?When…
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope. Best case scenario? A virtual reality game that is either based around Portal or Half-Life, or unites the franchises into one experience. Valve has invested heavily in VR and clearly values the technology as an entertainment phenomenon – the Portal demo for Vive is one of the…
Similar:My mother-in-law invited me to try out the 60- year-old tape machine that belonged to my f…My mother-in-law invited me to try out t…AwesomeI've missed doing this! Another 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel goodness. #blender3d …AestheticsThe storage shelves of my fantasy steampunk CGI starship will need props with appropriate … AestheticsWhen backwards…
Similar:Picture Books Languish as Parents Push ‘Big-Kid Books’Picture books are so unpopular these day…BooksHelping students find my office (St. Joseph 403)PersonalValid for any new yearEthicsUnderstanding 9/11: A Television News ArchiveStunning collection of thousands of hour…CultureDeus Ex MemoriesI’ve just finished my final training run…CybercultureMy son just handed me my serving of noodles in the butter substitute…
MTV recently ditched the “Best Actor/Actress” awards in favor of “Best Actor,” which suggests the gender-specific term “actress” is less popular among MTV’s target audience. I added that detail, fixed some broken links, and updated the graphic. See Writing Tips: Gender Neutral Language. Similar:My student journalists sport their fashionable “What Would Jerz Do?” wristbands.AcademiaFrodo Baggins,…
With the money I saved by working on the car (watching a lot of YouTube tutorials) I bought a new midrange zoom, in the hopes I won’t miss shots by swapping lenses. And now my camera bag won’t quite zip shut. #ConspicuousConsumption Similar:This winter I changed my weekday alarm tone to chirping birds. This winter…
Similar:Dress rehearsal for The Nutcracker.AestheticsPrime Stage – "Twelfth Night" – Carolyn Jerz ("Viola")https://youtu.be/FlaO1VI1nbk The wife…CultureIn March 2000, I was blogging about Palm V computers for the Navy, NCAA banning online jou…In March 2000, I was blogging about …AcademiaArsenic and Old Lace. I haven't seen this show since I played the lead as a high…
Similar:Rediscovering History’s Lost First Female Video Game DesignerRCA’s console never rivaled the impact o…CybercultureWhen it comes to the truth, point of view really does matter.You may have seen a version of this meme…DesignWorld Trade Center Literary and Cultural Reflections (first posted September 11, 2001) Not knowing what else to do, in the nu…AestheticsJournalists: The "Enemy…
While doing some spring cleaning around my computer desk at home, I noticed that there are scores of old PC games that are still stacked up within arm’s reach, even though I no longer even use a computer with an optical drive at that workstation. But these are games that have sentimental value for my…
Oppressors deny their own agency and dehumanize their victims by using the passive voice. I want my students to recognize this deliberate strategy, and to look for hidden actors and dehumanized recpients of injustice. (I try to teach about active and passive verbs in a more lighthearted way, but I only bothered to photograph and…
The voice of Wallace has died. The silly, plummy, character-driven steampunk/sitcom hybrid Wallace & Gromit films were a big influence on the tone of the “Captain Gearhart and the Magnificent Blimpship” steampunk bedtime stories I used to tell the kids. Peter Sallis has died at the age of 96, his agents have announced.The actor…