The cultural implications of the myth that English majors end up working permanently at Starbucks

Would you like facts with that? English majors are statistically more likely to end up as CEOs, doctors or accountants than food service workers. The top occupations for English-degree holders ages 27 to 66 are elementary and middle school teachers, postsecondary teachers, and lawyers, judges, magistrates and other judicial workers. Indeed, English majors, who go…

‘Our worst nightmare’: New legal filings detail reporting of Rolling Stone’s U-Va. gang rape story

The court documents, submitted as evidence in associate dean Nicole Eramo’s $10 million defamation lawsuit against the magazine, show how journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely deferred to a U-Va. junior named “Jackie” instead of digging deeper to verify the student’s claims. Source: ‘Our worst nightmare’: New legal filings detail reporting of Rolling Stone’s U-Va. gang rape…

The “Other Side” Is Not Dumb.

The song “No One Is Alone,” from the musical Into the Woods, always gives me chills. Last year when my daughter was learning it in her voice class, I helped her work through some of the words. While the whole musical has a dark tone that I find comes too close to nihilism, in the context of…

A Liberal-Arts Education for Business Majors

The world needs well-rounded leaders. A liberal arts degree encourages the kind of critical thinking that breeds managers and CEOs. American undergraduates are flocking to business programs, and finding plenty of entry-level opportunities. But when businesses go hunting for CEOs or managers, “they will say, a couple of decades out, that I’m looking for a…

The Course of True Fun Never Did Run Smooth: A Midsummer Night’s Dwarf Fortress Reflection

I am in rehearsals to play Oberon in a community theatre production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is a fairy king who manipulates the lives of humans who wander into his realm. I am also playing Dwarf Fortress, an insanely complex game in which the player indirectly manages a community of dwarves. I’ve been surprised by the connections I’ve observed.