As I gear up to teach about memes and fake news in a “Media Aesthetics” class, I am keeping track of good background articles so I can bring my students up to speed. Satire, like fake news, creates a sense of community through rejection. It delights in tearing down institutions but is useless at constructing…
You may have seen a version of this meme floating around. I don’t know the source of the original, but just now I came across an adaptation by Haplo Schaffer: I like it, but I had some thoughts of my own. Hah! And showing that Haplo is an open-minded good sport about this whole…
As the faculty advisor to a college journalism program, I am very interested in the relationship between professional journalists and the president-elect. A free press is a cornerstone of democracy. The GOP played the electoral college game better than the DNC, such that Clinton’s popular vote did not match the electoral college outcome. Media pundits who…
Similar:Dungeons & Dragons & PhilosophyIn one of the most compelling chapters, …ArtDescent, Part 1 (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 26) Data experiences disturbing…Rewatching ST:TNG Data plays poker wi…CultureIf You Think You Hate Puns, You're WrongI wrote my college application essay on …AmusingThe Duolingo owl has been judging my German every day for the last…
Conservative talk radio predates the Internet as a populist alternative to the mainstream media. This article challenges the idea that “fake news” is a new, or even a significant problem, and instead explores how some celebrity conservatives (including radio host Rush Limbaugh) encourage their followers to mistrust traditional news outlets. Fake news has been around as…
Similar:A Book Itself Is a Little Machine: Emily Short's Interactive FictionWords do some things much better than pi…DesignTalk with us about books! English as a minor or second major @setonhilluniversityAcademiaI baked pools of light into the wallpaper, so I can quickly suggest background lighting, s…AestheticsWhat are 'Judeo-Christian values'? Analyzing a divisive termblock of American society.…
In the classic stop-action TV special “The Year Without a Santa Claus” (1974), newspaper headlines provide exposition and offer a low-budget way to depict widespread reaction to the events of the plot. Newspapers also introduce a plot hole that’s bothered me ever since I was a kid. When I watched the show again this year,…
In the poem “Imma Let You Integrate Quotations!” by Melvin Middleschool-Writer, it talks about a writing style that wastes words. “Those long quotations, dropping awkward into the essay / Hijack your thoughts / Like a Kanye who graciously accepts a microphone from Taylor Swift / So he can confidently mansplain it all.” This quote means that students who interrupt their…
Similar:The choreographer daughter is doing a thing.The choreographer daughter is doing a th…PersonalMore modular low-poly background buildings. I’ll do some more facades then move to the nex…More modular low-poly background buildin…Aesthetics#SHUConvocation is about to begin @setonhilluniversityPersonalThe Missing Will, by Agatha Christie (WAOB Audio Theatre)I had a great time playing Hastings in t…CultureEnjoying more live theater.CultureStandardized…
Similar:Feeding a Neighbor's LambsA neighbor invited us over to help feed …AmusingNext up for the girl: Amy, the youngest sister, in Little Women: The Broadway Musical. Nov…PersonalCarolyn plays Ti Moune in the Stage Right homeschool company "Once on This Island"…PersonalAcademic Writing BluesTwo days ago my problem was that I had n…AcademiaSeize the Day!PersonalThese buildings are…
The Washington Post, which was one of about a dozen news outlets that Trump banned from his campaign events for a few months this summer, has released a Chrome browser plugin that adds Post-sponsored commentary into Trump’s Twitter feed. Sometimes the Post says the commentary will simply add context, but they are announcing it as…
Similar:While searching my bag for a cable, I found an unexpected wealth of food-substitute items.AmusingI just installed the "Old Layout for Facebook" plugin for Chrome.I just installed the “Old Layout for Fac…CybercultureMy college writing students are out making short videos responding to a prompt.While my students are out of the room ma…AcademiaSecond Sight (#StarTrek #DS9…
Similar:Dr Jerz I think your microphone glitchedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPqnXF7A…AcademiaSpaghetti dinner with my son.PersonalMore modular, swappable building components. I’ve got to work on the sides of these mid-si…More modular, swappable building compone…Aesthetics"Oliver Twist" is a story of redemption for PICT Classic Theatre.Carolyn started rehearsals for PICT Clas…BooksMask up.PersonalEquus. Powerful theatre.Personal
My family and I are in the voice cast of the short audio play, “Christmas Letters.” Similar:Hey there, chaotic world in academia and beyond, could you settle down just a bit so I can…AcademiaHandshakes Really Do MatterMonday night handshake/eye contact pract…CultureHanging with the rude mechanicals @setonhilluniversityA Midsummer Night’s Dream.CultureDate a girl who reads.I earned a…
Update, June 2020: See Vanessa Otero Ad Fontes Media Updated Media Bias Chart –6.0 Vanessa Otero created an impressive chart that visualizes the problem with a simplistic “real news / fake news” dichotomy. News that skews left or right can still be valuable, and news that scrupulously avoids bias can still be vacuous clickbait. While…
So Khan Academy now has a grammar unit. Similar:Happy Father’s Day One of my favorite pictures of my fa…Current_EventsMasked, vaxxed, and settling in to watch live theaterBarebones is a little black box theater,…BooksSaints and Poets, Maybe They Do SomeI wrote the following in 2004, when my s…DramaWhy I Rarely Blog about My Home Building ProjectsWe’re…
Grades submitted. I’ll reward myself with some fun. Then it’s time to set up for my JTerm course. Similar:Our 2014 class banner was an iPad. I can’t believe I just noticed that today.PersonalThe chief engineer does not know where the floating lamps are coming from, but he looks gr…AestheticsIf I don't design the control panels…
Similar:A little better all the time.A little better all the time.PersonalUshering for a school matinee. Love seeing the kids excited about @prime_stage Frankenstei… CultureLaying out our anti-socialization defenses & cleaning out the penitence shack for anot…Visiting Fort Ligonier. When the girl…CultureSummer Theater Camp Photos: "Patrice" in "13" My 11yo performed the part of “Patrice…Current_EventsI may…
Similar:Look what I found on my shelf in a closet. #history #archaeology #media Look what I found on my shelf in a cl…Personal7 ways for teachers to beat the Sunday bluesTell yourself, I am rejecting these thou…EducationWhat Part of “No, Totally” Don’t You Understand?English continues to evolve. I noticed t…CultureTeaching “The Odyssey” at San QuentinThe…
The proliferation of fake and hyperpartisan news that has flooded into Americans’ laptops and living rooms has prompted a national soul-searching, with liberals across the country asking how a nation of millions could be marching to such a suspect drumbeat. But while some Americans may take the stories literally — like the North Carolina man…