This is How Literary Fiction Teaches Us to Be Human

Practicing empathy through drama and poetry and art and games and face-to-face conversations and human acts of all kinds matters. This article covers the specific social benefits that come from reading literary fiction. Film critic Roger Ebert called movies the most powerful empathy machines, but someone with the right knowledge base can say pretty much…

What My Journalism Class Looks Like on Election Day

My journos are out there, gathering news. I’m asking them to submit whatever they’ve gathered by the end of our 75-minute class, and then polish the story before midnight. Similar:After Halloween where do all the pumpkins go? Now we knowIn the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jonathan…AmusingEgypt sentences Al Jazeera journalists to years in prisonAn Egyptian court has…

UVA administrator awarded $3M in Rolling Stone case

Jurors awarded a University of Virginia administrator $3 million Monday for her portrayal in a now-discredited Rolling Stone magazine article about the school’s handling of a brutal gang rape a fraternity house. The 10-member jury’s decision came after they concluded Friday that the magazine, its publisher and reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely were responsible for defamation,…

Why Photojournalism Matters

World Series: Chicago Tribune & the Sun-Times. Staff Photographers v No Staff Photographers. Any questions? #photojournalism @briancassella pic.twitter.com/LHLQ1VFl1o — Jim Colton (@JimmyColton) November 3, 2016 Similar:Now Is the Perfect Time to Memorize a PoemPowerful writing, by Matthew Schneier. …AestheticsBefore and after making a meme of myself as Oberon, King of the FaeriesCultureSetonianThe first issue of…

8 (Short Halloween film by Josh Reardon)

My daughter and I appear in this short film, one of a series of 13 Halloween movies created by Josh Reardon. Similar:On the spiral staircase that leads from the top deck down to the officers' pub and wa…AestheticsThe Hubble spotted this smiley face in spaceReading each other’s facial expressions …AestheticsCarnegie Science Center: Roboworld (and a…

Page Layout 101: Proximity creates context. Don’t let this happen to you.

Similar:Homeownership in America Has Collapsed—Dont Blame MillennialsYes, the article is interesting, but I’m…AmusingA former student working in SEO shared this. I miss Google classic.AmusingLetter of Recommendation: Fanny PacksWhat other accessory ensures the safety …CultureLooking forward in the back room of the officers' pub, in the #steampunk cruiser from…Aesthetics5 of the Fiercest One-Liners in HistoryYes, the…

Two Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots Talk and Argue with Each Other

Sounds like a typical grad school seminar. Similar:What are 'Judeo-Christian values'? Analyzing a divisive termblock of American society. ­But for crit…AcademiaPICT Classic Theatre presents a gritty version of Charles Dickens’ classicPost-Gazette.com – Homer, Shakespeare, C…BooksText, Speech, Machine: Metaphors for Computer Code in the Law : Computational CultureOn my to-read list once I post midterm g…BusinessRestoring…

Practicing Intellectual, Evidence-based Disagreement

This is what a busy literature seminar on evidence-based disagreement looks like. I’ve asked the students to pair up to create a 2-3-minute podcast that demonstrates they can participate in a respectful, evidence-based disagreement over Poe’s “The Raven.” I asked each student to introduce the other student’s position, and to do so respectfully, without caricaturing…