Faculty lining up for #SetonHill’s “Go Orientation” — new ceremony hands students from their parents to robed Hogwarts pretenders.

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Dani Girl (Oct 1-3, 2015) at the Geyer Performing Arts Center

Vinnie Tresco, Carolyn Jerz, Matthew Hommel, and Kathryn Pretz are in the cast of this playful, intense & inspiring musical. Similar:Close Reading of Sonnet 130: Form, Theme, and Cultural Context (and a Rage Comic)I’m preparing to teach Shakespeare again…AcademiaHomage to PoeMichael Dirda offers a thoughtful assess…BooksThere, in my morning snapshot of the kids home-schooling in the…

Advising incoming majors.

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To Learn More, This High-Schooler Left The Classroom

Nick Bain, 17, was in class one day when he calculated that only “2 1/2 to three hours” was actually useful instruction. So he decided to go out on his own to learn. —NPR Similar:Pipe Trouble’s government woes highlight gaming illiteracyInteresting discussion of a political ho…CultureA spooooooky post about predatory journals for this Halloween season.Predatory…

Thoughtful PopCult Analysis of ‘Peanuts’ Deserves Better than a Clickbaity Headline Hating on Snoopy

On a shelf in the slanty room under the stairs, next to her college textbooks, my mother kept a stash of inexpensive Peanuts paperbacks — dozens of them, which reprinted the newspaper strips, perhaps on a yearly basis, maybe more frequently. I spent many a summer afternoon reading through those books, and I remember sorting…

One wild place. (Sunday.)

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After a successful piano recital.

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Sesame Street Is Moving to HBO, and the Symbolism Is Crushing

I’ve been fascinated by the rhetoric of headlines surrounding the “Sesame Street moves to HBO” story. * HBO gentrifies ‘Sesame Street’ –VentureBeat * Sesame Street Episodes Will Shrink to Half an Hour –Time * Sesame Street Is Heading to HBO, and Getting Even Bigger –Esquire * This episode of Sesame Street brought to you by…

A serious summer activity.

Once classes start again, we will all have less time for the game of life. Let’s do some serious playing while we still can. Similar:Opt Out of Pre-approved Credit Mailings Requires SSN and DoB? Not So Fast!I was horrified to see that, in order to…BusinessJane Catherine Lotter's Self-written ObituaryI don’t know her, other than as…

Keyboard Shortcuts for Novelists

Use the command-alt functions to add sexual tension, plot twists, or a humorous interlude. —The New Yorker Similar:New Graphic for MLA Style Paper HandoutThe other day, I noticed that if you Goo…Academia‘Unexpected item’: how self-checkouts failed to live up to their promiseBusinesses still fret over these issues,…BusinessTalkback session after the matinee and my brother and…

Updating Journalism Handouts

Jerz > Writing > Journalism I’ve spent the afternoon touching up some older journalism handouts, seeing which are still in good shape, which need some work, and which new ones I’ll need to create from scratch. I realize I’ve never actually written a handout on the inverted pyramid, writing leads, writing headlines, punctuating quotes from sources… of course there…