Close Reading of Sonnet 130: Form, Theme, and Cultural Context (and a Rage Comic)

I’m preparing to teach Shakespeare again this fall. Seton Hill offers the course every other year, so each time it comes around, it feels new.  The course will focus on plays, but I do like starting out with a brief unit on the sonnet in order to help my students get accustomed to the language. It occurred…

“The Robots are Coming” by Kyle Dargan

An excerpt from a poem that explores humanity’s relationship with machinery in this post-industrial age. Tell the machines we honor their dead, distant cousins. Tell them we tendered those cities to repose out of respect for welded steel’s bygone era. —The Poetry Foundation Similar:Parrots learn to make video calls to chat with other parrots, then…

Everybody Dies (Shakespearean Tragedy Infographic)

The image (by Magee and Griffin) is an excerpt from a rough draft; a slightly different version is available as a poster, on mugs and totebags etc., from the National Theatre Shop. Similar:Two Steps Down the Interactive Fiction RoadWonderfully detailed analysis of two gro…AestheticsVideo ResumesI’m thinking of asking students in a med…BusinessBrilliant, Troubled Dorothy Parker by…

Stage Right Nation goes Into the Woods at Saint Vincent Summer Theater. Great job Renata, Elly, and the whole cast & crew.

Stage Right Nation goes Into the Woods at Saint Vincent Summer Theater. Great job Renata, Elly, and the whole cast & crew. Similar:Fall 2020 Midterm Grades: SUBMITTEDPersonalIt's been a Dwarf Fortress afternoon. Awesome"The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does …PersonalUnfinished pine and not so ornamented, for…

Journalism academics: mocked by the media and stifled by universities

  [T]he traditional consensus is that journalism education should be focused on practical vocational skills including shorthand, news gathering and news writing and yet it is situated within an academic environment, whose core business is research.Although the practitioner academic is fairly common in universities today, due to the huge rise in converted polytechnics teaching vocational…

Why Love Lyrics Last

I am inclined to agree with the “favorite scholarly idea” that is here criticized, if only to offer a counterpoint to the notion that the “I” who speaks in each Shakespeare sonnet is a coherent and consistent stand-in for Shakespeare himself, and that the proper way to understand a poem is to imagine a situation…

Parents Dedicate New College Safe Space In Honor Of Daughter Who Felt Weird In Class Once

“When our Alexis felt weird after hearing someone discuss an idea that did not conform to her personally held beliefs, she had no place to turn,” said Arnold Stigmore, standing outside the $2 million space that reportedly features soothing music, neutral-colored walls, oversized floor cushions, fun board games, and a variety of snacks. “God forbid…

Pluto Flyby

When I was about 10, I wrote to NASA and got a big packet of color magazines and newsletters on the Space Shuttle and Voyager missions. I loved staying up late watching live PBS coverage of the flybys of Jupiter, and Saturn. At some point I wrote again asking for more stuff, but I got…

Facebook Updates News Feed So Your Favorite Friends Rise to the Top

Now, News Feed, at its most basic level, is defined by secrecy. Facebook doesn’t reveal exact details of the algorithms that determine what you see (and what you don’t) based on the company’s ever-evolving, ever-more-granular analysis of your preferences. And not just the preferences you explicitly set. Your likes, comments, clicks, even how long you…

We found a mushroom fairy ring in our yard

It won’t make the afternoon of mowing more magical, but in the front lawn today I did find this mushroom fairy ring. Similar:In Defense of Liking ThingsIt used to bother me that people got all…CultureAgain with the @shu.pippinPersonalWho Watches the Watchers (ST:TNG Season Three Episode 4) Rationalist, talky mythbustingRewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….EthicsThough I…