“I’m a geek. Deal with it.” –my 11yo daughter.

#geekgirlproblems Similar:APNews.com Photo Still Says Sam Smith "declared his pronouns 'they/them'" a Week LaterThe Associated Press was widely criticiz…CultureSymbiosis (TNG Rewatch, Season 1 Episode 22)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…CultureSparklecleaver the PonyswordCorrections – December 30 – NYTimes.com….AmusingI baked pools of light into the wallpaper, so I can quickly suggest background lighting, s…AestheticsSolitaire ChessSpent a relaxing…

Sondra’s Garden: Butterfly Release Honors Dr. Lettrich (Seton Hill University)

“Every good lesson plan has a culminating activity,” says Dr. Audrey Quinlan. “Sondra, it took six months, but here’s your culminating activity.” Similar:National Science Foundation announces plan for comprehensive public access to research res…This is good news. It’s unfair that gove…AcademiaAcademic study concludes that teaching kids to touch-type can make them better writersImproving students’ handwriting…

A blessing before the butterfly release at #sondra…

A blessing before the butterfly release at #sondrasgarden #setonhill http://t.co/z8rKzgc49B Similar:Tweet: Came around the corner and saw my kids huddled on…Came around the corner and saw my kids h…TweetsClassroom collaboration marketplaceWhile I am uncomfortable with the whole …BusinessDesert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksI asked my geekling…

How Poetry Helps You Improve Your Writing

While I’d rather see a reminder that we need to know the rules of formal writing, so that we can choose to ignore them deliberately, otherwise this author makes a good case for the value of poetry. (Great training for the art of writing engaging headlines and story leads.) (See also “Poetry Writing Tips.”) Poetry…

Save our children from the Grammar Tribe

Similarly, “dived” is the traditional past tense of “dive”, but “dove” has overtaken it, as speakers have drawn an analogy with “drove” and “wove”. At some stage, like “stopt” – the old past tense of “stop”, common as recently as the 1940s – “dived” may be obsolete. When will we start to dock points for…

The Soldier Formerly Known as Bradley Manning

Here is the entry on it from The Times’s “Manual of Style and Usage,” a guidebook used by reporters and editors throughout the newsroom: transgender (adj.) is an overall term for people whose current identity differs from their sex at birth, whether or not they have changed their biological characteristics. Cite a person’s transgender status…

New NASA Astronaut Wrote a Limerick to Get Hired

“There was a lot of writing involved. The one that stands out the most is, we were asked to compose a tweet, a limerick, or a haiku. I believe I did a limerick, and it goes: ‘Eyes fixed, gazing off into space My mind in awe of the human race This is all dizzying to…

This Is What It Looks Like Just Before the Muslim Brotherhood Jumps You

As the recent death toll in Egypt surpasses 500, news of Muslim Brotherhood supporters being slaughtered in Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square has been an especially tragic manifestation of the powder-keg that is “post-revolutionary” Egypt. Just days before, our photographer found himself embroiled in an MB protest near to that now-tragic location. While this story does not…

Astronaut Luca Parmitano describes near-drowning experience in space

With water already obscuring his vision, he had to turn upside down in order to release his safety cable. “Two things happen: the Sun sets, and my ability to see — already compromised by the water – completely vanishes, making my eyes useless; but worse than that, the water covers my nose — a really…

31 Undeniable Truths That Journalism Majors Can All Agree On

Because you know you have the chance to tell stories for a living. Which is pretty cool. via 31 Undeniable Truths That Journalism Majors Can All Agree On. Similar:Déjà Q (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 13) Amusing, insightful study of hum…(Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break…AmusingOpinion | Fake News Comes to AcademiaThe three academics…

Lego-Building Tween Refers to “The Hobbit” Text

My daughter, having just received a hand-me-down paperback, is annotating it and consulting it as she cannibalizes multiple generic Lego sets for what looks to be an epic DIY “Lego Hobbit” video. (We did buy her a small “Riddles in the Dark” set so she could have a Gollum, Bilbo, and ring, but everything else…

Rant against the death industry

Death is universal, so one day I’ll face these decisions. I just asked my tween to put down her Legos and my teen to put down his algebra, so I could tell them that when I’m dead, I don’t want them to pay for a fancy coffin, or cushions, or an open casket. I told…

Coined by Shakespeare? Think again

For years, Shakespeare has been thought to deploy greater linguistic variety than contemporaries like Marlowe, Kyd, and Jonson; scholars have estimated that he coined as many as 1,700 words, and that he employed a uniquely large vocabulary of at least 20,000 words. As professor Alfred Hart, long the authority on Shakespeare’s vocabulary, wrote in 1943,…

Don’t Like Hamlet? Now’s Your Chance To Rewrite It

“It’s not really fair to say, ‘Look at this guy who died 400 years before I was born. He certainly had different opinions than me about the value of women.’” North says. “There’s stuff that doesn’t age as well, and what you do is you either adapt it so it works better now, or you…

Disruptions: Texting Your Feelings, Symbol by Symbol

Being a word-oriented thinker, I don’t have much interest in emoji icons. I dislike it when an autocorrect turns a traditional sideways smiley into an icon. My daughter, who at age 11 is too young for a Facebook account, sometimes uses my Facebook account to chat with her slightly-older teen friends, which means that when…

RT @pewresearch: Teens Haven’t Abandoned Facebook…

RT @pewresearch: Teens Haven’t Abandoned Facebook (Yet) — @mary_madden says reports of Facebook’s demise among teens are premature http://… Similar:How hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump …AcademiaTweet: Came around the corner and saw my kids huddled on…Came around the corner and saw my kids…

Despicable Me 2 “Bottom” gag will do for A Midsummer Night’s Dream what Disney’s Little Mermaid’s Ariel did for The Tempest

The name “Bottom” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is already funny, but I expect my students will likely snigger at it, thinking of the “Silas Ramsbottom” gag from Despicable Me 2. I read The Tempest before I saw Disney’s Little Mermaid, so when I think of Prospero’s spirit Ariel, I do not think of a…

Little People, Big Fun: A Brief History of Fisher-Price Little People

I remember having a Fisher Price airplane pull-toy, and a school that came with a chalkboard and a tray of magnetic letters. But this Sesame Street playset was the best. I was so excited about it my mom let me look at it in the box before “Santa” wrapped it and put it under the…

Dennis G. Jerz | Associate Professor of English -- New Media Journalism, Seton Hill University | jerz.setonhill.edu

Maybe I’ll start a cover band, cleaning up hip-hop songs…

Maybe I’ll start a cover band, cleaning up hip-hop songs, remixing them as instant breakfast food jingles. I’ll call it “Minced Oats.” Similar:11 Tips H.P. Lovecraft Had for Novice Writers”Avoid reading so as not to taint your c…CultureWhat Do Happy Teens Do? Hint: It doesn't involve their phones.I was surprised to see how closely happi…CultureSTEM…

If this professor thing doesn’t work out, I’ll sta…

If this professor thing doesn’t work out, I’ll start a nerd-rock band called “Force-choked by Jesus.” Similar:Loved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in …CybercultureProto iPads and Paper Coexist in Classic Star TrekRewatching the…