A Career-Aligned Major Isn’t Enough

I’ve taken over teaching the English department’s relatively new career focus sequence, so I’m more than usually invested in these ideas. It’s time for faculty and administrators to be blunt: postgraduation success, more than ever, requires a demanding curriculum that includes extensive writing, facility with data and statistics, and extensive opportunities for collaboration and critical…

The Terrible Things I Have Said and Done My Entire Life, and Right Up Until a Few Days Ago, Do Not Represent Me As a Person

The media constantly takes things I say and then repeats them on their news shows and in their magazines, and they always leave something out, like the thing I haven’t even said yet that lets you know I don’t believe the thing I already said. If the media wants to be completely accurate, they should…

Enjoyed watching the restored version of the hugely influential 1927 sci-fi movie #Metropolis

Enjoyed watching the restored version of the hugely influential 1927 sci-fi movie #Metropolis I hadn’t seen any of the 20m or so of restored footage. Added main title music was good, but repetitive and not always emotionally aligned with the story. The print was very clear, with crisp details. Nothing like the version I saw…

Oscar Wilde and the Importance of Being Earnest (Part 1 of 2)

Similar:Media Bias Chart version 11, Aug 2023 — Journalism sorted by bias (Left / Center / Right),…Whether a source is biased towards the l…CultureYou Can Smell Trump's FearLike all successful demagogues, Trump ha…CultureLast event of a busy day downtown. #AgathieChristie #murderontheorientexpressAestheticsCharlie and the Chocolate Factory / Willy Wonka Lesson Plans Through our local theater school,…

Friday night board game therapy. #startrek #monopoly

Similar:Cookies. That is all.AestheticsSame photo, two different interpretations.This is why I spend time teaching my jou…PersonalMe, contemplating the implications of maybe doing a socialize this weekend.PersonalDress Rehearsal for "My Son Pinocchio"My wife, daughter, and I waiting to star…AmusingMedea at Seton Hill University.CultureTwelfth Night Cast Photo (Prime Stage, May 3-12)My daughter can hardly stop talking abou…Aesthetics

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

Having a rough day. But in a span of about 24 hours, three former students reached out to thank me.

One former student said I’m the only adult male in their life who ever supported their creative efforts. A second former student posted an essay on social media, describing bouncing back from alcohol and cocaine addiction, and after mentioning several life-savers, mentioned me in the final line of the essay — thanking me for teaching…

Universities must stop presuming that all students are tech-savvy

Although considerable resources have been invested in helping teachers retool, not much has been done to assist their pupils. Instead, it has been taken for granted that 21st-century youth naturally become fluent in any technology, even without explicit directions. While supposedly clueless instructors are given a plethora of tips and tricks – like the OK,…

Candlemas, by John Henry Newman (read by Dennis Jerz for WAOB Audio Theater)

I enjoyed reading this short John Henry Newman poem for WAOB Audio Theater. Similar:Employers Will Hire You For: 1) Leadership; 2) Teamwork; 3) Writing; 4) Problem-solving 5)…What do employers say they are looking f…BusinessIn November 2000, I was blogging about the US Presidential election, mirrors, Arts & Lette…In November 2000, I was blogging about …BusinessThere…

Figured out how to configure my iPad as an external monitor for my laptop. Much more efficient when working between errands at the mall. Ready for Spring 2021. (Finally!)

Similar:More modular, swappable building components. I’ve got to work on the sides of these mid-si…More modular, swappable building compone…AestheticsPrime Stage – "Twelfth Night" – Carolyn Jerz ("Viola")https://youtu.be/FlaO1VI1nbk The wife…CultureAn Excerpt from Mechanisms [2]: 'Professor RAMAC'Among the attractions at the 1958 World’…BooksIan Bogost Has Won a HuffPo Badge for his Anti-Gamification Comment on HuffPo Daniel Donahoo:…

A masked, socially distant museum visit. So nice to get away from syllabuses and email for a day.

Ford built about a half dozen of these custom cars designed by Allegheny Steel. I’m not a car guy so I can’t place it beyond that. Similar:▶ Taylor Mali on "What Teachers Make"I find that re-watching this every year …CultureCombined, base color, roughness and metallic passes. #Blender3d steampunk control panel. AestheticsApparently, I needed to watch…

Playwright #AugustWilson Takes Center Stage on U.S. Postal Service Commemorative Forever Stamp #AugustWilsonForever #BlackHeritageStamps

Playwright August Wilson Takes Center Stage on U.S. Postal Service Commemorative Forever Stamp 📬📃🖊 #AugustWilsonForever #BlackHeritageStamps https://t.co/Ezj04lKcPa — U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) January 28, 2021 Similar:So, What's in It for Me?All in all, I enjoy my job very much, an…AcademiaAttribution, Editorializing and DefamationIn the Nightly Noodle Monthly, former No…Current_EventsThoughtful PopCult Analysis of 'Peanuts' Deserves Better than a…

No, these “Perspective matters” photographers aren’t misrepresenting the size of a fire in Paris

I have shared and liked this image, and incorporated it in lesson plans. The juxtaposition suggests that the little knot of photographers is hunkering down in order to make a small fire appear more threatening in front of L’ Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I have seen plenty of cases where unrelated images were juxtaposed…

Mesmerizing Video of a Printer Terminal Running “Adventure” on a PDP-11/45

After spending several days clicking buttons and ticking boxes and waiting for pages to refresh in my school’s content manager, I really, really miss the command line interface. This video shows the 1970s computer game “Colossal Cave Adventure” running on a printer terminal (that is, its only display is text that it prints out on…

Jitney ( #AugustWilson #CenturyCycle, 8 of 10)

August Wilson’s Century Cycle >  Spoiler-free scene breakdown Premiered: 1982; Broadway 2017 Setting: 1977; Becker’s cab station, Pittsburgh Act I.i (morning?) Youngblood accuses “old man” Turbo of cheating in checkers; Turbo accuses Fielding of drinking his gas money; Youngblood turns down a grocery run, which Turbo takes; Youngblood gets defensive at Doub’s silent look; Shealy…

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

In January 2001, I was blogging about Bill Clinton’s #WhiteHouse security deposit, anachronism in the #Titanic movie, a textual detective, and #email #etiquette

In January 2001, I was blogging about The Onion: Clinton Not Expecting to Collect White House Security Deposit Anachronisms in the movie Titanic A textual detective who helps the FBI solve crimes and says Clement Clark Moore did not write “A Visit from St. Nicholas” A student whose client backed out needed a project, so…