Nellie Bly: A Race Against Time | Heinz History Center

On Nov. 14, 1889, Bly waved goodbye to family and friends from the New Jersey Hoboken Pier aboard the Augusta Victoria steamer. Traveling by steamships and trains, her journey sent her around the world from America to England, France, Italy, Egypt, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Japan, and back to a port in San Francisco. She then traveled by train across the U.S., with four major stops including Harrisburg, Pa., before arriving back in New Jersey on Jan. 25, 1890.

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:Moving from Debate to EmpathyIn my freshman writing class, my job is …AcademiaAwesome 1935 Soviet Movie Deploys Saxophone-Controlled Robots to Crush Tophat- and Bowler-…I wish I understood Russian, so that I c…AestheticsIn October, 2000, I was blogging about bobbed hair, Woolf, a CFP for interactive fiction s…In October 2000, I was blogging about …CultureThrough the…

Friday night board game therapy. #startrek #monopoly

Similar:Industriousness. Self-improvement. Thrift. And orange slime. The girl amusing herself on our 70m …AestheticsGeometry and color maps for wooden desk tray. #Blender3D #practiceThe blue image is a “normal map,” which …AestheticsMy schedule every Friday this term. (Payback for teaching a course over Christmas break.) PersonalLecturing is So Much Easier than Leading a DiscussionLecturing is So Much…

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:A stranger approached me today.A stranger approached me today. I was a…CulturePracticing Intellectual, Evidence-based DisagreementThis is what a busy literature seminar o…AcademiaCharlie and the Chocolate Factory / Willy Wonka Lesson Plans Through our local theater school, ou…CultureCarolyn at about 7yo drew Titania…

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:The Mom From The Cat in the Hat Finally SpeaksAs a toddler, my son once methodically s…AmusingBlender Griffin, Part 3Okay, that’s enough work for one evening…AestheticsI had a singular time voicing Sherlock Holmes in The Mystery of Dr. Watson (WAOB Audio The… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azja…CultureThe dawn of the post-literate societyThe world of print is orderly, logical a…BooksMore…

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:How My Mom Killed Facebook Lest you think this is just a compli…Cyberculture‘Twelfth Night’ is a Shakespearean hoot, and Prime Stage actors Carolyn Jerz, Malcolm MacK…Why is Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth…

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:A Christmas Carol — new audio adaptationBooksIn Purgatory's Shadow #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 14) Garak answers a coded …Rewatching ST:DS9 Kira helps Odo re-a…DramaThe Chase (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch,…

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…

One hundred years ago, Czech writer Karel Čapek introduced the world to the word “Robot”

Similar:The Physics Behind Traffic JamsIn between today’s various events, I das…CultureCarolyn as Cosette in the wedding scene in Les Miz. #feelsPersonalNOT a scene from The Miracle Worker.PersonalOn the Virtues of a Dadsplained Literary ChildhoodThe last book I read to her was Wutherin…BooksThe daughter introduced me to this wonderful Martin Freeman comedy. Kind of like School…

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…