The anti-maskers are right when they say masks aren’t 100% effective. The pro-face-touchers are right when they say not touching your face isn’t enough. The bar-hoppers and close-talkers and eaters-in-crowded-diners are right when they say social distancing alone won’t stop the spread of a pandemic. The “98.2% survival rate” crowd is right that most people…
Similar:Connecting with the BoyToday my son asked me to take him shoppi…CultureStarting my “Writing about Literature” class by having students react to a John Donne sonn…PersonalI just realized I've been misspelling and mispronouncing "detritus" all my life. I’ve been a college English faculty …AcademiaI baked pools of light into the wallpaper, so I can quickly…
I’m going to have to watch this one again. Similar:AP Style tips on "neurodiversity"EmpathyGreat energy at our Comp & Culture poster paper session. So proud of these students an…AcademiaTwenty-Six Old Characters, The (1947)Sheaffer Pen celebrates the art of writi…AestheticsWhat About “The Breakfast Club”?I made three movies with John Hughes; wh…CulturePeople hate reading instructions, and will…
Similar:Inequity and BYODIf we are really wanting to help these k…CultureThe Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow: Icelandic bromance, with weapons, secret panels, and…I try to read to my kids for an hour eve…BooksDeadline seems to have briefly published, then taken down, story that says Pence has teste…Deadline seems to have briefly published…Current_EventsMicrosoft Research…
Rewatching ST:TNG This flipside episode, told entirely from the viewpoint of a civilization on the verge of discovering warp drive technology, documents a visit from members of a federation of space-faring aliens who wear brightly colored pajamas. An ER team with serious forehead bumps admits a patient with serious head injuries. They are first confused,…
I still have odd jobs to tie up, but I’m about to put a pause on this J-Term course that starts in December. Similar:The reception line begins. Grad2018PersonalLive theater. August Wilson's Jitney, in the back yard of the August Wilson House.PersonalThe Last Jedi: Oh, the Feels.No spoilers here. (I managed to avoid al…MediaMore modular, swappable…
Stunned by Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman and the rest of the cast in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Loved the documentary aesthetic in the opening sequence. Loved the intimacy of the cinematography and acting. Some of my favorite monologues were cut or trimmed, but I recognize a movie can express in a montage or a camera…
Similar:Deus Ex MemoriesI’ve just finished my final training run…CybercultureThe Lost Art of Paste-UpWhen I started using a word processor as…AestheticsA study in breaking news headlines.For the UK Guardian, the news is the wor…CultureI Never Would Have Guessed I Would Be Able to Complete a Close ReadingI started my American Literature class b…AcademiaQuantum Theatre's "Far Away"…
We’ll cover all 10 plays, but each student will only be responsible for reading an overlapping list of six plays. The movie adaptation of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom opens on Netflix this weekend, and we’ll be covering that play on Monday. Similar:What’s Lost as Handwriting FadesWhen I used a Windows XP Tablet computer…CultureGoogle Favors Good…
In May, NBC published a “Fact Check” challenging President Trump’s prediction that there would be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. NBC was factually reporting the answers they got when they asked experts. Those experts didn’t say there would be no vaccine, they said it would be extremely unlikely. The fact…
Just as the technological innovation of the mass-produced book paved the way for the new storytelling medium called the “novel,” technological innovations that allow audiences to rewatch TV shows and binge-watch whole seasons have changed the whole medium of episodic video storytelling. (Babylon 5 did it early and did it well — but the article…
Similar:All the Classroom’s a StageSome good observations in this essay. As…AcademiaI didn't ask for the AI icon on my Kindle app. I can't turn it off.I really hate that little sparkly icon w…Books‘I’m sorry, but it’s too late’: Alabama doctor tells unvaccinated, dying COVID patientsDonald Trump is vaccinated. Mitch McConn…CultureTop Russian News Site Calls…
A new handout, based on the opening lecture I give in every literature class. I’m trying to uncouple this chunk of content, which never changes, from the “intro to the course” lecture, which is topic-specific. Your high school teachers probably praised you for summarizing what you read and perhaps relating it to your own life…
You may be surprised to learn that of the trio of long-awaited coronavirus vaccines, the most promising, Moderna’s mRNA-1273, which reported a 94.5 percent efficacy rate on November 16, had been designed by January 13. This was just two days after the genetic sequence had been made public in an act of scientific and humanitarian generosity…
Ahh-aaggh! Similar:Children of the Holocaust return to Auschwitz and pay tribute to those who saved themIn the last chaotic days of Nazi Germany…CultureFour Benefits of Being in a RelationshipThe pandemic sucks. We’re spending more …CultureThe Big Boy GraveyardOn road trips in my youth, watching the …AmusingBrett Favre Urges Ban On Youth Tackle Football, Pleads For…
Rewatching ST:TNG After the crew blacks out, Picard investigates Data’s mysterious behavior. Although I haven’t seen this episode since it first aired in 1991, I remembered it as a strong episode, with a script that respects the audience’s intelligence. I didn’t remember the Dixon Hill holodeck sequence, which was longer than necessary. Instead of showing…
Imagine a scenario in which circumstances outside your control confine you to a single room for an indefinite period of time — and you have basically nothing to do but stare at the walls. Available activities are strictly limited; you aren’t allowed company; you can’t really go outside; time collapses in on itself; and your…
Similar:Put up the Hoop Sooner: 10 lessons of parenting from one wise guy who's done doing the dad…Earlier today, we dropped our daughter o…AcademiaHe checkmates me in two moves. I lasted about a half hour, and went down fighting.PersonalSummer photos of the daughter.PersonalThe girl was cast as Luciana (the younger sister) in The Comedy of…
In December 2000, I was blogging about Typeface snobbery (The Onion) Videogames as gendered play spaces (Henry Jenkins) Who wouldn’t want to trade in the confinement of your room for the immersion promised by today’s video games? …. Perhaps, my son finds in his video games what I found in the woods behind the school,…
Oh no. First YouTube institutes a “COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy” and starts deleting videos that tout fake cures or discourage people from following the medical advice of the WHO; then, YouTube takes a stand against any video that “misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential…