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

In August, 2000 I was blogging about poetry, presidential wordplay, home-schooling, online learning, and a search engine you may have heard about.

In August 2000, I was blogging about Top 10 Tips for Writing Poetry (which I’ve updated over the years and is the most popular page on my site today) Richard Lederer’s presidential wordplay (“I predict that at the end of the campaign. Gore will be bushed and Bush will be gored. Then we’ll have either…

2020, In One Photo. (“Come join us!”)

Similar:Dissecting a Frog: How to Write a Humor PieceAnalyzing humor, as E.B. White famously …AmusingThe storage shelves of my fantasy steampunk CGI starship will need props with appropriate …  AestheticsMy 10yo Created Bookmarks to Express Her Complex Relationship with ReadingMy 10yo has a complex relationship with …BooksLysistrata live.Current_EventsDelightfully geeky news story about a legal kerfuffle…

Long-Haulers Are Redefining COVID-19

Our understanding of COVID-19 has accreted around the idea that it kills a few and is “mild” for the rest. That caricature was sketched before the new coronavirus even had a name; instead of shifting in the light of fresh data, it calcified. It affected the questions scientists sought to ask, the stories journalists sought…

Ready to teach another set of students what research is (and what it isn’t).

Similar:When students don't show up during office hours: I adjusted the cabinet and added a new (s…AestheticsWe love us some Sherlock any way we can get it.PersonalHacking the Attention EconomyThe techniques that are unfolding are ha…Culture"Dammit Mom, I'm a daughter, not a theoretician!"”Dammit Mom, I’m a daughter, not a theor…AmusingThe boy approved of the WWII…

Ratified 100 years ago today, the 19th Amendment, proposed by Illinois Republican James R. Mann, granted women the right to vote.

Similar:Victorian Literature for Accounting MajorsIf I can get the English majors in my ne…AcademiaKickball Ice Cream Maker Is Both a Stupid and Awesome Idea$35 Kickball Ice Cream Maker does exactl…AestheticsPesky journalists, always showing up to document atrocities.No Democratic president should send in t…CultureI Was Taught From a Young Age to Protect My Dynastic WealthOne of…

If you think I’m wrong that the media fairly covered the Cannon Hinnant murder, but you’re still reading, then I welcome you.

Plenty of news organizations have reported on the tragic case of a white boy who was murdered while riding his bicycle. One must ignore easily verifiable opposing evidence to claim that “the media” are universally ignoring this story. It’s even more unhinged to latch upon the conspiracy theory that the reason for this (non-existent) lack…

Name-calling and ad hominem attacks don’t provide anyone with reasons to change their mind.

Similar:Google engineer put on leave after saying AI chatbot has become sentientWe’ve all encountered this scene in all …CybercultureReally enjoyed watching this documentary about an octopus who moved in with a human father…EmpathyOne of the Sadder Lost and Found Messages You'll Probably See TodayNot my item, but the pathos caught my ey…DesignCOVID denial: ‘You are…

Not doing well. As usual.

Similar:There was a hand, too. Did you bring the hand?AmusingHanging with the rude mechanicals @setonhilluniversityA Midsummer Night’s Dream.CultureTop deck of a #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser needs an airlock at the top of the spiral s…    AestheticsMore world-building props for a fantasy #steampunk #Blender3D project.DesignWe celebrate the good life of my father, George Joseph Jerz “Be…

‘This is no longer a debate’: Florida sheriff bans deputies, visitors from wearing masks

On Tuesday, as Florida set a daily record for covid-19 deaths, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods prohibited his deputies from wearing masks at work. His order, which also applies to visitors to the sheriff’s office, carves out an exception for officers in some locations, including hospitals, and when dealing with people who are high-risk or…

Don’t call it “social distancing” or you just might get a polite correction from the administration. These are *physical* distancing markers on the quad.

Similar:Disruptions: Texting Your Feelings, Symbol by SymbolBeing a word-oriented thinker, I don’t h…AestheticsAnnie Sullivan on teaching:  Helen Keller, rendered blind and dea…CultureKickball Ice Cream Maker Is Both a Stupid and Awesome Idea$35 Kickball Ice Cream Maker does exactl…AestheticsLearning How to Love My Daughter Image description: A teen girl in a …CultureWe ask 3 Broadway photographers:…

What are ‘Judeo-Christian values’? Analyzing a divisive term

block of American society. ­But for critics of how the term is used today, Judeo-Christian is vague, historically flawed and even inflammatory. These opposing views reflect a deep rift in American society and illuminate very different fundamental political beliefs.

“This is a term defined by exclusion,” said Shalom Goldman, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, arguing that the term is often used to reject secular values and Muslims.

“It’s essentially saying our values are not the values of the Enlightenment or the Constitution, but instead our values are the values of the Bible,” he said.

Rabbi Jack Moline, president of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance, called the term a “generalization” and said it is one “Christians in particular use to put a patina of universality on a certain Christian culture in the United States.”

A shooting, the president snatched away – this episode of ‘The Trump Show’ was surreal even for veteran White House reporters

Good news writing, and praise for Trump’s cool demeanor during a crisis, from : The Independent The large man in the grey suit interrupted Donald Trump. No one interrupts Donald Trump – especially at the White House. At his White House. Then the man turned his back to the television cameras showing the utterly surreal scene live around the…

Multimodal Composition: Every time a student submits a narrated PowerPoint, a puppy cries.

Similar:Yesterday my stack of unmarked assignments was about 120, so this is not bad.Nothing in this stack is pressing, but t…Academia"We are not Amazon franchises": booksellers respond to Amazon Source Wonderful snark from an indie bookselle…AmusingMaybe I'll start a cover band, cleaning up hip-hop songs…Maybe I’ll start a cover band, cleaning …Culture'Dream' casting a family…

Video Tips for Students: Don’t do what I’m doing!  You can’t see my eyes, the background is distracting, you’re looking up my nose and the lighting is awful.

You might have been asked to submit a short video assignment. Don’t do what I’m doing! You can’t see my eyes, the background is distracting, you’re looking up my nose and the lighting is awful.  This short video demonstrates some quick tips that will greatly improve a video submission assignment. Your instructor and your classmates…

Apparently I’m using boolean modifiers to carve out negative-space greebles for a texture atlas. Or something. #blender3D

Similar:A Matter of Perspective (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 13) Multiple-POV Courtroom …Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….EthicsApple Watch is ugly and boring (and Steve Jobs would have agreed)I am not feeling the love for Apple’s iW…AestheticsProgress over 11 years of Blender3D practiceOver the past few years I have created l…AestheticsStar Trek: The MenagerieJust finished…

The ‘Cancelling’ of Flannery O’Connor? It Never Should Have Happened

I regularly teach Flannery O’Connor, and assign a whole book of her short stories when I taught an American Lit 1915-Present course. Now that I’m teaching “American Lit 1776-Present” I keep her stories in rotation, but I have more material to cover, so I have to be more selective. O’Connor’s fiction contains many themes and…