After a pretty crappy day, I found shreds of joy in this clip of socially distanced salsa.

In my discipline, teaching small seminars typically depends on students sharing their weaknesses and vulnerabilities in pairs and small groups, gradually building trust while the teacher moves through the room, listening and joining in and backing away as appropriate. Masked students who are 6 feet away from each other will have to shout their failures…

Hollow Pursuits (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 21) Misfit Crewmember Faces Holodeck Addiction

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Awkward, stuttering junior engineer Barclay spends too much time in an alpha male holodeck fantasy. His swordplay, barroom brawls and over-the-top moments of swagger and seduction approach Kirk-level bravado. A predictable but enjoyable riff on Thurber’s short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” LaForge and Riker have given up…

Okay yes, this affirmation does matter to me and it will go into my annual review for next year.

Marked 832 AP English essays in a week of online work. Rating is based on how accurately I marked the pre-graded training examples scattered in amongst the flood. A really good professional development tool, that helps me to align my assessment with what my peers feel is high school writing skill that deserves college credit.…

When is Donald Trump kidding? When is he being sarcastic? When is he being serious? Who gets to decide?

Earlier today a reporter, following her journalism training, asked Trump, “Were you just kidding, or do you have a plan to slow down testing?” His response: “I don’t kid, let me just tell you.” At this weekend’s Tulsa rally, the president had said, referring to the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, “I said to…

I am at that stage of life where I am excited about loading a new dishwasher for the first time. (The one that came with the house in 2003 finally died.)

Similar:In a literature class, the author's words matter more than the author's life and times, or… Updating the graphic for a resource …AcademiaThe Library Adjacent to My Ethership Control Room Needed BooksFor me, summer vacation means spending h…AestheticsIs this Wonka's factory, or the presidential picnic @setonhilluniversity ? PersonalSeeing the Barebones production of The Sound Inside. (Support…

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

In June, 2000 I was blogging about anagrams, 1750 Paris, ambiguity, a hyperlink patent claim, and reading posture

In June, 2000, I was blogging about Poems inspired by anagrams (T.S. Eliot = Toilets; Emily Dickinson = Skinny Domicile) Where to go if you wanted to know what was happening In 1750 Paris The Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations A patent lawsuit that claimed ownership of the concept of hyperlinks Reading posture (how do…

Happy Father’s Day

One of my favorite pictures of my father. This is our Chevrolet Caprice station wagon, circa 1971. I’m rocking the stripes. Similar:Preppers for the win. Kinda.The euphoria of getting my grades in Fri…PersonalA vacation minibar story from 20 years ago.PersonalDefend the Open Web: Keep DRM Out of W3C StandardsThe DRM proposals at the W3C exist for…

A father gives his happy toddler a ride on his shoulders.

Only a Dad (Edgar Guest poem, read by Carolyn and Peter Jerz for WAOB Audio Theatre)

Carolyn and Peter Jerz recite “Only a Dad” (directed by Leigh A. Jerz for WAOB Audio Theatre) Similar:The Internet Archive Is Digitizing & Preserving Over 100,000 Vinyl Records: Hear 750 Full …These people do important, amazing work….CultureWho choked up while reading aloud Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” during a lesson on creative nonf…Who choked up while…

Sharing memes about news you don’t see is lazy. Be part of the solution!

Similar:There’s Something Off About LED BulbsWhen I’m stressed, or I feel life is spi…AestheticsNichelle Nichols, ground-breaking Star Trek actor and NASA recruiter, 1932-2022 https://twitter.com/CNN/status/15538337…Current_EventsWe Need to Talk about the Burgeoning Robot Middle ClassMaybe it’s not the super-robots we need …BusinessBattle Lines (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 13) Bajor's spiritual leader joyri…Rewatching ST:DS9 Kira is…

Canadian teen’s short film captures Spring 2020

Not graphic, but emotionally powerful. Similar:Cardassians (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 5) Garak takes an interest in Carda…Rewatching ST:DS9 Garak, the station’…EmpathyAbout that Cough, Rough, Pony, Bologna MemeDo the spellings of cough & rough, p…BooksThe battle against airborne COVID has shifted. Why your mask is the last layer of defence There has been a…