Archive for July, 2009
Gates
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested for breaking into his own home. Well, for alleged disorderly conduct, I guess. I guess it’s disorderly to get pissed that a police officer and neighbor accused you of breaking into your own home. (h/t Nels for the link)
Relevant video (h/t Julius):
UPDATE: Read this at the Root. (h/t Mia)
“your education”
Today’s television child [. . .] is bewildered when he enters the nineteenth-century environment that still characterizes the educational establishment where information is scarce but ordered and structured by fragmented, classified patterns, subjects, and schedules. It is naturally an environment much like any factory set-up with its inventories and assembly lines.
The “child” is an invention [...]
good course so far
This summer I’m teaching English 015 as part of LEAP, which allows incoming first-year students to take two general education classes together as a cohort, or a “pride” as they call it. Generally LEAP teachers work together to build some cohesion between the two courses, and I’m lucky in that my class is paired with [...]
make your logic evident, Ms. Palin
One thing a lot of my students struggle with is making their logic evident for their claims and support. They can claim something and feel like they proved it with a few follow-up sentences, but often they’re using a different logic and drawing on knowledge that a reader might not have. Of course, most, if [...]
thoughts on Bruno
Possible spoilers ahead.
I saw Brüno in the theatres this afternoon, and I’m not sure what to make of it. I mainly went out of curiosity, because I’m fascinating by his over-the-top performances. I heard a lot of concern from folks that this might be the type of movie that’s hilarious for queer folk and allies [...]
serial distractions
The Internet (broadly conceived) doesn’t distract me anymore like it used to. Sure, I still sometimes kill time by surfing from site to site and checking my email constantly and fiddling around on Facebook. But not like I used to. No, I have a new addiction: the series. It’s really a return to the old [...]
Foucualt’s History of Sexuality in video
Gregory alerted me to this video via Twitter, and I think it’s a rather fun synopsis of Foucault’s History of Sexuality, though there are a few inaccuracies. Particularly, I like the juxtapositions in the film (especially the use of Elmo!):
“revelation without revolution”
… it is obvious that Generation X cannot be understood or theorized using conventional approaches from youth culture or subcultural theory. Like Silent Bob, we cannot expect Xer popular culture to reveal or reflect the values of a generation. Instead, he simply stands there, bemused but not terribly interested. Films[,] and popular culture generally, do [...]
