Category Archives: Academia
To Lead, To Drive, To Do: Why (and How) I Teach
(Originally published December 29, 2018) Students tend to like solid, concrete, specific answers. Or, more accurately, they like to know, solidly, concretely, and specifically what answers I want from them. They rarely get them, however, and that’s a good thing. … Continue reading
Trump and the Blood Libel
I have said before that Trump has intentionally evoked thinly veiled white supremacist rhetoric. I’ll cover a few instances of this before noting what I found most disturbing in his speech from Tulsa, and what it has to do with … Continue reading
Losing Treasures; the Need for Cursive
Article for the school paper, March, 2017 I have a treasure in my home, but I cannot access it. The treasure is a box of letters and postcards from grandparents, great-grandparents, great aunts, and others of my family. I am … Continue reading
Review: Constantine’s Sword
James Carroll’s Constantine’s Sword, or Constantine’s Sword 2007, Storyville Films/First Run Features A historical documentary film on the relationship between the Catholic Church and Jews. Directed and produced Oren Jacoby, inspired by former priest James P. Carroll’s 2001 book Constantine’s … Continue reading
Review: The Black Death; A Personal History
(John Hatcher, Da Capo Press, 2008) There seem to be two types of readers of history; those who love history, and those who tolerate it as a necessary evil. Writing for the first group requires thoroughness, organization, solid research, and … Continue reading
Happily Never After: Subverting the Romantic in David Mackenzie’s Asylum
Originally submitted 14 Feb, 2013 If any culture as wildly diverse as America’s can be said to have a central value, it is most definitely the romantic ideal. All the core American values—family, the American dream, the triumph of the … Continue reading
Review: Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class
(Ian Haney López, Oxford University Press, 2014) On the one hand, I love this book, and I think it’s terrifically important. On the other, I was disappointed in its lack of scope. That conflict makes this a hard book to … Continue reading
Review: PBS Secret Files of the Inquisition, Episode One: The Land of Error
(2006, PBS) I am a big fan of PBS in general. So when a documentary series covering the history of the Inquisition and some of the major heretical movements in medieval Europe showed up on my Netflix recommendations list, I … Continue reading