My friend Elena likes to tell a story about grading student papers while some Jacques Cousteau special was playing on the TV as background noise. While she was gawking at what her charges had managed to do to logic, reason, and the English language, Cousteau was commenting on one of the eternal mysteries of the […]
Videos of the week
This week, three great tastes that taste great together.
Making conferences worthwhile
It’s the gap in between the 2014 versions of two academic conferences — the American Studies Association and the National Communication Association — that I attend with some regularity. Not this year, though. Seattical is too precious to leave more often than I absolutely have to. But seeing my Twitter and Facebook feeds fill up […]
Crossroads 2008 [Rerun Sunday]
Several people (including many blog-less friends not linked here) have asked me about the Crossroads in Cultural Studies conference in Kingston, Jamaica that wrapped up early last week. And I would be hard-pressed to do better than Melissa Gregg’s summary of the event . . . except, perhaps, to simply say to all those people […]
Call for Proposals: The Life and Work of Stuart Hall
Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Cultural Studies Association, Another University Is Possible: Praxis, Activism, and the Promise of Critical Pedagogy, Riverside Convention Center, Riverside, Greater Los Angeles Area, California, 21-24 May, 2015 We would like to invite submissions for the 13th Annual Meeting of the Cultural Studies Association, to be held at the Riverside Convention […]
Dumb claims about smartphones
The Washington Post recently ran a photo essay dedicated to showing us “what [our] smartphone addiction actually looks like.” It’s a classic bit of public impersonal shaming that resonates strongly with what we already know about how smartphones have destroyed our capacity for genuine social connections. We don’t talk with each other anymore. We use […]
Home? [Rerun Sunday]
I’m in DC for a few days to visit Mom. It’s the city where I did most of my growing up (assuming, of course, that I actually did grow up) and it’s always a little weird to come back. There are parts of it that still feel very much like home (whatever that means) and […]
Video of the week
Yes, it’s 11 minutes long. You’ve got 11 minutes to spare for this. Really. You do. Trust me. Watch it all. Then watch it again. Of course, the question you want to ask now is, “WTF?” Or, perhaps, “WTFF?” Well, here’s the answer.
Last week’s link
You’ve definitely been cheated. Not only did I skip “Last week’s links” last week, but this week, I’m only giving you one new link. But, oh, what a link! I could play with this beautiful little toy for hours on end. “Long as she got a dime, the music will never stop…” And now you […]
Fun with surveillance [Rerun Sunday]
Yesterday, my car was involved in an accident. Sort of. It was parked on the street in front of the house at the front end of a series of three vehicles. Someone managed to drive their car into the back rear corner of the truck at the back end of that line. They did a […]