I’m back from an annual conference that medievalists hold in Kalamazoo, MI. Here’s the round-up for the week. At the conference I spoke about public engagement and why a medievalist might write for CNN about Sarah Palin. I also linked to a great blog post thinking about management vs administration in higher education. Earlier in the…
I’ve been at the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, held annually at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. It’s an extraordinary event – over 3000 medievalists come to this small town and lovely campus and, over four days, work on everything from the most micro-specialized topic to giant sweeping questions about the academy and…
Anne and Bobby, used by permission Anne Grunsted, who I know, has written a wonderful essay in Chicago Parent about about the “Selfless Mother Club.” As in – “Don’t look at my son with Down syndrome and put me in the selfless mother club, it demeans both him and me.” (paraphrasing). I love this phrase. I…
In the Chronicle of Higher Education, on my first piece about customer service, I made this comment: “Faculty members respond to the student-as-consumer by teaching defensively, fearing the management that we formerly referred to as administration. But administrators administrate on behalf of the faculty. Employees delivering customer service get managed.” It’s kind of a throwaway…
Yesterday’s piece in The Atlantic has a quite excellent comment section (in general, Atlantic readers’ comments are polite and smart, if still sometimes easily led to the hostility that happens online everywhere). Here are three followup points (I know this is long, but bear with me). 1. Why/how are these incidents happening now? 2. How…
I co-write a new piece just published by The Atlantic on police violence and disability. My co-author is Lawrence Carter-Long, communications director for the National Council on Disability. I’m really honored to have worked with him and hope that more collaborations with the NCD follow. There’s nothing surprising in this piece for readers of this…
Cecily goes to prison bc you’re supposed to let cops do whatever they want to your body. Frisking, groping, doesn’t matter. #Justice4Cecily — Sarah Leonard (@sarahrlnrd) May 5, 2014 Note: Below is a picture of Cecily McMillan in her bra, showing the bruise on her breast. This is a picture she made public but it’s…
Blogging is not (necessarily or probably) scholarship. Who cares? That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t count. There was a great session at the OAH (Organization of American Historians) annual conference last month on blogging and scholarship (summary, critique, and video, another summary and critique here, Ann Little’s introductory remarks here). The general conclusion is no, blogging isn’t scholarship….
Well, it’s been quite a week. On Thursday, CNN published a piece critical of Sarah Palin. I’ve criticized public figures before, but I usually have done so in “see both sides” kinds of writing (intended to have the reader end up seeing the world my way, but careful and measured). This was not measured in…
David Brooks published a column this week that has circulated widely, including among my circle of liberal intellectuals and artists, and to much praise. It’s really quite lovely. It celebrates the love of art – writing, music, images and more. It mourns for a lost world. And it completely misses the point of how we…