Dan Savage, famous sex columnist, featured a letter from a medievalist that echoed many of my complaints about lax medieval discourse. The letter is in response to Savage calling a conservative religion “medieval.” This anonymous medievalist explains why it’s wrong, then writes: The reason why this matters (beyond medievalists just being like OMG no one…
The May edition of The Atlantic has a long article on the first batch of students to go to StarbucksU (I wrote about it for CNN last May, troubled by the notion of employment-based education). Overall, it’s a solid article in terms of reporting and structure. It tells the stories of people struggling to finish college….
Since 3/11/2015, about 59 weeks from today, I have published 64 essays. Most of them were at mainstream media sites. About 95% were paid (I haven’t written outside unpaid work in a long time now, but sometimes, rarely, I send someone a blog post that might resonate with their audience. If they edit it and…
Foggy Nelson: “A blind old man taught you the ancient ways of martial arts. Isn’t that the plot to Kung Fu?” (Marvel’s Daredevil, Netflix, Episode 10) I’ve got a review of “Scenes of ordinary disability” in Daredevil coming out later today from Vice. Edit – Link is here!! In today’s blog, I want to say a…
I filed five essays this week, which is a lot for me. I also had two pieces published (linked to below): A review of Bruce Holsinger’s novel (appearing Monday, Tor.com) A feature on inclusion at the Brookfield Zoo (appearing early May, Belt Magazine) Op-ed on RFK’s comments on autism and vaccines (published here at CNN.com) Essay…
I have a new piece on CNN about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his views on autism. I end by talking about Action T4, when the Nazis exterminated people with disabilities as a warm-up to the greater Holocaust. I worry that many people haven’t heard of Action T4. As a Jew, the father of a boy…
I’m working on a piece about the new Daredevil show on Netflix. My interest is in portrayals of “ordinary” disability, rather than the martial arts, represented by the image below (courtesy Netflix) of Murdock just walking down a street with his cane, rather than in costume or fighting or whatever. CHARLIE COX as MATT MURDOCK…
These are stories of restraint, criminalization, and the cult of compliance in our schools. Most, but not all, involve disability. Names are as listed in the media reports, sometimes with last names, sometimes not. More to come. Lede – Virginia: Kayleb Moon-Robinson: 11, black, autistic. Criminalized for kicking a trash can and not staying in…
Last year, a reporter at the Chicago Tribune called me to ask, “Was medieval life really the way it’s Game of Thrones?” I said yes, of course, nearly everyone had a dragon, was a zombie, or carried around ancient swords made of semi-magical iron. Screenshot: A dragon looms over a cowering shepherd. depicted during Ok, I…
This is pretty much as bad as it gets. It’s like a scene from a dystopian novel, as bio-hazard suit clad officers take a schizophrenic woman, one who they have already handcuffed, and tase her to death, killing her as she screams in horror. Except that it happened. A mentally ill woman who died after…