Mark Braude, a Stanford Post-doc, has written a perfectly reasonable essay of how to finish a Humanities dissertation in 6 years. Good job Mark. I’m genuinely glad you’re writing in public and congratulations on finishing so quickly. Higher Ed pubs, in general, publish many of these essays in which the author takes his or her…
After the NEH cancelled overseas summer seminars, I requested two sets of documents via FOIA. You can read all about the context here (article over at the Chronicle), here (collection of comments on how important the program is), and here. My FOIA requests were: All documents (I listed many types) about the cancellation of the summer seminar….
Medieval art historian Asa Mittman has a new piece in The Conversation on the survival of the Blood Libel myth. He talks about the medieval origins and dissemination of the myth that Jews ritually murder Christian children and use their blood to make their Matzoh (note: they/we don’t. They/we never did). He called it a…
I am a college professor. We have a college savings fund for my daughter, principally funded by parents so far, though we’re beginning to be able to contribute too. We do not have a college savings fund for my son, because he has Down syndrome, and we never thought that college was a reasonable option. We…
I have a new piece up on CNN about media discourse and the murder of children with disabilities. London McCabe was a 6-year-old boy. On November 3, he died when his mother threw him off the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Oregon, according to police. London had autism. Media coverage of his death has widely focused on the…
From Digby, we get this find: The ISIS Hunting Kit (Available vs DoNotLink) This is their “Go Fuck Yourself” Patch So, there’s that.
The physician assisted suicide debate is taking place right now, thanks to Brittany Maynard’s decision to go public with her death plans, on multiple levels. 1. The abstract ethics of the practice (in abstract, I’m for it). 2. The ways in which it’s applied (in practice, the innate ableism of our society encourages certain kinds of…
The NEH assumption is that the overseas summer seminar program is done, dead, buried, and finished. They have decreed it so, in their imperial majesty, while hiding culpability and process. In response, the most prestigious academic organizations need to take stands, rather than letting this just slide away into fait accompli. I’m pleased to say…
Content Note: Suicide Recently, Brittany Maynard, a young woman with terminal brain cancer, chose to end her own life. She deliberately made her death very public in hopes, I believe, of sparking debate and conversation. I am still deeply busy in book proofs so cannot write much, but I tweeted this: It’s reasonable to be…
I spent a busy weekend recording a live album with my band The Tooles. Someday, I fully intend to ask you to consider buying a copy. Other than that, midterms and book proofs have taken up most of my time, but I wrote four blog posts. Next week Jeff Sessions (R-AL) will likely become chair…