Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I’m giving a talk at Western Michigan University today – With/Out Discipline – Public Engagement and the PhD. In this talk, David explains how public engagement works in the modern media age, draws connections between his scholarship as a medievalist and his work as an activist/journalist, and argues that we need to find ways to …
7:20 CST 9/28: Alfred Olango was a disabled black man living in El Cajon, CA (near San Diego). His sister called 911 due to either a mental health crisis and/or a seizure (reports are unclear). Police showed up and … after a disputed set of incidents … shot him. He died. There’s horrible video of …
I am not a fan of the label: Public Intellectual. I think it’s used to valorize certain kinds of public activity – oped writing, essays in fancy literary magazines, prestige stuff – and not others. For me, activism, community arts (music, theater, fine arts, etc.), working with local farmers, volunteering, and more, are at least …
I am teaching of version of Western civilization which my students meet in person about 75% of the time and about 25% of the time online. I love it. I use that online time and space to build connections among the students that in fact it might not happen in class and also to find …
I’ve been meaning to blog this for awhile – the way that black pain and white pain get treated differently. Whites, who get more pain killers, get addicted. African-Americans, on the other hand, get fewer pain killers and so don’t have the same addiction rates, but have more pain. The experience of African-Americans, like Ms. …
Bitch Media Magazine has a good feature on disability and incarceration. Cheryl Green, the author, takes us through some of the history of de-institutionalization, then writes this excellent paragraph [my emphasis]: As a culture, we never addressed the ableist biases that led us to want to lock up disabled people in the first place. The politics of …
Later today, Hillary Clinton will give a new piece about economic opportunity for people with disabilities. It’s part of her broader pivot to positive policy speeches, rather than just attacking Trump all the time. Some folks will be live-tweeting under the hashtag #criponomics. Clinton’s campaign just released this ad, narrated in sign language by celebrity …
Speechless is a new show featuring Micah Fowler, an actor with cerebral palsy, as JJ DiMeo, a character with cerebral palsy who is non-speaking. Instead, he uses a laser attached to his head to indicate letters on a board. I wrote a review for The Atlantic, focusing on the authenticity of this method. Silveri told …
Developing story. Ongoing protests. More tomorrow.
One of the hallmarks of this blog, at least as I envisioned, is to be unfailingly critical even when that’s uncomfortable. I’m willing to point to problems and disability representation in works of journalism, literature, and art, even from people whose work I admire. I try to be equally critical of my own conduct, and …