Study Humanities: Save the World (At St. Olaf)

HELLO @StOlaf we have so much to talk about tomorrow! #UmYahYah pic.twitter.com/nYeCAeCHOp — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) November 2, 2017 I’m looking forward to going back to Northfield today. I spent a year and a half there while writing my dissertation, a difficult and glorious time in my life. I struggled. I thrived. I wrote. … Continue ReadingStudy Humanities: Save the World (At St. Olaf)

Sheep/Sheepdog/Wolf – Cop Metaphors and the Humanities

Charles Huth, a Captain in the Kansas City PD, has written an outstanding essay taking apart two metaphors commonly employed by police trainers: The “warrior” and the “sheep/sheepdog/wolf” metaphor. Not only is he on point when it comes to the analysis itself and what it says about modern policing, but I was also struck that … Continue ReadingSheep/Sheepdog/Wolf – Cop Metaphors and the Humanities

Captain America: Humanities Major

From The Mary Sue, Alysa Auriemma has a lovely essay about Captain America (in the context of the comic “Civil War”) and a new masculinity. After opening paragraphs on toxic masculinity and patriarchy, she writes: Captain America not only navigates masculinity, but he completely subverts and ultimately rejects our contemporary conceptions of what it means … Continue ReadingCaptain America: Humanities Major

Medievalists in Public! (Writing about the Humanities)

Yesterday at The Conversation, Cecilia Gaposhkin, a medieval historian at Dartmouth, wrote a piece arguing that STEM are not distinct or in competition with the liberal arts. They are the same thing. The idea that STEM is something separate and different than the liberal arts is damaging to both the sciences and their sister disciplines … Continue ReadingMedievalists in Public! (Writing about the Humanities)

Policy and Poetry – David Brooks Misses the Point of his Love Story

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 … Continue ReadingPolicy and Poetry – David Brooks Misses the Point of his Love Story