Journalist – Historian – Speaker
First, disclaimers: No academic who doesn’t study social media should have to spend one second of time on social media. No academic using social media for fun and personal contacts should have to promote their work in any way on social media. Institutions that push academics to go public, moreover, as Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote …
Lydia Brown has a great new essay on internalizing ableism. We all consume the oppressive mental structures of our society – racism, ableism, classism, sexism, etc. – and replicate them within our discourse, actions, and thoughts from time to time. It’s part of why I think apology and restoration of community is so important and …
Yesterday I had a piece published at Al Jazeera that I’m pretty proud of. I found dozens of academic job ads that discriminate against people with disabilities, in many cases illegally, and published on it. It’s as close to straight revealing reporting as I come, taking something boring (boilerplate HR clauses) and demonstrating their social impact. …
I have a meta-thesis about academic culture: It’s no worse than anywhere else, but we tend to think we’re better, and that’s where the problems come in. Usually I’m talking about race, class, or gender. We think we’re immune to the dominant trends of American society, so generally resist being told to change our ways. …