Professor of History at The New School and Executive Editor at Public Seminar
Don’t worry: I’m not going to blog the whole book. If I did I would never finish it. Or at least, I wouldn’t be able to finish it and also finish season 6 of Game of Thrones. On the other hand, as academic bloggers know, the discipline of blogging is good for keeping our minds … More Why Blog A Book? An Invitation to Play
Juliet Jacques, Trans: A Memoir Verso, 288pp, £16.99, ISBN 9781781681644 ‘I decided my name should be Juliet when I was ten,’ Juliet Jacques confessed in her inaugural blog post for the Guardian that inspired Trans: A Memoir. She then ‘swiftly buried’ this thought, one that lurked in the back of her mind and returned forcefully … More Review of Juliet Jacques, “Trans: A Memoir” in review 31
Earlier today, I attended my high school class reunion, where I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Alumnae Association of The Baldwin School, in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania. I was asked to give a short address to the Upper School, and this is what I said. I am humbled by this honor, in part because … More Fail Better: Reflections on a Good Life
In a better — or even different — world, I would have time to read Marion Nestle’s new book, Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) (Oxford: 2015) now. Instead I read Natalie Angier’s excellent review of it, “The Bear’s Best Friend,” (New York Review of Books, May 12 2016.) Here’s the good news: all the bad public relations … More Hungry? Have a Coke
Phyllis Schlafly’s conservative manifesto, A Choice, Not an Echo, has a quote on the cover that is as fresh today as when it was first published in May 1964. Under a picture of the author (in perfectly styled hair and two strings of pearls) a caption promises to tell “the inside story of how American … More Phyllis Schlafly and Donald Trump: not-so-strange bedfellows
This essay is an edited version of a talk I gave at Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., on April 12 2010. Picture this. An intelligent and ambitious young woman leaves her home for a women’s college. Upon arrival, she finds a faculty committed to progressive internationalism, free speech, civil rights, feminism and anti-racism. … More The Unfinished Agenda: Women’s Education in the 21st Century
Yes, faculty sometimes have political conflicts with students, and putting up your dukes is not the answer. But what counts as real harm? And why do universities believe that firing professors who have gotten into hot water sends the right message to their students? I am not saying it is never appropriate to fire or … More Do You Support Melissa Click?
In addition to getting this blog up and running, I’ve been posting at The New School Digital Humanities Initiative site, where I put up my own posts. As Director of the DHI, I also wrangle an excellent stable of student blogger/hackers who review apps academics might want to try out. Why not go on over and check … More Digital Humanities Blogging
