I spent 30 minutes watching this discussion between Kerry Washington and Don Cheadle this morning, and when it ended I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had gone by. In general, I avoid listening to people analyze large conceptual ideas (gender in Hollywood) because too many people fall back on well-worn cliches and show little […]
This is the second post in my series of reading and interactive environments over at Jane Friedman’s blog. I. The role of reading in American society is changing. We need look no further for evidence than research studies aggregated in books such as The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes […]
A few months back, I began writing up my thoughts and research regarding reading and interactive environments over at Jane Friedman’s blog. I promise very soon Jane that I will return to that endeavor. There’s more to say and my research has been parsed now. Until then, I’m re-posting my work. I. In August 2010, […]
I’m going to begin this little essay with the pitch: I’m working on a two-year research project that will examine how people read, extract what makes the experience pleasurable, and prototype how that experience can be re-created in a digital environment. There two reasons I’m doing this: I’ve returned to graduate school, both to update […]
I spent the day discussing art, creativity, storytelling, and life with my students. I am immersed within narratives right now, drinking in their spirits. It was during one of those slow moments that I had a conversation, one muddied with the human-ness of emotions and the personal strands that tether us with the ties that […]
When I teach the Introduction to Magazine Writing class, I make my students read many pieces from the National Magazine Awards. I switch the readings each semester, but one I keep is “The Things That Carried Him,” by Chris Jones. It’s a heart-breaking piece about everyone who comes in contact with an Indiana soldier as […]
My writing career was less than six months old in 1995 and things were not going well. I’d botched an interview with Jim Carroll. I’d choked a brief encounter with Hunter S. Thompson. I quit my job at Cincinnati CityBeat, a local weekly where I was writing news. Instead, I wanted to do surveys by […]
We have a weight problem in the USA. But it’s not the type of which you may be thinking at first thought. Please allow me to explain why de-emphasizing (while not ignoring) the scale is the best way to achieve metabolic health – including, but not limited to – weight management success. I’ve been blessed […]
The first three long features I ever wrote for the Cincinnati CityBeat weekly paper were: the story of the American Federation of Riders, a motorcycle club my Uncle helped found (1995); the story of Cincinnati’s attempt to arrest the graffiti artists who were tagging the city (although most of that occurred in the storm sewers) […]
It’s always weird to do the vanity search after giving a talk. It’s also particularly hard for me because that moment before feedback comes is awful. I have a creative mind convinced that I’m quite bad at what I do. Which means I’m always – always – expecting the worst. My head is like a […]
Nearly three weeks after the Vanity Fair thrashing Cincinnati and Appalachia hit the Web, my hometown media finally caught the Fever. The last 24 hours has been an interesting mix of blogo-rage, media coverage and Twitter conversation. As a journalist, a professor and an author, I’m intrigued by how stories develop. This one in particular. […]