Journalist – Historian – Speaker
My first ever op-ed was published in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Star Tribune. It was in 2006 and on the use of medieval rhetoric to talk about modern problems in the Middle East, a situation that continues today. Over the weekend, the Star Tribune published this full-page ad raising the worst kind of fear-mongering about transgendered …
[Content Note: Ableist Speech including use of the “r-word.” Later, I quote a passage from Huckleberry Finn that contains the n-word, not spelled out.] This post works with a 1996 piece from David Sedaris and This American Life that contains terrible depictions of the intellectually disabled. It was re-broadcast in 2013. I’d like to see content notes …
Resource Posts on “How Did We Get Into This Mess?” provide full or partial transcripts of relevant documents, organized links, and minimal commentary on issues. A fellow parent and internet friend alerted me to a show on This American Life in which Wyatt Cenac, former Daily Show correspondent and comedian, made some jokes about Down syndrome. …
So Verizon and Makers teamed up to make a great new video about the insidious ways that we push girls away from science. I am always suspicious of corporations getting involved in social causes, as they tend to be followers rather than leaders. Still, Makers is pretty great and I think the video highlights some typical …
I write a lot about privilege and I have a lot of privilege. I’ve long argued that it’s important to be very thoughtful when writing about academic labor while tenured, gender while male, race while white, disability while able-bodied, and so forth. When writing about a given power dynamic, I often have the power by …
I don’t mind if my critics call me a lazy tenured socialist academic. But criticizing my earring is GOING TOO FAR! — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) May 1, 2014 Today is my last day of grading for the year, so here’s a very quick post on reactions to my Sarah Palin essay. I’m continuously fascinated …
Adjuncts are Labor. Professors are Labor. Graduate Students are Labor. Staff are Labor. Administrators, well, that’s more complicated. What’s a “Chair” anyway? More on that later (and in the meantime follow that link for a good piece on definitions). I am going to be writing regular columns for the Chronicle and Chronicle Vitae over the …
I’m writing a piece on the ways that Catholic Colleges and Universities, especially my own, are helping undocumented students. The help comes in three ways: Money for tuition/expenses, changing discourse, and political action. What I’m really interested in for this piece is the link between mission and policy changes. One piece that has emerged is …
The day Pope Francis was elected, I got an email from local news asking me to be on a panel to discuss the new papacy. I demurred. First, I’m not really an expert on twenty-first century Catholicism. Oh, I know the macro just fine, but I don’t have the whole cast of characters memorized. On …
Here is a tl;dr – Support ASAN over Autism Speaks, Ok? If you want to know why, read on. April is Autism Awareness Month. It’s also Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a fact for which I was not aware until after I wrote yesterday’s topical post. I wasn’t really aware of AAM either until yesterday’s tweets …