Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I’ve been caught up in my disability journalism lately, but don’t want to neglect some of my other passions – medieval history and helping academics share their expertise with wider audiences. Over the past few weeks, a number of outlets have passed around research – just a working paper really – that argues women rulers …
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 …
As promised, I’m working through the fascinating postmedieval forum about the public Middle Ages, starting with Brantley Bryant’s Seven Theses for “A Social Media Strategy.” Bryant is a successful user of social media through, as he puts it, “playful experimentation with medieval personae on social media.” In this piece, he offers seven different strategies or principles …
Dan Savage, famous sex columnist, featured a letter from a medievalist that echoed many of my complaints about lax medieval discourse. The letter is in response to Savage calling a conservative religion “medieval.” This anonymous medievalist explains why it’s wrong, then writes: The reason why this matters (beyond medievalists just being like OMG no one …
Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post has published the latest mis-use of the word medieval, not as a casual pejorative, but as a specific pejorative. He writes: “The new Department of Justice report depicts a system in Ferguson that is much closer to a racket aimed at squeezing revenue out of its population than a properly …
Unexpectedly, Eden Foods became my big story of the last few weeks. It introduced my writing to thousands of new readers, for which I am grateful. I came to this topic because it’s about language and power. Like any consumer, I wrote Eden to complain, got their response, and thought, “grotesque,” now there’s an interesting …
“I respect you very much as a woman for your accomplishments. I even read that you studied medieval history, which I think will come in handy with trying to defend the Republican war on women.” Liberal Radio Host Stephanie Miller to Carly Fiorina, failed Republican Senate Candiate, on CNN State of the Union, 7/6/2014. On …
Copyedits for my academic book arrived in my email yesterday. My blogging will likely be a little sparser for the next three weeks. Or I’ll write twice as much. There is no middle ground! Today is quick. Medieval metaphors are flying around these days, as medieval is a shorthand in our national discourse for “bad,” …
I’ve been at the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, held annually at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. It’s an extraordinary event – over 3000 medievalists come to this small town and lovely campus and, over four days, work on everything from the most micro-specialized topic to giant sweeping questions about the academy and …