Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I have some new opportunities for regular published work, so the blog may slow down a bit. I’m very excited about it, but don’t want to jinx it yet. Stay tuned! Then again, writing usually inspires more writing, so I may do even more blogging, especially of link collections and resources. I finished March with …
I was out of town this weekend, so here’s a late Sunday roundup. Kind of a grim week: From the academic side: I looked at faculty vs admin discourse, said I didn’t like it, then employed it by talking about the use of disability waivers for UCLA Deans to spend millions of dollars on first-class living. …
Happy Sunday! Last night I played a fun show at the Irish American Heritage Center in north Chicago, and this morning I have homemade quiche for breakfast a nice cup of coffee. Life is good. Let’s review the week. A lot of the talk this week focused on my essay in the Chronicle and the reaction …
On Sundays, usually, I try to round-up my week’s posts and maybe draw attention to something that people missed. I naturally spent a lot of time on my CNN piece on rape culture and Down syndrome. I have received a lot of great feedback, did a radio interview, wrote a blog post on sexual agency …
Today’s post is self-indulgent. It was one year ago today that I began thinking of myself as a public writer. Also please read this essay. It’s one of my favorites, as events over-ran it so it got very little play. I had written a few op-eds before. About the Crusades in contemporary political conversation and about the language …
I have posted an entry for about 185 days (a few times I double posted). I am now taking a 6 week break to finish a book. I’ll see you next year! Ok, I lied. I’m totally going to post from time to time, but less regularly until the book is out the door. Part …
Some weeks, when I look back at my posts, I admit to myself that I leaned heavily on other writers, linked to them, and provided little new content of my own. But this last week was different, if I may say so myself. I write these round-ups in hopes of catching a few more readers …
Looking back over the week’s writing to think about my round-up, I was immediately drawn to Wednesday’s post on offensive language. There are, I think, ideas here worth exploring. I started with the principle: You do not get to decide whether I should be offended by something you do or say; you only get to …
Well, it’s been a week of plague and travel in my household. Later today, I will talk about the angel in a conservative blogger’s house, and how he imprisons women through praise. Here are this week’s links: Last Sunday I offered some continuing thoughts on my essay: How To Talk Like a Feminist (If You’re …
Every time I write about Catholicism, a certain set of commentators immediately invoke the child sex abuse scandals regardless of the issue at hand. This is particularly true if you say something positive about any aspect of the church. Given Pope Francis’ well-publicized and generally well-received comments, especially by people generally opposed to the church …