Journalist – Historian – Speaker
On the myth of the “English major Starbucks barista.” From 2016, but in my feed last night and I missed this the first time around. What are we to make of this new old joke about the English major? Why did barista replace fast food worker? The fact is that English majors are not particularly …
I’ve been tracking job requirement issues over the past few months, so I was pleased to see this from Hennepin County (Minneapolis, more or less, where I used to live): Say you have been tinkering with computer brains your whole life, but your college degree isn’t in computer science or a related field. Chances are …
In the book History Matters, as well as the focused studies on which the book is based, Judith Bennett discusses the curious history of the medieval village alewife. She tracked the way that the internal ale-based economy worked, then, as ale shifted to beer, suddenly men took over the field. It turns out that beer, …
The Star Tribune has a great five-part series about disability and work, focused on Minnesota, but looking more broadly – Failing the Disabled. Here’s one I like, because it’s a positive outcome. With her zest and ambition, Wollum personifies the remarkable strategy that has made Vermont a leader in the civil rights movement for adults …
On International May Day I wrote a little hymn. I wrote: Teaching is work. Programming is work. Scholarship is work. Science is work. Grading is work. Committee service is work. Today Chronicle Vitae published a column on academic work as labor, as work. It’s a linked column to this first piece on the language of adjunct …
Yesterday I wrote about ending the abuses of sheltered workshops and received push-back from a reader and online-friend. Her son is finding his pathway into employment through a Goodwill sheltered workshop. I really appreciate her voice. I want to see change, but would hate for that change to limit options for her son or for …
This summer I hope to write several longer essays about social justice topics: police and disability, rape culture (men need to talk to men about rape), eugenics and Down syndrome, and adult-life with developmental disability. I know, sounds more fun than a barrel full of very squished and depressed monkeys, am I right? Here’s the …