Casual Friday: Reviewing Nirvana’s “Nevermind”
Listening to Nirvana’s Nevermind for the first time
Casual Friday: The Battle Between Readers and Writers
Language is a writer's power to control meaning; don't give away that power to a reader.
Casual Friday: "Goosebumps" as Great Works of Literature
What qualities elevate a kid's book to Children's Literature? Can a Goosebumps novel be a children's classic? A case for the greatness of R.L. Stine's “The Haunted Mask” (1993).
Casual Friday: Trauma and Triumph in Katherine Paterson's "Jacob Have I Loved"
What is asked of a reader when they read a depressing story about an unhappy child?
Rethinking Representation with Maria Edgeworth's "Harrington"
A case study of how external pressure can change a creator's imagination for the better. When Maria Edgeworth was alerted to her offensive portrayals of Jews, she wrote an entire novel as an apology and a corrective...
Casual Friday: "Hamilton," "Rip Van Winkle," and the Two Georges
What really changed for the average American after the Revolution? An historical perspective from two great American artists.
Casual Friday: Lemony Snicket's "Austere Academy" Schooling on Trans Rights and BLM
What can Lemony Snicket tell us about appropriate responses to BLM and how to empathize with trans persons?
Casual Friday: "The Metamorphosis" and Self-Isolation
How do the events of Kafka's classic story give us comfort in the time of Covid-19?
Casual Friday: Outbreak in "The Secret Garden"
A self-isolation themed video this week. The Secret Garden begins with a terrifying account of a pandemic allowed to spread in close quarters.
Casual Friday: Winning Reader interest with "Percy Jackson: the Lightning Thief"
The Lightning Thief brings readers in by pushing them away.
Casual Friday: "Peter Pan" and the Riddle of Childhood
It’s only in the 19th century, really, that childhood gets established as a period in life meant for fun, play, curiosity, fantasy and all the other things we associate with childhood.