Category Archives: politics

A Nation of Prevarication

politics, rhetoric, teaching 2023.10.02 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Gaslighting Americans about public schools: The truth about ‘A Nation at Risk’ (Washington Post) If it wasn’t the most important book I read over my summer, Maia Szalavitz’s Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids was unquestionably the most emotionally difficult to get through. Not only is the book full of the horror stories of the “tough love” sadism of the eighties and nineties, including innocent children being swept up by them and some easily-preventable deaths, but it reminded…

Too Many Twits

internet, personal, politics 2023.07.17 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Far-right Twitter influencers first on Elon Musk’s monetization scheme (The Washington Post via msn.com) During my short stay in Colorado a few years ago, one of my most harrowing experiences came when Hedder was driving us home to Colorado Springs from some business we had in Aurora. Hedder was as obedient a driver as I was back then, but unlike me, she liked to antagonize drivers who were going too fast, or not using their turn signals, or things of that nature. As we were…

Hung Out to Die

personal, politics, weather 2023.07.03 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Canadian wildfire smoke moves across map, spreading bad air quality to Midwest, East Coast (USA Today via msn.com)Thousands of COVID-19 cases still reported every week | Fact check (USA Today via msn.com) I was almost completely unable to do anything but life’s basics for a couple of days last week. As the air quality maps quickly showed my little corner of Wisconsin falling into the purple zone, for “unhealthy” air quality due to wildfire smoke, not only were my eyes almost constantly stinging, but any…

Glory Be to [Insert Name of Country Here]

books, internet, politics, writing 2023.06.05 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

AI and Its Effect on the Book Publishing Industry (goodereader.com)Julie Plec and More WGA Members Detail Writers Strike Negotiations, Demand Streamers to Release Ratings: ‘We’re Mad’ (Variety via msn.com) One personal project that always seems to be on the back burner for me is an examination of the fiction written during the Cold War in the Soviet bloc countries. My interest in this started about a decade ago, after Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son won the Pulitzer. For his novel, Johnson did extensive studies…

Oh Hell N-O

personal, politics, teaching, toledo 2023.04.10 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Unwieldy bill would destroy higher education in Ohio | American Historical Association (news.yahoo.com)“‘Don’t just publish another paper. Let’s do something,’ says scholar-advocate Cindy Blackstock (universityaffairs.ca) As spring passes, a handful of elementary schools across America will still devote their last day to outdoor activities for their students, to help them blow off the stress of the past academic year. (Far fewer schools are doing this than was the case when I was younger, with the push to pass all those standardized tests and all that…