Essay Ukraine鈥檚 memorials February 20, 2023 One of the curiosities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is how, even amid the deprivations of a savage war, Ukrainians have turned their attention to destroying or de-Russifying Soviet monuments and protecting their own. Read More
Essay Medea, again February 16, 2023 Although she is surrounded by the accoutrements of a magical spell that she is performing, which gestures to her mastery of an arcane science, the predominant impression is of a woman who is being victimized by a love-charm that the gods have cast upon her, compelling her to use her special knowledge to help the hero Jason. Read More
Interview James B. Nardi on The Hidden Company That Trees Keep February 15, 2023 You can tell a lot about a tree from the company it keeps. James Nardi guides you through the innermost unseen world that trees share with a wondrous array of creatures. Read More
Interview Helen Sword on Writing with Pleasure February 13, 2023 Writing should be a pleasurable challenge, not a painful chore.聽Writing with Pleasure聽empowers academic, professional, and creative writers to reframe their negative emotions about writing and reclaim their positive ones. Read More
Interview Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson on Campus Economics February 05, 2023 Campus Economics provides college and university administrators, trustees, and faculty with an essential understanding of how college finances actually work. Read More
Essay Thoreau and the business of distraction February 04, 2023 In his early years, the writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau was a restless young man with a romantic temperament, casting about for a way to make a living without giving up his freedom. Read More
Essay Batman鈥檚 holy grotto: The psychic resurrection of Bruce Conner February 02, 2023 Bohemian San Francisco gained a new gathering place in 1960 when the deep-pocketed aspiring painter Billie Jahrmarkt and his wife Joan decided to found a gallery for the benefit of their artistic and literary friends. Two such, artist Bruce Conner and poet/playwright Michael McClure, took the project in hand. Read More
Essay What does it mean to resist surveillance? January 28, 2023 If you talk to a long-haul trucker about why they chose their occupation, there鈥檚 a high likelihood they鈥檒l mention autonomy and freedom鈥攖hat they didn鈥檛 want someone looking over their shoulder all the time. Read More
Essay The long past of seaweeds January 27, 2023 Algae are one of life鈥檚 most diverse and least appreciated groups, and their rise鈥攁nd the story of how seaweeds evolved within them鈥攐ffer a key with which to unlock some of life鈥檚 most intricate secrets. Read More
Interview David Drewry on The Land Beneath the Ice January 25, 2023 For some years I had felt need to produce a coherent story about the 鈥渂ig science鈥� project to map the ice thickness of Antarctica and the land that lies beneath. This is truly the last place on Earth to be surveyed. Read More
Essay Yes, the Chinese care about the Western classics January 24, 2023 Much as in Europe and the US, the ancient Greeks live on in China through their works鈥攁t least, recently so. Over the past century, the philosophical and political texts of western antiquity, especially those of classical Athens, have sparked the interest of Chinese intellectuals, journalists, reformers, and nationalists. Read More
Interview Betty S. Lai on The Grant Writing Guide January 24, 2023 Grant funding can be a major determinant of promotion and tenure at colleges and universities, yet many scholars receive no training in the crucial skill of grant writing. Read More
Essay The curse of long-ruling autocrats January 18, 2023 In October 2022, during the 20th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping was 鈥渞eelected鈥� as the party鈥檚 chairman, paving his way for a third term as China鈥檚 top political leader. Read More
Podcast An excerpt from The Aesthetic Cold War January 17, 2023 In 鈥淎frica and Her Writers,鈥� a feisty Chinua Achebe begins by proclaiming, 鈥淎rt for art鈥檚 sake is just another piece of deodorized dog shit.鈥� The joke, of course, comes at high modernism鈥檚 expense, and he was neither the first nor the last figure from decolonizing regions of the world to rail against writing for a privileged few. Read More
Essay On the misuse of legacy: The Struggle for the People鈥檚 King January 14, 2023 On a humid day in late August 2010, the right-wing Tea Party activist and Fox News television host Glenn Beck held a rally to 鈥淩estore Honor鈥� at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Read More
