I just wanted to share a quick thought: The Academy Awards/Oscars are a perfect example of how sexist and violent society is toward women and men when it comes to the performative nature of gender. Women are forced to look “their best,” with the most unique and expensive outfit. Reporters spend a great deal of timeContinue reading “Gender, The Academy Awards, and How Everybody Suffers”
Monthly Archives: February 2017
Hidden Agendas?: STEM, Women, and Sexism
This evening it occurred to me (when I wasn’t trying to have any new ideas!) that it would be worth thinking through the recent specific emphasis on STEM programs (I first heard about this push in 2011) and its cultural, intertextual relationships with people we call women and with sexism and college enrollment patterns. AContinue reading “Hidden Agendas?: STEM, Women, and Sexism”
What do our students actually need? And other thoughts related to the politics of teaching.
They need to be challenged, really challenged and pushed beyond their limits. They need working understandings of how everything is culturally constructed and subjective, including the system of education they are in. They need the confidence, skill, and understanding to have difficult conversations without anger or fear. They need time to live and learn and relax and grow.Continue reading “What do our students actually need? And other thoughts related to the politics of teaching.”
Inquiry and Investigation, Teaching Texas History Backward – Update #2
I have been meaning to write this blog for a few weeks but continue to be overwhelmed! As I wrote in January, I am teaching my Texas History class backward this semester. Instead of starting the semester with pre-contact and Columbus and ending the semester with much more recent cultural and political events, we started withContinue reading “Inquiry and Investigation, Teaching Texas History Backward – Update #2”
Behind a Politician’s Doors, A Poem
Do you ever wonder what really happens behind a politician’s doors? The power enabled by uninformed and short-sided people, The words screamed, whispered, cried, silenced, and deleted, the hopes dashed, the hopes fulfilled, all for their personal gain, of course, fears alleviated, the fears confirmed, the people condemned to die, people made into oligarchs, people deliberately impoverished, theContinue reading “Behind a Politician’s Doors, A Poem”
What are you going to do?
What are you going to do? What are you going to do when ICE comes to your door, demands your papers, and searches your house? What are you going to do when you have some extra time: read, write, protest, or watch what is generally mindless television? What are you going to do when Trump’sContinue reading “What are you going to do?”
A Look Inside My Introduction to Queer Studies Classes: Poetry and Identity
Today my wonderful students in both sections of Introduction to GLBT Studies (or Queer Studies) at the University of Houston explored various aspects of identity! We started off by listening to and discussing a variety of performance poems: “Until We Could,” “Lost Voices,” and “For Anyone Who’s Been Told it’s ‘Just a Phase’.” Then weContinue reading “A Look Inside My Introduction to Queer Studies Classes: Poetry and Identity”
Does geography work for or against you when getting an education?
Now that I have four academic degrees and am currently not a student for the first time in my life, I have been critically accessing the education I received and its quality. Before going too far, let me say that I greatly enjoyed my decades as a student and had many wonderful experiences. I learned a ton and becameContinue reading “Does geography work for or against you when getting an education?”
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 