Category Archives: Without Ritual, Autonomous Negotiations

This is the third installment in my “Big Idea Syllabus” series inspired by Dr. Michael Wesch’s “Big Idea” Syllabus for Anthropology. My “Big Idea” Syllabus for History can be found here, for Writing here. The “Big Idea” Syllabus for Gender Studies follows.  Gender is an important, valid field of inquiry, and because women and gender-nonconformingContinue reading “The “Big Idea” Gender Studies Syllabus”

Wheel of Fortune‘s ableist tendencies are endless. I’ve previously written about some of these here. But its ableism extends in other directions, too. Back in August of this year, I made a social media post focusing on Vanna and wrote: She is 62 and still “looks” (is “required” to look) much younger. If she gainedContinue reading “Wheel of Fortune’s Ableism Affects Pat and Vanna, too.”

I continue to really love office hours (and even thrive on them!), and I had another semester of wonderful and very busy office hours, even busier than last semester! Here’s the data breakdown for the Fall 2019 semester. (Added 11/29 10:15 AM: Unfortunately, you might not be able to see the full data correctly unlessContinue reading “239 visits. 180 hours. Office Hours.”

I regularly think about invisible labor and unpaid labor–it’s everywhere.  For invisible labor: We don’t see the people who empty our office trash cans. We don’t know the people who pick our fruits and vegetables and who deliver them to our local stores. What if grocery stores had a picture of who picked our fruitContinue reading “Notes on Invisible and Unpaid Labor “

In my Secularisms and Atheisms class, students are reading Living the Secular Life. In one place, the author talks about the Universal Life Church that allows people to easily become ordained. Curious, I Googled “Universal Life Church.” The website asks people to give their name, email address, country, and state. With this and a confirmationContinue reading “I’m an Ordained Minister.”

I just wanted to make a brief post about an interesting waiting room conversation I overheard while at M.D. Anderson recently.  An older White man was talking with another older White man and said:  Trump has done what he can but the rapture is still coming soon. If Hillary had been elected, it would haveContinue reading “Waiting Room Conversations”

I’ve always had busy office hours as discussed here. Invisible Labor is pervasive in our world. People labor in ways that are often unseen, unacknowledged, and/or even unpaid. In order to help counter this, I tracked visits this semester. The results follow.  I had 135 students this semester across 5 classes (plus one independent studyContinue reading “122 visits. 74 hours. Office Hours.”