Discourse Chronicle

The rules are simple. Choose a briefcase. Then as each round progresses, you must either stay with your original briefcase choice or make a “deal” with the bank to accept its cash offer in exchange for whatever dollar amount is in your chosen case. Once you decide to accept or decline the bank’s offer, the […]

category: Life, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Television    

The Hall of Fame is working with numerous states to pass “Truth in Music” legislation. It would allow state attorneys general to stop an impostor band performance with an injunction and seek civil penalties of up to $15,000 against impostor bands and those who promote them. Earlier this week, Pennsylvania’s governor signed a bill into […]

category: Popular Culture    

Spiegelman’s stories and artwork are part confessional and part societal commentary, part humor and part nightmare. He doesn’t set his cartoons and graphic novels in a fantasy world in order to fly his theories and messages in under our conscious radar. Instead, he forces us to examine the very real world we live in by […]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

Avraham studied drawing and painting in art school, and has been passionate about reading and creating comic books since childhood. Yet something was missing from his life as a secular artist, and seven years ago he started to become more observant. For four years, Guy stopped creating art, which didn’t seem as important to him […]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

“Stories of the Saints,” published monthly by Arcadius Press, is a four-book packet of comics, each featuring the life of a different saint. “For example, a recent packet had St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Joan of Arc and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton,” said Tony Sansone III, chief operating officer of Arcadius […]

category: Comics    

Launching early April, GoComics Books will include three new titles joining the already impressive GoComics line. Slated for release in the early Spring of 2006 is an eclectic blend of features that appeal to dedicated comic book readers and new fans alike. Titles include the new “cosmic” superhero comic GØDLAND, the geek and gamer strip […]

category: Comics, Literacy, Popular Culture, Technology    

For the second year in a row, and third time in four years, the U2 frontman has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his continuing efforts to erase poverty, debt and disease in developing countries. The nod comes just over a month after he was named one of Time’s Persons of the Year […]

category: Popular Culture    

[I believe presenting “Superman’s America: Audience, Reception, and President Lex” was successful. Our audience turnout consisted of seven people (counting presenters), but good discussions resulted from our small band of scholars. I found Adam Williams paper, “Me, Myself, and I: Hip Hop Culture and Racial Identity on tha Street and in African-American Literature” particularly fascinating. […]

category: Life    

[Tomorrow morning, I am presenting a Superman paper titled, “Superman’s America: Audience, Reception, and President Lex” (which is also following me to Atlanta, GA in April for the 2006 National Popular Culture Association conference) for a conference hosted by the English department. Each year, I always look forward to open grant season and the conference […]

category: Life    

A study of more than 36,000 healthy postmenopausal women determined that taking a standard calcium-and-vitamin-D supplement for seven years had no significant effect for most of them on preventing fractures in the spine, arms and hips, although it did lead to a 1% improvement in hip-bone density. Yet women who managed to take the vitamin-mineral […]

category: Health, Rhetoric and Poetics