Telling the truth about boarding schools
USD students believe, at least to some extent, that knowledge is power. You can’t make good legal decisions or good policy without good information. One blind spot where our state lacks information concerns Native American boarding schools in the state and also in the wider U.S. The U.S. government set up boarding schools, often run […]
Drowning in content
After the last year or so I’ve had enough Ridley Scott. My main criticism is that I wasn’t bored. Let me explain. I sat through “House of Gucci” and “The Last Duel.” I rewatched “Gladiator.” I even watched season one of Scott’s new show “Raised by Wolves.” Most of these ended up falling flat for […]
Vermillion school spirit
Last month I attended a planning session for the USD strategic planning committee. The event was sparsely attended, but our small group did focus on one subject in particular: student morale. It’s an interesting time to write about this because many of us, including me, are becoming a little burned out here at the end […]
Good or bad taste, does it matter?
Do I have good taste? I’d like to think so, but if there were such a thing as good taste, wouldn’t it be widely agreed upon? Is it possible to litigate which is the better movie between “The Eternals” and “Dune”? Lately, I don’t think so. Thanks to the internet, the consumer is bombarded with […]
Environmental Justice
The climate got my attention this summer when I was house-sitting for my parents in Saint Paul. I took the dog out for a walk one afternoon and the sky was extremely hazy with smoke from Canadian wildfires hundreds of miles away. The smoke stayed with us for a couple of days and it affected […]
Masks: Volunteering is not enough
It’s inspiring to see the students and teachers who are mask-wearers day in and day out this semester. I thought for sure I would be one of these people, but I really do enjoy going maskless. Shout out also to the retail workers—for a while we called them “essential workers”—who still wear masks for the […]
Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Yea or nah?
The problems with “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” start with its name. As I hope you don’t know, there is also a movie called “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” and whenever I talk about the show I always say the name of the movie by accident. What I’m trying to get at here is […]
Problems of making our imagination real
The 1931 “Frankenstein” is excellent, given the time period it was made in. There is a problem: the monster. In the original, the monster is well-spoken. It has a sophisticated knowledge of itself and the world it lives in. Before Victor Frankenstein dies in the novel (spoiler alert) he warns his friend, a ship captain, […]
“Community” hypocrisy
I’ve been watching “Community” with my roommate, suffering through this tiresomely “self aware” show. Yes, I know the show is 10 years old but I don’t like it, and now you have to know about it! For those late to the party, “Community” is a show about a community college. This show seems to always […]
“WandaVision” Premiere
How do you feel about spoilers, generally? I’m warning you right now, I’m going to talk about Disney’s new streaming show “WandaVision”. Still reading? You’ve been warned. “WandaVision” starts with its two main characters (Wanda and Vision) trapped in a series of old sitcoms. The TV shows they find themselves in slowly advance in years […]