Category: Maunderings

A pledge of annoyance

This post marks my commitment to make the world just a little more overwhelming. There may well be more writers than readers online – see: Study: Online Content Creators Outnumber Consumers 2,000 To 1. I regret that this may be one of those Onion stories matched or exceeded by reality.

Still, my motive for these published “maunderings” is entirely selfish. Just write something, produce something, and see where it goes. The only way to start is by starting. A writer is one who writes. So there. I am a writer. Right now, at least.

Academic employment: worse than Walmart?

Walmart’s employment policies and pay look pretty good in comparison to the higher education industry. I wonder how Walmart workers’ pay and benefits compare to adjunct professors’? I bet the Walmart greeters get a better hourly wage.

There were some unique circumstances in this infamous case of an elderly adjunct professor whose life ended in squalor and poverty. Still, American universities should be ashamed of how they treat adjunct faculty. People entrusted with the education of our youth shouldn’t be a permanent underclass relying on public assistance and charity to make ends meet.

What Really Happened to Margaret Mary Vojtko, the Duquesne Adjunct Whose Death Became a Rallying Cry?
On Friday, Aug. 16, Margaret Mary Vojtko, an adjunct French professor who’d recently lost her job at Duquesne University at the age of 83, suffered a cardiac arrest on a street corner in Homestead, Pa.* Vojtko collapsed yards from the house where she had lived almost her entire life…

 

The action most worth watching is not at the center of things

“…the action most worth watching is not at the center of things but where the edges meet. I like shorelines, weather fronts, international borders. There are interesting frictions and incongruities in these places, and often, if you stand at the point of tangency, you can see both sides better than if you were in the middle of either one.”

Anne Fadiman in the preface to The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

On sexism, privilege, and tech

My post at gb.tc on sexism, privilege, and “diversity” vs.”inclusiveness” in the tech community.

An inclusive innovation scene?
Baltimore’s tech scene looks like most cities’ – it’s overwhelmingly male. Are techies sexist? Is it outright chauvinism? A result of subtle exclusionary signals? Or is this imbalance simply a symptom of deeper, global problems?

These questions are perennial and much-debated at the national level. At the moment, there’s a local outburst of frank discussion…

Ghosts of Detroit

Some ghosts of Detroit – a more humane form of ruin fixation that actually features some human beings who once filled these spaces with life.

Beautifully Mashed-Up Photos Show The Glory And Wreckage Of Detroit
Several years after the original Cass Tech High School in downtown Detroit was abandoned, a local photographer sifting through the ruins found decades of the school’s storied history…

 

Pulling for Tyler Waldman

A huge number of people are pulling for Tyler Waldman right now. I’m praying that we can soon enjoy another coffee-and-media discussion in Towson…

Outpouring of Support for Essex Editor Tyler Waldman

Tyler Jonathan Waldman, a Towson resident, was critically injured after a Monday morning car crash at the intersection of Goucher Boulevard and E. Joppa Road.

Baltimore diplomatic mission to Philadelphia’s tech scene

A storify of insights and photos from a Baltimore delegation to Philadelphia’s tech scene…

Geeks on a Train to Philadelphia
On Nov. 16, 2012, a group of Baltimore entrepreneurs, coders, designers, innovators, and other tech community enthusiasts got a first-hand look at Philadelphia’s tech scene. These are their stories……

Weekly Twitterings for 2012-10-15

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Weekly Twitterings for 2012-10-08

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Weekly Twitterings for 2012-10-01

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