Full disclosure: I have never read one of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s popular graphic novels about Scott Pilgrim and his epic of epic epicness.  But my students insisted last week that I had to see the film adaptation because it was, well, epic.  And really, you should do something fun after you’ve...

This is an apologetic for the importance of paying attention in history class. I teach high school history, and I fully understand the boredom history class usually breeds in students. While I’m happy to spend 85 minutes discussing the variations of Christian doctrine among the peasant classes of...

“I want to have fins”, she sighed, gazing longingly at an advertisement for Disney’s The Little Mermaid. I could hardly have been more relieved; for a moment I’d thought I’d walked in on every modern mother’s nightmare – a preschooler who longs to be thin.  It’s not healthy for a four...

Welcome to the final episode of Picturing the Word! Our curriculum this week was themed “Redemption.” We watched: La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc) (Dreyer, 1928) Offret (The Sacrifice) (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986) The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994) Mildly adhering...

Welcome to Podcast 13! This is the second to final podcast of the series and John and I are having a hard time believing that our undergraduate education is almost at an end. Our curriculum this week was part 2 of the theme “Sacrifice.” We watched: Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (Richard...

Hello again! Welcome back. We only have a few weeks left and Danielle and I are excited to broaden our discussion beyond some of the texts and movies we’ve been watching and hope you find it interesting as well. This past week we watched: Superman Returns Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Harry Potter...

Welcome to Podcast 11! Our curriculum this week was aptly themed “A Strange Visitor.” We watched: Wall•E (Andrew Stanton, Pixar, 2008) Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964) The Terminal (Steven Spielberg, 2004) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) “Doctor Who” (Human Nature /...

Hello again! We are excited that you are joining us again! Danielle and I are enjoying the conversations we are having after class. We only have a few weeks left and are looking forward to sharing our thoughts with all of you. This past week we watched: The Emperor’s Club Amistad (Danielle and I would...

Welcome to Podcast 9! Our curriculum this week was themed “The Never-Ending Battle.” We watched: Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960, PG-13) Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995, R) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson, 2002, PG-13) “Doctor Who” (Army of Ghosts / Doomsday 2.12–13) We read: Kingdom...

Danielle and I both realized over the course of this class that questions about gender range from absurd to non-existent. Questions such as “Are you saying that a woman is worth less than a military conquest!?” prompted Danielle and I both to believe that questions concerning relationships, ideals...