Worth Reading In December/January

• David Roth in Defector on the late, great, John Madden.

• Brian Brems in Vague Visages on the 1971 Noir film Klute.

• Chris McGreal in The Guardian on Desmond Tutu’s solidarity with Palestine.

• Chelsea Barabas in Real Life Magazine on the surveillance of minority students in schools.

Read In 2019

• The Story Of Crass by George Berger

• The Western Canon: The Books & Schools Of The Ages by Harold Bloom

• The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks

• We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution by George Circcariello-Maher

• A Penelopean Politics: Reweaving The Feminine In Homer's Odyssey by Barbara Clayton

• Atari To Zelda: Japan's Video Games In Global Contexts by Mia Consalvo

• The Odyssey of Political Theory: The Politics of Departure and Return by Patrick J. Deneen

• Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs by James Dixon

• I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie by Roger Ebert

• K-Punk: The Collected & Unpublished Writing Of Mark Fisher by Mark Fisher

• Transformers: Regeneration One Volumes 1-4 by Simon Furman

• Soccer In Sun & Shadows by Eduardo Galeano

• Radioactive Man: Radioactive Repoository by Matt Groening

• GI Joe Volumes 1-33 by Larry Hama

• My Hero Academia Volume 1-3 by Kohei Horikoshi

• Death Of The Territories: Expansion, Betrayal, and The War That Changed Pro Wrestling Forever by Tim Hornbaker

• The New Testament As Literature by Kyle Keefer

• Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Football In Europe During The Second World War by Simon Kuper

• Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Volume One by Stan Lee

• Kill Shakespeare Volume One by Conor McCreery

• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

• One Piece Volume One by Eiichiro Oda

• Mega Man 3 (Boss Fights) by Salvatore Pane

• Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise & Crazier Demise of the USFL by Jeff Pearlman

• Shakespeare and the Middle Ages by Curtis Perry

• Electronic Literature by Scott Rettberg

• Capitalism: A Ghost Story by Arundhati Roy

• Where We Go From Here by Bernie Sanders

• Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics by Richard Seymour

• Essays by Wallace Shawn

• Night Thoughts by Wallace Shawn

• 1923: A Great Depression Memoir by Harry Leslie Smith

• Harry's Last Stand: How The World My Generation Built Is Falling Down and What We Can Do To Save It by Harry Leslie Smith

• Love Among The Ruins: A Memoir of Life and Love in Hamburg, 1943 by Harry Leslie Smith

• Strike For America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity by Micah Uetricht

• The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds In Homer's Odyssey by Thomas Van Nortwick

• Never Any End In Paris by Enrique Vila-Matas

• The Future of Our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice by Lois Weiner

• A Politics of Love: A Handbook For A New American Revolution by Marianne Williamson

• Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genuis of Dutch Soccer by David Winner

Books Read In 2016

1. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
2. A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass
3. The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer
4. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade by Susan Wise Bauer
5. Heavy Metal Music In Britain by Gerd Bayer
6. The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy by Maggie Berg
7. The Smart Girl's Guide to Privacy: Practical Tips for Staying Safe Online by Violet Blue
8. Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolano
9. Nazi Literature In The Americas by Roberto Bolano
10. The Unknown University by Roberto Bolano
11. The Secret History of Science Fiction by T.C. Boyle
12. The Sorcerer's Daughter: The Defenders of Shannara by Terry Brooks
13. Letters, 1941-1985 by Italo Calvino
14. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History Of The Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
15. Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling by Chris Charlton
16. X-Men: Days Of Future Past by Chris Claremont
17. Disgrace: A Novel by J.M. Coetzee
18. Panther In The Hive by Olivia A. Cole
19. Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous by Gabriella Coleman
20. The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History and How We Can Fight Back by Alan Collinge
21. Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America by Matthew J. Costello
22. Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica by Kevin Courrier
23. Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems by Mahmoud Darwish
24. Star Trek Archives: The Best Of Peter David
25. Women In Class Struggle by Marlene Dixon
26. Mystery Science Storybook: Bedtime Tales Based on the Worst Movies Ever by Sugar Ray Dodge
27. The Life Engineered by JF Dubeau
28. Husker Du: The Story Of The Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock by Andrew Earles
29. On Literature by Umberto Eco
30. Selected Essays, Poems, and Other Writings by George Eliot
31. Picture Windows: How The Suburbs Happened by Elizabeth Ewen
32. False Choices: The Faux Feminism Of Hilary Rodham Clinton by Liza Featherstone
33. Welcome To Night Vale: A Novel by Joseph Fink
34. The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime by Michael Fournier
35. Nirvana's In Utero by Gillian Gaar
36. Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman
37. The Game of Our Lives: The English Premier League and the Making of Modern Britain by David Goldblatt
38. Imagine: Living In A Socialist USA by Frances Goldin
39. Anxiety: A Short History by Allan V. Horwitz
40. Queen Of Chaos: The Misadventures Of Hillary Clinton by Diana Johnstone
41. The Walking Dead Volume One by Robert Kirkman
42. The Walking Dead Volume Two by Robert Kirkman
43. Capitalism: A Short History by Jurgen Kocka
44. Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It by Gina Kolata
45. State & Revolution by Vladimir Lenin
46. Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller
47. Milton and the Post-Secular Present: Ethics, Politics, Terrorism by Feisal Mohamed
48. All Star Superman by Grant Morrison
49. Alice Munro's Best: Selected Stories by Alice Munro
50. Batman & Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow by Dennis O'Neil
51. The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized, History by John Ortved
52. Game Boy World: 1989: A History of Nintendo Game Boy, Volume One by Jeremy Parish
53. The Apology by Plato
54. The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by Corey Rubin
55. Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance by Goerge Saliba
56. The Assasination Complex: Inside The Government's Secret Drone Warface Program by Jeremy Scahill
57. Batgirl 2012 Annual by Gail Simone
58. Lumberjanes Volume One by Noelle Stevenson
59. Lumberjanes Volume Two by Noelle Stevenson
60. The ABCs Of Socialism by Bhaskar Sunkara
61. The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia by Patrick Thorpe
62. The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class, 1910-2010 by Selina Todd
63. The Monsters Of Education Technology by Audrey Watters
64. Lumberjanes Volume Three by Shannon Watters
65. Lumberjanes Volume Four by Shannon Watters
66. Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber
67. Race Matters by Cornell West
68. Crisis On Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman
69. A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

Worth Reading Recently

• Bob Braun asks why it is okay to defame teachers.
• Poly Styrene, Punk Prophet & Science Fiction Priestess.
• Mass Effect, Personal Identity, and Genocide.
• Audrey Watters on the history of The Learning Channel.
• Cory Doctorow's You Are Not A Digital Native: Privacy In The Age Of The Internet.
• Bob Mackey on Captain N: The Game Master.
• Emily Nussbaum on Inside Amy Schumer.
• Matt Reed on extra credit. JUST. SAY. NO.
• Jill Walker-Rettberg on wondering if the world can change.
• Roger Ebert on Do The Right Thing.

Worth Reading Recently

• The Toast on Edna St. Vincent Millay.
• Amanda French on the books in Millay's library.
• Molly Crabapple on the Dissident Fetish.
• The Extinction Burst Of Gaming Culture.
• On Translating Clarice Lispecter.
• An excerpt from Jill Lepore's new book about Wonder Woman.
• Why mental illness is on the rise in academia.
• Jill Walker Rettberg on publishing her excellent new book under a Creative Commons license.
• Kate Fagen on Abby Wambach's post soccer future.
• A conversation with Borges about God.

Attendance

Recently, Little Professor blogged about attendance policies in the classroom. Her post got me thinking about my own experiences with attendance issues in the classroom. I think attendance is an important parting of the learning experience. How many absences a student may use should be up to an individual professor’s discretion based on how many they feel would not take away from a student’s learning experience. If this is one or five, that number is up to the professor. That said, no matter what the number is, as a student it is your job to suck it up and deal with whatever their policies are. Anyone who cannot deal with a stricter (let us argue two absences for an eleven-week semester is “strict,” and say, five or six is much more lenient) attendance policy shouldn’t take the course. I have never met a professor, especially here at Stockton, who is not willing to help and work with a student to deal with their issues and needs. I also have to agree with Little Professor’s sentiment that students who do come to class should not receive extra credit just for showing up when they are supposed to.