Fightin' Words

One of the treasured objet d’art in my home in Austin is a little clipping from the Advocate that hangs on the fridge. It’s a letter to the editor, from Tim Grant of Berndardston, and it’s headlined “Stop Oppenheimer” (I call it the...

The Ethics of Civic Discourse

After nearly 30 years of organizing conferences, symposia, colloquia, reading and discussion programs, and panel discussions examining a vast array of public issues, you’d think I’d be an expert at handling controversy. I’m not. The conventional...

The viral and the local

Heather Brandon recently had a nice post here at The Public Humanist, about journalism and blogging, and also the place of the local online. Her post reminded me of this moment earlier this year, when one of my students blogged about a local billboard, the one you see...