Over the past several years, there has been a sonic awakening. The study of sound and its effects on knowledge, identity, culture, and history has risen dramatically within both existing academic fields – such as media studies, art history, musicology, philosophy, cultural studies, and the history of technology – as…
Rather than write another commentary on a recent event, or a critique on some new internet privacy issue, I’ve decided to write about a recent “shower thought” that I had a few days ago. It was triggered by a Buzzfeed headline I saw as I’d skimmed through my Facebook timeline:…
American human beings hate their hands and it’s killing me. More to the point: modern Americans would rather wave their hands in front of a sensor than use their digits to open, say, a toilet lid. Or a trash can. Or even turn on a faucet. All in the name…
“When there are no bathrooms, no bedrooms, no rooms of any kind, you have to masturbate during ‘showers,’ … hiding behind the largest tree in the yard,” writes M.H. Bowker, recounting a pivotal experience while living and working in Porto-Novo, the capital of the West African Country of Benin….
Did you hear about the deep fried rat at KFC? Or how about the two Floridians who were arrested for selling golden tickets to heaven? If you frequent social media, you have probably seen these stories on your feeds. They are fascinating stories—if only they were true. The age of…
In February, of 2014, Blake Brockinton was crowned homecoming king at East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, in December he led a march through Charlotte’s uptown advocating for black lives, this upcoming September he planned to attend UNC Charlotte. Yet, in March, Blake committed suicide. Blake, like millions…
I went on a little road trip to Vermont this past week with my girlfriend, spending some time in the mountains and enjoying the rugged natural landscape around the Trapp Family Lodge (yes, that Trapp family). I made an attempt to treat it as a break from tech and social…
The world of popular gaming mirrors the development of Hollywood action films: grandiose attempts at virtuality, holograms, and 3-D fantasies, with non-stop violence, misogyny, and the overuse of traditional, linear narratives and tropes. Even game trailers are difficult to decipher from those of live-action cinema. Yet, as is always…
I’m antisocial. Sure, when I’m off at school it’s different. I’m in “people mode” so often that sometimes I forget just how much of an introvert I am. But when I’m home and in a social setting, that’s when I remember. At a party, I’m the one who sits in…
The White House hosted a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, during which Obama discussed concrete steps world powers “can take to develop community-oriented approaches to counter hateful extremist ideologies that radicalize, recruit or incite to violence” (Office of the Press Secretary 2015); however, the U.S. government seems to be overstating…