My day on campus was supposed to be over at 12:20, but I figured I’d stick around, since Martha Raddatz was speaking. You should remember Ms. Raddatz as the moderator of the 2012 vice presidential debates; she’s also a very accomplished political and foreign correspondent. I’m only a Medill student for (ulp!) less than two months, so I have to take advantage of opportunities when they come up, right?
Martha Raddatz, as it turns out, was awesome. She was beyond lovely and had some great, great stories and advice. You can stream the event (about an hour) here, and/or read about it in The Daily Northwestern. After she spoke, students were lining up to talk with her and take pictures with her. I was going to skedaddle and catch my train, but I figured I’d thank her, especially for her words about covering military and veterans’ issues. Except I couldn’t find my phone! So I just said hi, and went on my way. There’s always a reception after these things, so I snuck in for a cupcake and a quick chat with one of my classmates. At which point… I found my phone. Right in my pocket, where I’d put it, on silent, before the talk.
Luckily I did get a chance for a selfie with Ms. Raddatz, who was gracious and friendly even though her handlers were tapping their watches. (Alas, I think it’s one of my less flattering photos, which… happens a lot when you’re taller than everyone else, including the person taking your picture. Oh well! It’s not like I don’t have selfies covered. They’re an evolving art form and a means of sociopolitical expression, after all.)
So, now my weekend starts! Time for more reading, writing and reporting, and maybe a little bit of fun too. Maybe. For the meantime, some link-mongering! Below the jump, we’ve got stories about radical education in Matamoros, Mexico; portraits of pre-Taliban Afghanistan; access to live shows at the Globe (yes, that one); a breakfast recipe I need to adapt to be egg-free (stupid allergies), because it just sounds that good; diversity in comedy, and more!
Lost in Time: Groovy Afghanistan
The Future of Storytelling is a really neat-looking and FREE interactive MOOC (massive open online course) running right now, in English only the moment, that will cover things like transmedia and interactive storytelling.
- Let’s Talk About SNL’s Diversity Problem
- Study finds TV shows with ethnically diverse casts, writers have higher ratings
One thing to understand about the training programs that feed SNL: they rely on your ability to both pay for expensive, ongoing classes and your ability to work very, very long hours for no guarantees and no pay. One of the reasons I stopped doing improv was because I didn’t want to commit every waking hour I wasn’t at my day job to being in shows, going to auditions, drinking with other improvisers (networking) and interning at iO, just for the chance to make a terrible Harold team that would probably get cut in a few months. There’s a link between this issue and why unpaid internships are full of privileged kids.
How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses: This is fascinating, and I would love to see, for example, the long book or documentary version of this information. This story is amazing and very inspirational, but… I would like to know more too. I don’t want this one to be too good to be true. (Or to deal with smug Americans who don’t know why everyone doesn’t just homeschool, let’s be honest.) (Note to self: Khan Academy.)
Doodle Alley: “Nourish” is one of my least, least favorite words, especially among the overused set, but these “cartoons that nourish” are about creativity in what seems like a really supporting, relatable way, like so.
A Roman bathhouse still in use after 2,000 years
Mushroom and Brussels sprout hash, ohmygosh, this looks perfeeeeeect.
Posh Huts: In Northumberland, it’s a thing. And I want to go.
18 Forgotten ’90s One-Hit Wonders — what do you mean, forgotten? I still have, like, half of these in my iTunes.
Better Book Titles: Halloween Edition
Shakespeare’s Globe Collection, where you can rent or buy beautiful films of recent stagings of some truly awesome Globe performances, including the Jaimie Parker-Roger Allam Henriad and Rory Pond Arthur Darvill’s Doctor Faustus.
Finally, a quote I love, from Tumblr user terresdebrume:
Fandom is, essentially, the collective refusal of thousands of people across the world to be passive about the media they are exposed to.
I just wish people from the outside would realize how great it truly is.
Magpie & Whale 