Thinking back to this, my admittedly-insane high bar for “great musical” is related to Jill Dolan’a idea of the utopian performative, and for me that’s what the Great Comet did, over and over again some character would suddenly step forward and just devastatingly rearrange us, in a song.
very glad to share!
musicologists will of course note the genealogy of this class with regards to a certain legendary Mitchell Morris course, from which it is indeed descended.
Fun fact, last time I checked it was one of two courses in the entire UD course catalog that had the phrase “critical race theory” in its course description.
Not sure Bluesky is super effective for this sort of thing, but for my Delaware people on here: this fall I will be teaching one of my favorite non-major classes, “Queer Perspectives on Popular Music,” and you should encourage (cool) students to take it!
Such an interesting vibe shift for the Inquirer to endorse Rabb. Not sure what to make of it!
That said I do think it’s hard to beat The Music Man as the purest example of American musical theater in its most classical sense, but to me none of the zillions of times I have seen necessarily produced the single greatest experience as an audience member, if that makes sense.
A musicologist can’t answer this without being more specific, but the greatest [traditional] stage musical [I have experienced as an audience member] was The Great Comet of 1812.
also makes you think about how decades of US education policy has tried to divert students into STEM fields to serve industries that are now, thanks to Trump and AI, evaporating into thin air.
Isabela Orellana, a 22-year-old senior, was sitting at a table for a L.G.B.T. support group. She knew Mr. Fantegrossi, and said she wondered if he had left Turning Point in an effort to earn national attention.
Long, naive NYT article trying to explain right-wing student group drama as if it involves meaningful political discourse, and at the very end a random college student casually explains what’s actually going on. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...
This is so infuriating, and I will say that every day that the weather is hot, my tall, long-legged daughter worries about being dress-coded if she wears shorts. She’s ten years old. www.inquirer.com/education/ca...
My dissertation was based on a paper I wrote my sophomore year in college, lol, but I actually regret not allowing myself to explore more. Easy to get stuck. (He says as he works on a second book not so far removed 😭)
family. But first, our friends
also, working on my department’s strategic plan, since I am 46.
I spent my birthday planting things, which I recommend when you are turning 46.
Screenshot of an Instagram post If Jesus is first in your home, why is He last in your remodel? Ask: How does God want to use this home? What atmosphere do we want shaping our children's hearts? What rhythms of faith and family do we want supported here? Because how your home is rooted in Christ will impact your friends and family in ways that outlast any trend. But here's where many women get stuck: They agree with this in theory... but they don't know how to translate "Jesus first" into actual design decisions. How does prayer affect a floor plan? How does mission influence a furniture layout? How does calling shape color choices? That's exactly why I created FIRM Foundation.
Tired: religion and politics
Wired: religion and interior design
Like, most people end up in those places because they are taught that “car-dominated hellscape” equals “good schools” or “safety” or “easy parking.” Some of those ideas are incorrect, and even if not, you don’t have to prioritize those things! Even/especially schools.
Screenshot of a reply This part. By the time I was my daughter's age I'd biked literally every street in our little corn-belt town, and after we moved I'd been all over DC by myself on the Metro and bus system. TheNow I drive her everywhere. There's literally no place for her to just go hang out with her friends.
Don’t want to pick on this random person, but I just don’t understand why, if one has a choice in where to live (not everybody does, yadda) one doesn’t prioritize these values. I can’t imagine choosing to raise kids in a car-dominated hellscape.
disappointed not to learn how much of the budget comes from hosting Making Time, presumably almost all of it?
Hard to believe she wrote regularly for the Inquirer, and not even that long ago!
Kind of amazing news.
Oh my! Any gossip? She wrote me an unhinged email once.
Screenshot of FB comment: he's pandering to countries where I, a Christian woman, would fear for my safety. Does he not care about my safety because he dislikes my president? (25 people liked it)
She’s really on a roll.
For some reason I am getting Christine Flowers posts popping up in my FB feed, and she just wrote, and I quote, “With all due respect, Your Holiness, you have no idea what you are talking about.” 😂😂😂
and, of course, Hampshire's role as part of the Five Colleges was another model that could have worked to similar ends!
It's of course why the wholesale attacks on New College were/are so devastating. My father taught at one (Southern Oregon) and I'm afraid to look up how they are doing these days. 😬
I love small liberal arts colleges; had a great education at mine and would love to teach at one. I now recognize how subsidized they have to be in ways often unscalable at best, immoral at worse (c.f. Lutnik), and I hope some day we figure out how to integrate them into public university systems.
I think that’s the thing, the marketing as something “classy” is integral to a lot of marketing, although I imagine they aspire to “fancy date restaurant” classy rather than exclusive. But either way, it conflicts with the “music is universally meaningful” branding.
Very true
no gender essentialism except for men breathing the loudest in yoga.