By Any Other Nerd

He has a lot to say about the subject. #DailyStickMan #SilenceIsGolden http://ift.tt/2eVDDsq Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Well, that's a statement... #DailyStickMan #BackwardsForwards http://ift.tt/2e2GjCB Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Well, many readers are familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the running criticism of the first season or two that wherein they encountered the "monster of the week."  Each week, the episode started with the appearance of a monster and somehow, Buffy and friends were dragged into the mix and were able to resolve the issue all within forty-two minutes of jokes, mayhem, and gumption.  Formulaic and to some degree boring.   Smallville and Supernatural also suffered from this in their early seasons before an ongoing and engaging plot could be developed that more strongly connected each episode into a larger arc.   Yes, Buffy & a PhD program have things in common. I think this makes an apt metaphor for my experience with my PhD program right now and I would imagine the same for others in the program.  As we reach the mid-point in the first semester wherein we meet weekly, I'm flummoxed with how often I raise the question of why.  Why am I in this program?  Why

Has enough time passed? #DailyStickMan #TooSoon #Spoilers #Alf #GordonShumway http://ift.tt/2emqJ5X Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

He might need some help... #DailyStickMan #RoadRage #RoadRabbies http://ift.tt/2eGbhon Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

What happens in #Salem.... #DailyStickMan #Halloween http://ift.tt/2eZ8SBU Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Who asked ya? #DailyStickMan #jelly #marshmellow http://ift.tt/2eAyEzt Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift My rating: 4 of 5 stars Many people recognize the name Jonathan Swift and some of us probably suffered through his “A Modest Proposal” at one point in our education. I say “suffer” mostly in jest because I know that’s what I did when I first came across him; mostly because he was mandatory reading and my engagement with reading was quite different then. I go back now and can certainly appreciate “A Modest Proposal” (and one can even find an a free reading at Librivox). So when Gulliver’s Travels came into my hands, I decided I should read it and found it rewarding. Here’s a book written just under 300 years ago and I was impressed how accessible it truly is. It’s not a fantastic story by any means; after all, there’s very little dialogue and some chapters can be rather drab, but on the whole, I could appreciate Swift’s criticism of humanity and society. Gulliver’s Travel is the account of a ship doctor and his four escapades into unchart

Singers and Tales: Oral Tradition and the Roots of Literature by Michael D.C. Drout My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'm a huge fan of Drout's work. This is his 8th or so Modern Scholar production and he's just a joy to listen to. He's always excited and engaged with the course he is presenting and he has many different asides that make it feel like each lecture is a conversation. This lecture series brings a lot of insight into oral tradition, what we assume about it, what it really is, and how it is different from and informs the written tradition. What's great about Drout is that he covers a good range of literature and does his best to go beyond his own comfort zone of training to explore non-Western traditions of oral tradition. View all my reviews By Any Other Nerd Blog  by  Lance Eaton  is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .

I think he's onto something...maybe on something #DailyStickMan #IllHaveWhatHesHaving #ItTakesAllKinds http://ift.tt/2euYMe5 Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Well, we all have our own styles... #DailyStickMan #Plasticware #TheFinerThings http://ift.tt/2ePKB62 Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

There's no accounting for taste. #DailyStickMan #Tunafish #MapleSyrup #ew http://ift.tt/2eyFofl Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1: Out of the Deep Woods by Jeff Lemire My rating: 2 of 5 stars The story focuses on a boy named Gus who has lived in a forest with his parents for his entire life, believing that to go out of the woods would be dangerous (and I did enjoy this irony that the woods is the place of safety and to leave is to invoke horrible events). Gus is one of the few children who have been born since some apocalyptic event and has been imbued with antlers and other animal hybrid features. After his father’s death, he finds himself being hunted but quickly rescued by an old gruff man who promises to take him to a place of protection for children like himself. Scared and uncertain, Gus follows and steps into the rest of the world. It’s pretty standard post-apocalyptic fair thus far with at least one good (albeit somewhat predictable twist), but as I’ve said before, Lemire still has the power to tell a good comic story through drawing. He does extremely well with subtle panels t

I mean, we all need goals, right? #DailyStickMan #CreamCheese #Goals http://ift.tt/2dBcTyN Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice by Adam Benforado My rating: 5 of 5 stars Benforado explores the criminal justice system from the vantage point of what modern science has shown us about the human nature and contrasts that sharply with a criminal justice system that was formed out at a time when there was very little scientific evidence for its assumptions (the 18th and 19th century). His ongoing commentary is that 1000 years from now, people will our sense of justice as archaic as we now judge how justice was dealt with 1000 years ago. Though we have our beliefs that are grounded in "common sense", they are rarely grounded in what scientific evidence has showed us. Therefore, Benforado moves through each aspect of the criminal justice system from identifying (or mis-identifying) perpetrators to arrest investigations to the courtroom and to the prison system, showing the systematic failures of the who process. It's an essential reading for anyone lookin

He clearly had to get that off his chest. #DailyStickMan #Blarp #ramblings http://ift.tt/2dMvwgC Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

I can't even fathom what I'm looking at... #DailyStickMan #Zesty #SayWhat http://ift.tt/2ed09wi Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Wait...what? I can't even... #DailyStickMan #HeSaidWhat #Issues http://ift.tt/2dWwJam Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Well...that's about 26 years too late #DailyStickMan #MCHammer #CantTouchThis  #ButReally #WhoWantsTo? http://ift.tt/2dCJced Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

The daily practice of starting my day with what I am grateful for is powerful.  It gives me a chance to think about the big and the small things that are true joys and the things that I sometimes never realized I should be thankful for or acknowledge.  And it has lead me into thinking about ways of being grateful that I had never thought of before.   It seems that each month as I progress with this project, I find another way of expressing or thinking about being grateful.  This month,  after reading Kate Harding's Asking For It , I was so moved by the book that I felt compelled to find her online and thank her for her willingness and ability to write such a book.  That of course triggered another thought of how rarely I do this and yet how many authors have enriched my life with their words.  With that in mind, I think I will likely make an effort to reach out and thank authors as I complete their works and to let them know that their words have impacted my life.   I remembe

Does that include the name Robert? #DailyStickMan #Allergies #WhatAboutBob http://ift.tt/2em3Cgr Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

I Thought You Were Dead by Pete Nelson My rating: 2 of 5 stars Pete Nelson’s I Thought You Were Dead feels a bit flat. It mixes a bit of Seinfeld with a bit of self-help and a dash of every none-alpha male sweet-loving, smart, insecure guy cliché. Paul is wishy-washy, whiny, and rather drab all around. He’s divorced; he engages in deep philosophical debates with his dog; and he enjoys drinking with his friends. Of course, his life becomes troubling when his father suffers a debilitating stroke and an onslaught of family stresses begin to fracture; including his relationship with his most recent girlfriend. The issues feel genuine enough, but the final “breakthrough” events just feel flat. And yet, there were things I dug about Paul and kept me reading. I understood (and related) to many of his concerns about his life and the doubt, double-questioning, and resistance he met with certain personal obstacles whether it be family, love relations, or self-image. Nelson did well with

Get this guy a mic... #DailyStickMan #ThrowDownABeat #Hobbies http://ift.tt/2egWodf Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude M. Steele My rating: 5 of 5 stars If you want to understand the profound effects of stereotype threat, then Steele's book is a great resource. If you want to understand how pernicious stereotypes are and remain to be, then this would be the book to read. Steele shows through a variety of work that he and others have down, how when stereotypes are evoked in a person, it can threaten his or her ability to succeed. That is, it's not just about how others perceive someone, but it is how that someone thinks of himself/herself in relation to a group identity that has a negative stereotype. A person is likely to perform worse when he/she belongs to a group identity that is stigmatized when that person's group identity have been emphasized. This has stark implications for education, work, and the culture at large. Steele provides a variety of different examples of how this happens but also shines a ligh

Oh man he's really trying to keep it going... #DailyStickMan #Disco #StayinAlive http://ift.tt/2dORBx9 Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

This guy is going places...like hospitals... #DailyStickMan #Science #Haters http://ift.tt/2e1bLqR Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

But ya know, I'll still want plenty of #popcorn for tonight's #debates #DailyStickMan #CracksMeUp http://ift.tt/2dYmIcl Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Of all the things to all for... #DailyStickMan #Apocalypse #Unicorns http://ift.tt/2dSNbUu Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

It's all about the shoes...? #DailyStickMan #PennyLoafers #Shoes #RememberMe http://ift.tt/2dYGEIo Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

There is lots to talk about this month.  If August had me reporting little in terms of books to talk about, September had them in abundance.  Even though I only read thirteen books this month, many of them hit high marks for consideration.  I'll limit myself to three but know that I'm happy to chat about any of them! The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire For those not in the realms of education or social justice, you may not have stumbled upon this book.  But for those interested in such subjects (as well as politics, cultural studies, criminal justice, etc), then this is one of those essential classics.  Freire's theoretical and complex book may come in well under 200 pages, but it's still an intellectual journey.  Reading and processing it reminds me of reading Foucault's History of Sexuality Volume 1; I might have had better luck learning the native language it was published in and then trying to read the book.  It's dense but particularly chapte

He don't want any part of it... #DailyStickMan #Drama ##AintNobodyGotTimeForThat http://ift.tt/2dwqQOL Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers My rating: 2 of 5 stars Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers had its merits for depicting the real-world liminality and faulty-logical approaches to the criminal justice system; particularly as it is applied to minors. It also balanced simplicity with complexity well. The story’s shell embodied a simple short course of events that the main character, Reese experiences. He’s given an option to become part of a work-release program. He meets a disgruntled and bigoted man, the develop a sincere and deep relationship, and Reese learns about himself and his life by listening to this older man. Meanwhile, his situation in the detention center (named “Progress” of course) is deteriorating especially after two cops show up to bully him into taking a plea for crimes he had no responsibility for. Reese’s story in the larger picture is not an intense life or death situations nor the stuff of mainstream drama; after all, by our cultural standards, young black male in c

Rising Strong by Brené Brown My rating: 4 of 5 stars I love Brown's work. She captures so much of our internal lives and helps us learn the language to speak about it. Rising Strong follows along these lines in helping us thinking about our inner lives and feelings and finding powerful ways to externalize them, talk about them, and move through them in the moment and throughout our lives. She does this both through research and through storytelling--explaining how the work she is doing plays out in her daily life and others. There are some powerful moments throughout this book, but for me was her exploration of the thought: "What if everyone is really doing their best?" This question and where it leads her (as well as myself) is something that we should always be asking. View all my reviews By Any Other Nerd Blog  by  Lance Eaton  is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .

Enough is enough... #DailyStickMan #Debates #boxer #briefs http://ift.tt/2dr1B0a Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Just one of those things... #DailyStickMan #CantExplainIt #Proposal #NoWay http://ift.tt/2dMr7yT Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .

Title: The Creature from the Black Lagoon Author:  Jim Shephard Summary: The story tells the story from the vantage point of the "creature" from the film,  The Creature from the Black Lagoon .  The creature has been around for millions of years and presents himself with a sense of disillusion and boredom.  He shares his experiences living in the lagoon, left to his own devices and observing life around him.  However, several people arrive and begin taking measurements and documenting the area.  Some of them leave, but others stay behind and the creature continues to learn about them.  Eventually, the creature approaches those left behind and the interaction leaves the men dead.  New people arrive including a female that the creature grows increasingly curious and fascinated by.  His repeated attempts to grab her attention or capture her result in a confrontation that leaves him mortally wounded and in his last thoughts, essentially accepting that he was indeed de

What's that all about? #DailyStickMan #ItsNotAboutYou #OrIsIt http://ift.tt/2dRtmQA Check out other editions of The Daily Stickman Adventures . If you are receiving this via email and do not see the image posted, please click the link to The Daily Stickman Adventures .