Reading Time: 3 minutes Like many of my colleagues, I’ve added a statement to my syllabi about the use of AI tools to write papers as a form of plagiarism. I’m hoping that the recognition tools available will help me detect whether a student has used AI to write their paper. But even more than that, I’m hoping that […]
Writing
Posted inNonreligious News
Adventures in journalism
Reading Time: 3 minutes The AAI Files, Part Six On January 27, I wrote an article about the recent Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held by Atheist Alliance International (AAI). In this article, I named names. On January 28, early in the morning, AAI contacted me, asking that I redact a particular name from the article. Let’s call him Sharif. The […]
Posted inFiction
Dreaming up worse to imagine better: Why I write bleak humanist fiction
Reading Time: 7 minutes My heart is a touch heavy this birthday of mine. Don’t get me wrong: all birthdays are fantastic, so long as you’re on the right side of the green. (And even if I weren’t, I wouldn’t be in any position to complain, now would I?) Moreover, I’m publishing my first novel today, which is a […]
Posted inFilm/TV
The Rings of Power, and why fantasy dialogue is just terrible
Reading Time: 5 minutes “The same wind that seeks to blow out a fire may also cause it to spread.” “There can be no trust between hammer and rock. Eventually one or the other must surely break.” “For, unlike the stone, her gaze is not downward, but up.“ Behold, some examples of dialogue from the new Amazon Prime series […]
Posted inCulture
Why I started writing about my life as a stripper
Reading Time: 3 minutes Someone recently asked why I started writing. While being a writer was always a dream of mine, it didn’t feel like an attainable goal. More like the silly pipe dream of a nerdy seventh-grader. But after I started dancing, the idea of writing a memoir began to lurk in the shadows of my mind. Telling […]
Posted inMyth & Folklore
My new fairy-tale research: all queer, all the time
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ah, summertime, when academics everywhere finally get to work on our research. Mine, I realize, is focused on queer identities in fairy tales, since that’s the most exciting thing to me right now.
Posted inGeneral
Karen Witemeyer and the Fuss Over Her Romance Novel
Reading Time: 9 minutes Recently, a Christian romance novelist, Karen Witemeyer, wrote a book called At Love’s Command. On July 31st, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) awarded this book the win for ‘best romance with religious/spiritual elements.’ It’s a deeply disturbing book due to its racism toward Native Americans — and its casual revisionist treatment of real-world events like the slaughter of Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee. Karen Witemeyer and her professional organization don’t understand all the fuss here at all! Today, I’ll show you that fuss — and then why these Christians are just soooooo mystified.
Posted inEducation, General
Reflections on Teaching First-Year Writing
Reading Time: 5 minutes Since I’m teaching First Year Seminar this year, I’m teaching academic writing skills through a variety of assignments…but of course, this is making me reflect on when and how I first learned to write.
Posted inGeneral
2020 Was the Year of the Personal Essay for Me
Reading Time: 4 minutes Despite being badly burned out this year, I published two personal essays and had a third accepted. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Posted inEducation, General
Two Kinda Awful Reasons I Stopped Writing What I Love
Reading Time: 5 minutes Some days I feel like I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up; being a writer is high on that list, but I’ve badly sabotaged myself already, for unpleasant reasons.