On the one hand: James argues that digital technologies privilege our impulses over our intentions, and are gradually diminishing our ability to engage with the issues we most care about; on the other: A longitudinal study of student writing finds that digital technology has not been the downfall of written expression: Students in first-year ( Read more... )

I was intrigued, sorta, by this piece in yesterday's Guardian: While women like me write openly about their sex lives, few men now feel free to do the same.

I've been mulling about this and it fits in to various other musings I've had recently and over a longer period about masculinity, men and sex, etc (trust me, I'm a historian...)

Someone on one ( Read more... )

Men Are Terribly Poor Stuff, reprised yet again: Online dating: Cyber Cyrano for hire - Too busy to chat up the suitors in your online dating account? No problem. Matt Prager will simply assume your identity and do it for you. Can I get a loud, collective *EEEEUUUUWWWW*? At least Christian had already seen and fancied Roxanne when he asked Cyrano ( Read more... )

Sometimes I think being a Whig historian is an okay thing to be.

And okay, within the context of presentation I did a run through of this morning, and its purpose, I think that's probably appropriate anyway.

But I still remember conference on the history of sexology and psychiatry at which the commentator at the end of the sexology session got up ( Read more... )

Riffing off at a tangent from something I read this morning, have been thinking about the difficulty people have in imagining a state of being deprived of certain things they consider intrinsic to their identity.

I suppose it's a bit of a cliche that the young can't imagine how older people can bear to be old (for really quite junior degrees of ( Read more... )

Have been observing hither and yon (and have done it myself) the auditing of last year, stock-taking of successes and failures, gains and losses.

And am beginning to be bit iffy about the whole process.

Without wanting to get all Last Great Scorer about it, or to channel an inspirational poem I had to learn (aged something like 9 years old) for an ( Read more... )

This afternoon to the British Museum to see Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan, which is lovely - well worth the seeing.

Thoughts:

The far less rigid art/craft division that seems to be part of Japanese culture.

The combination of traditional forms and techniques with more contemporary techniques and themes.

Textiles are so a significant part of their ( Read more... )