Author Archives: Katherine Wikoff

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About Katherine Wikoff

I am a college professor (PhD in English, concentration rhetoric) at Milwaukee School of Engineering, where I teach film and media studies, political science, digital society, digital storytelling, writing for digital media, and communication. While fragments of my teaching and scholarship interests may quite naturally meander over to my blog, this space is intended to function as a creative outlet, not as part of my professional practice. Opinions are my own, etc.

When you’re a Jet!

One of the many things I love about my husband is that he gets my jokes and thinks they’re funny. So recently I started folding my car key closed before putting it in my coat pocket because the pointy metal … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Movies and film, Popular culture | Tagged , | 12 Comments

The Tosa Turkeys

I took this photo a few days ago in my local grocery store’s parking lot, where three wild turkeys stood guard near the entrance. For a couple years now, a flock of wild turkeys has been strutting around the city … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Nature, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Why I love my Starbucks

Before the pandemic hit, I would walk to the Red Arrow Starbucks down the hill from my office at least once a day. I’ve only been there a handful of times since. For a long time after my college moved … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Milwaukee | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Green light, rainy morning

A nice, gentle spring rain was falling this morning as I waited for the light to change acros the street from my office. I loved the abstract image of the green light glowing through the circles of raindrops on one … Continue reading

Posted in Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Writing Exercise – “Plain Talk”

It was my turn to select an exercise for writing group this week. Being incredibly busy at work and opting for shortcuts wherever legitimately possible, I turned to Ursula K. Le Guin’s wonderful Steering the Craft once again and found … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The White Sea, Parted

The view of our front walk this week. Doesn’t that wall of snow look a bit like the wall of water left by the parting of the Red Sea in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 version of The Ten Commandments? DeMille … Continue reading

Posted in Movies and film, Photography, Popular culture | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Paw prints etched in ice (and in my heart❤️)

I love the abstract images resulting from close-up views of this very mundane subject. A tribute to dogs everywhere who must brave the elements every day to take care of their canine business. With a special shout-out to Coco❤️

Posted in Life, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

February evening sunlight

This is what greeted me yesterday as I left my office in the Grohmann Museum at MSOE shortly before 5:00. The reflected streaks of orange sunlight across the pavement seemed very cheerful to me. And at this time of year, … Continue reading

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PSA – How to save your phone from a watery grave

This WIRED article (link HERE) makes clear that using a hairdryer and/or putting your phone in a bag of rice are not good ideas. Your best strategy (my take on the article): Turn your phone off ASAP to prevent short … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Photography, Technology | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Writing Exercise – “Protest Night”

Here’s an exercise from late October or early November. I can’t remember which member of our writing group assigned this exercise, but it’s another taken from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea … Continue reading

Posted in Books and reading, Creativity, Life, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments