Author Archives: Katherine Wikoff

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.

“Catch Me If You Can” – best un-Christmas movie ever

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

We have probably all watched a favorite Christmas movie this past month. But how about an un-Christmas movie – like Die Hard, for example, which has little to do with Christmas but is set during the Christmas season? It’s fun … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Movies and film, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged "A Christmas Carol", "Catch Me If You Can", "The Christmas Song", Charles Dickens, Christmas, Christmas Day, entertainment, idealized reality, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nat King Cole, Scrooge, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, WPLongform | 8 Comments

Snow!

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

Well, after a record-setting 288 days without measurable snowfall, Milwaukee finally saw some flakes today. Below is a photo taken about 1:30 p.m., when I left my office to get some lunch. The tree branches were just beginning to acquire … Continue reading →

Posted in Milwaukee | Tagged snow, snowy street photos, winter, winter trees | 2 Comments

Dreaming of a “White Christmas”? Try “Endless Autumn” instead.

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

Doesn’t our Christmas wreath look pretty, from the front, anyway? Can you see what’s hiding underneath? The wind blew this leaf into our Christmas wreath, where it lodged pretty forcefully. It’s not noticeable at first glance from the outside, only from … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged christmas wreath, white christmas, winter | Leave a comment

It’s beginning to look a lot like . . . St. Patrick’s Day?

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

My favorite Starbucks establishment is just a few blocks away from my office, at Red Arrow Park at the corner of Water and State in downtown Milwaukee. It is the only Starbucks I know of that’s located in a park … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Milwaukee | Tagged 32nd Infantry Division, Christmas, ice skating, melting ice, Milwaukee, nature, outdoor skating, Red Arrow Division, Red Arrow Park, Slice of Ice skating rink, Starbucks, unseasonably warm December, winter | Leave a comment

White Tree of Gondor?

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

Nope, just a tree in the parking lot at our local grocery store. I love the way naked winter trees are illuminated at night by those large overhead lights. Here is a shot of three trees at a shopping mall that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged December trees, naked trees, nature, parking lot lots, parking lot trees, photos of trees at night, photos of trees in winter, White Tree of Gondor, winter trees | 3 Comments

Holing up for winter

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

A few months ago I wrote some posts (here, here, and here) about the chickadees and woodpeckers that nested in our magnolia and silver maple trees, respectively. Just the mere act of writing about these birds (and videorecording them) has … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bird nests, birds in winter, chickadees, nature, nest cavities, non-migratory birds, woodpeckers | Leave a comment

Twinkies, Dan White, and that raisin in the sun

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

By now you have probably heard the news that Hostess, makers of Twinkies, Wonder Bread, and Ho Hos, is closing. A bankruptcy judge has ordered last-ditch mediation between company and union, but if things have gotten so bad that both union … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Movies and film, Writing, blogging | Tagged "A Raisin in the Sun", "A Raisin in the Sun" play, "Harlem" poem, "The Times of Harvey Milk", communication, Dan White, Harvey Milk, Hostess closing, inarticulate rage, Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, self-expression, Twinkie defense, Twinkies | 1 Comment

Randy Nelson on Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age | Edutopia

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

Randy Nelson on Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age | Edutopia (video link) I haven’t blogged in about two weeks (sorry!!!) because assorted real-life issues have been a distraction. Last time I posted, I wrote about the importance of infrastructure … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching | Tagged "What the Best college Students Do", Apple University, collaboration, collaboration versus amplification, creativity, innovation, Ken Bain, Pixar University, Randy Nelson, resilience, success and failure, teamwork | Leave a comment

“If you build it, they will come” (parenthetical afterthought)

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Katherine Wikoff

I didn’t think to explain my allusion in the title of my previous post. Possibly you recognized the quote, slightly reworded, from the 1989 film Field of Dreams. You can watch the trailer here. Also, if you’re ever in Iowa, you … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Field of Dreams", "If you build it he will come", creativity, Flannery O'Connor, intuition, ray kinsella, Stanford commencement 2005, Steve Jobs | Leave a comment