Category Archives: Life

“Smart” is kind of creepy

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story headlined “Madison software firm Solomo develops customer-tracking technology.”  Yes, I’m creeped out, although seeing this story just pulls together a lot of things that have been creeping me out for a while now. Basically … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, News, Popular culture, Science, Technology, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The truth about statues

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I wrote this very short memoir/essay as an exercise at my writing group’s meeting yesterday.  Because I haven’t posted in over a week, I decided to share it today. The Truth About Statues When I was very young, I thought that … Continue reading →

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

Standing Up to Violence

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Emily January Peterson has an excellent post today, “Girls’ Studies: Violence,” over on her blog The Bookshelf of Emily J.  I was going to leave a comment there, but I realized there was so much I wanted to say that it might be … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, Life, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Art -vs- Science: An Artificial Divide

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I was paging through the weekend Wall Street Journal this morning and practically jumped out of my chair when I saw Walter Murch’s face looking out from the “Review” section. Murch is an Oscar-winning film editor who has worked on … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Life, Movies and film, Nature, News, Popular culture, Science, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Spring thaw: Oh, happy day!

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff
Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Nature | Leave a comment

The Russia–Ukraine–Syria connection (and why Turkey may be in crisis next)

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Sometimes looking at a map can tell you a lot.  Take a look at this map, for example.  It shows that Russia is a largely landlocked country.  Unless you count its far northern shores deep inside the Arctic Circle. Public … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, News, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sweets for the sweet?

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

An article in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education describes new research on embodied cognition presented last week at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference. “Embodied cognition” is the idea that the nature of people’s minds is shaped by the form … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

To survive, bookstores should be more like funeral homes (were)

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Interesting post over at The Shatzkin Files, “The future of bookstores is the key to understanding the future of publishing.”  What will it take for bookstores to survive in an era of e-readers and online book purchasing?  One possibility mentioned … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, History, Life, Popular culture, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Stovetop Hot Cocoa and Coal Furnaces

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I’ve been thinking about my great-grandparents lately.  Our microwave died not long ago, and with it the ability to heat up coffee and milk instantly . . . IN the cup we plan to drink from.  Instead we have to add … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Milwaukee | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Moments of Classroom Grace

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

My friend and colleague, Lisa Rivero, posted on the topic of “Classroom Grace” last week over on her blog.  I’ve been thinking about her remarks ever since. Lisa was talking about those magical moments that happen in classrooms, especially in … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Life, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments