Category Archives: News

Communication lessons learned from the Indian Ocean tsunami and other natural disasters

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

It has been ten years since the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami.  Many “anniversary” articles today will look back at this event, so this post doesn’t cover the same ground.  Because my academic specialty is communication, I wanted to … Continue reading →

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

How Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer teaches like a humanities professor

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

As yesterday’s 59–0 Ohio State victory over Wisconsin shows, something is working very well in the Ohio State coaching strategy.  A story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal provides some insight into what that might be. “Taking the Buckeyes to School” talks about how … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Learning, Life, News, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Red Arrow “Slice of Ice” (plus “Hank” the Dog)

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

The “Slice of Ice” skating rink at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee is nearly ready for skaters.  It opens for the season tomorrow (Thursday, December 4) at 4:00. Yesterday I noticed that the rink’s cement had been covered by … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, News, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Black Friday – Spreading Like Retail Ebola

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I am both mystified and appalled to discover that the Black Friday phenomenon is fast becoming a new international “holiday.” In scrolling through my Twitter feed last night, I came across a BBC News article describing how police have been called to … Continue reading →

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Casey Kasem: Keep reaching for the stars

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I was on I-65 driving south from Chicago Sunday when I heard the news that Casey Kasem had died. Because I’d seen recent news stories of family drama pitting Kasem’s wife against the children from his first marriage, Kasem’s death came as … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Music, News, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Three Memorials: The 32nd Infantry, Patrick Lucey, and Dontre Hamilton

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

On my Starbucks run while taking a break from making up the final exam for my political science class, I was struck by this sight. The granite arrow honors the 32nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army National Guard, made up … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Milwaukee, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“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

Boston Marathon, one year later

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

As is all over the news, today marks the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings near the finish line by two brothers with presumed terrorist motives. The Boston Globe has a short article about the brief ceremony held earlier … Continue reading →

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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

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