Category Archives: Popular culture

Branding a Neighborhood

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

Milwaukee takes its neighborhoods very seriously, to the point of giving them official names (sometimes using the historic default, other times inventing new ones derived from some random but logical connection), drawing up official boundaries, and making up a logo … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Milwaukee, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Eleanor Roosevelt on “What’s My Line” and other famous things

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

I stumbled across a reference to this while doing something else online and couldn’t resist watching. In October 1953 Eleanor Roosevelt appeared as a “mystery guest” on the stump-the-panel quiz show “What’s My Line?” This episode, posted in its entirety … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The Story of “Smooth”

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

Remember “Smooth,” the Santana–Rob Thomas megahit from twenty years ago? Rolling Stone has a fabulous article out today recounting how this unlikely collaboration between artists of such different musical genres and generations came about to result in the classic single … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Visiting Sim – Part One

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

This past Saturday I went to a lecture/tour at the Milwaukee Public Library marking 90 years since Simba the lion came to live at the Milwaukee Public Museum, which then shared half of the building with the Central Library downtown. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, History, Milwaukee, Nature, Popular culture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

What’s in a tagline? My blog’s identity: Version 4.0

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m developing a new course at MSOE called “SS 3700 Digital Society.” To say I’m excited is to understate my enthusiasm for this topic. As a political science major who took computer programming classes in the late 1970s using a … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Learning, Life, Popular culture, Science, Teaching, Technology, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

April “Fake News” Fools

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

These videos have been around for over a year but didn’t receive as much attention as I’d have expected. Given the strong resemblance to “pranks” in their inherent trickery and potential for malicious intent, it seems appropriate to highlight them … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Political Analysis, Popular culture, Technology, Television | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Michael Caine on life as a never-ending audition

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

While doing some background research for the academic article on movie trailers that I’m writing with a psychology professor in my department, I stumbled across a book by Michael Caine titled Acting in Film: An Actor’s Take on Movie Making … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, Life, Movies and film, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Discovering Twitter’s “Bookmarks”

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Maybe you’re not a Twitter user, in which case you’re probably not going to be interested in today’s blog post 🙂 But if you do use Twitter, maybe like me you didn’t know about Twitter’s bookmarks. The bookmark feature has … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Popular culture, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Highwaymen: “Highwayman”

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

I heard this song on the radio while driving home the other night. Here’s the Wikipedia article on The Highwaymen supergroup. Like some other songs I really like—for example, “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” and … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Popular culture | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Warped Time

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

It’s fascinating to notice those weird moments when historical eras overlap. My husband, who is 10+ years older than I am, can remember seeing milk being delivered to homes in his neighborhood via horse-drawn wagons in the 1950s. Here is … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Movies and film, Music, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments