Category Archives: WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer)

Resolved: To Be Good Enough

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

You’ve surely seen the motivational posters before. Possibly you’ve also seen the “demotivators” from Despair.com. This one has always been my favorite, mostly because of the contempt I’ve always felt for people who practiced mediocrity. Ha! What’s that saying about … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Popular culture, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer), Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

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

The Northern Soul Project – Some Background (post #2)

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

To recap: I stumbled across the term “Northern Soul” a week ago while trying to see if the Dusty Springfield part of the Pet Shop Boys’ “What Have I Done to Deserve This,” was actually one of her old songs.  … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Learning, Life, Movies and film, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Northern Soul Project

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

One of the terms in my blog’s subtitle is “Lifelong Learning.”  When I started writing here a couple of years ago, I thought I’d be talking much more about that topic than I’ve turned out to, as it’s a huge … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Learning, Life, Music, Popular culture, Teaching, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 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

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

Countdown to Downton Abbey (1 day to go!) – The Rise and Fall of the English Country House

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

“History is bunk,” Henry Ford once said. What he meant was that most history, as written in textbooks and taught in schools, has little to do with life as lived by ordinary people.  War and politics are on the periphery … Continue reading →

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

Watching the “Up” Documentary Series (Film #5, 35 Up)

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

This past weekend I watched 35 Up.  As I said in my last post, I’m going to try a different approach in structuring my thoughts on the film this time around by first providing a brief update on each of … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Movies and film, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Watching the “Up” Documentary Series (Film #4, 28 Up)

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

This past weekend I watched the fourth film in the “Up” series, 28 Up.  Tonight I’m going to watch the fifth film, and I can see that I need to restructure the way I’m writing about each film.  Every week, … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Movies and film, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Watching the “Up” Documentary Series (Film #3, 21 Up)

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

Over the weekend I watched the third film in the “Up” series.  All the original seven-year-olds are back and are now age 21. I started writing this post on Saturday; today is Wednesday.  In a couple of days I’ll be … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Movies and film, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments