On December 16th, my friend and colleague Trevor Pinch passed away. Plenty of people knew Trevor better than I did. But Trevor helped me to understand what it means to be a person in the academic world. The most important thing I learned from Trevor is gratitude. I don’t mean the platitudinous “practicing gratitude” thing …
Author Archives: Jonathan Sterne
On proceduralism and disability
Last week Collegeland had a podcast on universities denying accommodations to faculty, staff and students that featured guests Bess Williamson, Aimi Hamraie, and me. It’s recommended listening if you are interested in higher education and the politics of disability. While I was away in the forest, I finally got an email from McGill’s HR acknowledging …
Here’s what our (and probably your) university should do about disability during the pandemic
Proposed immediate solutions for faculty and staff: Allow people to decide for themselves how to teach or do their jobs while the pandemic continues. This may include online or hybrid solutions. This disburdens multiple levels of administration. It places a slightly greater burden on Teaching and Learning Services, but only to support the level of blended …
What is a sick day?
The first rule of everything: never get cocky. Within a few days of my announcement that everything was stable with The Drugs and The Cancer, I developed an upset stomach. Like very upset, like I couldn’t digest much of anything. Also very painful cramps. And it kept going. I’m used to that happening every so …
Read the Intro to Diminished Faculties
My new book, Diminished Faculties: A Political Phenomenology of Impairment, will be out December-ish from Duke University Press. But you can read the intro now. Right now, in fact.
Aaaand, some good news
The latest cancer update is that after this week’s CT scan, everything is steady and controlled, which is how it’s been for awhile. Sometimes I wonder if I should even keep doing these updates unless something goes south. Here’s where we are at. I’m on a kind of oral chemotherapy called a TKI. It works …
A Simple Guide to Hybrid Classes for Teachers
This is a guide to setting up audio and video for hybrid courses, especially seminars. This based on some research I did this summer: I asked friends who have genuine expertise in the area, and with my partner Carrie Rentschler and our friend and colleague Darin Barney, we ran some audio experiments with Darin on …
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