Category Archives: Politics

Book Notes: Alexandra Fuller, The Legend of Colton H. Bryant

Posted on February 6, 2009 by Timothy Burke

My students know that I really like the work of Alexandra Fuller about her childhood and later experiences in southern Africa. I appreciate her aggressively unsentimental vision. She doesn’t tell the usual story of rising to self-awareness, rejecting her society, … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, Politics | 1 Comment

Mr. Obama’s Neighborhood

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Last week, when the participants in the Digital Storytelling workshop began to share their stories, I could see that my plan for a distantly personal account of my own “digital footprint” was going to be badly out of place, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 8 Comments

“The Vice-President Has Been Reclassified as a Pet”

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Timothy Burke

You won’t get the joke at this link if you don’t play online games like World of Warcraft, but for the initiated, this post is full of win.

Posted in Games and Gaming, Politics | 1 Comment

Throat-Clearing: On Politics

Posted on January 8, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Back in action in the new year. Let me throw out some unusually short or brief comments just to stretch my blogging muscles. 1) Roland Burris. I suppose the first thing with Burris that bugs me is: who would take … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 7 Comments

Irreparable Complexity, Game and World

Posted on November 17, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I’m interested in the kind of complexity that arises through emergent processes, in which relatively simple rules governing the action of autonomous agents within a given environment can give rise to permanent structures or changes within the environment which then … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming, Miscellany, Politics | 8 Comments

Good Reportage

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Newsweek is putting out some great political reporting on the election now that folks are linking to. Much of what they have to say about Obama and his campaign is actually more interesting than the revelations about Palin that are … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 5 Comments

Appalachia and Other Reflections

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Interesting discussion of the blue/red map of the 2008 election at Edge of the American West. I think the commentary is very much on the money that the areas which went more strongly to McCain this time than to Bush … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Politics | 25 Comments

Who Cares About the Floppy Hat?

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Listen to this segment of the NPR program “Here and Now” featuring two political reporters, Robert Draper and Peter Nicholas. Draper is fairly interesting, rather like his NY Times Magazine article on the McCain campaign. (I really wish NPR would … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Technology and Information Literacy, Politics | 4 Comments

You’re All Clear, Kid

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Stealing this theme from Rotwang at TPM Cafe, but this little bit of video captures my emotional reaction this morning pretty well.

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

Dear President Santa

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Here’s a Christmas wish list of stocking stuffers for the Obama transition team to consider. The big-ticket expenses, difficult decisions and intractable problems are one thing. Fixing the economic situation may be beyond anybody’s immediate reach. Undoing some of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 16 Comments