Commemorating events that occurred #OnThisDay (or #OTD) in history has become increasingly popular on social media. This practice can also bring appropriate reminders of how that past intersects with our present. Historical events that occurred around the week of July 18th are particularly linked with acts of violence against Jewish people throughout history. Of course, … Continue reading Anti-Judaism, Histories of Diversity, & the Present
For anyone who follows my blog, or my Twitter account, it's obvious that the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew has been a major part of my research life over the last year and a half or so. (You can read more about other aspects of my work on Pseudo-Matthew here.) While I've been working on a new translation of … Continue reading Forthcoming: “The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Rule of the Master, and the Rule of Benedict”
Several months ago the Scholarly Communication Institute (SCI) put out a request for proposals for participation in the 2017 theme "Scholarly Storytelling: Compelling Research for an Engaged Public." I jumped at the chance to bring together medievalists and organized a team who helped me to write a proposal. Our team recently received word that our proposal was accepted, … Continue reading Storytelling for Medievalists: A Proposal
Last week I had my first fully immersive experience with virtual reality. I saw the future, and it is good. My experience came about because of the generosity of someone I recently met, Adam Blumenthal, the Virtual Reality Artist-in-Residence at Brown University. Because of my work on our common reading program at RIC, I had invited Adam … Continue reading Getting Medieval in Virtual Reality
Almost two years ago I wrote a post about the intertwining of literature and culture. I started composing this post at the same time, but I never published it. I've gone back to it over the past few years, revising and reconsidering it. Finally, it's time for me to publish this. I want to explore an assumption that … Continue reading All Scholarship Is Autobiographical
This morning I was pleasantly elated to discover a fact of the calendar and a trio of celebrations coming together. Today, on May 25, 2017 we get to commemorate three major events simultaneously: Bede's Day, the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, and Ascension Day! This is just a happy coincidence in the way that these celebrations fall in the calendar. … Continue reading Bede, Star Wars, and Ascension Day
Showing this month at the The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is the play King Elizabeth. Written and directed by the Gamm's Artistic Director, Tony Estrella, King Elizabeth is a 21st-century adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's 18th-century Mary Stuart, about the imposing 16th-century Queen Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots. The play stars Jeanine Kane … Continue reading King Elizabeth and Identity Politics
When my friends Micah Goodrich, Bre Leake, and I came up with the #KeepJoyInScholarship hashtag on Twitter, I was fairly new to my job. I was in my first semester of my first year at Rhode Island College, after a year as a teaching post-doc, and I was learning to navigate life as a tenure-track … Continue reading How I #KeepJoyInScholarship on the Tenure Track
This week we'll witness the release of yet another movie about perhaps the most famous ruler from the medieval period, King Arthur. The film, directed by Guy Ritchie, is titled King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. From what is shown in the trailer, the story depicts the rise of Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) from nobody orphan to leader of the people pitted against tyrannical … Continue reading Will the Real King Arthur Please Rise?
This post is a sort of follow-up to a few others in which I've written about my own work turning toward public writing. Fortunately, other academics have laid the groundwork in this field. This type of work is not uncommon. And my own thinking has not been in a vacuum--I've been influenced by some smart … Continue reading Public Writing Round-Up
Brandon W. Hawk 