Monthly Archives: January 2018

State of the Union Blogging Contest

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

Every time I teach Commentary and Blogging at UNK, I have a blogging competition or two.  This year, my students had the opportunity to do an instant blog post somehow related to the president’s 2018 State of the Union address. … Continue reading →

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The Dutchman & Hello in There: Songs about growing old

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

“If you don’t do anything wrong for a period of three minutes, then the spirt of the music rushes in there and occupies it full time.” – Songwriter Michael Peter Smith discussing his song “The Dutchman.” Michael Peter Smith’s classic … Continue reading →

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Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” Printed this day in 1845

Posted on January 29, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

Today is the anniversary of the publication of what may be Edgar Allan Poe’s best known work, the narrative poem The Raven. It was printed on this day in 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror. The poem tells of a young … Continue reading →

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Journalists can disagree and remain civil – Government Shutdown Edition

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

Last weekend, the U.S. government shut down for three days.  There was a lot of debate, especially in the partisan press, about what it all meant, and who the winners and losers were. And we’ve reached a point, especially if … Continue reading →

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Reporting Offensive Language from the White House – Part II

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

A couple of weeks ago President Trump generated a lot of news by making some highly offensive remarks about the country of Haiti, the continent of Africa, and presumably about a couple of countries in central America. The story resulted … Continue reading →

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Snow Day Recipe: Solly’s Cottage Cheese Muffins

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

The news yesterday was that a major winter storm, a blizzard even, was on its way.  Both the university and the public schools closed for today by noon on Sunday.  And so everyone in Kearney, Nebraska waited for the weather … Continue reading →

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Remembering Dr. King – “Will we be extremists for hate or for love?”

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

One of the greatest honors of my life was being invited to speak at the Martin Luther King, Jr. candlelight vigil three years ago at the UNK student union, along with Kevin Chaney, who was then UNK’s women’s basketball coach.  This year’s … Continue reading →

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Reporting Offensive Language from the White House – Part I

Posted on January 13, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

As you can’t help but have noticed, on Thursday President Trump made some highly offensive remarks about the country of Haiti, the continent of Africa, and presumably about a couple of countries in central America.  He was quoted in the Washington … Continue reading →

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Meet my blogging students

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

This spring I’m teaching JMC 406 – Commentary and Blogging, a course I first taught 30 years ago this winter. (Of course, when I first taught it, there was not a blogging component, given that blogging didn’t exist yet…) Here … Continue reading →

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Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves To Death is as relevant now as it was more than 30 years ago

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

Back in 1985, NYU communication professor Neil Postman published his book Amusing Ourselves To Death. This book has had an influence on me my entire academic career.  Among the reasons it had such an impact on me was this interview C-SPAN … Continue reading →

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