Author Archives: Ralph Hanson

Dr. King – Be an extremist for love

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

One of the greatest honors of my life was being invited to speak at the Martin Luther King, Jr. candlelight vigil two 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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Pre-Class Video: Rosanne Cash sings Pancho & Lefty

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

Today’s pre-class video is the great Rosanne Cash singing the Townes Van Zandt classic “Pancho & Lefty” at the Kennedy Center Honors Willie Nelson concert. (Townes, of course, wrote the song, but Willie is among the many people who made … Continue reading →

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Back To Pre-Class Video: One Last Time from Hamilton

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve spent the last semester on a productive and refreshing sabbatical, but I’m now back in the classroom and making use of pre-class videos for students to watch as they come in. I started things off … Continue reading →

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Amazing Exhibit on Publishing, Luther & Reformation at Minneapolis Institute of Art

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

Over Christmas break I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Martin Luther: Art and the Reformation exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art that is showing through January 15th.  While much of the focus of the exhibit is, unsurprisingly, … Continue reading →

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When a celebrity dies, is it ok to do a brand-oriented tweet about it, especially if it’s really clever?

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

When a celebrity dies and you have a great idea for tweet with a  meme, should you send it out right away? Probably not…  At least that’s the lesson that Cinnabon learned when they tweeted out the image at right following the … Continue reading →

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Thinking about W. H. Auden on a morning in early winter

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

I have been on sabbatical this semester after stepping down as the department chair and becoming a regular professor.  I’ve been working on a variety of projects this fall – finishing up work on ancillaries for the Sixth Edition of … Continue reading →

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Holiday Flashback – Sigourney Weaver & Buster Poindexter do “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

NOTE: This time of year, one of the most consistently popular posts on this blog is the video of Sigourney Weaver & Buster Poindexter singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” from Saturday Night Live.  So for those of you who don’t … Continue reading →

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Godspeed John Glenn

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

Godspeed, John Glenn. Note to my friends – bet you don’t have a John Glenn Hot Wheels play set on your office shelf – I do. Includes Mercury capsule, space shuttle, and three figures – Mercury astronaut John Glenn, Senator … Continue reading →

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Farewell to Pebble – Indie smartwatch maker shuts down after being acquired by Fitbit

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

It was with real sadness yesterday when I read that Fitbit had purchased smartwatch company Pebble in order to acquire their software engineers and intellectual property – but not their core smartwatch business. Fitbit is the giant fitness band manufacturer, and … Continue reading →

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Guest Blog Post: The Price of Global Journalism

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

My friend Dr. Chris Allen, a journalism professor at University of Nebraska at Omaha, has been working on global journalism issues from Russia, to Afghanistan, to Oman, and beyond.  I am reposting what he wrote on November 22 with his permission as … Continue reading →

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