Author Archives: Ralph Hanson

Sept. 12 Anniversary – We Choose to go to the Moon

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

No, not the anniversary of the day after Sept. 11, but the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s “We Choose to go to the Moon” speech at Rice University. “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to … Continue reading →

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A Motorcycle Ride to the United 93 Memorial on a Rainy Summer Day

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

This has nothing to do with the media. It’s a brief story about a ride I took on my motorcycle to the United 93 Memorial on a rainy June day back in 2004. It was written shortly after I had … Continue reading →

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Michael Jackson’s “Bad” Turns 25

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

25 years ago Michael Jackson released his album Bad  as a reaction against the whole “Wacko Jacko” mystique that had grown up around him. Journalist Joseph Vogel, writing for The Atlantic, tells the story of this album and why Jackson created it. … Continue reading →

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Remembering 9/11 with Media Images

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

So much of our understanding of the Sept. 11th , 2001 terror attacks come from the images we saw through the media.  Here’s a sampling of those I’ve posted in the past: Newseum Newspaper Front Page Archive The Newseum posts … Continue reading →

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Books, Books, Books

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

This week I’m going to be talking about books in class. Here’s a link to all my recent posts about books!  They include items on The Hunger Games, memoir fabrications, e-books, Amanda Hocking’s success at e-book publication, and the history of the … Continue reading →

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Leaving the mainstream to watch political conventions

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

I like media that matches my political point of view as much as the next guy, but when there is an important event or speech going on, my preferred channel is C-SPAN.  And increasingly, I prefer to watch C-SPAN online … Continue reading →

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Disney Princesses – Evil or Sweet?

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

Ever wonder what an Evil Disney Little Mermaid might be like?  How about Cinderella as a pumpkin head?  Of course, there’s always sweet re-imagining of Disney princesses as well, but what’s the fun in that?

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Biting political and media commentary from Yelling Bird

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

Jeph Jacques over at his Questionable Content comic usually deals with crazy robots, crazy baristas, and crazy librarians, but every now and then Yelling Bird shows up to deliver truly obscene commentary on current issues. But today Yelling Bird kept it … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

Does the New York Times have a pervasive progressive world view? Outgoing public editor thinks so.  Exec editor, not so much…. (via Mediaite) Where did the Internet come from? A bit more on the general who got frustrated trying to … Continue reading →

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Truth #3 – George Carlin moves to the center (NSFW language)

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

More than 40 years ago, George Carlin started explaining to us all the intimate details of the 7 dirty words you can’t say on television.  In addition to being very funny and very rude, his routine also illustrates how someone … Continue reading →

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