Lesson #26: Fall(-ing) Ain't So Bad!

Happy November! Fall is officially here and it's more than simply a season to be experienced with the shift in weather and landscape changes. (But, really, who doesn't love sweater weather?!) No, "fall" is also an apt metaphor for the numerous ways that it seems like we are collectively going this semester. The force of gravity is so strong, y'all! For instance, Nic and James discuss the ongoing debates about "academic freedom" and the use of "expert knowledge" down in Florida that make us wonder: Are we (and we're being generous with the use of "we" here) being pushed to our fall and demise by the powers of 'the state' to shut us up and down when we've got something critical to say? Or, is the fall of the "expert" our doing? We've got questions. The duo also discusses the controversial and is-this-really-gonna-happen dormitory being proposed (and likely built) at UCSB. The bottom line, under the guise of "efficiency," rears its windowless and ugly head once again... It's not all doom and gloom, though. We still have sweaters! Right? RIGHT? Right. As always, the end of the episode offers some stellar book recommendations and thoughts on staying sane. Further Reading: Academics’ Work on Court Cases Is Common and Often Uncontroversial. Now It’s Under the Microscope, The Chronicle After Scathing Criticism, U. of Florida Will Let Professors Testify Against the State, The Chronicle Architect slams UC Santa Barbara mega-dorm as ‘social, psychological experiment,’ quits in protest, LA Times ‘A torture experiment’: plan for almost windowless student megadorm raises alarm, The Guardian What We're Reading: Steven Angelides, The Fear of Child Sexuality: Young People, Sex, and Agency Rafia Zafar, Recipes for Respect: African American Meals and Meaning Tim Dean, Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking Roderick A. Ferguson, The Reorder of Things: The University and Its Pedagogies of Minority Difference