I have recently started working with  History Making Productions as an on-air history expert and a production consultant for their four upcoming 1/2 documentary films on Philadelphia. I did not realize until we shot on Thursday how much I have missed the world of documentary film. I enjoyed everything about the production – from the make-up to the lights to the interview to the production meeting. I am excited about what the future holds for me and my work with this history making company!

For the first time ever, I have more male students in my classes than female students. In one class in particular, where I have 2:1 ratio, I feel that I spend a lot of time and energy on classroom management. The discussions focus on deconstructing the socially constructed images around race, class, and gender and the students need a lot of assistance to stay on task. It is obvious that only a few of them are keeping up with the assigned readings but they are working hard to meet my deadlines. I have a zero tolerance policy for unexcused absences and a no-late paper policy.

Today we looked at the work of Beyonce (“Put a Ring On It“), Rihanna (“Rude Boy”), and Erykah Badu (“Window Seat” and “Tyrone“) and had a very interesting discussion on what it means to be a feminist and what it means to objectify women. A couple of the guys argued that if a women dresses like Beyonce does in the video or says what Rihanna said in the song – why shouldn’t they treat them like it seems they want to be treated. This is where the conversation began to get interesting because it was obvious that they enjoyed Beyonce (in fact a few of them called her a musical genius; a superstar; sexy beyond compare) and Rihanna (one guy called her a singing hanger); they were very uncomfortable with Badu, both when she stripped (a few were uncomfortable with seeing her body – the tattoos in particular) and when she sang “Tyrone.” What a day…

As I sit here and plan out the new academic year, I am very concerned that I am not doing enough to challenge classism, racism, and sexism. My students -for the most part- either really love or hate my classes. I have no luke-warm consumers. Intersectionality is dirty work and it forces people to look critically at the world (which is easy to do) and at themselves (which is much harder)…even so – I must keep trying to create a space where students are free to grow and are encouraged to challenge themselves, each other, the stauts quo, and me!

Twin Towers: A History Sitting here thinking about my film “Twin Towers: A History.” We just celebrated (if this is right word) the tenth year of this event. The film was shown around the country and is still being sold. Below is the write up of the film:

—————————