Who are the arms dealers in America’s War on Education?

You may have noticed this new report: Nation falling behind in grads By Michelle Maitre MediaNews Americans are losing their edge in a global economy because not enough young people are graduating from college, according to a report released today by a higher education think tank. As the baby boom generation ages and retires, a [...]

My Midlife Crisis

I turn 44 tomorrow, so the timing is about right for a mid-life crisis, no? Some guys deal with their mid-life crises by buying little red sports cars, but most of us professors can barely afford the payments on our mid-sized economy sedans as it is. Some cheat on their wives with pretty girls 15 [...]

The Long View: Enlightenment Ideologies of Science and Technology and the Internet Debate

Remarks presented to the 1st International Summit on Electronic Communication & Culture Popular Culture Association National Conference Electronic Communication Area San Antonio, Texas March 26-29, 1997 Samuel R. Smith Center for Mass Media Research School of Journalism & Mass Communication University of Colorado Over the past few years the Internet has become one of the [...]

“The Fly” on the Stage: Readings and Misreadings of the “New” U2

A Paper Presented to the Music Area of The Popular Culture Association April 13, 1995 Samuel R. Smith Center for Mass Media Research University of Colorado Up through The Unforgettable Fire (1984) U2 were generally regarded as relentless critics of political repression and religious/ethnic violence, especially as practiced by warring Protestant and Catholic factions in [...]

Scatterlings of the Metrocene: Evolution, Education and the Dawn of the Cyberhuman Epoch

Samuel R. Smith, University of Colorado Jim Booth, Surry Community College She held out her hands, palms up, the fingers slightly spread, and with a barely audible click, ten double-edged, four centimeter scalpel blades slid from their housings beneath the  burgundy nails. She smiled. The blades slowly withdrew. – William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984) Pat Diener…is [...]