Redefining Geek
Redefining Geek

Author: Cassidy Puckett

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-04-20

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 022673269X

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"Take a moment to imagine a geek. A computer geek. Do you see thick glasses and pocket protectors? A face illuminated by a glowing screen, surrounded by empty cans of energy drinks? Bill Gates? Whatever trope comes to mind, it's likely a white or Asian man. As Cassidy Puckett shows in Define Geek, these are not just innocent assumptions. They are tied to underlying ideas about who is "naturally" good at tech, and they keep many would be techies, particularly girls and people of color, from achieving or even pursuing opportunities in tech. But Puckett is not just here to show us that anybody can be good at tech; she tells us how we can get there. Puckett spent six years teaching technology classes to first generation, low-income middle school students in Oakland, California, and during that time, she uncovered five technology learning habits that will set up all young people for success. She shows how to measure and build these habits, and she demonstrates that many teens currently unrepresented in STEM already use these habits; they are more ready for advanced technological skill development than assumptions about instinct might suggest. Redefining "instinct" reframes the goals of STEM education and challenges our stereotypes about "natural" technological ability. Our so-called leaky STEM pipeline is readily addressed by Puckett's five techie habits of mind"--

Audubon at Sea
Audubon at Sea

Author: Christoph Irmscher

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-08-19

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 022675667X

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"John James Audubon's paintings of birds are as familiar as they are beautiful. But even among his admirers, many may be surprised to learn that Audubon was a gifted writer. In this one-of-a-kind anthology, Christoph Irmscher and Richard J. King have curated a collection of Audubon's coastal and sea writing, which represent Audubon's most compelling and evocative depictions of the natural world and early nineteenth-century American life. The collection is geographically diverse, bringing to light the variety of people and wildlife Audubon met or observed, pulling from the massive Ornithological Biography (1831-1839) as well as the "Autobiography" and journals. The editors supplement the selections with an instructive introduction and powerful coda, section headnotes, explanatory notes, and an appendix linking Audubon's species to current taxonomy and geographic ranges. The book is lavishly illustrated as well. There is much more in Audubon at Sea than descriptions of birds: we have stories of life aboard ship, of travel in early America and Audubon's work habits, the origins of iconic paintings, and, in the end, the carefully drawn commentary on a flawed and, at best, ambiguous hero"--

Ocean to Ocean on Horseback
Ocean to Ocean on Horseback

Author: Willard Glazier

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 1895

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13:

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It was the intention of the writer to publish a narrative descriptive of his overland tour from the Atlantic to the Pacific soon after returning from California in 1876, and his excuse for the delay in publication is that a variety of circumstances compelled him to postpone for a time the duty of arranging the contents of his journal until other pressing matters had been satisfactorily attended to. Again, considerable unfinished literary work, set aside when he began preparation for crossing the Continent, had to be resumed, and for these reasons the story of his journey from "Ocean to Ocean on Horseback" is only now ready for the printer. In view of this delay in going to press, the author will endeavor to show a due regard for the changes time has wrought along his line of march, and[viii] while noting the incidents of his long ride from day to day, it has been his aim so far as possible to discuss the regions traversed, the growth of cities and the development of their industries from the standpoint of the present.

The Channels of Student Activism
The Channels of Student Activism

Author: Amy J. Binder

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-05-16

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0226819868

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An eye-opening analysis of collegiate activism and its effects on the divisions in contemporary American politics. The past six years have been marked by a contentious political atmosphere that has touched every arena of public life, including higher education. Though most college campuses are considered ideologically progressive, how can it be that the right has been so successful in mobilizing young people even in these environments? As Amy J. Binder and Jeffrey L. Kidder show in this surprising analysis of the relationship between political activism on college campuses and the broader US political landscape, while liberal students often outnumber conservatives on college campuses, liberal campus organizing remains removed from national institutions that effectively engage students after graduation. And though they are usually in the minority, conservative student groups have strong ties to national right-leaning organizations, which provide funds and expertise, as well as job opportunities and avenues for involvement after graduation. Though the left is more prominent on campus, the right has built a much more effective system for mobilizing ongoing engagement. What’s more, the conservative college ecosystem has worked to increase the number of political provocations on campus and lower the public’s trust in higher education. In analyzing collegiate activism from the left, right, and center, The Channels of Student Activism shows exactly how politically engaged college students are channeled into two distinct forms of mobilization and why that has profound consequences for the future of American politics.

A Problem of Fit
A Problem of Fit

Author: Phillip B. Levine

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-04-22

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0226818551

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"A college education doesn't come with a sticker price. Maybe it should. Millions of Americans miss out on the economic benefits of a college education because of concerns around the costs. Financial aid systems offer limited help and produce uneven distributions. In the United States today, the systems meant to improve access to education have added a new layer of deterrence. In Mismatch, economist Philip B. Levine examines the role of financial aid systems in facilitating (and discouraging) access to college. If markets require prices in order to function optimally, then the American higher-education system--rife as it is with hidden and variable costs--amounts to a market failure. It's a problem of price transparency, not just affordability. Ensuring that students understand exactly what college will cost, including financial aid, could lift the lid on not only college attendance for more people, but for greater representation across demographics and institutions. As Levine illustrates, our conversations around affordability and free tuition miss a larger truth: that the opacity of our current college-financing systems is a primary driver of inequities in education and society. Mismatch offers a bold, trenchant new argument for an educational reform that is well within reach"--

Credulity
Credulity

Author: Emily Ogden

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2018-03-30

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 022653247X

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From the 1830s to the Civil War, Americans could be found putting each other into trances for fun and profit in parlors, on stage, and in medical consulting rooms. They were performing mesmerism. Surprisingly central to literature and culture of the period, mesmerism embraced a variety of phenomena, including mind control, spirit travel, and clairvoyance. Although it had been debunked by Benjamin Franklin in late eighteenth-century France, the practice nonetheless enjoyed a decades-long resurgence in the United States. Emily Ogden here offers the first comprehensive account of those boom years. Credulity tells the fascinating story of mesmerism’s spread from the plantations of the French Antilles to the textile factory cities of 1830s New England. As it proliferated along the Eastern seaboard, this occult movement attracted attention from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s circle and ignited the nineteenth-century equivalent of flame wars in the major newspapers. But mesmerism was not simply the last gasp of magic in modern times. Far from being magicians themselves, mesmerists claimed to provide the first rational means of manipulating the credulous human tendencies that had underwritten past superstitions. Now, rather than propping up the powers of oracles and false gods, these tendencies served modern ends such as labor supervision, education, and mediated communication. Neither an atavistic throwback nor a radical alternative, mesmerism was part and parcel of the modern. Credulity offers us a new way of understanding the place of enchantment in secularizing America.