THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. -- dead old white property-owning men, 1789 In Monday's afternoon and evening Intro Psych classes, I talked about health psychology, and in addition to the discussions of the HPA Axis and Cognitive-Mediational Theory and religiosity as a positive coping mechanism, we had a detailed discussion of suicide. In the U.S., the demographic most at risk for suicide is the rural white male, age 65+, with access to handguns. Because I can't seem to stop thinking about thinking, I started looking at some basic facts about guns in America from sources like the CDC and Vox and The Guardian -- keeping in mind that gun ownership surveys are largely inaccurate, as Americans can still legally purchase guns in many states without a permit or licence -- but I hit the wall and stopped after I accumulated the following: *The U.S. makes up 4.5% of th...

I first walked into a class room in the summer of 1996 at the age of 25, as an adjunct professor of Psychology at Kirtland Community College. I had the text book and a limited knowledge base, but what I had that set me apart -- in ways both good and bad -- was years of standing in front of drunks and introducing comedians or playing music. When you're in the middle of stumbling through a shitty joke, and an intoxicated strapping Native American dude stands up and tells you to shut the fuck up without breaking eye contact, talking about psychology in front of strangers for hours in a beige class room is quite simple in comparison. For many years, the classroom was my stage, a place where a failed performer with meager presentation skills and a mediocre knowledge base could find some measure of success. But about 15 years ago, a greater push towards a newer domain of education -- online (OL) courses -- took place, where face-to-face (F2F) interaction took a back seat to content cur...

It was nearly half-way through 8th grade, and the kids -- some pre-pubescent, most not -- were on either side of the room while the music played, with little inkling of the mixed minglings of dances to come. But when "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson came on, I decided that I had enough of middle school indecision, and I started dancing. (Given my height and weight at the time, I can only assume I looked like those Kokopelli with a seizure.) Pretty quickly, the kids gathered around me and started clapping, either with me or at me, and I was lost in the transformative power of the music. A little bit of MJ's magic was sprinkled on me at that moment, and I luxuriated it for as long as I could. A few years later, when I started to DJ, I found that it was pretty easy to get people to dance if you had the records of Michael Jackson in your pocket, even when tastes started to shift to hip-hop. He was part of the fabric of our monoculture, a child star i...

I know that I shouldn't be surprised when another record store closes in the end times of physical media, but there I was on Thursday night, staring at the empty space on Woodward Avenue in Berkley where FYE -- a.k.a. Sam Goody, after the corporate restructuring and rebranding -- used to be, finding out that another one bites the dust. And it's not like anyone has a deep and rich emotional connection to FYE, a shrinking mall chain stuffed with "lifestyle" products of which music is a small sliver, aside from the people FYE employs (or used to employ, I suppose). But it was still a bummer. I was down in the Detroit area on Thursday night for my first concert of 2019 (and my first concert after Michigan had legalized marijuana, incidentally), and I slotted some extra time before the show to hit a record store or three. I started with my first ever visit to Melodies & Memories  in Eastpointe, and holy shit is that a great name for what the store offers. A few mile...

A few months back, I got this phrase stuck in my head: stuffed-up noses / Walmart roses In my head, this sounded like the germinal stage of a country song, perhaps something that Kacey Musgraves might have as a b-side to her third single. (Do people even make b-sides anymore? God, I'm a relic.) But as I'm neither a singer nor songwriter, it sat in my email. no divisions and development possible from that digital perch. Yesterday was a snow day at NCMC. ("Snow day" as an adult means "Stay at home and spend just under four hours grading 100+ writing assignments from six online sections," so it's a bit different from when I wuz a kiddo.) As I was grading and listening to '70s and '80s songs through the cable, a well-worn tune popped up that sparked me to shit out a sorta-kinda-actual song from the aforementioned words. And once I pictured singing it in the lugubrious baritone of John Grant, the lyric came pretty easy. You’re the new kid in t...

It's everywhere I need it to be. It's a Bluetooth speaker in the shower, it's the radio and an iPod (remember those?) in the car, it's iTunes and Groove Music in my office, and it's in my media players in the living room and the basement and in my hand (if it's an iPad). If I want to hear something, I can hear it in many different places in many different ways. Does ubiquity breed a weakening of desire? Not in my case. I had some good music experiences this year, from albums to songs to whatever we're calling an EP these days. And yes, I still bought a lot of CD's, because somebody has to. Spin After Spin: My Favorite Records John Grant – Love Is Magic  U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited  Cold Cave – You & Me & Infinity EP  The Soft Moon – Criminal  Tracey Thorn – Record  Jon Hopkins – Singularity  Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer  Mitski – Be The Cowboy  boygenius – boygenius EP  Spin Me 'Round: My Almost-Favorite Re...

Now and again, I ponder as to what this incessant listing is for. Is it a means to place order onto a chaotic world? Do I list to help relieve my sieve-like memory of the pressure of remembering shit? And what does it mean to have a "Best Of 2018!" list when there are a few films from this year that I haven't seen yet, films that will undoubtedly plop onto this list? Do I help reinforce the ideas that people have about me with my choices? So many questions. Here are some answers as to my favorite (and not-so-favorite) movies that I saw this year. I'd Buy That For A Dollar (the faves of the favorites) Mandy  Annihilation  Mission: Impossible – Fallout  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse  Paddington 2  First Reformed  Upgrade  For those who know me even a little bit, you'll know why at least half these titles are the tip of the top, so I shouldn't have to keep banging on as to why these movies are just as awesome as can be. But while I'm here...