Locat has a way of making nomenclature literal, and by doing that revealing the symbolism inherent in social climbing—and its failures. None dast judge that cat! |
By turns failing and very much alive, the shopping mall shows just how insufferable and utterly forgivable is our consumer culture. As unlikely as winged buffalo is the return of the mall as America's new/old town square. |
Puzzlers since the postcard days, we were eager to play along as Fuzzbutt queried expert panelists in a way that answered some of our deepest questions about the great 19th century novelist. |
It was nice to get this presentation line-by-line and get dragged in slowly. Methfessel lands on a very catchy notion: that American women are still casting about for a feminist identity, yet they're never entirely at sea. |
Brown tackles intersectionality and cultural positionality while showing us a new side of Black (em)Powerment, the fashion redo. Helped along by the good folks at Johnson Products and the ghost of Frederick Douglass, Brown at least gives us hope that we will survive the post-Obama era. |
Another in the Wonderland track of this year's conference, Ratkiller's righteous riffs had us all wondering where we'd stashed our vintage Night Rangers t-shirts. We reveled in an era that was, in retrospect, truly weird. |
Body mods have become both more prominent and and more intimate in the past few years, and Jerrytail shows us just what they reveal of the psyche and the sexual staging of the inner self. |
The investment class can be said to be one thing if nothing else: spiffily attired. Confidence-building through the conspicuous consumption of Brooks Brothers suits and watches from IWC leads to the illusion that handsome does as handsome is. But as Tigercat contends, the Earth suffers, as the Inuit intuit. |
The Arthur Miller on the Floss: Imagination, Middle Class Values, and the Economics of Transgression, an Enflourment in Three Acts 
A Very Old Mall with Enormous Wings: Buffalo Wings, Magical Realism, and the Petty Morality of American Shopping, a Fairy Tale of Hanging Out 
Martin Puzzlewit: Sudoku, Word Games, and the Dickensian Narrative of Morning Edition Sunday, a Conundrum in Three Shortz 
Elizabeth Bishop Warren: Poetry, Politics, and the American Woman, a Verse in Three Fishhooks
State of G(R)ace: Grace Jones, “Amazing Grace,” and Race Relations as Iconography of Trans-Formation, a Makeover 
March Hair Band: Arena Rock, Wonderland, and the Surreality of the ‘80s Music Video, a Headbanger's Fantasy 
Rorschach Breast: Ink Blots, Feminism, and Tattoo as Text, an Analysis in Ink 
True-Dough; Oil Sands, the Rights of First Nations, and Justin, or Reading Prime Minister McDreamy, a Primer in Charismatic Financialization