In a January 2017 appearance on Meet the Press, Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President, defended then Press Secretary Shawn Spicer’s use of “alternative facts” to describe the crowds at President Trump’s inauguration (Sinderbrand). The contentiousness of the television segment signaled that more was to come of what had already been playing out in media coverage of U.S. politics. As can be seen in this clip, Conway’s interviewer and NBC moderator, Chuck Todd, tried to ta

Photo Credit: learner.org At the end of my three years serving as a member of the Watershed Collective, I’m poised to shed the graduate chrysalis and move into the next phase of my academic career. So it’s no surprise that I’m drawn to theoretical and cultural representations of transition, upheaval, and change--fascinated by processes of becoming. With this orientation in mind, I appreciate the opportunity to reflect, not only on the phenomenal collection of posts shared by

Back row, left to right: Activist Tarana Burke, Michelle Williams, America Ferrera, Jessica Chastain, Amy Poehler, Meryl Streep, and Kerry Washington; front row, left to right: Natalie Portman, activist Ai-jen Poo, and activist Saru Jayaraman. Image credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Stevie Seibert Desjarlais (SSD): Dear reader, I tell you that 2018 has had a rough start (depending on what U.S. map you look at, you probably have the flu, are frozen, or both). Last Sunday ev

Photo Credit: dreamstime.com As I read and reread the collection of posts our Watershed team has contributed this semester (15 truly stellar pieces of writing in all), I was struck by their shared commitment to expanding theory’s reach beyond the computer screen and into the world. These texts are saturated with calls to action, reorienting readers toward the pursuit of praxis. Although I teach writing and consider myself mathematically challenged, there is one equation I con

A hook that might have nothing to do with the rest of the post: It is football season (a fact that my father routinely reminds me of when I tell him that I prefer to watch Bachelor in Paradise instead of the Monday night game). This post is not about football, but the fandom surrounding one of America’s favorite forms of entertainment does work as a useful, low-stakes example of an us vs. them culture. When one team plays another it is pretty typical for the fans of each team

If you religiously read Watershed (LIKE I DO) then you’re probably aware of many recent aspects of U.S. politics and society that can be loosely (neutrally) described as “thought provoking.” As we collectively tell ourselves: “This is not normal. THIS is not normal. THIS is NOT normal. THIS IS NOT NORMAL,” a question gets begged: what is “normal”? Sometimes the idea of normalcy gets paraded around without thorough consideration of the power and assumption wielded behind the t

Photo Credit: "Fans" by Craig Chandler, University Communications Photography Imagine a pleasant fall Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska: the air is cool but the sun is still warm enough to heat up in the afternoon, birds chirp, bees buzz, and from somewhere in the distance you can hear the rhythmic thump of bass. It’s college Gameday and despite the feeling of freshness this morning, there is a raging party down the street. Though the label “college Gameday” gives no explicit ind