Monthly Archives: June 2024
Day 11: Death and the Printers
“Death and the Printers”from Le Danse Macabre (Matthias Huss: Lyons, 1499) The first-ever image of the printing press appears, strangely, as a story of Death. Printing was developed across the 1450s in a halting progress of experimentation. Johannes Gutenberg had taken a number of loans for various financial schemes. Printing paid off, but not quickly …
Day 10: a short hello from san jose
Today we headed up to San Jose for the Coursera event. Flying out of Burbank always makes me feel like a movie star because it involves a walk on the tarmac in the sun. Richelle came along to look at some documents at Stanford. I ’m looking forward to the talk tomorrow. I’ve given versions …
Day 9: Mapping and Planning
I returned home to map out the trip so far and look ahead. Tomorrow, Richelle and head up to Mountain View, where I am to give a keynote at the Coursera Future of Higher Education Summit. I’m looking forward to the talk, and to meeting people. Coursera has a piece of the action, it sure …
lunch
My favoriate Cubano lunch stop in LA closed up due to family infighting. Since then I’ve been on the lookout for a new place. I tried La Cubana on Glendale, but they are closed on Mondays, so I headed further down the avenue, to Baracoa, near the base of Glendale where it crosses the Los …
Day Nine: Taking it easy
An easy going day: Lunch with the family—Beth, Senon, and Sabine—at a local place, worked up my presentation for Coursera, and had a chat with an old friend on the phone. Oh, and checked the tire pressure—ten lbs down on the big bike. That’d explain “Gingerfoot.” Onwards!
DAY EIGHT: THE PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
The day began with a seven am nature hike through Malibu Creek State Park led by Pepperdine Assistant Professor of Biology, Helen Holmlund and her students. We didn’t make to either the filming site of M*A*S*H or of the 1968 Planet of the Apes, but it was a satisfying start to the day, indeed, one …
DAY SEVEN: A MEDIEVAL INTERLUDE
I’m in Calabasas at the Medieval Association of the Pacific conference, which has been quite wonderful. The conference began with a great panel on teaching, which set a inclusive tone right from the start. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a conference on Medieval Studies, and it’s exciting to engage in conversation …
Day Six: Thinking about abstraction
Part of this trip is about getting back into motorcycling. Part involves seeing West Coast Friends. And part is a busman’s holiday: I’m attending the Medieval Association of the Pacific (MAP) annual conference at Pepperdine University, and then heading up to the Coursera Future of Higher Education Summit. This morning I drove down to Manhattan …
Onwards! 