e138. Holiday Tradition and Ritual in the Time of COVID

It’s the holiday season. In the United States we just celebrated Thanksgiving, and in the coming weeks that will be followed by Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Pancha Ganapati, Yule, Festivus, Saturnalia, Slackernalia and probably 1000 other winter holidays that get celebrated somewhere around the world. These holidays are often commemorated by coming together with…

Call For Comments: Consumer vs. Experience Culture

From Wayne: Awhile back I read an article called Millennials: Fueling the Experience Economy, and it got me thinking about a number of things. Let me say up front that while do think there are distinct generational distinctions I’m not one of those old guys who are decrying youth. It’s the different perspectives and experiences,…

Call For Comments: Back to School College Survival Tips

From Mav: It you’ve listened to the show, you’ve probably picked up that all four hosts (and many of the guests) are college teachers. Add onto that, that between the four of us, we’ve been in school of one kind or another for like 100 years. That means we’ve seen a lot of shit! Some…

Call For Comments: Pop Culture and Religiosity

One of the fun things about doing a dissertation on comic books is that I get to spend some time lurking in random forums on the internet (Facebook groups, Redit, Tumblr, that sort of thing) just observing subcultural behavior in fan culture. Anyway, one particular group I monitor had a very odd interaction about a week ago…