A Not Quite History: The Great Courses’ “The History of Ancient Egypt”
For the past week, I’ve been listening to a series of lectures from The Great Courses on the history of ancient Egypt, which I must have grabbed on an Audible sale many moons ago. The series is presented by Dr. Bob Brier, a notable Egyptologist and mummy expert. I say notable because much of his popularity stems from his extensive popular work with mummies, including reconstructing tombs for museum exhibits, reproducing the Egyptian mummification process, and other mummy-friendly things; he also has some 30 years of experience “in the field.” Given that the presenter of these lectures is most notable for his popular work, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the lectures themselves are packaged accordingly. Yet, in listening to these lectures, I found myself wondering about those credentials. An ardent fan of ancient Egypt and apparent mummy expert Brier certainly is, but do these lectures represent someone who could be called an expert of ancient Egypt’s history? The answer is “not really,” and I don’t know if that’s due to The Great Courses’ educational philosophy (this is my first TGC experience) or Brier’s insistence on a casual, heavily anecdotal, and meandering series of lectures. Whatever the reason behind it, I have to say that I have been greatly disappointed in this series. I assumed going in that I would get a comprehensive history of ancient Egypt with at least a degree of scholarly depth, but overall, the lectures are devoid of what I’d call “useful material.” Indeed, I don’t know that I’ve learned anything I couldn’t have easily picked up by reading the wiki page (Brier’s personal anecdotes aside), which to me seems to decrease the value of these lectures as a “history of Ancient Egypt.” Mind you, Brier is noticeably enthusiastic about his subject; indeed, it’s clear from his voice and anecdotes that he absolutely loves ancient Egypt. Yet, that enthusiasm, for me, doesn’t translate to a history of an entire culture.
Academia During a Pandemic: Hunker Down Philosophy 3A
Today marks the resumption of classes at Bemidji State University, all of which are now housed online. Many of my colleagues around the world have come up with a variety of different ways of flipping their classes over. My focus has been on enhancing online interaction and replacing face-to-face interaction as much as is reasonable. And as I mentioned before, the former involves discussion threads and the latter involves Zoom conferences! Monday and Tuesday encompassed the bulk of my Zoom meetings. One of my classes will meet for a second time tomorrow (their request); otherwise, every class has met, giving me a little insight into how this is all going to go. TL;DR: yeah, it’ll work. Here are a few observations after running 4 sessions:
Joy to End Your Evening
I have nothing really to say today. It’s been a long day… So instead of trying to say something interesting about teaching or research or pandemics or nerd stuff, here’s a music video that continues to bring me absolute joy. I hope it brings you joy, too!
Unsolicited Class Board from Before the Pandemic
A bit of fun from my Rhetoric of Social Media Class: This board covers some of the thoughts the class had about several mobile games, including how they encourage play, social activity and interaction, etc. Also: there are some lyrics to brighten your day. You’re welcome.
Struggles in Heroism: On the (New) Star Wars Expanded Universe
It’s probably not a big secret that I have had “issues” with Star Wars in its Disney years. There are a lot of things I love about the direction things are going — a more diverse cast, the emphasis on big sprawling adventure, etc. — but there are also problems I have with the cohesion of the stories, the structure of the narratives, Disney’s treatment of character, etc. Yet, it’s still Star Wars, and even when it’s not quite on the mark, it’s still enormously fun. However, there’s something a tad “off” for me about Star Wars, especially the new Expanded Universe. Recently, I’ve been listening to several audiobooks of new Star Wars novels — Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath and Rebecca Roanhorse’s Resistance Reborn — and it got me thinking a lot about some of the things that have made the Disney era so difficult for me as a Star Wars fan. To be clear: I have zero intention of bashing Star Wars here; rather, I want to talk a bit about what I have found less enticing about this new era while still keeping my love for this franchise.
A Day Lost in Exhaustion
I’m working on a blog post about my experiences with the new Star Wars Expanded Universe novels, but today has been weirdly exhausting, either because I haven’t had a full night of sleep in at least 4 days or because I’ve been eating garbage food since Monday or both. So to tide you (the illusory reader who, like a certain quantum cat, may or may not exist) over, here’s a picture of Commander Sisko from Deep Space 9, a show I am once again trying to work my way through. Yes, he is beautiful. You’re welcome.