Comparative Media Studies research affiliate Sam Ford writes for The Boston Globe about former Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s recent professional wrestling appearances. “I’m guessing Stewart finds something refreshing about a world where the performance comes with a wink and where fans are invited to be in on the con,” writes Ford.
Prof. Alan Lightman writes for The New York Times about the disillusionment he felt when he went to visit his childhood home and found that it had been taken down. “I try to put back the house where it was, the kitchen, the bedrooms, the closets, my father practicing his guitar, my mother dressing in front of her long mirror,” Lightman writes.
MIT Lecturer B.D. Colen speaks with Boston Magazine reporter Chris Sweeney about his new photography exhibit, “Alone, Together,” which looks at how people riding the MBTA attempt to find some privacy. Colen explains that the idea behind the exhibit “isn’t to invade people’s privacy. You’re in public, and I’m just documenting how people behave under these circumstances.”
Professor Junot Díaz will be honored as one of this year’s We Are Boston Award recipients for embracing “diversity and immigrant heritage,” writes Jennifer Usovicz for The Boston Globe. “Boston is beautiful precisely because of our immigrant communities,” says Díaz. “Our energy and sacrifice is the dynamo that drives the city forward.”
In an article for The New York Times Magazine, Prof. Junot Díaz writes about how being attacked when he was in the seventh grade impacted him psychologically. “Before that attack, I had felt fear plenty of times — which poor immigrant kid hasn’t? — but after my beating, I became afraid. And at any age, that is a dismal place to be,” writes Díaz.
The Economist reviews Prof. Marcia Bartusiak’s new book, “Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved.” “Ms Bartusiak weaves scientific concepts to create a portrait of the scientific institution itself, showing how its norms and personalities served to shape the path taken by the idea.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Prof. Thomas Levenson writes about the dispute over the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) in Hawaii. “The dispute has been framed as the latest skirmish in the long-running campaign pitting science against religion. That’s a mistake,” Levenson writes.
Ty Burr reviews Prof. Alan Lightman’s Book “Screening Room” for The Boston Globe. “Lightman bends his nostalgia through the prism of a writer’s creativity the way light through a projector blooms into a story on the screen,” notes Burr.
Shannon McMahon reports for Boston.com about a new course, offered through MIT's Comparative Media Studies program, focused on social media and online forums like Reddit.
Professor Seth Mnookin speaks with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan during the final segment of this episode of Boston Public Radio about his new article in The New Yorker on parents struggling to help their children with conditions new to science.
John McDermott of The Financial Times interviews Professor Junot Díaz about his childhood, his career as an author and teaching at MIT.