Prof. Suspended for Game of Thrones T-Shirt

In academia, allowing your daughter to wear Game of Thrones apparel is a sign of dangerous mental illness.

Anyone who finds this situation improbable has never worked in higher education.

In an effort to get myself similarly suspended, here is a picture of my own children cosplaying a few years ago. Note the belligerent nature of their costumes — the Unabomber-like Ludditism of my son’s steampunk attire, and the appearance of my daughter as a masked vigilante (no doubt a sign of Klan sympathies). Also, the sign “WESTin” is prominent in the background — clearly a pro-Western (and therefore a colonialist, anti-other-cardinal-directions) message.

Cosplay

 

Academics and Public Engagement

The Guardian Higher Education Network has an article asking, “Can Engaging with the Public Help Your Career in Academia?“ In other words, is the stuff done by the academics here in any way helpful to their careers? Their answer is that it depends on how you do it.

Although you probably can help your career by writing for something like Professor Awesome’s University, the truth is that the academic world mostly rewards things that are invisible to the public. So, when you see our contributors to Professor Awesome’s University, remember that they’re not getting rich or famous by bringing all this awesome stuff to you … they’re inviting you to geek out about the coolest parts of their academic disciplines with them.