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WPR interview: Odyssey Beyond Bars expands across the state
I was invited to speak on WPR‘s Central Time in April 2022 about Odyssey Beyond Bars’s program expansion. “The Odyssey Beyond Bars project, which provides continuing education for incarcerated people, is expanding to more of Wisconsin’s correctional facilities. We talk with the program manager about how it works and what’s in store for the future.” Odyssey Beyond Bars project expanding classes to more state correctional facilities By Dean Knetter Air Date: Listen The Odyssey Beyond Bars project, which provides continuing education for incarcerated people, is expanding to more of Wisconsin’s correctional facilities. We talk with the program manager about how…
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Local Roles: An Interview with Lauren Surovi, Mellon Public Humanities Fellow
I was recently interviewed by the UW-Madison Center for Humanities about my upcoming position as Prison Education Communication Fellow with Odyssey Beyond Bars. “The Center interviewed two 2020-21 Fellows to discuss the issues underlying the current protests in Dane County and how they see their public fellowship positions contributing to the fight for racial justice as well as their academic work.” Click through to read the full interview below.
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The Queen’s Not Mad, She’s Machiavellian
The hit HBO series Game of Thrones has captured the imagination and seized the attention of viewers around the world, and as the show progresses through its final season — only one episode remains! — loyal fans continue to voice a multitude of opinions on, and condemnations of, the eight-season narrative arc as it hurtles towards conclusion. Season 8, Episode 5, “The Bells,” (aired 12 May 2019) seems to have left many fans frustrated, if not confused and even angry, about the choices made by the aspiring ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, Daenerys Targaryen, as she nearly single-handedly sacked King’s…
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The Brooklyn Bridge | New York City
I grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania, 85 miles west of New York City. Thanks to our 5-minute proximity to the interstate highway (hi, I-78), a day trip to “the City” was always within reach, and usually a good idea. School field trips had us bussed into New York for the day to go to museums or to see a show (one particular 8th-grade field trip sticks out in my mind: there are pictures of us huddled on a ferry in front of the Twin Towers circa March 2001). I’ve taken the charter bus with my grandmother to visit one of…
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Notre-Dame de Paris
“The Cathédrale of Notre-Dame de Paris is doubtless still a sublime and majestic building. But, much beauty as it may retain in its old age, it is not easy to repress a sigh, to restrain our anger, when we mark the countless defacements and mutilations to which men and Time had subjected that venerable monument…” —Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) In the aftermath of last week’s devastating loss at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, I’m feeling a particular impulse to get down in writing my thoughts and experiences with this monumental piece of Western history and civilization. Since last…
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“Life, Love, and the Literary: Cultural Power and Prestige in Renaissance Marriage Chests”
In September 2018, I was asked by the Chazen Museum of Art to give a talk in honor of their exhibit, “Life, Love, and Marriage in Renaissance Italy.” From the Chazen website: “Organized by the Museo Stibbert and Contemporanea Progetti in Florence, Italy, the Chazen Museum of Art will host an exhibition of Italian wedding chests, also known as cassoni. To explore the social and practical functions of these important objects, the exhibition will include related domestic items such as maiolica wares, fabric, and architectural decorations, in addition to panel paintings and intact chests made in Italy from the 14th…
