#Medill School of Journalism

[uwmspeccoll]

Decorative Sunday: Bookplates Edition

Ex Libris by Carl S. Junge collects notable bookplates from the career of Chicago-area artist Carl S. Junge. In his introduction to the volume, Chicago advertising executive and bookplate collector Leroy T. Goble argues that the bookplate is far more than a simple mark of ownership but has artistic value of its own, they are “expressions of fine art calling for the joint interests and attention of artist, engraver, and printer.”  Published in New York by H.L. Lindquist in 1935 in a limited edition of 500 copies signed by the artist. Junge’s bookplates had been collected once before in the 1916 publication Book Plates: A Collection of Original Book Plate Designs in an edition of 200 by Champlin Press of Columbus, Ohio. We hold both publications here in Special Collections.

Goble praises Junge as an eminent bookplate designer, wedding the personality and needs of the person (or institution) for which he is designing with an adept artistic sensibility and drawing on a range of styles. Indeed, Junge received five awards from the International Book Plate Association and his plates are held by such esteemed museums as the The Metropolitan Museum of New York and the British Museum. The stately bookplate of Woodrow Wilson, the appropriately juvenile plate of Leroy Goble’s son (Francis) Cleon, and the art deco inspired plate for artist O. Adreas Garson all exemplify the way Junge adapted his design aesthetic to best represent his client. My favorite is the plate for Lewis Clifford Fiske, with its scowling swordsman pointing insistently at the bookplate-within-a-bookplate (reading: “Fiske His Book”). It visually evokes the old tradition of placing a curse upon book thieves or careless borrowers, as if to say ”This is MY book. Return it, or face my sword!!”

Check out more Decorative Sunday posts here. 

You can find more posts about bookplates here. 

-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Assistant

[westeroswisdom]

George R.R. Martin has endowed a chair at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism – his alma mater. He was at Northwestern in late February for the investiture of Prof. Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan as the inaugural holder of the George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling.

He wrote at Not a Blog...

I attended Medill back in what they now like to call “the turbulent 60s”  (and no kidding, they were pretty turbulent), and departed with a couple of degrees, BSJ ’70, MSJ ’71.  I did not get back often  in the half-century that followed, alas. Life got in the way, as it has a habit of doing. But I always looked back fondly on my years in Evanston, and the courses and teachers that helped shape me as a writer. I had been writing long before I arrived in Illinois, of course. Monster stories for other kids in the projects in grade school (got a nickle each for them, enough for a Milky Way, and if I sold two I could buy a comic book) and amateur superhero stories for comic fanzines when I got to high school (Powerman, Dr. Weird, the White Raider, and Garizan the Mechanical Warrior), but it was during my years at Northwestern that I began to submit to professional magazines. It was while I was in Evanston that I got my first professional rejection slip (from AMERICAN SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW, for “The Fortress,” a story I wrote for a history class at Northwestern) and made my first professional sale (from GALAXY, for “The Hero,” a story I wrote for a creative writing class at Northwestern). So it seemed only fitting for me to “pay forward” to Medill for all I learned there, by endowing a chair in storytelling. The investiture was my first opportunity to meet Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, who was chosen over thirty other highly qualified applicants to be the first “GRRM Professor.”  It seemed only fitting that I give her an actual chair, as well, as the title… so I did.

If you're a student at Medill, take a peek inside Prof. Tan's office to see the miniature Iron Throne which GRRM presented her.

Cheryl has written both fiction and non-fiction. She has been a news and fashion reporter for the Wall Street Journal, InStyle, the Baltimore Sun, and other major news outlets.  Her books include the bestselling novel SARONG PARTY GIRLS, set in her native Singapore. She will teach both undergraduate and graduate students, organize panels and conferences, and conduct an intensive writing workshop every summer,  to help professional journalists cross over into creative writing.

[blucfeathcrs]

— BASICS

Name: Lydia Mae Calder Age / D.O.B.: 31, March 5th, 1993 Gender, Pronouns & Sexuality: Cis-Female, she/her, heterosexual Hometown: Houston, TX Affiliation: Syndicate Job position: Journalist for VOGUE magazine, guest columnist New York Times (for information sourcing), Hacker (alias Blue Bird), Member of the Syndicate Education: Northwestern Medill Journalism Relationship status: Single. Children: None. Positive traits: Cunning, Loyal, Determined, Assertive, Playful Negative traits: Impatient, Impulsive, Controlling, Sneaky, Deceitful

— BIOGRAPHY

abuse tw

Youngest child out of three. Two older brothers. Military father. There isn't much Lydia remembers of her older brother's death or her father or the fallout. All she remembers is the dark times after that, the loneliness and neglect; the way she never seemed to feel quite good enough for her mother. The way her brother became the one thing to cling to.

Lydia grew up facing the darkness, yet somehow managing to be far more sheltered from things than her brother ever had been. Bright as she was, she grew up dreaming of college. Hoping to one day make it out of what she remembers to have been hell.

During college she began looking for jobs she could manage to do on the side. Being someone who needed as much time to cover her studies, though, she ended up sharing her desperation with a friend one night. That friend suggested she look for jobs outside the norm. What started out as a simple way to pay the bills eventually became her path of living as comfortably as one could.

Lydia was able to graduate Northwestern Medill Journalism school without any debt, thanks to her brother and the pay she received from her own odd jobs.

She is ever so grateful for the support she's received from her brother, truly thinking of him as her hero. In return she's never let him know about the hacking she took up back then. Truthfully she doesn't want him to know. As she is equally unaware of his own dark side, the idea of him finding out would destroy her.

After graduation she took on work with various news papers, having recently worked in the tv news department. Occasionally she's dabbled in fashion. A passion was born.

When the opportunity presented itself to work as a guest columnist for the New York Times she took the opportunity immediately. Not only did it provide an excellent source for information regarding her other job, it also brought her right on the path of New York.

Recently she's landed a job with Vogue magazine and taken the opportunity to move to New York. Once again she's in the same city as her brother.

New York became a fast home but also left far too many question. One bored evening led down a path of research, too curious over the things she was reading and noticing. Lydia hacked someone from the Syndicate. What could have been trouble instead landed her a job with said Syndicate. She was good at what she was doing. Blue Bird had made a name for herself.

— WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS

The one who kept the secret Ex-Boyfriend. Lydia cared for him a lot but when he found out about her job, the hacking taking place under his own roof in order to finance things he drew the line and walked. Seemingly nothing was leaked as she remained free from the law but the loss still hit her hard Wherever you will go Her best friend. The one person who stuck with her, and her with them. Met in college and eventually found out about things. There is nothing Lydia wouldn't do for them. New York, New York Friend/Neighbor. Someone that Lydia met after moving to New York. Someone who potentially became someone for her to hangout with and show her the city.

[beardedmrbean]

A left-wing journalism professor who teaches at a top Chicago-area university has for months justified Hamas terrorists' war on Israel and even joined anti-Israel student agitators on campus, Fox News Digital learned after reviewing his social media and blog posts.

Steven Thrasher is an associate professor of journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and has been "regularly published in the New York Times, BuzzFeed News, Esquire, the Nation, the Atlantic, the Guardian, and the Daily Beast," according to his school biography.

Thrasher's activism could be raised on Thursday when Northwestern's president, as well as leaders from UCLA and Rutgers, appears before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for a hearing titled "Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos."

"Staff like Professor Steven Thrasher continue to peddle hateful antisemitic canards," Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez told Fox News Digital. "This professor has employed hateful rhetoric, invoked antisemitic tropes, and fostered a hostile environment that endangers Jewish students on campus."

Thrasher's bio states that he is "the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg Chair of social justice in reporting (with an emphasis on issues relevant to the LGBTQ community) and an assistant professor of journalism." His areas of expertise include methods of how to study the intersection of "racism, homophobia, policing, medicine, incarceration, culture, and health." 

A review of Thrasher’s social media accounts found that stretching back to October of last year, when Hamas launched an attack against Israel, Thrasher espoused anti-Israel rhetoric appearing to defend Hamas. 

"White supremacy and settler colonialism can NOT kill, maim and steal for decades (or even centuries) via genocidal violence and then expect patience and peace — ESPECIALLY when peaceful protest is met with economic, spiritual and literal death," he posted on X on Oct. 9 of last year. Fox News Digital reviewed the posts earlier this week, before Thrasher protected his X account. 

"For those asking 'But why don’t Palestinians protest peacefully; may I remind you that for me—who is not even Palestinian!!!—merely calling for *peaceful boycott* cost me the German translation of my book, made my PhD advisor shun me forever & almost cost me my entire career," he wrote in another post that same day. 

Later that month, Thrasher compared Israel to the Nazis, claiming the country was carrying out "a genocide of the disabled" in Gaza. 

"​​This is a genocide of the disabled people, too, who will suffocate on smoke. Who ARE suffocating to death right now. You know who else suffocated the disabled? The Nazis," he posted on X on Oct. 29. 

Thrasher is also apparently no fan of President Biden, according to his posts, claiming that "Biden won’t stop" Israel’s retaliations against Gaza, and that "the US is committing genocide."

In a November blog post titled, "Tearing down the Wall," Thrasher compared Gaza to a Nazi concentration camp, arguing, "we can feel compassion towards a desperate people stuck inside a Nazi concentration camp." He also argued that if Jews were able to break free from concentration camps, they would have killed "anyone they found partying," thus seemingly justifying Hamas' attack on the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, when hundreds of people were killed and dozens of others taken hostage.

"If the Jews being shot and shoveled into ovens could just break through that wall, of course, they would kill anyone they found partying right on the other side of it! And, of course, they would take women and children hostage and drag them back into their hell inside if doing so would give them leverage to free their fellow Jews from torture and death!" he wrote. 

Last month, Thrasher also spoke before protesters at an anti-Israel encampment, encouraging agitators to continue their protests, according to The Daily Northwestern. 

"To the Medill students and journalists within earshot, I say to you: Our work is not about objectivity," he said. "Our work is about you putting your brilliant minds to work and opening your compassionate hearts."

Northwestern, similar to colleges across the nation, has been the site of anti-Israel protests. University President Michael Schill will testify before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce over Northwestern’s "shocking concessions to the unlawful antisemitic encampments." Schill’s hearing on Thursday is anticipated to also include questions about Thrasher.

"Whether it’s Claudine Gay at Harvard or Liz Magill at UPenn, college presidents at elite universities have failed to address the dangerous and violent proliferation of antisemitism on campus," Gimenez told Fox News Digital. 

"As a member of Congress, I look forward to getting direct answers about President Schill’s inaction this Thursday. His failure to act emboldens hateful behavior and compromises student safety," he continued.

Northwestern was the first university in the nation to publicly announce that it struck a deal with protesters who established an encampment on campus demanding the school cut financial ties with Israel. The concessions included agreeing to let students review school investments; funding two visiting Palestinian faculty members for two years on campus; full scholarships for five Palestinian undergraduate students; and the immediate construction of a community housing building for Muslim, Middle Eastern and North African students. 

Protesters in exchange largely dismantled the tent encampment. 

The Jewish community in the Chicago area slammed Schill and Northwestern for the agreement, with the​​ Jewish United Fund writing in a letter that Schill embraced "those who flagrantly disrupted Northwestern academics and flouted those policies."

"The overwhelming majority of your Jewish students, faculty, staff, and alumni feel betrayed. They trusted an institution you lead and considered it home. You have violated that trust," the letter said, according to Jewish Insider. "You certainly heard and acted generously towards those with loud, at times hateful voices. The lack of any reassuring message to our community has also been heard loud and clear."

Student agitators infiltrated college campuses nationwide last month into May, including radicals on Columbia University’s campus taking over the campus’ Hamilton Hall building, while schools such as UCLA, Harvard and Yale worked to clear student encampments, which led to hundreds of arrests nationwide. 

The protests follow terrorist organization Hamas launching a war in Israel on Oct. 7, which initially fanned the flames of antisemitism on campuses in the form of protests, menacing graffiti and students reporting that they felt as if it was "open season for Jews on our campuses."

The protests heightened this spring to the point where Jewish students were warned to leave campus for their own safety, and schools such as USC, Emory and Columbia canceled their main graduation ceremonies. 

Gimenez continued in his comments to Fox Digital that "antisemitism has NO PLACE ANYWHERE  — especially not on college campuses receiving federal funding."

"It’s why I’m working to ensure colleges like Northwestern, that fail to protect students from hateful pro-Hamas activities, have their federal funding eligibility immediately reviewed," he said. 

"I stand resolutely with our Jewish-American community and students combating antisemitism on campuses nationwide. I am committed to fighting antisemitism and reinforcing America’s unbreakable bond with our strongest ally: the democratic, Jewish State of Israel."

Neither Northwestern nor Thrasher immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

[wespeakglobal]

Greg Schwem | Funny Motivation

Greg Schwem is more than a comedian; Greg Schwem is a motivational corporate comedian. And the corporate world has taken note.  Greg’s take on the 21st century workplace and work/life balance has landed him on SIRIUS Radio, Comedy Central and the pages of Exceptional People Magazine.

More than just a business humorist, Greg is also an author, nationally syndicated humor columnist, TV travel host, award-winning greeting card writer and creator of funnydadinc, voted one of the top Dad humor sites of 2020.  He has shared the concert stage with the likes of Celine Dion and Keith Urban.

A graduate of Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism, Greg never envisioned a career in laughter. Instead, he settled in Florida, becoming an award-winning reporter for NBC-owned WPTV in West Palm Beach. But the comedy bug bit Greg hard and he returned to his hometown of Chicago, where he honed his standup act in nightclubs.

When he began inserting material about business and technology into his act, audience members approached him and said, “You really should come down to my office and tell those jokes.” Behold! A new approach to comedy was born.

Greg’s show provides a hilarious look at today’s corporate environment and the latest tools used to conduct business. Indeed, Greg’s client list includes such corporate heavyweights as McDonald’s, Microsoft, General Motors, IBM, and even the CIA.  “Yes, even America’s covert intelligence community can laugh at itself!” Greg says.

[artistsonthelam]

I've been sitting on this news for months, but now I'm giddy with excitement (and embarrassment?*) I can finally share with you that I've been named one of 2023's Culture Shifters by HuffPost! *(I burst into laughter when I saw the headline.) I'm so honored to be featured on a list alongside such creative change-makers. Endless thanks, love, and gratitude to:

- Reporter Yue Li, a graduate student at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Yue had reached out to me for "a profile story about an outstanding Chicago-based artist" and interviewed me all the way back in January (I remember we wished each other a Happy Chinese New Year!). She then pitched her story to the HuffPost culture team in March... and not only did their editorial team say yes, but the editor also said she'd love to include me as a Culture Shifter!

- Photographer Taylor Glascock. Taylor took these photos of me in Chinatown on a brisk (to say the least!) but bright March afternoon. Everything I'm wearing here I've had for at least 14 years (exception: my sneakers, which I've had for 7) (this is a pattern you'll find with me and belongings)

- Senior editor of culture Erin Evans

- Senior photo editor Chris McGonigal

- Artist Nancy Bechtol, one of my Artists on the Lam, who was also interviewed for this and had such kind words to say about me

- Everyone who's been a part of my journey. We don't get here alone!

Read the interview here.

[readingsquotes]

But, while university administration had been supportive of me when I applied social justice journalism to race, LGBTQ identity, and infectious disease, it did not like when I began applying this same analytic to the genocide in Gaza and the obliteration of our journalism colleagues in Palestine, particularly after the House of Representative’s Committee on Education & the Workforce demanded that Northwestern take action against faculty who supported students in their protest.

In April, students on our campus set up a Gaza Solidarity Encampment. I spent five days talking with them, saying Passover prayers with them, learning from them and—most importantly when I saw Northwestern police getting ready to physically assault them—placing my body between them and the assailants. For this, I was beaten up by Northwestern cops, leaving me in physical pain for several weeks. Then, Northwestern’s President Schill was called to testify before the Committee on Education & the Workforce, where Representative Jim Banks referred to me as “one of the goons.”

More than two months later (while I was out of the United States for the summer writing my new book, The Overseer Class), the Northwestern police filed criminal charges against me and three other people. (Of the four of us, all were outspoken and most were LGBTQ people.) The State of Illinois declined to prosecute, and when the criminal charges were dropped by the state, I found out that my fall classes were canceled and I was under investigation at Medill.

What’s happening is obvious: the House committee witch hunt is putting pressure on Northwestern to punish people, and they’ve decided I am one of the people to punish. I am an easy target because—like so many people who are being punished for supporting Palestine on campuses around the nation—I am Black, queer, and very loud.

But it’s also awkward for Northwestern because, well, my position is an endowed chair to focus on social justice in reporting—and the genocide in Gaza in general (and the war on its journalists specifically), along with the right of students to express themselves freely on university campuses, are some of the most pressing social justice matters of our time.

...

So as I apply for tenure this fall, as planned, while being kept out of the classroom, and as I am praying for the safety of student protesters on my campus and across the country, I am keeping in mind these powerful words MLK said in his final public speech, the night before he was killed in Memphis:

Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren’t going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren’t going to let any injunction turn us around! We are going on.

King was arrested 29 times in his life.

To my students at Medill, I want to say: I may not be teaching in the classroom this fall because I stood with many of you, in King’s tradition, for peace—but I will continue to teach.

[westeroswisdom]

Last November we reported that Northwestern University alum George R.R. Martin donated $5 million to the University’s Medill School of Journalism. $3 million is going to establish George R.R. Martin Summer Intensive Writing Workshop and the remaining $2 million created an endowed professorship at Medill.

The university has announced that one of GRRM’s fellow alums will be the first person to hold that professorship and lead the summer workshop. Journalist and author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan joins the faculty in September. 

Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, BSJ97, will serve as the inaugural holder of the George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University.

Tan, a journalist, author and teacher, will lead the George R.R. Martin Summer Intensive Writing Workshop, as well as teach courses across a breadth of genres to both undergraduate and graduate students.

The George R.R. Martin Summer Intensive Writing Workshop will provide support for journalism professionals seeking careers in creative writing. Launching in 2024, the workshop will enroll six to eight writers and authors each summer and afford budding fiction writers, screenwriters and playwrights the time, space and guidance to develop their projects.

“Journalists have always been compelling storytellers, and many have a wealth of stories and ideas that would make for rich novels, films, TV shows and plays,” said Tan, whose book career launched when she turned an essay she wrote for The Wall Street Journal into the 2011 memoir, “A Tiger in the Kitchen.” “I am thrilled to be leading this unique program that will help journalists make that leap from news narratives to creative writing.”

[ ... ]

In addition to teaching and leading the summer workshop, Tan will collaborate with faculty in the School of Communication and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences to convene panels and conferences on writing for students, the greater Northwestern community and the public and be a liaison to industries related to long-form narrative and storytelling.

Perhaps Prof. Tan will advise her students: Be sure to complete your long-form projects before starting new ones. 😉

[immaculatasknight]

Academic gulag

[novumtimes]

California tax deal to fund journalism AI research

California will be the first US state to direct millions of dollars from taxpayer money and tech companies to help pay for journalism and AI research under a new deal announced. Under the first-in-the-nation agreement, the state and tech companies would collectively pay roughly $US250 million ($A371 million) over five years to support California-based news organisations and create an AI research program. The initiatives are set to kick in in 2025 with $US100 million the first year, and the majority of the money would go to news organisations, said Democratic Assembly member Buffy Wicks, who brokered the deal. “This agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California – leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy.” Wicks’ office didn’t immediately answer questions about specifics on how much funding would come from the state, which news organisations would be eligible and how much money would go to the AI research program. The deal effectively marks the end of a year-long fight between tech giants and politicians over Wicks’ proposal to require companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to pay a certain percentage of advertising revenue to media companies for linking to their content. The bill, modelled after a legislation in Canada aiming at providing financial help to local news organisations, faced intense backlash from the tech industry, which launched ads over the summer to attack the bill. Google also tried to pressure politicians to drop the bill by temporarily removing news websites from some people’s search results in April. “This partnership represents a cross-sector commitment to supporting a free and vibrant press, empowering local news outlets up and down the state to continue in their essential work,” Wicks said in a statement. “This is just the beginning.” California has tried different ways to stop the loss of journalism jobs, which have been disappearing rapidly as legacy media companies have struggled to profit in the digital age. More than 2500 newspapers have closed in the US since 2005, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. California has lost more than 100 news organisations in the past decade, according to Wicks’ office. The agreement is supported by California News Publishers Association, which represents more than 700 news organisations, Google’s corporate parent Alphabet and OpenAI. But journalists, including those in Media Guild of the West, slammed the deal and said it would hurt California news organisations. Senator Steve Glazer, who authored a bill to provide news organisations a tax credit for hiring full-time journalists, said the agreement “seriously undercuts our work toward a long term solution to rescue independent journalism.” State Senate president Mike McGuire also said the deal doesn’t go far enough to address the dire situation in California. “Newsrooms have been hollowed out across this state while tech platforms have seen multi-billion dollar profits,” he said in a statement. Source link via The Novum Times

[maryturck]

ICYMI: Killing the news; Pinocchio politics; Trump’s foreign adventures; "Kevlar Ken" Paxton

Killing the news: Sadly, the newspaper where I first wrote about 60 years ago became one of the latest victims of a vulture hedge fund. The Litchfield Independent Review will end its almost-150-year run this month, alone with the Hutchinson Leader and seven other Minnesota local newspapers. They are not alone. Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism reports on the devastating losses…

[tsmom1219]

New scholarship for environmental reporting announced by Medill and the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy

Read the full story from Northwestern University. Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications recently announced the Trienens Institute Scholars program – a scholarship that will support two journalism graduate students each year, starting with the 2024-25 academic year. The Trienens Institute Scholars program, with funding from Northwestern’s Paula M.…