Tantalus

Tantalus, Pac-Man, and Unsated Hungers

What does a violent, ancient Greek myth reveal about our modern addiction to technology and the enduring power of stories?
Bay Area Renaissance Festival in Tampa Florida, 2011

Reasons for Re-Enacting at the Renaissance Faire

Why do we love donning period costumes and re-enacting our history through mock battles, pioneer villages, and Renaissance Faires?
Photographs from a review of Black America, in Illustrated American, 1895

Nate Salsbury’s Black America

The 1895 show purported to show a genuine Southern Black community and demonstrate Black cultural progress in America, from enslavement to citizenship.
One businessman bowing and one businessman with his hand out

The Accents of Our Bodies: Proxemics as Communication

American language educator Max Kirch suggests that adopting the nonverbal habits of another culture gives one’s behavior a "foreign accent."
Scene from 'Mischievous Matt,' Bracebridge Hemyng (Jack Harkway's), new story in No. 487 Frank Leslie's Boys' and Girls' Weekly

Dime Novels and Story Papers for Kids

The rise of popular literature for children put a story, a role model, and a set of values in a young boy’s pocket.
An illustration of a mechanical watch mechanism

Chronemics and the Nonverbal Language of Time

Through the lens of chronemics, we can examine why time appears to have a different essence at, well, different times.
A still from Dune, 2021

The Ecological Prescience of Dune

Frank Herbert’s novel isn't just about space messiahs, giant sandworms, and trippy space drugs. At its core, the sci-fi epic is about ecology.
Pop art style comics panel angry woman grinding teeth with speech bubble and swear words symbols

The Theory of Cuss Word Relativity

Which words are considered taboo varies by place and time, scholars find.
A laptop with a skull wearing a crown on its screen

The Life Changing Linguistics of… Nigerian Scam Emails

How do scammers use language to trick their victims?
An illustration of a tabloid magazine featuring Lord Byron

With Social Media, Everyone’s A Celebrity

Social media has made constant exposure a common experience. To learn how to deal with the attention, maybe we should look to the first celebrities.