The Arts and Everyday Life in New York
The fusion between New York and the arts is taken for granted, but how and why did this occur? What do the arts mean to New Yo
Urban Choreography: Bodies and Cities in Motion
Jane Jacobs’ invocation of a “sidewalk ballet”–a highly technical and stylized form of dance–unbares the routine mov
Curating Public Memory
Museums and memorials have long functioned as markers of a society’s past, most often as sites of celebration and honor. But
Cullman Center Institute for Teachers
I’m delighted to be in teaching in the Cullman Center Institute for Teachers from July 15-19, 2024. We’ll be talki
Urban Choreography
This semester I’m teaching a new course. I’ve hesitated to teach about dance too directly, worried about scaring off stude
On Aesthetic Education
In my attempt to understand the rise of New York as a “culture city,” I am focusing on the rise of Lincoln Center. There
Join our class this fall! And check out our re-designed New School Histories website.
Back to School
The semester has started with histories of the New School: presentations at various orientations and the latest version of a u
Fortune
Designing the exhibit component on Rikers Island is crashing to an end, full speed. There are many, many details to be attende
Objects and Space
My class on “Arts and Social Engagement” ends with a look at institutions and policy. Bricks-and-mortar and intell
#SeeRikers
We are moving in on Rikers. Students have decided upon the theme of the visibility/invisibility paradox of the island. For som
Critiquing Critics
In class recently we discussed the role of critics. Much like a curator (our previous week’s topic), critics mediate an artw
Presenting Prisons
My class visited Eastern State Penitentiary, a museum in Philadelphia, to explore how it presents the history of the prison an
Prison Was…
Photo: Rikers Island, ca. 1915, Museum of the City of New York Incarceration will occupy much of my fall semester. With Radhik
Mickey Mao
Why do Chinese students study U.S. history?
America in 5 Objects
What do the Statue of Liberty, Barbie doll, buffalo nickel, Uncle Sam, and Grant Wood’s American Gothic have in common?
West Side Story: A Life
A writing experiment: to describe the book as a biography. Biography (A Life). Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. James Joyce:
The Carceral City
I walked through Crown Heights a few days ago and came across this odd mobile police unit. Students in my class knew exactly w
Creative Justice
For two intensive weeks that covered 40 hours of class time, students in Piper Anderson’s “Creative Justice” class read
What Did We Do?
The final class of “Arts and Social Engagement” included group presentations of a diorama of an exhibit about advertisemen
Rappin’ on Education
Rather than talk about Creative Arts Therapy in my class in Arts and Social Engagement, we did some. We decided on a social pr
Arts and Social Engagement
We are launching a new curricular area at The New School as of Fall 2014!
The First Day: Two Truths and a Lie
I have eaten at a diner in all 50 states; I helped start a company; I have jumped out of plane. Two truths and a lie: it’s a
Aims of Education
Convocation address, The New School, September 2009. I am on my fourth career. I think it’s going pretty well, but IR
Democratizing the Archives
Co-authored with Claire Potter What’s in an archive? This was the question that brought Claire Potter’s class, “New York
A New School Minute (or Two)
For Alumni Day on May 11, 2013, the Alumni Office asked twenty faculty and staff to give a 60-second lecture. Tasked with the
Arts and Social Engagement
A poem can change the world. Or just one person’s life. What explains the connection between an artwork and an individual,
Art + City
Cities are hubs of artistic activity. People are drawn to cities because of their artistic offerings and they are the pla
New York City: Past Present Future
New York City exists as a physical and imaginary place, both a dense concrete maze and a blowzy personality. This course exami
New School Histories
When the New School for Social Research opened its doors a hundred years ago, it offered courses in the social sciences and pu
U.S. History in 13 Acts
Most of us learn a straightforward narrative of the history of the United States that begins with the arrival of colonize