Author Archives: Ralph Hanson

What happens when a library burns? Depends on what the books are made of

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

How big of a book nerd am I? While researching book history this morning, I pulled these three volumes out of my personal library. Here’s some of what I found: Canadian railroad economist Harold Innis wrote one of the most … Continue reading →

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How Do Social Media Affect Young People?

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

Frances Haugen was a Facebook product manager whose job was to protect against election interference on the social media site. She worked at the company for nearly two years, departing in May of 2021. During her time at the social … Continue reading →

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Ten Accounts I Follow on Threads

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

This week my JMC 406 Blogging and Commentary students were asked to do one of their first posts by listing 10 Threads accounts they are following and why. You can find my students’ posts using the #JMC406 hashtag. Here’s my … Continue reading →

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Gerwig can’t overcome double whammy of directing a female-centric comedy

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

Greta Gerwig has directed three films since 2017, including Lady Bird, Little Women and the monster hit Barbie. All three were well regarded with multiple Academy Award nominations – but only the indie Lady Bird managed to score her a Best Director nomination. … Continue reading →

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When Unions Dominate News Over Media Conglomerates

Posted on January 18, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

Usually when we talk about the media business we are talking about the actions of corporate giants like Disney and Paramount, but in the summer of 2023, it was the actions of the movie and television writers and actors unions … Continue reading →

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When Scholastic Book Fairs Got Segregated (and then Desegregated Again… Maybe)

Posted on January 16, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

The Scholastic Book Fair is a long-running rite of passage for K-12 students in the United States when the educational publishing giant sets up big displays of books for sale at schools across the country. For your author, the Scholastic … Continue reading →

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Will we be extremists for love or hate? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Posted on January 14, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

m One of the greatest honors of my life was being invited to speak at the Martin Luther King, Jr. candlelight vigil several years ago at the UNK student union, along with Kevin Chaney, who was then UNK’s women’s basketball coach.  Here’s … Continue reading →

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Ralph’s Top 10 Favorite Movies Seen in 2023

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Ralph Hanson

Here are my 10 favorite movies I saw for the first time in 2023. This is in no way a 10-best list, particularly since half of them came out before, sometimes long before, this year. They are just the 10 … Continue reading →

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A Gift for Little Christmas Eve: The Wonder that are Tiny Desk Concerts

Posted on December 23, 2023 by Ralph Hanson

Those of us of Scandinavian extraction refer to Dec. 23rd as “Lille Yule Aften” or “Little Christmas Eve.” It’s the day for putting up your Christmas tree, decorating, and getting ready for the festivities to come.  (Traditionally, the tree was cut … Continue reading →

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My Favorite Christmas/Holiday Movies

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Ralph Hanson

This afternoon I went over to one of our local movie theaters and  purchased a pair of tickets for John McTiernan’s 1988 thriller Die Hard, which my Dear Wife and I will go see Monday. Die Hard got a rerelease last … Continue reading →

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