Friday, December 21, 2007

ON PAUL STARR AND THE "L WORD"

Methinks there is a liberal revival going around, at least on the intellectual front. I'm writing a review of John McGowan's book on American Liberalism for the American Book Review, and I figured readers might want to see this review:

http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=952

Thursday, December 20, 2007

An Old One on Michael Moore

When I started to get this website back together, I couldn't dig up a few things I wanted to post. Well, now I found an old audio show on Michael Moore I thought I'd post. Here it is:

http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2004/05/20040526_a_main.asp

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

LOOK OUT MAMA, I'M FOR...

Here is a recent piece where my own political leanings are made explicit. It's at the Guardian website and entitled "Why Obama Matters." Enjoy...

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/kevin_mattson/2007/12/why_obama_matters.html

Thursday, November 29, 2007

WHAT'S WRONG IN IRAQ

I'd like to share with you a recent piece I wrote for The Guardian. It's about what's wrong in Iraq -- but notice I make little mention of foreign policy, rather how the war "at home" has been -- or not been -- waged.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/kevin_mattson/2007/11/the_republican_way_of_war.html

Monday, November 12, 2007

CENTRISM AS A FIGHTING FAITH

In the recent issue of Commonweal, I have a piece that will lose me any friends I still have on the far left. I champion the political philosophy -- yes, I think it's a political philosophy -- of centrism and argue that Democrats must take it up as they wage their future battles. It hasn't been posted at the website yet, just in the print edition. But here's a link to Commonweal:

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Union Lives On...

Many faculty on my campus grew upset with how our administration recently laid off numerous AFSCME employees. We organized a letter drive, and I thought I'd post what we created below. More recently, an excellent short documentary about the case has been made. I encourage everyone to see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqldCYIxTOs

FACULTY SUPPORT AFSCME

We as Ohio University faculty support AFSCME’s protest against recent lay-offs. Last year, we were dismayed by high-level university administrators giving themselves hefty pay raises while asking for sacrifice from everyone else. These recent lay-offs represent poor decision-making about budgetary priorities.

As faculty we know how much work it takes to create clean classrooms, student centers, and offices. Too often we take this sort of labor for granted even while relying upon it. Indeed, the work that members of AFSCME perform is central to our overall mission as a university: To create a good environment for learning.

Balancing budgets on the backs of the poorest members of our community is no route to a core principle of our university community – the value of justice. It is our responsibility as faculty to point this out and ask our community’s leaders to reconsider their recent decision.

Kevin Mattson (Author)
Sandra Turner
Elizabeth Miller
Bernhard Debatin
Tracy Leinbaugh
Judith Grant
Thomas Vander Ven
George Korn
Donald Miles
Gene Ammarell
Mara Holt
Jaclyn Maxwell
Marsha Dutton
Norma Pecora
Joseph Bernt
Patrick Washburn
Albert Rouzie
Mariana Dantas
Julie White
Kevin Uhalde
Katherine Jellison
Kenneth Brown
John Gilliom
James Mosher
Elizabeth Collins
Daniel Torres
Joseph Slade
Phyllis Bernt
Judith Lee
Jaylynne Hutchinson

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

UPCOMING GIG

I'll use this space to announce when I'll be doing a public speaking event. One's coming up on November 3, this coming Saturday. It's in Ottawa, Canada. And it's for a conference on academic freedom. I'll be talking about how the right tries to smear academe and why this has been so evident recently. The conference is sponsored by CAUP and the Harry Crowe Foundation. This is a topic that I think is very important and will only become more so in the near future.

For those interested in this topic, you can see an essay I wrote in an anthology that just came out:

http://www.amazon.com/Academic-Bill-Rights-Debate-Handbook/dp/0275992446/ref=sr_1_2/105-3348373-9342049?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193866646&sr=1-2

Or you can consult a book that I helped edit about the academic labor movement:

http://www.amazon.com/Steal-This-University-Corporate-Univeristy/dp/0415934842/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3348373-9342049?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193866717&sr=1-1

You can call the latter a "cult classic," or not, whatever...

Onto Ottawa...

Friday, September 21, 2007

ON HISTORY AND MOVIES

Before they shift to the fall issue, I should alert readers to a recent piece I wrote for the Common Review (an important small literary magazine that's won awards recently). It's about the "horrors," to quote Brando in Apocalypse Now, of teaching classes dealing with history and movies. Here's the magazine address, and you can find my article there. If it's gone, check out archives. The article was in the Summer 2007 issue.

http://www.thecommonreview.org

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I want to call attention to two good pieces that discuss Neil Jumonville's and my recent book, Liberalism for a New Century. The first appeared in the New York Times, the second in the Chronicle Review. Smart insights in both pieces, but then again, I'm kinda partial.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/arts/02left.html?_r=1&ex=1189915200&en=4da171590d55b3fd&ei=5070&oref=slogin

http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=39g20r5pgts19x36n4l86mkfwjw4c01h

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

updating the website

I've asked an old student of mine, Matt Davis, to help update my website. In this section -- News from Kevin Mattson -- I'll offer updates about my writing or teaching. But I'm not really a blogger. At times, though, I'll send forth into the blackhole of cyberspace a few commentariats. So you can check back. In the mean time, hope you enjoy the new website.