Why Do We Read This?

Why Do We Read This?•soundcloud.com

Society & Culture

A World Literature Podcast that connects so-called great works of literature with pop culture and current events.

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Episodes

Pop-Culture, Fandom, and Comics in the College Classroom

Audio from the 2022 New York Comic Con panel, "Pop-Culture, Fandom, and Comics in the College Classroom" featuring Heidi Bollinger, Jennifer Caroccio Maldonado, Tanya Cook, Rebecca, Salois, and Asif Siddiqi. In this panel, we shared how we incorporate pop-culture into our own courses and how you might do the same - whether you are a professor or a student! From Taylor Swift to Game of Thrones, Supernatural, Marvel, DC, and more we discussed the validity of pop-culture in the college classroom. S...

Mar 10, 2023•56 min

Student Special #5

In this episode I feature projects completed by Comparative Literature 2800 students Shan Rabbi, Rigi Geci, and Johanna Gustafsson. Shan’s project compares the Tortoise from Aesop’s fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare” to the anime character Naruto. In particular he focuses on how these characters challenge expectations by achieving goals that are deemed impossible and overcoming criticism from those around them. Johanna and Rigi focus on the Prologue from “The Thousand and One Nights” and conside...

Jul 20, 2022•36 min

Podcasts and the Classroom

This special episode is brought to you by the Transformative Learning in the Humanities Initiative at the City University of New York. As part of this initiative, I was invited to speak on the topic of podcasts and the classroom. This episode is my public contribution to knowledge based on the information I shared in that workshop. In this "episode" I discuss using podcasts as an alternative form of student input, podcasts as assessment, and what to consider if you are interested in starting a p...

Apr 30, 2021•20 min

Conclusion: Don Quixote and Lord of the Rings

In this, the final episode of Why Do We Read This? I discuss the literature we've all been waiting for! Don Quixote de la Mancha! I draw parallels between the hero/sidekick duos of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. I get into what makes these pairings not only work but actually necessary to telling a good story. For this episode I utilized the Norton Anthology World Literature, Volume C, 4th edition. A shout out to all of the co-hosts I have had over these last c...

Mar 17, 2021•36 min

Bloopers 2020-2021

Please enjoy these bloopers and outtakes from the last 10 episodes of the podcast. I hope you get a laugh out of one or two of them. I know they make me laugh, but I was there! I'll be back with the final episode in two weeks! Guess which work of literature I'll be covering and I'll give you a shout out! Follow the podcast! Twitter: @whydowereadthis Instagram: @wdwrt_podcast For podcast merch check out: www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/55982933 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Music: Fugue in C# Major, from The W...

Mar 03, 2021•20 min