America and Veteran's Day: Is God on Our Side?
Nov. 11 originally commemorated Armistice Day, the end of World War I. This war marked the beginning of America's military commitment to a troubled world beyond its borders. The holiday might give us an opportunity to reflect, to consider how we may search for peace. But during World War I, many more Americans searched for war.
A Dakota cowboy from France
Born of noble lineage, French, dashing, and rich, the Marquis de Morés roamed North Dakota and the world as one of the last century's expert self-promoters. He took advantage of early mass media's thirst for the dramatic, and in many ways resembled flamboyant celebrities of today. Read about Morés in the on-line edition of the North Dakota Journal of Speech & Theatre.
Blurbs in battle
Advertisers are always on the lookout for a fresh appeal and new markets. Even a world war can be used to sell. During World War I, French advertising in two major southern newspapers created a new market for soldiers and war-related products. By 1918 advertisers were borrowing war themes as metaphors to sell medicine and other products.
Red River on the rampage?
That slow muddy Red River of the North that runs to Hudson's Bay has
terrorized centuries of settlers, and a hundred years of civil engineering
doesn't seem to have tamed it. (Includes two illustrations!)
Cowboys and Cow Town Newspapers in Dakota Territory.
Doff your hat and spurs, sit back and read about some tough newspapers
in the Old West's cow towns of Dakota Territory. This article is part
of an on-line journal, Media History Monographs, Volume 3, Number
1.
North Dakota Journal of Speech & Theatre. Published by the North Dakota Speech & Theatre Association, the on-line version of this refereed journal includes a wide variety of articles covering all aspects of communication. (Ross Collins, editor, Volumes 12, 13, and 14.)
New! The ultimate guide to making lefse What is lefse? A Scandinavian soft potato-based tortilla-like bread, but bigger and thinner. It's a challenge to make, but follow my (excruciatingly detailed) guide, and you'll succeed, maybe!
Report on Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Ross's favorite recipes!
History of this site.
Ross's web site was originally launched in summer 1995. This places it among the first .00051 percent of web sites constructed. It currently receives an average 2,676 hits a week. What did it look like way back when? Well, not so bad for hand-slung HTML.
In 2001 Ross redesigned the site using tables in Dreamweaver. But the clumsy table-model gave way to the spiffy box-model using CSS.
Launched July 2005, Ross's next site reverted to hand-coding, this time relying on that much-loved CSS.
During spring semester 2008 Ross and colleague Deneen Gilmour co-taught the university's first convergence media class. Students pressed for a convergence web site using Flash, the now-dominant animation software. To comply, Ross decided to redesign his own home page using Flash. The new site, representing more work than it was worth, probably, was launched in May.
Dot-Coms and the Great Die-Off.
another crash in the '80s--the 1880s that is. Cows, not Coms.
Gun Control in the Old West.
You might have thought those Old West pioneers celebrated their love
affair with their firearms. Not exactly.
Building a Balustrade.
To you, just some steps. To last century's finish carpenter, a pinnacle
of the craft.
A saw for grown-ups.
"He thrust his left hand right in front of my face. Three fingers
were missing."
Workday blog.
What do university professors do all week? More than you might think.
Or less. See for yourself.
Journalism in France: A Recent
History.
What would it be like if we could just shut down every publication in
the country and start over from scratch? Of course, that’s impossible.
Yet it actually happened once, and not that long ago.
A biography of Julie E. Poseley.
A biography of Dorothy I. Collins.
Photo: Mediterranean boardwalk, Torremolinos, Spain.