Not-the-Friday-Question/Shameless Request #2: Heroes and Villains in American Culture

I am also teaching a class called "Heroes and Villains in American Culture." I am thinking of dividing the semester up by type of hero/villain, such as superheroes and supervillains, working-class heroes and corporate villains, outlaws and corrupt officials. (I haven't found comparative heroes for my favorite categories of villain--femme fatales and mad scientists.)

Who are your favorite/most hated heroes and villains, whether fictional or real?

Not-the-Friday-Question/Shameless Request #1: The 1970s

This spring I'm teaching a class on the 1970s. My students will have easy access to movies, music, and some television from the 1970s, but what has weathered the past three decades isn't necessarily what was most popular or striking at the time. Likewise, my students can read history books, but what historians record isn't always what was on people's brains at the time.

In other words, I want to help my students understand the 1970s as someone who lived through them might instead of in the kitschy and snarky way VH1 presents them (although there is plenty of kitsch in any decade).

If you are old enough to remember any part of the 1970s, what sticks out most to you when you think of the decade?

Major Bad Ass

I stopped posting because a) no one was reading and b) I started back to school. That's where I've been. What have You been up to?

I have been toying with the idea of getting my MBA for some time now. I've been out in the workforce long enough to have worked with some MBAs. Many times I've thought to myself, "If this moron could do it, how hard could it be?" It seemed like something the most incompetent, highly paid people in any organization would do.

I wanted to be highly paid and incompetent. I think I'd be good at it.

So, I started back this fall and it is much harder than I thought. I feel bad for thinking all of those MBAs I've worked with are stupid. Turns out they're not stupid at all. They're just assholes.