Scholarship: Lemons or Lemonade? in Women’s Studies in Communication

Matthew Salzano presenting his Women's and Gender Studies Capstone at Pacific Lutheran University, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (Photo: John Froschauer/PLU) — Matthew Salzano presenting his Women’s and Gender Studies Capstone at Pacific Lutheran University, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (Photo: John Froschauer/PLU)

I’m excited to announce the publication of my first sole-authored scholarly article, “Lemons or Lemonade? Beyoncé, Killjoy style, and Neoliberalism” in Women’s Studies in Communicaiton. You can read the whole article at T&F’s site. The abstract is below:

This article focuses on the controversy surrounding bell hooks and Lemonade to contend with the neoliberal constraints of digital, feminist, public intellectual argumentation. I argue that hooks’s critique reveals her killjoy rhetorical style. Drawn from Sara Ahmed’s theorization of the feminist killjoy, hooks’s killjoy style provides a rhetorical interruption that reshapes the affective orientations of feminist communities. Its snappy affect opens up the potentiality for critical feminist theory amid the challenges of neoliberalism.

This essay was originally written as my PLU Capstone (pictured above). Thanks to all the killjoys that helped me take this paper from there to here.

Essay: “Please, condemn me!”

Please, condemn me!

Writing in Pacific Lutheran University’s student social justice journal, The Matrix:

Without creating the environment for people to say what’s on their mind, people keep their guards up. And without letting slip (or just directly stating) whatever homophobic ideologies that have been so that it can be caught, they miss out on learning about the full breadth of human life.

You can view the entire essay here.

Journalism: Q&A with PLU alumna and activist

There’s more to ‘Tell’: Margaret Witt ’86 on fighting homophobia and being tokenized

Writing in Pacific Lutheran University’s student social justice journal, The Matrix:

News flash: there were gay people at Pacific Lutheran University before there was a Center for Gender Equity, a Queer Ally Student Union, or any celebrations of a pride week. Major Margaret Witt, who will give the Meant to Live Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the Scandinavian Cultural Center, is one of them.

…Her queer experience differs from mine. I came out at PLU with joyfully little fanfare: I announced my queer identity, and my friends said “Great, but… Duh?” and we moved on.

The first time Margie heard the words “Major Witt is gay,” it was from her attorney’s mouth in front of the press…

Read the whole Q&A here.

Scholarship: “Lighting it up” in CMR

Lighting it up: Journalism as a conversation at the private university

Dr. Joanne Lisosky and I are pleased to announce the publication of our article, “Lighting it up: Journalism as a conversation at the private university ,” in College Media Review Vol. 54. You can read the article in its entirety at CMR or at my Academia.edu page as a PDF. The abstract is reproduced below:

Student journalists at private universities do the hard work of turning the lights on in the darkened, pseudo-public spheres on their campus. Without a clear idea of who is obligated to be the teller of unsavory truths on the private university’s campus, student media must often take up the torch. Building on Jurgen Habermas’s and Alexander Kluge’s work on the “public sphere” and Doreen Marchionni’s “journalism as a conversation,” student media publications can be examined for their coorientation, informality, and interactivity. Using two stories from the student media of Pacific Lutheran University as a case study illustrates how a robust student journalism outlet is a vital component of initiating important conversations in the public sphere of the private university. This investigation includes suggestions for implementing these strategies at other private universities.