Category Archives: Academics

15. The Dick You Can’t Take Back

(Originally published in Boston’s Weekly Dig. This is a revised version.) Recently, I learned a hard lesson. A lesson about boundaries. A lesson, even, about interpersonal communications. A lesson about the dick you can’t take back. I’m an academic – a political scientist – so I spend a lot of time hanging around with professor …

27 December, 2008 – 5:52 pm | By Josh Berthume | Posted in Academics, American Politics, Culture, Language, Short Stories, Long Odds, Society | Comments (3)

The Strange Mean of Weekend Pipe Bombs

I have discovered an odd truth about violent risk in the United States, particularly the South and West.  In the course of my work as a risk analyst and a political scientist studying terrorism, I read a lot of news stories every day about suspicious packages, hazmat responses to weird mail, and pipe bombs. The …

1 July, 2008 – 9:41 pm | By Josh Berthume | Posted in Academics, Society, The Heartland | Comments (2)