Introduction
Things are changing at PCR, as you have undoubtedly noticed after
viewing our exciting new cover by noted Australian artist Laurens Tan, his first in
what we hope will be a long series.
Sadly, we have lost my long-time Associate Editor, Dr. Juli Barry, who
became too overwhelmed by other obligations to continue in that capacity. I’ve
been closely associated with Juli since she was a student and am grateful to her
for more things than I can count. She will continue on the Editorial Board, but I
will miss her.
Happily I was able to secure the capable services of Amie Norris and
Mindy Hutchings, both of whom I first met in the classroom and knew I could
rely on. Amie takes over as Assistant Editor and Mindy as Circulation Director,
or rather Circulation Gbddess, as she prefers to be known. The latter is a new
post and one that was sorely needed. Both have more than lived up to my
expectations and I congratulate them. In fact, the Introduction to the articles
which follows was written by Mindy.
Felicia F. Campbell
Editor, Popular Culture Review
[email protected][email protected]
There’s Something About Academic Endeavor
As I write my first Introduction for PCR, I cannot help but notice the
wide range of subject matter which seems rather daunting at first. Upon much
closer inspection, however, I see that as varied as the authors and their ideas seem
to be, all is not chaos. Once the articles were distilled into their essence, a pattern
emerged. From my vantage point as a reader of all of the material, it was obvious
to me that the issues presented in this edition were swirling around the central
theme of the self: self versus Other, creation of the self, and expression of self. At
least for the most part, that is. There are always exceptions to the rules.
Furthermore, I have observed that in the true spirit of social inquiry, the
majority of the articles use the medium of human artistic expression to advance
their arguments. Various forms of the written and spoken word are represented
through music, movies, television, and tall tales. This is truly the wonder of
discussing popular culture: anything is fair game!