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PAUL db WATKINS

PAUL db WATKINS

  • TEACHING
    • Courses
      • Fall 2026
        • FILM 101: Introduction to Film Studies (Fall 26)
        • ENGL 390: GRAPHIC MEMOIR
      • Spring 2026
        • FILM 201: Film Studies (Genre)
        • ENGL 394 (S26N01): Twin Peaks: Its Influence & Quality TV
        • ENGL 396: Adapting and Being Human in an Inhuman World
      • Fall 2025
        • ENGL 115 (F25N13): Navigating a Storied World
        • FILM 101: Introduction to Film Studies (Fall 25)
      • Fall 2024
        • FILM 101: Introduction to Film Studies
        • ENGL 390: GRAPHIC MEMOIR
      • Spring 2024
        • FILM 201: Film Studies
        • ENGL 392: Sound & Remix
      • Fall 2023
        • Film 101: Introduction to Film Studies
      • Spring 2023
        • FILM 220 (S23N01): “Pure Cinema,” Voyeurism, and Cinematic Influence
        • ENGL 330: Possible futures: Resistance & Reimagining in Speculative Fiction
      • 2018-2022
        • Spring 2022
          • ENGL 125 (S22W03) AT THE CROSSROADS: MUSIC, LITERATURE, & POPULAR CULTURE
          • ENGL 125 (S22N05) AT THE CROSSROADS: MUSIC, LITERATURE, & POPULAR CULTURE
          • ENGL 398 (S22N01): “Pure Cinema,” Voyeurism, and Cinematic Influence
          • ENGL 332: Topics in Indigenous Literatures (S22N01)
        • Fall 2021
          • ENGL 115 (F21N06): THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE AND STORIES IN OUR LIVES
          • ENGL 115 (F21N17): THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE AND STORIES IN OUR LIVES
        • Spring 2021
          • FILM 220 (S21N01): “Pure Cinema,” Voyeurism, and Cinematic Influence
          • ENGL 332: Topics in Indigenous Literatures (S21N01)
        • Fall 2020
          • ENGL 115 (F20D02): THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE AND STORIES IN OUR LIVES
          • ENGL 115 (F20N29): THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE AND STORIES IN OUR LIVES
          • ENGL 125 AT THE CROSSROADS: MUSIC, LITERATURE, & POPULAR CULTURE
        • Spring 2020
          • ENGL 115 (S20D01): The Importance of Language and Stories in Our Lives
          • ENGL 280 (S20N01): Literature on Trial: Banned or Challenged Books
        • Fall 2019
          • Film 101: Introduction to Film Studies
          • ENGL 394 (F19N01): Twin Peaks: Its Influence & Quality TV
        • Spring 2019
          • ENGL 115 (S19D01): The Importance of Language and Stories in Our Lives
          • ENGL 220 (S19N01): CanLit Now!
          • ENGL 398 (S19N01): Film Studies: Voyeurism, Representation, and Cinematic Influence
        • Fall 2018
          • Film 101: Introduction to Film Studies
          • ENGL 231: Possible futures: Resistance & Reimagining in Speculative Fiction
        • Spring 2018
          • ENGL 115 (S18D01): Language and Stories
          • ENGL 135 (S18N02): Literature and Criticism: Graphic Novels
          • ENGL 396: Literature and Film
      • 2013-2017
        • Spring 2017
          • ENGL 332: Topics in Indigenous Literatures
          • ENGL 115 (S17D50): After Eden
        • Fall 2017
          • ENGL 115 (F17N13): Language and Stories
          • ENGL 125 (F17N05): (Un)Settling BC: Robinson, Compton, and Kogawa
          • ENGL 390 (TOPICS IN WORD & IMAGE): GRAPHIC MEMOIR
        • Fall 2016
          • ENGL 115 (F16N02): AFTER EDEN
          • ENGL 125 (F16N04): Other Canadas / Canada’s Others: King, Edugyan, and Kogawa
          • ENGL 125 (F16N08): Other Canadas / Canada’s Others: King, Edugyan, and Kogawa
        • Summer 2016
          • ENGL 125 (F16N04): Other Canadas / Canada’s Others: King, Edugyan, and Kogawa
        • Spring 2016
          • ENGL 115 (S16D50): After Eden
          • ENGL 390 (Topics in Word & Image): Transformations
        • Fall 2015
          • ENGL 115 (F15N17/ N20): THE MYTH OF PROGRESS
          • ENGL 115 (F15N31): THE MYTH OF PROGRESS
          • ENGL 135 (F15N01): Jazz and Social Change
        • Summer 2015
          • ENGL 115 (M15N73): THE MYTH OF PROGRESS
          • ENGL 125 (J15N70): Voice in Text: “Interfusional” Writing, Myth, and Culture
          • ENGL 125 (J15N71): Voice in Text: “Interfusional” Writing, Myth, and Culture
        • Spring 2015
          • ENGL 115 (S15D50): STORIES, IDENTITY, AND PROGRESS
          • ENGL 115 (S15D01): STORIES, IDENTITY, AND PROGRESS
          • ENGL 125 (S15D02): Voice in Text: “Interfusional” Writing, Myth, and Culture
        • Fall 2014
          • ENGL 115 (F14N08): WRITING AND REMIXING A LIFE
          • ENGL 115 (F14N09): THE MIX: HIP-HOP PEDAGOGY, TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS, AND UNIVERSITY WRITING
          • ENGL 135 (F14N02): SONIC AFRO-MODERNITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE
        • ENGL 2130: Literature and Social Change
    • Pedagogy
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        • (Re)Vision & the Abstract Truth Video
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Spring 2016

ENGL 390 (TOPICS IN WORD & IMAGE): Transformations

ENGL 115 (S16D50): After Eden: Stories of Dystopia, Progress, and Hope

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Late last night, I had a chance to listen to Phoebe Bridgers’ new album, 𝕃𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕖𝕟𝕕 (ROGUE PLANET edition), in the dark. Glow-in-the-dark records are a bit of a gimmick, and while the sound is slightly degraded in this format, it fit the overall vibe of the album, which is truly luminescent in its treatment of darker themes like loss and grief, but also the hope that shines through. Tom Waits’s 𝕊𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕝 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖 turns 50 today. It is, for me, the pinnacle of Waits as a jazz-lounge storyteller and signals the creative risks he would expand on as he continued to develop his style and persona. He was drinking heavily at the time, evident in a track like “The Piano Has Been Drinking,” which is full of Waits’s odd humour, and it remains one of my favourite songs by him. This book arrived at the right time to be having a conversation that is hardly new. It’s a luxury for an artist to assume art and politics are separate (ahem, Ed). Not taking a side is indeed a position. Like those who influenced his work before him, namely, but hardly only, Paul Robeson and Amiri Baraka, Saul Williams’s words come with a love for humanity, which is at the heart of all revolutionaries and which, in turn, always means taking a side. There are few albums that have had the same impact on my own music-making and love of sampling and remixing as DJ Shadow’s landmark album 𝔼𝕟𝕕𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘....., which turns 30 today. Big props to @invisibooks for sending me a copy of Michael Rancic’s 𝔸 ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕟𝕜𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕣𝕤: 𝔸 ℍ𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕔 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕔 𝕚𝕟 ℂ𝕒𝕟𝕒𝕕𝕒 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝟙𝟡𝟜𝟝 𝕥𝕠 𝟙𝟡𝟠𝟝, which intersects with my interests and filled in gaps for me. This impeccably researched book covers a 40-year history of electronic music in parallel with the project of nation-building, both as collective creativity and as a push against the massive cultural hegemony of our neighbours to the South. What a revelation and beauty Charanjit Singh’s 𝕊𝕪𝕟𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝕋𝕖𝕟 ℝ𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕒 𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠 𝔹𝕖𝕒𝕥 is, and I’m happy to finally have a vinyl copy (on shimmering pearlescent wax, too!). Singh’s album pairs Indian classical ragas with Roland synthesizers and drum machines that sound into the near future, especially since this 1982 recording sounds remarkably close to what would be called acid house several years later in Chicago. Tom Waits and Massive Attack making an anti-fascist/anti-ICE/anti-war song wasn’t on my 2026 bingo card, but damn, what a treasure this blunt, gruffly poetic track is. Back to teaching and needed a little boost this morning, so I went with Caroline Polachek’s 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕣𝕖, 𝕀 𝕎𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕋𝕦𝕣𝕟 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕠 𝕐𝕠𝕦. It’s an intoxicating listen. Soaking in the last bit of summer (back to work and school tomorrow) with a classic spin from Buena Vista Social Club that takes me back to Cuba.

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