I was born and raised in gritty, industrial Jersey City, New Jersey. After studying sociology and urban studies at Saint Peter's College, where I graduated in 1985, I served as a tenant and community organizer in the Bronx, with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC). I then studied at the University of Wisconsin (M.A.- 1990) and Boston University(Ph.D.- 1999) where I specialized in ethnomethodology, social constructionism, and social problems theory. My dissertation was titled "The Creation and Transformation of Social Problems: Social Constructionism and Social Problems Theory." It was a theoretical study of the foundations of the social constructionist perspective. One of my findings was that that there are various compatibilities among social constructionism, socialproblems theory and the sociology of knowledge. The relativism of social constructionism has shaped social problems theory, and the varying responses to relativism has influenced the course of theorizing within social constructionism.
I started teaching in 1990, and I have taught at Boston University, Curry College, Wheelock College, St. Peters College, New Jersey City University, St. Johns University and Lehman College - CUNY. I have also worked on various research projects, and was briefly employed on a full time basis with the Archdiocese of New York, doing applied sociological analyses, primarily on Catholic parishes. I have been at Lehman since early 2002, where I began by teaching a course on Sociological Analysis, as an adjunct assistant professor with the Sociology Department. In 2004, I was been hired as a full-time member of the department. My other courses there include Social Problems, Political Sociology, and Sociology of Culture.
I have had a number of conference papers, mostly on theoretical topics, such as on symbolic interactionism and phenomenology, and have published book reviews, as well as a case study of some interactional patterns. My academic areas of interest now continue to be largely theoretical and include film and mass media, social constructionism, culture, and politics. I was also involved in planning a hip-hop conference for Lehman which occurred in the fall of 2005. Most recently, I have presented a research paper on political punk at this year's meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society, and plan to follow up on that presentation with some additional research. I have also done research on subcultures, and on political rhetoric and Woody Guthrie.
From an early age, I became a fan of popular music. At first when I was very young in the mid 1960s, I liked the music of Mitch Miller, Henry Mancini, Trini Lopez and Peter Paul and Mary. Later, I was transformed into a fan of rock, at least that in the form of late 60s psychedelic era pop - the Monkees, the Archies, the Beatles, the Turtles, the Cyrkle, the Mamas and Papas, the Association, etc. I can recall my older brother getting an Iron Butterfly record, but I didn't understand it. Later, growing up in the 70s, I went from listening to music on the top 40 and buying mostly singles (roughly 1970-75) to mainstream hard rock and buying more albums (75-77) and then having my musical consciousness ever altered by punk in 1977, buying albums as well as singles. I also made it my business to try to see live my favorite acts and have seen, thus far, among others: Paul McCartney, the Who, Ray Davies, Kiss, Queen, Aerosmith, Peter Frampton, the Tubes, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Ramones, the Clash, U2, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, Feelies, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Guns and Roses, Metallica, Kronos Quartet, Redd Kross, Buzzcocks, Meat Puppets, Television, Matthew Sweet, Bad Brains, King Crimson, the New York Dolls, Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo, the Clean, the DBs, Los Lobos, Steven Malkmus, Steve Forbert, Richard Thompson, Hot Tuna, Beck, Belle and Sebastian, the Indigo Girls, Marcia Ball, Pete Seeger, the Chieftans, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, among others. Mainly, I like stuff with originality, energy, passion, personality and integrity and I strongly dislike bland, cookie cutter product which has been created only to make money. While I mostly review and discuss pop music, I also will occasionally offer my thoughts on other related topics.
I have also reviewed music on Amazon, and will repost my reviews from there here; I hope to be published as a record reviewer at some point in the near future, which is something I did, briefly, as a college student.
I have had a number of conference papers, mostly on theoretical topics, such as on symbolic interactionism and phenomenology, and have published book reviews, as well as a case study of some interactional patterns. My academic areas of interest now continue to be largely theoretical and include film and mass media, social constructionism, culture, and politics. I was also involved in planning a hip-hop conference for Lehman which occurred in the fall of 2005. Most recently, I have presented a research paper on political punk at this year's meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society, and plan to follow up on that presentation with some additional research. I have also done research on subcultures, and on political rhetoric and Woody Guthrie.
From an early age, I became a fan of popular music. At first when I was very young in the mid 1960s, I liked the music of Mitch Miller, Henry Mancini, Trini Lopez and Peter Paul and Mary. Later, I was transformed into a fan of rock, at least that in the form of late 60s psychedelic era pop - the Monkees, the Archies, the Beatles, the Turtles, the Cyrkle, the Mamas and Papas, the Association, etc. I can recall my older brother getting an Iron Butterfly record, but I didn't understand it. Later, growing up in the 70s, I went from listening to music on the top 40 and buying mostly singles (roughly 1970-75) to mainstream hard rock and buying more albums (75-77) and then having my musical consciousness ever altered by punk in 1977, buying albums as well as singles. I also made it my business to try to see live my favorite acts and have seen, thus far, among others: Paul McCartney, the Who, Ray Davies, Kiss, Queen, Aerosmith, Peter Frampton, the Tubes, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Ramones, the Clash, U2, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, Feelies, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Guns and Roses, Metallica, Kronos Quartet, Redd Kross, Buzzcocks, Meat Puppets, Television, Matthew Sweet, Bad Brains, King Crimson, the New York Dolls, Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo, the Clean, the DBs, Los Lobos, Steven Malkmus, Steve Forbert, Richard Thompson, Hot Tuna, Beck, Belle and Sebastian, the Indigo Girls, Marcia Ball, Pete Seeger, the Chieftans, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, among others. Mainly, I like stuff with originality, energy, passion, personality and integrity and I strongly dislike bland, cookie cutter product which has been created only to make money. While I mostly review and discuss pop music, I also will occasionally offer my thoughts on other related topics.
I have also reviewed music on Amazon, and will repost my reviews from there here; I hope to be published as a record reviewer at some point in the near future, which is something I did, briefly, as a college student.
My favorite genre is rock, and my top 10 performers are, probably, The Velvet Underground, The Kinks, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Fall, Yo La Tengo, The Ramones, The Who, and The Clean. All of these performers have, in my opinion, attained greatness, even though in some cases, some of their later efforts may have fallen short (e.g., the latter day Beach Boys).
A favorite subgenre is punk rock, particularly 1970s protopunk (e.g., NY Dolls, Television, Patti Smith, etc.), classic (1976-78) punk, and post-punk from 1979 and the 1980s (everything from PIL to Joy Division to Husker Du, Flipper, Black Flag and the Replacements). However, it would be very hard to narrow down to a single punk rock band and say that it was the best. There are simply too many to choose from.
A favorite subgenre is punk rock, particularly 1970s protopunk (e.g., NY Dolls, Television, Patti Smith, etc.), classic (1976-78) punk, and post-punk from 1979 and the 1980s (everything from PIL to Joy Division to Husker Du, Flipper, Black Flag and the Replacements). However, it would be very hard to narrow down to a single punk rock band and say that it was the best. There are simply too many to choose from.
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