Leann Davis Alspaugh

About

Leann Davis Alspaugh is managing editor of The Hedgehog Review.

The Scandal of America’s Prisons

from In Need of Repair, Volume 26, Number 3

John J. Lennon, incarcerated journalist, talks about education, censorship, mental health, and rehabilitation.

The Graduate

from Eating and Being, Volume 21, Number 3

How do you assess rehabilitation?

Birth of the Foodie

from Too Much Information, Volume 17, Number 1

Herbert Hoover’s US Food Administration did more than simply change Americans’ eating habits.

Driving While Female

Is the car our most gendered technology?

Consumer Confusion

Does the Meta-Birkin seriously compromise consumers’ ability to separate the NFT from the real Hermès bag? 

Saving Face

The face we present to the world is the primary signifier we possess.

Laugh Track

Raw, edgy, polemical—and you can only get it at Attica. Meet the inventor of jailhouse comedy.

Mom, Apple Pie—and Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga keeps it classy at Super Bowl LI.

The Murderer’s Reckoning

My last day of freedom was January 24, 2002.

Speaking Truth to Power

As we remember the Challenger disaster, let’s not forget the engineers who tried to convince NASA not to send up the Space Shuttle on a cold morning thirty years ago.

Collage Envy

The wonder of Tom Wesselmann's 1962 collage, Still Life No. 1

Enchanted Embroidery

Using photos from old magazines makes for a vulnerable working surface, since the paper usually is old, yellowed, and somewhat brittle. I like it that this quality emphasizes the human and personal vulnerability that exists as a subject in my work.

Wear It Proudly!

What began as one of the most popular forms of menswear has now morphed into the kindler, gentler uniform. First, there was blue collar. Then white collar. Now there’s soft collar.

What We're Reading This Summer

Summer reads from THR staff and friends.

Big Easy Ink

New Orleans, where spectacle and transgression are part of the infrastructure, is the ideal place to conduct completely unscientific research on tattooing.

Up in Smoke—Plain Packaging and Brand Identity

Is plain packaging for cigarettes a barrier to trade?

Beethoven and the Beef Jerky Maker

If technology rarely delivers on its claims, then need we waste so much as a backward glance as we dash ahead to the next digital milestone?

Harlequin as Hammer

Cubism’s stylistic hegemony—the dislocated binaries, the tactile surfaces in a two-dimensional work, and the distortions—interferes with what we want to understand about what few clues we can decipher.

Could Show You Incredible Things—But That Would Be a Trademark Violation

Taylor Swift’s recent trademarking frenzy is another example of how artists are scrambling to maintain control over their work in the face of the digital tsunami.

Recognizing Art

When El Greco heard the insultingly low valuation for his work, he launched a long and bitter court battle that quietly changed the perception of artists and art in Spain.

Art for Data’s Sake

To reduce a museum experience to the laws of supply and demand devalues not only the art itself but also the curators’ years of education and expertise—connoisseurship on which we rely in institutions that position themselves as cultural arbiters.

Color Commentary

Pantone's Marsala is no mauve, but it does reflect our present cultural mood.

Honoring a Vet

Returning to base, Davis and the other pilots heard their orders for the next day: Attack Kiska Harbor with everything they had regardless of the weather.

Ecce Homo

That Edvard Munch never met Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the great missed encounters of the modern age.

Cozy Up to Whole Foods

Whole Foods Market is tired of your “whole paycheck” jokes. Recently, “America’s healthiest grocery store” launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign titled Values Matter.

Monkey Takes Selfie, Lawsuits Ensue

A monkey's selfie has done more than just raise awareness about an endangered species.

Trigger Alert

One person’s trigger alert is another person’s censorship.

Recombinant Approaches

Though careful observation comes first, my process involves research: detecting palimpsests in the architecture or observing how people move and inhabit the place.