Jordan Heil

Writer, Traveler, Educator

Philadelphia, PA

Is the managing producer of the Schuylkill Valley Journal. He is a writer and educator living in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. By day, he is the Assistant Director of the Writing Center at Saint Joseph’s University, where he is also an adjunct instructor of English. By night, he publishes about his passion for podcasting at the Bello Collective and produces a forthcoming cheese podcast.

Jordan Heil

Writer, Traveler, Educator

Philadelphia, PA

Don’t Hesitate, Listen
My thoughts tend to skew towards the negative after dark, around 9 pm when I’m just settling down to sleep: What will happen to my friends and family back home in Ohio as automation replaces manual labor? … Will robots kill us all? … Is my hair falling out? Sometimes thoughts like these send me to Google — or a mirror — in search of answers.
If You’re Trapped on a Desert Island, What Happens to Your Professional Development?
It’s a game I like to play with my students on the first day of class. An icebreaker of sorts. “If you could only have three items and you were stranded on a desert island, what would those items be,” the game begins. My students blush or, more often, yawn. “Come on. This isn’t rocket surgery,” I say.
Teachable Moments: Using Audio in the First Year Writing Classroom
Close your eyes and allow smooth waves of tweed, cardigan sweaters, and horned-rimmed glasses to float effortlessly through your imagination, splashing against the soft backs of your eyelids before you open them again. What is it that you see? Is your first thought of a teacher you had once sometime long ago, or your neighbor, Rick — the kid who lives down the street from you and looks like he should really be spending more time outdoors?
New Millennial Politics: The Agency of Fear, Part II
We fear what we do not know or understand. That is a simple fact of human nature. Usually, this response is in the interest of self-preservation. However, it can be problematic when manipulated by an institution, such as the gun lobby or the government, to garner support for any cause. When confronted by an enemy as nebulous and narrowly defined as “terrorism,” the target and focus of our national gaze is quickly shifted.
Urban Romance Online
New Millennial Politics: The Agency of Fear, Part 1
Whether in print, broadcast, or online, the developing story (be it benevolent or sinister) is often the same across media outlets. This is not unusual. But, as you will see, in the stories discussed below a curious pattern emerges. These stories are unusual in that a single word can be used to describe the driving force among them, the irreducible theme behind these events, the powder keg at the end of a flaming tinder box—fear.
Urban Romance Online
New Millennial Politics: An Introduction
While the remarks of Republican primary candidates Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, and the grand leader of them all, the man with fancy hair, Donald Trump, have provided millennials with more tickles and laughs than a feather duster tipped in nitrous, they have also served to distract.
Urban Romance Online
Reflecting On The Pope’s Visit: What’s Next, Philadelphia?
Only Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II had been to the United States; now Francis, a man beloved by many, beyond the religious station of his chair, for his work on poverty and towards environmental justice would be in town, and it was rumored that he’d be bringing many thousands of his admirers along with him.
Urban Romance Online
Defunding Planned Parenthood
While the mission of Planned Parenthood has been the subject of debate between pro-life and pro-choice advocates for years, the organization has recently come under fire after allegations surfaced in the media that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue from abortions to medical research organizations.
The Hawk, Saint Joseph's University

About

Jordan Heil

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Jordan Heil is the managing producer of Schuylkill Valley Journal Online, the online publication of Schuylkill Valley Journal. He is a writer and educator living in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. By day, he is the Assistant Director of the Writing Center at Saint Joseph’s University, where he is also an adjunct instructor of English. By night, he publishes about his passion for podcasting at the Bello Collective and produces a forthcoming cheese podcast with the ladies behind Collective Creamery. In his free time, he works as an ESL Specialist in the Drexel University Writing Center and gazes longingly at beagle puppies on Instagram.