Category > American Life
Can rich Americans save the environment? Grassroots devotees may respond with an emphatic "no thanks" to the wealthy's meddling. After all, perhaps more than many other social movements in America, environmentalism is hands-on; people find rinsing out their bottles and breaking down their cardboard wonderfully empowering. More to the point, many people would argue that consumerism — which makes some people very rich — and environmentalism have irreconcilable differences. But if your gut reaction is to think that getting rich …
| I suspect the vast majority of Americans feel roughly the same about IQ tests. We believe they measure something worth measuring, but we're not sure what. We find broad, sweeping claims linking intelligence to ethnicity and race disturbing. Yet a new book on intelligence helps us understand what IQ tests measure-and their significance-and is not shy about discussing the IQs of various ethnic groups. Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count (W.W. Norton, hardcover, 282 pp. …
Here are some statistics: in 2006, Latinos constituted 19% of America's school-age population; by 2025, 25% of students will be Latino; today, 48% of students in California are Latino. And here are some alarming trends: The vast majority of Latino students live in poor and dangerous neighborhoods, and are raised by parents who are the least-educated of any ethnic group, and speak little or no English. Here's a current book that addresses this situation: The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences …
Those tired of tired arguments about immigration will want to pick up David Fitzgerald’s A Nation of Emigrants. Fitzgerald — an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego — offers a study about immigration from the perspective of the country the immigrants left behind. This focus allows him to refreshingly avoid disingenuous claims that immigration helps Mexicans by giving them the jobs Americans don’t want, or arguments that race-bait those who dare speak out against illegal …
The Keystone Kops, Charlie Chaplin, the Bathing Beauties-these American icons helped define early twentieth-century American popular culture. But where did they come from? And why did they appear when they did? A new study helps us understand the forces that converged to give us the pleasure of these spectacles. That a reader will learn about much more than the Keystone Film Company (Keystone) by reading The Fun Factory: The Keystone Film Company and the Emergence of Mass Culture, by Rob …
Barack Obama won big while refusing (for the most part) to go negative. Perhaps he won precisely because he refused to attack his opponent, to “pick on an invalid,” as Ronald Reagan—in an alarmingly effective slam—backhandedly did to Michael Dukakis in the George H.W. Bush-Dukakis election year of 1988. Certainly Obama succeeded, in part, because he responded, in a typically dignified manner, when he himself was targeted—something Dukakis, and John Kerry after him, tragically did not do. We might be …
Like most Americans, I was taught that in passing the National Voting Rights Act of 1965, LBJ betrayed the South, and this region then folded itself, seemingly for good, into the arms of the GOP. So be it, was the Democrats’ response. Such, to their way of thinking, was the cross to bear for finally standing up to racist hicks. Yet, I could never quite reconcile this image of the racist South to my experience in the North, having grown …
Most Recent Arts Comments
It’s a total shame this is only during working hours! It sounds great, but I’m one of those who can’t slip away very readily during the 9-to-5. Next time, a request: weekend events, please?
Nuts. Sorry I saw this, um, 15 minutes before CULitFest (my term!) begins. However, one deficit - no beer. SP.com 1, UIUC 0. In all seriousness, hope it goes well!
Good stuff as always! I like the theory Zelina presented…curious to see how it plays out with Sawyer, Jin/Sun, and Kate…
To get back to the show, if that’s allowed, we saw it last night. I know a lot about the films of the 30s and 40s and appreciated what Durang was trying to do, though some was pretty obvious and the ending was forced. A literal kitchen…
I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Gold Coins
Zeleni, I had the exact same theory only with the mysterious Man in Black/Smokie granting the wishes. MIB promised Sayid he could have anything in the world he wanted, which turned out to be Nadia. Although he does not necessarily “have” her, she has not died yet…
Zelini, I really like this - I’ll try to follow the theory more closely. As they reveal more about Kate (possibly next week), it might give us more perspective. I agree with your observation about Ben and I think Michael Emerson has done an excellent job conveying his lesser stature.
What if the sideways alternatives are where Jacob actually grants them their wishes, but in ways they didn’t quite expect? The elimination of one regret. Sayid gets to be with Nadia - although through his brother. Maybe he ends up with her at the expense of his…
I understood this totally differently than the other people that posted…this is what I got from it: - the more background you have going in, the more of the allusions you will understand when watching - afterwards, you can do a little research to fill in the…
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Most Recent Comments
I will be at Danu this evening. And seeing as tomorrow - St. Pat’s - is my birthday, I will be celebrating with tons of green and fun!
Big Blue will actually be on 6-9, despite what is posted elsewhere. Then, hightail it over to Bentley’s!
Ahh - good point - I will plug them in the appropriate sections.
Yeeee! This sounds so fun! Any word on covers for any/all of these? Maybe SP could spring for punch cards and some discounts if we make it to all, eh?
Ok, just tell me when I can exhale - Just curious, since all the globalists, carbon traders, and pretty much anyone with copious amounts of wealth have weighed in on population reduction in recent years, i was wondering what yer magic number was. Some of the more…
ESPN360!!!!! For those that don’t know, you can watch the ESPNs’ games on your puter.
...and given the lack of smiley emoticons i chose to employ, that reads far more sarcastically than i ever intended (my apologies). i actually find this to be a great article and an interesting discussion, seriously : )
Once it leaves the basement, it is then called what? hmmm…....could it be mainstream? accessible? appealing on a mass-level? POP??? Quickly it will become a fad, over-saturate the media, and piss people off. Then everyone can write articles based on how that shit sucks, too. chickens are…
So John is seeing all comments as being authored by John. I am seeing all comments as authored by me. The first comment was Mysterious McDade who evidently acquired an Optimism Hat and is now seeing how it fits.
No, everyone is me! Muahahaha! I so didn’t make that first comment so I thought maybe someone was trying to get my goat, adding me to the staff. I hope jumping to that conclusion is forgivable. Yeah, uh, I guess I should say that I swear I…
I have reached Nirvana, I guess. Everyone is me.
Something weird is happening.
WTF guys? Does impersonating a user in the comments section run afoul of your commenting policy?
In general, I think music is much more interesting now than in 1995. I definitely am very glad contemporary music has expanded beyond the four-piece rock lineup that dominated much of the 90’s. The point of the above isn’t so much about a sound or an instrument…
2010 is not 1995. I’m not sure why anyone would expect a music scene to remain stationary as the world of popular music moves around it. Also, today, making popular music with mainstream appeal and being innovative and cutting-edge are usually exact opposites.
I didn’t know that the LED was created here. That’s awesome.
It’s a total shame this is only during working hours! It sounds great, but I’m one of those who can’t slip away very readily during the 9-to-5. Next time, a request: weekend events, please?
Nuts. Sorry I saw this, um, 15 minutes before CULitFest (my term!) begins. However, one deficit - no beer. SP.com 1, UIUC 0. In all seriousness, hope it goes well!
This is federal money, yes. But it is money going to a network that is going to be owned by an inter-governmental of the two cities and the University, not by the federal government. If you’re worried about the local governments spying on us, that’s fine, but…
Prediction: Selection Sunday 2011, Illinois will be vying for a real #1 seed.
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I didn’t know that the LED was created here. That’s awesome.