Culture
RIP Vincent Harding: A Light Shines in the Darkness
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Dr. Vincent Harding, great keeper of the Southern Freedom Movement flame, died yesterday, May 19th, 2014. He was 82 years old.
Culture
California's 'Health for All' Bill Moves Forward
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The measure would establish a state-run exchange for undocumented immigrants earning $15,000 or less a year per person to purchase health care. It would also given them access to the state-funded-only Medi-Cal program.
art
Creating Meaning Out of Trauma: Iraq War Veteran Aaron Hughes Turns to Art
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Aaron Hughes didn’t know he wanted to be an artist. He was just twenty years old in 2003 when he was suddenly deployed to Iraq. As the Iraq war lingered on Hughes began to question why he and his fellow soldiers were occupying a country halfway around the world. But from his disillusionment sprang something new: the desire to create art. Hughes now devotes his life to art and activism, spreading his anti-war message around the world.
art
Racism Stunts Your Growth
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A new study correlates racism with reduced creative capacity. Those holding strong prejudices, such as beliefs that inferiority is an essential quality of other races, rely on “rigid, categorical thinking” that “might actually cause people to become unimaginative.” I could have told them that. Back in the 80s, I was involved in a consulting project with the South Carolina Arts Commission.The brief was to address “burnout” in small-town arts organizers, who’d tended to lose heart and retreat despite the state agency’s willingness to provide more than a modicum of funding and assistance. But “burnout” turned out to be a euphemism for banging one’s head against entrenched and often unacknowledged racism.
Culture
The Blind Alley of J Street and Liberal American Zionism
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For several years, the J Street leadership has worked hard to create a palatable alternative to hard-line versions of what it means to be pro-Israel. But this spring, J Street’s leaders could not get the seal of approval they craved from the organized American Jewish establishment, which apparently sees little need for Zionism to acquire a more humane face.
Culture
He’s “Assertive,” She’s “Bossy”: The Double-Standard Language of Gender
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Language itself often reinforces sexist stereotypes. Indeed, the language we use expresses the way we experience the world around us, and the words people use in talking about the sexes reveal social attitudes that tend to maintain sexist behaviors.
Culture
Moving Away from Nationalism and Towards Liberation
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Last week the Anti-Defamation League came out with a report on anti-semitism conducted in 100 different countries, calling it “The largest survey ever of anti-semitic attitudes.” The study found that the most wide held belief is that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the countries in which they live.
Culture
Getting Serious About the Weather
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Last week, President Obama called on weathercasters to emphasize that climate change is “a problem that is affecting Americans right now.” Nobody is better positioned to teach the public about human-made climate change than our nightly weather reporters.
Culture
Meeting Mikhail Gorbachev
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Oliver Stone’s thoughtful account of his meeting two weeks ago with Mikail Gorbachev, which provides further insight into the circumstances that have led to the present crisis and the role paranoid cold-warrior mentality plays in turning opportunities for peace into occasions for the recreation of dangerous and irrational conflict.
Culture
Why Do Israeli Soldiers Bully Palestinians?
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It is the ethical responsibility of the Israelis, and those who support them (particularly the people of the United States and Jews around the world) to do every nonviolent thing in our power to end this Occupation quickly.