An Andrew Sullivan reader perfectly nails the vacuousness & nihilism of the teabagging right. It is the smartest critique of the current right that I’ve read in a long time. My brief comments are below the quote. My teabagger parents are gloating today about the Brown victory. To them, this whole politics game is like [...]
If you are interested in sending aid to Haiti, please consider Partners in Health (PIH). PIH has operated clinics and hospitals in Haiti for over 20 years and, in the process, has revolutionized how infectious diseases are treated in poor countries around the world. In 2008, I wrote about “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” a wonderful Tracy [...]
Tagged Haiti, povertyBelated happy new year everyone. I’ve had good intentions to blog more often, but all of my writing energy is going toward new songs, editing research papers for publication, and trying to land a letter in Penthouse Forum. Here is a bunch of things I’ve been reading/digging/thinking about over the last month, culled from my [...]
Tagged too many to list, twitterI’m interested to hear what you think about President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. I understand some of the criticisms of Obama’s decision: we are getting more deeply involved in an endless quagmire; we can’t afford to spend trillions fighting — for what, exactly? — when there are so many desperate problems [...]
Tagged Afghanistan, Obama, politicsVarious publications have been compiling “best of the decade” lists for various cultural forms. A music email list I’m on conducted a poll on the best records of the decade. Here are mine, compiled in about 20 minutes. Thank goodness for iTunes, which made this a lot easier. One caveat is that I restricted myself [...]
Tagged music that mattersFrom my Twitter feed: Sociology/Social issues/Higher Ed Can you imagine the outrage that would ensue if dozens of white teens died in the Chicago suburbs every year? Chicago public schools in 2007-08 academic year: 34 deaths and 290 shootings. Not enough ppl care, certainly not ones in power. Sad. http://bit.ly/tI4nF # Thomas LaVeist does work [...]
Tagged music, politics, sociology1. U2 – 44 2. John Coltrane – 32 3. Miles Davis – 26 4. Pearl Jam – 21 5. Amadou & Mariam – 18 6. Chris Whitley – 15 7. Van Morrison – 13 8. The 757s – 11 9. Los Lobos; Uncle Tupelo – 10 11. Bap Kennedy – 9 12. Blue Mitchell [...]
Tagged musicMJ = great player, not a nice guy. Sadly, people just go along with it. “Jordan’s night to remember turns petty” – Yahoo! http://bit.ly/EhbbJ # Incredible show – more thoughts later. “U2 Reinvent the Stadium Show as 360 Tour Launches in Chicago” – Rolling Stone – http://bit.ly/qKlL7 # It’s the beginning of the third week [...]
Tagged academia, music that matters, racism, sports, Swine fluMatt Taibbi’s excellent (and bitterly funny) analysis of the health care reform process so far: Rolling Stone – http://bit.ly/10Ccwd # Chronicle of Higher Education: Higher Ed admin salaries up 5%, 5.4% in last two years, faculty salaries up 4.1%, 3.4%. http://bit.ly/je1VH # Massive report of college class of 1999: class, race, gender disparities still a [...]
Tagged academia, good beer, health care, higher educationFor academics: outstanding post by @tenuredradical on departmental workload issues, w/ good advice on how to handle it. http://bit.ly/4j0ygd # Good news: Amy had a short story accepted by Third Coast, a great literary journal. You can read some of her work here: http://bit.ly/DJSxN # 67 excellent documentaries available through Netflix http://bit.ly/cjXRT # Excellent column [...]
Tagged academics, documentaries, literature, music, sociology, work