Academic Facebook has melted down again: this week, it is philosophy’s turn. At the center of the controversy is Rhodes College assistant professor Rebecca Tuvel’s article, “In Defense of Transracialism,” published in the most recent issue of the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia. Analyzing Rachel Dolezal’s disputed assertion that, having been born to white parents, she believes herself to … More What Happened at Hypatia?
“if you don’t shut up,” the male Transportation Security Administration official said to me flatly, “I would be happy to arrange to take you somewhere else and do a more thorough search.” Yes, he was threatening me with detention and a strip search. What had I done? I hadn’t lost my temper. Not yet, at … More Fly the Angry Skies: Navigating Militarized Air Travel
In the past few weeks, we in the community formerly known as women’s history have suffered some difficult losses. Marilyn Blatt Young, Professor of History at New York University specializing in China and US foreign policy died on February 19; and Mary Maples Dunn, a colonial historian and Dean at Bryn Mawr College, the eighth … More Why Don’t You Stay (Just a Little Bit Longer)?
In case you missed it, Mark Hertsgaard had a terrific piece in The Nation‘s special issue on “Media in the Trump Era” (March 20, 2017). You may still be able to pick up a copy on the newsstand if you hustle, which you should, both because there are lots of good essays in it and because … More Clickbait Nation | How Do We Get Good, In-Depth Reporting?
Conservatives have been complaining for years that liberals don’t care about their ideas: if this is true, it becomes a problem for liberals and the left too. Why? Because by simply ignoring or mocking conservative proposals, by not following them through to their logical conclusion, we fail to understand the implications these ideas have for … More If You Get Sick in Utah, Don’t Call Jason Chaffetz
Why won’t they say Donald Trump’s name at the Republican National Convention? Television journalists like Rachel Maddow have been talking about it since The Mistake on the Lake went live on Monday evening, July 18. As Frank Bruni put it in a New York Times (July 20, 2016) op-ed: By saying almost nothing about Donald Trump on Tuesday … More Trump Campaign Strategy: Don’t Discuss Him
Readers: in the absence of any real resources available to faculty at my university, I decided to write an essay about microagressions for my students. There must be many of you out there who are better at this than I am. Would you read this and leave your comments so that I can make necessary … More Microaggressions | An Intervention
In the midst this week’s truly terrible news, as racist violence escalates across the nation and is met with the assassination of five police and wounding of seven in Dallas, I bet you forgot to check the National Rifle Association website to see what thought leader and CEO Wayne LaPierre was up to. It’s a … More As the GOP and Wayne LaPierre Dither, the Corpses Pile Up
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