Three Progressive Literary Stocking Stuffers for 2015
It’s Christmas week and as we do every year, the grown-ups in my family are keeping up the tradition of buying nothing for each other.
But for those of you who must endure the fear and loathing of the consumer frenzy, here is my annual list of books that might serve as good stocking stuffers for the alienated progressives or other likely suspects on your list (with a special focus on some of the best work that received less attention than it deserved) [Read more…]
A ‘Good Old Days’ Day
Not too long ago I shared thoughts on Facebook regarding “The Good Old Days” being a sham and how I’d like there to be such days some day for my grandson, Lyric, and my mind stayed in the same kind of groove which led to the following:
As Lyric, bypassed the slides
and the swings,
deciding against those things
to shake and rock
the purple dinosaur,
my mind soared to a day
back around ’43 or ’44,
when my buddies and I made our way
to a park to play. [Read more…]
The Force Is Strong In Our Family
“I want to play with those,” my 4-year-old nephew said, pointing at the Star Wars Lego magnets on the fridge.
“No, no,” my mom replied.
“And why not?” I interjected.
“Because they’re not toys,” she responded, deadpan.
Having purchased the magnets myself, I knew that’s exactly what they were. But I had to pause to appreciate the moment. It was 25 years in the making. [Read more…]
Fear and Loathing Replace Goodwill for the Holidays
Remember the days when the holidays were supposed to be the “most wonderful time of the year?” I do.
That warm and fuzzy feeling was no doubt promoted by all kinds of interests: retailers, religions, and relatives all stirred the holiday wassail of my young mind. Now that I’m older and more worldly I know those less privileged didn’t always share my response to those messages. Still, it was possible –even for a moment– to believe that peace on earth, goodwill to all was where we as a culture wanted to go.
Fast forward to the present and the waning weeks of the year have become just another battleground in the culture wars.
Gays, women, people of color, wage earners, migrants, refugees, and now apparently journalists all end up in the jumble of badwill driving the national discourse. [Read more…]
Geo-Poetic Spaces: Christmas
For Christ’s sake!
Opt out of Christmas
Save energy
unplug the lights
plant a tree instead of cutting one down
Wrap yourself up
keep the stockings on your feet [Read more…]
RIP John Trudell 1946-2015
Psychiatrists Analyzed ‘Star Wars’ Characters And Discovered They All Have Mental Conditions
Darth Vader has PTSD and C-3PO has OCD.
By Kali Holloway / AlterNet
Students of psychiatry learn about all kinds of psychopathology, but it can be hard to take textbook definitions and imagine how they manifest in actual people…and, you know, others.
So a group of psychiatrists, noting that Star Wars is “timeless, universal, and incorporated into shared culture,” recently diagnosed the psychological disorders displayed by the film’s characters. They suggest that the resulting diagnoses, which were rounded up into a series of papers published in Academic Psychiatry, can be used as teaching tools to offer insights into how psychiatric illnesses affect behavior.
The greatest takeaway for students of psychiatry and film alike might be that nearly every Star Wars figure—like most of us, really—could do with a little talk therapy. [Read more…]
Chargers Set to Lose Their Last Game in San Diego
The Chargers are an apt metaphor for San Diego politics.
Both are led by a skilled and popular quarterback, yet unable to score when push comes to shove. Both suffer from a foundational rot, precluding the fixes the public is led to believe would address their obvious shortcomings.
One year ago, the football team announced it would be playing in San Diego through 2015. This year the only question seems to be what date the moving vans will be pulling out.
Sunday could well be their last appearance at Qualcomm stadium. However, our feckless mayor will have to wait a few years before moving on. It’s likely he’s also headed upstate. [Read more…]
The Tuna Boat House
Steve Schoenherr / South Bay Compass
The house that stands today at the corner of Oaklawn and D Street in Chula Vista is unique in the South Bay. It was built by Lorne Dunseith during World War II and looks like a boat. In fact, it is a boat.
Dunseith had moved to San Diego in 1934 and lived in a trailer court on National Avenue until he was ready to build a house. However, he had trouble getting building materials during the war until he heard about the tuna boat “Lusitania” that was being stripped down to the keel for renovation. He bought the old top of the tuna boat and had it transported to his lot in Chula Vista for $120.
He put the main deck on a cement foundation and added a second story that had the same appearance as the lower deck. He kept some of the original portholes, converted others to normal windows, but kept the brass fittings for use inside the house. He made a staircase out of the wooden rails taken from the outside top deck. The wheelhouse was removed from the top of the boat deck and became a separate building next to the house.
Despite grumblings from some neighbors, his do-it-yourself project passed building inspection and he moved in with his wife Nell in 1950. [Read more…]
Love in the Time of Mania: Six Ways Americans Are Defying Islamophobia
If you watch the news, you’d think anti-Muslim hysteria is everywhere. Thankfully, that’s not true
On Dec. 8, a man identified as Piro Kolvani reportedly walked into the Fatima Food Mart, in Queens, New York, yelled that he was going to kill Muslims, and began punching the store’s owner, 53-year-old Sarker Haque. A customer restrained Kolvani until police arrived.
The attack is being investigated as a hate crime and, in the wake of terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, there has been a surge of similar assaults on Muslims. [Read more…]
A Brief History of Vagina Worship
The vagina has been seen as a symbol of strength and fertility—and sometimes punishment
By Carrie Weisman / AlterNet
Despite the prevalence of sexually suggestive imagery in our culture, we’re still a bit squeamish when it comes to vaginas. But that wasn’t always the case.
“Before Western religion introduced the pesky concept of shame, female genitalia were venerated in ancient mythology,” writes Catherine Blackledge, author of The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality. Blackledge details how skirt lifting, or “ana suromai,” was once thought to help ward off evil and increase crop yields. She points out that 17th-century drinking mugs used to sport depictions of Satan cowering at the sight of an exposed vagina. Meanwhile, the ancient Greeks paraded around cakes shaped like vulvas during the three-day, women-only Syracusan Thesmophoria festival. [Read more…]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- …
- 264
- Next Page »