Culture

Preference for a More Confident Nation

By Justin Katz | May 4, 2011 |

There’s been some conversation in the comment sections suggesting that there’s something contrary to American culture in street celebrations over Osama bin Laden’s death, particularly to the extent that they involved effigies and burning pictures. Acknowledgement that a milestone has been reached and justice meted in an individual case is certainly appropriate, but the attitude…

Not (Hiring) Just Another Pretty Face

By Marc Comtois | April 21, 2011 |

It’s a travesty I tell ya! Staff in personnel departments are overwhelmingly female, typically single and aged 29 on average, the researchers found….The research, published by The Royal Economic Society, involved sending more than 5,300 CVs for 2,650 job vacancies. For each job, two applications were sent. One contained a photograph of an attractive man…

UPDATED: John Derbyshire: “Dissidents and Doom”

By Justin Katz | April 17, 2011 |

John Derbyshire, writer for National Review and author of We Are Doomed spoke last night to the Providence College Republicans, displaying his erudition and low-key humor on the topic of the dissident personality. The upshot of Mr. Derbyshire’s lecture had a relevance that I didn’t expect to Rhode Island’s current predicament. He spoke of “a…

Guilt Industry Meme of the Day: Women Earn Less Than Men

By Marc Comtois | April 13, 2011 |

“Rhode Island women earn $10,200 less than men” says the Providence Business News headline. Full-time employed women in Rhode Island are paid an average of $10,191 less than their male counterparts, according to research conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families. The research is meant to shed light on the persisting gender-based wage…

Earth Week: Hands-On Motorheads, Hearken to Iowahawk

By Monique Chartier | April 9, 2011 |

A lovely way to celebrate. Yes friends (in case you had not already marked your calendar), 2011 Earth Week is officially slated to take place April 17-23. And, for the 6th straight year, I will be opening this space for our annual Earth Week Virtual Cruise-In, where Iowahawk readers around our fragile planet gather, share,…

A Moment for Misanthropy

By Justin Katz | March 29, 2011 |

It’s the kind of commentary that’s probably best let to drift out to the sea of forgotten column inches, but the following general observation from Mark Patinkin has been bugging me: By contrast, little has been shown of the areas where the tsunami washed over natural areas. That’s because nature is designed to mostly absorb…

Paglia on Liz Taylor: The Power of a Woman

By Marc Comtois | March 24, 2011 |

Camille Paglia, who admits to being obsessed with Elizabeth Taylor, puts the just-deceased actress in cultural perspective: To me, Elizabeth Taylor’s importance as an actress was that she represented a kind of womanliness that is now completely impossible to find on the U.S. or U.K. screen. It was rooted in hormonal reality — the vitality…

The Law of Honoring Thy Parents

By Justin Katz | March 22, 2011 |

It seems to me that this, which I spotted in the no-longer-available-to-print-subscribers-online National Review “The Week” feature in the February 21 issue, likely misses most of the good things that an expectation of respect for one’s parents can inculcate in a society: Oldsters in today’s China too often go neglected by their busy, ambitious children.…

The Prayer and the Regent

By Justin Katz | March 16, 2011 |

My patch column, this week, joins two topics related to education in Rhode Island: The connection is indirect, to be sure, but the controversy over an old prayer banner in Cranston High School West brings to mind the Chafee administration – and not (only) because Rhode Island’s new governor has me so worried that I…

Medical Mary Jane – Cure-all for what ails ya?

By Marc Comtois | March 13, 2011 |

I’m sympathetic to those who believe and have experienced the benefits of medical marijuana. Yet, I still have serious reservations about the way the law was rushed into being here in Rhode Island. There still seem to be a lot of gray areas. And the examples put forth by the ProJo’s in-depth look at Colorado’s…