Culture
Just after headlines concerning the large American prison population and my slap-dash finding that Americans don’t like criminals and feel very safe comes an interesting editorial report from BBC North America Editor Justin Webb: What surprises the British tourists is that, in areas of the US that look and feel like suburban Britain, there is…
It appears that Rhode Island has made the national diversity news feed. Here’s Roger Clegg: Portuguese business owners in Rhode Island are upset with a proposed state law that would strip them of their official “minority” status — and the contracting set-asides that go with it. There are no heroes in this story, however, which…
Jay Nordlinger brought up another familiar name in his review of a joint concert of classical violinist Hilary Hahn and folkish singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, to whose album The Animal Years a friend and coworker directed my attention a couple of years ago. Jay had a reaction similar to mine to the song “Thin Blue Flame,”…
Falling through cracks has always been a specialty of mine. Wrong time. Wrong place. Not quite a fit. Too much of this for that. Too much there for here. Exceptions to the rule move to the back (or the front) of the room, please. Not that I’ve minded, particularly. It becomes sort of definitional, and…
As it happens, I thought of Ian Donnis as I flipped through a Providence Journal 1968 retrospective to which he directs his readers. I seem to recall a certain progressive journalist’s responding with incredulity to my reference a few years ago to what I thought to be generally acknowledged romanticization of the late-’60s counterculture, including…
Doesn’t it often seem that modern society proceeds according the following order of operations? On emotional grounds, declare a change obviously beneficial and of minimal cost, with objections dismissed as outdated or inherently bigoted. Implement change. Ignore evidence that the naysayers were correct. Let things proceed to crisis level. Restate the original objections under the…
So how much of the Brave New World will be purely a matter of semantics? The man who stunned the world when he announced he was pregnant gave an intimate insight into his personal life in a revealing television interview with Oprah. Thomas Beatie stripped off for the cameras and bared his baby bump and…
One hesitates to make too much of isolated incidents, but then again, this isn’t but so unusual a story these days, except for the decreasing age and increasing numbers: A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children…
Let me say right up front that access to healthcare must be improved and expanded, although it goes beyond the scope of this post to delve into the different understandings of the whats and hows of that mandate. Even were that goal to be achieved quickly, however, I suspect that the life expectancy gap between…
Is our society so corrupt that we must remake the argument against prostitution? The seediness, peril, and potential for corruption ought to be clear enough, but they are ultimately reasons for taxation and regulation. Have we been so seduced by an anything-your-heart-desires notion of freedom that we must hesitate over a state-level ban? Lovers of…