Volcanoes are erupting in The Philippines, but on-fire Australia received some welcome rain. The Iran war cries have been called off and The Donald’s military powers are about to be hamstrung by the Senate. Meanwhile, his impeachment trial is starting, and we’re all on Twitter for a front-row seat.
Tag: Culture
07/07/2022

What Could Go Right? Happy birthday, America
Some thoughts about how to keep sitting in the mess.
06/30/2022

What Could Go Right? The comma after Roe
The story of abortion rights in the United States is still being written. We all have a say in what comes next.
06/23/2022
US orchestras including more work from women and minorities
A new report from the Institute for Composer Diversity found that during the 2021-22 season, work from women composers and composers of color made up 23 percent of all programmed pieces.
06/22/2022
The Smithsonian selects four possible sites for new museums for women and Latinos
The Smithsonian is one step closer to creating two new museums. Four sites have been announced as possible locations for the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum.
06/22/2022
Eboo Patel Wants to Build Better Institutions
Eboo Patel, as founder and president of Interfaith America (formerly Interfaith Youth Core), has spent decades working to influence institutions — including churches, colleges, and civic institutions — to embrace interfaith work as crucial to democracy.
06/23/2022

What Could Go Right? The open mind movement
Depolarization thrives in (good-faith) discourse.
06/20/2022
Happy Juneteenth (observed)
Juneteenth is the newest celebration on the official calendar of federal holidays, a move that I liked for the symbolism of the day but also because creating more holidays in general is a good idea.
06/17/2022
Opinion: Juneteenth, as much as the Fourth of July, is America’s true birthday
Juneteenth 2022, which the nation officially celebrates Monday, is unfolding against extraordinary twin backdrops: the ongoing hearings of the House select committee on January 6 and the continuing legislative efforts to halt or disrupt the teaching of the very history that Juneteenth -- a day that marks the end of racial slavery in the United States -- commemorates.
06/17/2022
Opinion: Sometimes ‘Proper’ Speech Isn’t Correct Speech
My eldest daughter is in elementary school, and I recently started noticing that she was regularly enunciating “going to” and “want to,” no longer saying “gonna” or “wanna,” as many people do in casual speech.
05/18/2022
Older people using TikTok to defy ageist stereotypes, research finds
There are an increasing number of accounts belonging to users aged 60 and older with millions of followers.
05/15/2022
In Austria, the Government Pays to Repair Your Stuff
Sepp Eisenriegler loves giving second chances: To the defunct electrical appliances awaiting repair or refurbishment, the hundreds of unemployed people he’s trained as skilled repairers over the decades and even the two rescue dogs that follow him devotedly around R.U.S.Z., the repair and service center he founded in Vienna in 1998.
05/18/2022