Blog 3 Columns

Politics By Infomercial 0
- Economics
- August 22, 2019
If you’re like me, you dread presidential campaigns. With nearly a year and a half to go until the next election, we are already being inundated with banal sloganeering. It’s like being bombarded with advertisements for products you have no use for, have no desire to purchase, and yet are forced to choose which one
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Politicians Don’t Seem to Laugh at Themselves as Much Anymore 0
- Culture
- August 22, 2019
As the 2020 presidential campaign gets underway, one of the key factors that shapes our perceptions is how the candidates use – or do not use – humor. One kind of humor that is in shorter supply among politicians than it once was is self-deprecating humor. That’s when politicians make themselves the butt of the
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Did Slavery Make America Richer?0
- Economics
- August 22, 2019
In the past few decades, a new subfield of history has emerged: the history of capitalism. The subfield is widely popular in the media as a result of hugely influential books such as those of Sven Beckert and Edward Baptist. These two particular authors tie the “peculiar institution” of slavery in American history to capitalism.
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Can We Have Free-Range Kids While Their Mothers Are Wage Slaves?0
- August 22, 2019
One reads about it too often not to believe there is something in the reports of an epidemic of anxiety and depression among children; tweens and teens mostly, some suicidal. Writing in the New York Times last weekend, mother of two Kim Brooks is the latest to cite the data and lament that “our kids are not
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‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’: Remembering a Culture War That Never Happened 0
- Culture
- August 22, 2019
(WARNING: Spoiler alert) The phrase “Once Upon a Time” generally opens fairy tales, but Quentin Tarantino’s film masterpiece, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” is not the stuff of sweet stories. The phrase refers here to time, not as mythical memory, but as a turning point in the human condition. “Once Upon a Time in
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Why ‘Adult Recess’ Is Becoming a Trend 0
- Culture
- August 21, 2019
You’ve heard of adulting school. It’s where those who grew up in body, but not necessarily in responsibility, go to learn the ropes of changing tires, cooking, and doing laundry. But there’s a flip side to this phenomenon. Apparently, many adults have a craving to be a kid again. Enter “adult recess.” “Adults are reliving
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These Hongkongers Are Not ‘a Few Violent Thugs’0
- International
- August 21, 2019
One major reason why the Hong Kong protests have been so successful at capturing international attention is because they are having a huge impact on the tiny island nation’s thriving economy – whether through 11 weeks of massive street demonstrations, the sit-ins at the main airport, or widespread worker strikes throughout the city. What this shows,
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Retooling Pronouns: Let’s Bring Back the Royal ‘We’0
- Culture
- August 21, 2019
Queen Victoria, so the story goes, sometimes resorted to the royal “we.” “We are not amused,” she might remark – one assumes with a sniff – at some slightly off-color story or inopportune remark. But whom did the queen intend by “we?” The spirit of Prince Albert? Other members of the court? The entire British
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Dilemmas of the 21st-Century American Parent 0
- Culture
- August 21, 2019
Standing in the breeze on a warm spring day at the end of another school year, I listen as a pre-Kindergarten child receives a prize at the elementary school’s yearly awards ceremony. Inwardly, I cringe as I hear “ . . . and she wants to be a YouTuber when she grows up.” My attention
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Politics By Infomercial 0