…we need to find an honest way to evaluate talents without prejudice or bias…We need to look more holistically at the way our systems and our society interact, and recognize that they affect each other, possibly far more than we have ever realized. We need to research what truly gives students an edge, and figure out how to share that edge with others…We have to think more radically about the opportunities we grant—or don’t grant—our students…We can’t let one person’s snap judgment of a 4-year-old set that student on a course that will keep him or her just shy of reaching his or her potential. We have to find a way to give a student the same chance to succeed as a classmate with the same IQ but an additional $50,000 in his or her family income. Or one who was born in a different month. Or one who has a heritage other than the rest of the class. Or one whose quiet—or brash, or hyperactive—personality masks the intelligence within. Only once we redefine success will we see more people succeed.
‘…in today’s China, an author can feel a true sense of freedom if he doesn’t pander to the authorities to have his works published. It requires courage, tolerance of isolation, a strong belief of the future and a deep passion for literature—like a pious religious believer. It requires deep belief that the progress of human society is unstoppable and that China will become a truly democratic, free and open country. Freedom of publishing will come one day sooner or later.’ — Yan Lianke
…it fundamentally damages the character of society. “To be a radical means to reject the status quo, which in some cases propels society forward…Equating radicalism with terrorism can produce a dampening effect on free expression—either by government or by self-censorship.”
more.
…a broad man with an earpiece asked for ID, pushed our arms up and dragged us toward the police van. Apparently we matched a description. Apparently we looked like someone else. We sat in the van for 20 minutes. Alone. But not really alone. Because 100 people were walking by. And they looked in at us with a look that whispered: ‘There. One more. Another one who is acting in complete accordance with our prejudices.’ I wish you had been with me in the police van. But I sat there alone. And I met all the eyes walking by and tried to show them that I wasn’t guilty, that I had just been standing in a place and looking a particular way. But it’s hard to argue one’s innocence from the back seat of a police van. And it’s impossible to be a part of society when everyone continually assumes that you are not. After 20 minutes I was released. No apology. No explanation. Instead: ‘You can go now.’ And in the knowledge that others have it much worse, I chose silence instead of words. After all, I was born here. I know the language. I am not threatened with deportation.
Breaking ground last week and set to open in the Fall of 2014 as a project of the Welfare Association, the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, Palestine, is “dedicated to the exploration and understanding of the culture, history and society of Palestine and the Palestinian people.”
more.
…demonstrates how the American people overwhelmingly view their southern neighbor through the dire lens of poverty, corruption, and violence. However: “Mexico’s real story today is one of fundamental political, economic, and social transformation: from authoritarianism to democracy, from a closed to an open economy, and from a poor society to a middle class nation.”
more.
…Issues related to sexuality, drugs, religion, family life, and patriotism were particularly vexing, and many people over 40 can recall the names of battlefields such as Mapplethorpe, needle exchange, 2 Live Crew, and the flag-burning amendment. But the left won a smashing victory in the 2012 elections, including the first victories at the ballot box for gay marriage. These triumphs…give the left confidence that it will ultimately prevail on most issues in the Social Theater. The power base of the religious right is older, white, rural Protestants, a group that immigration, demography, and urban renewal have consigned to play an ever-shrinking role in American presidential elections. Both sides are now likely to shift several divisions and…task forces over to the Economic Theater of the culture war, where the single most important battle of 2012 was fought—the battle over marginal tax rates for the rich. The left won that battle on January 1, when the House of Representatives voted to raise tax rates for the rich, but victory in the overall war is far less certain. Economic issues such as taxation are moral issues—no less so than social issues like gay marriage—and neither side has full control of the key moral foundations that underlie economic morality: fairness and liberty.
more.
…a rewarding wonderland of the forbidden, and of society’s attempts to keep it so, despite their inevitable failure. It is a mural sometimes done as miniature, sometimes as epic, but always with a craftsman’s hand—a sprawling story told with uncommon precision and purity of expression.
more.
from ‘Values, Not Demographics, Won the Election’ at the New York Times
Despite what the entertainment industry would have you believe, the city of Los Angeles and its surrounding neighborhoods have a much richer, often conflicted history…A People’s Guide to Los Angeles…researched for more than 15 years by…three Southern California natives and academics with backgrounds in ethnic studies or sociology—and cultivated from published and personal accounts of Los Angeles’ long-standing political, social and racial power struggles, the travel guide…includes 115 sites of interest for the progressive-minded explorer.
more.
…and painted as though it had been shot full of holes, according to the local paper. Inside, a fake birth certificate for “Barack Hussein Obama” was stamped with an expletive referring to bovine droppings. A message in the structure gave fake phone numbers for Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi “For a Good Time.” The state party chairman, Will Deschamps, said that the structure was not in “real good taste. We do have a president of the United States, and we have to honor that.” But he also dismissed the matter as a “sideshow” and “not something I’m going to agonize over.” But the outhouse is not a sideshow. It is something we should all be agonizing over.
the writer ties this kind of thing to the idea that
…Heckling the president in the middle of a Rose Garden speech isn’t holding the president to account. It is belittling the presidency, and it smells just as bad as an outhouse in the Missoula summer.
more at the Washington Post.
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