Why Junot Diaz urges you to read more promiscuously - Home | q In a rich and wide-ranging interview, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Junot Diaz joins Shad to discuss his ongoing push for real diversity in the largely-white worlds of Western academia and literature. The Dominican-American author also comments on the importance of idealism in young people, why there's always a struggle when you come from the margins, and why — in a world packed with advice for writers — he offers his advice to readers. "Drop down out of Instagram time, out of Facebook time. Drop down into a much more human rhythm," says Diaz, adding that, for the sake of our culture and our future, we all have to learn to slow down. "To read a book is to be in the slow zone of the human." Forget advice for writers.
Mass Killings in the U.S.: Masculinity, Masculinity, Masculinity This article was first published by The Huffington Post Schools in Philadelphia are currently on high alert because of a threat of violence made against “a university near Philadelphia.” The threat was posted on 4chan, an anonymous message board, on Friday, the day after a murder-suicide that left 10 people dead in yet another campus shooting. The new threat, echoing other comments, praised the Oregon shooter for being part of a “Beta Rebellion,” a beta being a weak, unattractive man who lacks confidence and can’t get a girl. An unnamed police official described the Oregon shooter this way, “He didn’t have a girlfriend, and he was upset about that. Prior to last week’s mass shooting, the gunman allegedly also wrote a 4-chan warning, “Don’t go to school tomorrow if you are in the Northwest.” It’s impossible to confirm if the original post was made by the gunman, but the commentary is insightful and disturbing nonetheless. Consider schools, for example.
Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace. By Lindsey KaufmanDecember 30, 2014 Lindsey Kaufman works in advertising and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her personal essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Our Town Downtown and xoJane. Facebook, like many tech companies, uses the open-space office model. (Ryan Anson/AFP/Getty Images) A year ago, my boss announced that our large New York ad agency would be moving to an open office. Our new, modern Tribeca office was beautifully airy, and yet remarkably oppressive. Despite its obvious problems, the open-office model has continued to encroach on workers across the country. These new floor plans are ideal for maximizing a company’s space while minimizing costs. The New Yorker, in a review of research on this nouveau workplace design, determined that the benefits in building camaraderie simply mask the negative effects on work performance. As the new space intended, I’ve formed interesting, unexpected bonds with my cohorts. More on PostEverything: Unemployed? Continue reading
Most Prisoners Are Mentally Ill — The Atlantic Occasionally policymakers and activists will talk about how the justice system needs to keep mentally ill people out of prisons. If it did that, prisons would be very empty indeed. A new Urban Institute report points out that more than half of all inmates in jails and state prisons have a mental illness of some kind: Percent of Inmates Who Have Mental or Mood Issues The most common problem is depression, followed by bipolar disorder. Types of Mental Issues Among State and Federal Inmates The numbers are even more stark when parsed by gender: 55 percent of male inmates in state prisons are mentally ill, but 73 percent of female inmates are. An increasingly popular program might help thin the ranks of these sick, untreated inmates. For example, just last week Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania saw its first case processed in its newly created mental-health court. The courts aren't a cure-all: Two-thirds of them use jail time to punish noncompliance with treatment.
The Poorest Corner Of Town FERGUSON, Mo. — “I am!” “Mike Brown!” “I am!” “Mike Brown!” By midnight on Wednesday, this call-and-response, and others like it — “Hands up, don’t shoot,” “What’s his name? Mike Brown,” and the old standby, “No justice, no peace!” The protests, nearly everyone agrees, were about more than Brown, about more even than police violence. The protests were also about more than Ferguson. Bishop Timothy Woods, one of the clergy members working to keep the peace, said the protests reflected a feeling of hopelessness among young people in low-income communities across the country. “They kind of assume that how they are now is how they’re always going to be,” Woods said before being called away by a police officer to defuse another tense encounter. ‘If you’d asked me, I would’ve expected something like this would happen in North County,” said Todd Swanstrom, a University of Missouri-St. The St. Ferguson itself, however, is about two-thirds black and is largely integrated internally.
Breathing poison in the world's most polluted city - BBC News Saharan dust, traffic fumes and smog from Europe may be clogging up London's air at present - and causing alarm in the newspapers - but in the world's most polluted city London's air would be considered unusually refreshing. That city is Delhi, the Indian capital, where air quality reports now make essential reading for anxious residents. In London last week, the most dangerous particles - PM 2.5 - hit a high of 57 - that's nearly six times recommended limits. Here in Delhi, we can only dream of such clean air. Our reading for these minute, carcinogenic particles, which penetrate the lungs, entering straight into the blood stream - is a staggering 215 - 21 times recommended limits. Until a few weeks ago, PM 2.5 levels rarely dipped below 300, which some here have described as an "air-pocalypse". Like the rest of the world, those of us in Delhi believed for years that Beijing was the world's most polluted city. At first, we simply shut all our doors and windows and sealed up numerous gaps.
Black Girls Should Matter, Too In a classroom at the University of Pennsylvania, more than a dozen black girls and women gather on a recent Saturday afternoon. A simple game begins as an icebreaker for the workshop. “Stand up if your racial identity ever made anyone doubt your abilities,” the session’s leader says. Everyone stands. “Stand up if you’ve ever been told to act like a lady.” Everyone stands again. Across generations—from high-school students to professionals with salt-and-pepper hair—a common reality appears. With a tone of resignation, Horton recalled a counselor who she said doubted her aptitude for an honors biology course. A mounting body of evidence suggests that black students across the country face daunting odds in their quest for an equitable education. Given the growing recognition that race and poverty hinder educational opportunity and outcomes, leaders ranging from policymakers to businesspeople have committed to tackling this crisis. The president’s crusade is spreading across the country.
Melissa Harris-Perry's Searing Tribute To Black Men Killed By Police In a short but powerful segment on Saturday, Melissa Harris-Perry connected the recent police killing of Michael Brown to the deaths of other black men at the hands of police — and to America's history of injustice towards black people. Harris-Perry read the names of some of the hundreds of men who were killed by police across the country "in the past decade alone," from Sean Bell to Oscar Grant to Eric Garner to Brown. All of the men she mentioned were unarmed at the time of their death. In the past decade alone, these men and hundreds of others have lost their lives to police. "From 2006 to 2012 a white police officer killed a black person at least twice a week in this country," she said. She then noted that Ferguson, where Brown was shot dead, is close to the place from which the slave Dred Scott waged a legal battle for his freedom. Harris-Perry repeated that last phrase over and over again, as images of police in Ferguson flashed behind her.
Freddie Gray dies a week after being injured during arrest Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man injured during an arrest by Baltimore police last week, died Sunday at Shock Trauma, prompting protests by city residents and out-of-town activists and promises from city officials for a thorough investigation. Gray, 25, died a week after he suffered a broken vertabra after being arrested near Gilmor Homes in Sandtown-Winchester. Police have not given a cause for Gray's injuries or specified why he was arrested, citing an investigation into the incident. Officials are expected to look into any criminal conduct by Gray and whether criminal charges against officers are warranted. As a family attorney raised questions about the circumstances surrounding Gray's death, his stepfather, Richard Shipley, said relatives were too distraught to talk. "He's gone," Shipley said. A Shock Trauma spokeswoman confirmed Gray's death but provided no further details. At a news conference, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony W. The Rev. The U.S.
‘A Conversation With My Black Son’ Continue reading the main story Video Op-Docs By GEETA GANDBHIR and BLAIR FOSTER For generations, parents of black boys across the United States have rehearsed, dreaded and postponed “The Conversation.” But when their boys become teenagers, parents must choose whether or not to expose their sons to what it means to be a black man here. To keep him safe, they may have to tell the child they love that he risks being targeted by the police, simply because of the color of his skin. This Op-Doc video is our attempt to explore this quandary, by listening to a variety of parents and the different ways they handle these sensitive discussions. We intend “A Conversation With My Black Son” to be the first in a series of videos that will foster discussions about the state of race relations in America. Op-Docs By GEETA GANDBHIR and BLAIR FOSTER For generations, parents of black boys across the United States have rehearsed, dreaded and postponed “The Conversation.”
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