From the Editors Archives - Page 39 of 171

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Why I Want Nothing to do with the Green New Deal

Conservatism, Environmentalism and Socialism

March 28, 2019 • by Jake Davis

I was frequently humbled living in the small, oil-rich kingdom. Humbled by the clash between two of nature’s most inhospitable terrains: a great sandy desert meeting a great salty ocean. At the boundary where these two titans collide sits a different kind of marvel: a Starbucks. I would frequent the ...

Why I Want Nothing to do with the Green New Deal

Feature

How to Do It

Sex Education and the “Sex Life”

March 27, 2019 • by Joseph Gamble

In 1696, in Somerset county in southwest England, a schoolboy named John Cannon and his friends took their lunchtime break on the banks of a river near their schoolhouse. Unlike other uneventful riverside lunches, though, this day was memorable enough for Cannon to record in his memoirs. An older boy ...

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Warhol: The Revolution that Failed

A review of the Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again exhibition at The Whitney Museum.

March 27, 2019 • by Laura Nelson

The recent reappearance of Andy Warhol’s paintings, films, sculptures, and silkscreens at The Whitney in New York City reminded me of the writings of Arthur C. Danto (1924-2013), a professor of philosophy at Columbia University as well as art critic for The Nation from 1984 to 2009. Like many philosophers of his ...

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“Operation Varsity Blues,” the White Supremacy Terrorist Attack in New Zealand, and Beto O’Rourke

Past Present Episode 172

March 26, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss the college admissions scandal, the white supremacy terrorist attack in New Zealand, and Beto O’Rourke’s bid for the presidency. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: College admissions has long legally favored the wealthy, but “Operation Varsity Blues” has ...

“Operation Varsity Blues,” the White Supremacy Terrorist Attack in New Zealand, and Beto O’Rourke

Interviews

Fiction For An Uncertain Era

An Interview with Idra Novey

March 25, 2019 • by Dorothy Potter Snyder

I met Idra Novey in the nineties, when I was the administrator of the arts and education organization El Taller Latinoamericano in Upper Manhattan, and she was a student at Columbia University. The fiercely brilliant young woman who was our intern has become an acclaimed poet, literary translator, and novelist, whose recent ...

Blue Monday

Trump, The Mueller Report, and Democracy

Very Preliminary Thoughts on an Unfolding Story

March 24, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

[Note: this piece was filed on Sunday at 2 pm, revised after the release of Attorney General Barr’s letter at 4 pm, and refiled for publication at 6 pm. God only knows what will transpire in the interim.] The issue has always been the need to defend democracy by addressing its ...

Trump, The Mueller Report, and Democracy

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Reflections of a Federal Judge from Jim Crow Mississippi

A Jo Freeman Review of ‘Won Over’

March 23, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

When I was working in Mississippi for SCLC in 1966, I would not have believed that any of the young white men I saw on the streets (mostly harassing us) would ever reject white supremacy. They appeared as dedicated to its domination as sports fans are to their clubs. William Alsup writes that ...

Reflections of a Federal Judge from Jim Crow Mississippi

Feature

Emergency Powers and Trump: Lessons from Carl Schmitt

Why Trump’s executive actions might be legal yet unconstitutional

March 22, 2019 • by Benjamin Andrew Schupmann

The threat to the constitution that Donald Trump poses was apparent as soon as he entered the presidential primary race. Since his election, Trump has only confirmed that threat: he has abused emergency powers and other executive privileges to advance his private interests and illiberal, antidemocratic values. Despite incessantly broadcasting ...

Emergency Powers and Trump: Lessons from Carl Schmitt

Feature

It’s The Real Economy, Stupid

Wealthy political pundits are living in an alternate reality

March 21, 2019 • by Neil Kraus

Bill Gates caused quite a stir when he recently tweeted a graphic produced by Our World in Data (a Gates Foundation-funded organization) indicating how much progress the world has made in combating poverty over the last two centuries. Critics rightly seized on Gates’s observation as well as the data and analysis, quickly dismantling the ...

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The African American Poet as Historian

Poets do history — just not in the way that historians conceive of it

March 21, 2019 • by Holly Genovese

What is history? Not the past, but the creation of “history,” the writing of history, the teaching of history? Is it only something someone formally trained as a historian can do, even though scholars of literature and African American studies, and high school teachers and writers engage with the past, ...

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A Wound that Needs Witnessing

Healing after Christchurch

March 20, 2019 • by Safiyah Rochelle

In the aftermath of the slaughter of worshippers in a sacred space, it is easy to be angry. The targets of rage seem endless: at callow politicians who peddle in the most basic of human emotions and sling hateful words that morph into weapons; at white supremacy ideologies whose violences ...

Feature

“Cancel Culture,” Hobbies, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302

Past Present Episode 171

March 19, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss “cancel culture,” the lost art of hobbies, and the tragic Ethiopian Air crash. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Young Adult literature is the latest arena for controversies over “cancel culture.” Neil recommended Jennifer Senior’s New York Times article on the perils ...