Essays Archive - Page 48 of 131

The Floating Pool Lady

A quest to bring a public pool to New York City’s waterfront

May 12, 2021 • by Ann L. Buttenwieser

_____ My research in the musty documents detailing the administrative history of New York Harbor ended roughly with the demise of the floating public baths. These documents, which no one had seen or cared about for nearly a century, were about to be thrown out. I left the Battery Maritime Building, ...

Politics

Liz Cheney Is Right Where She Needs to Be

The patriots among us are getting woke

May 12, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ It’s done. The Republicans in the United States House of Representatives voted this morning to oust Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney as chairwoman of the House GOP conference. I’ve been writing obliquely about this pending vote, as I’ve been trying to make other points. But let me be plain. Ousting one ...

Liz Cheney Is Right Where She Needs to Be

Uncategorized

Why We Should Ban Pets

It’s time to retire the cages, aquariums, and leashes for good

May 12, 2021 • by Hannah Arsenault-Gallant

_____ Adoption centres, breeders, and rescue facilities have experienced a surge in demand for companion animals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dramatic rise in companion animals during the pandemic is no coincidence. Public health measures have forced the relocation of office workers to the comfort of their homes, making it convenient ...

Economy

Executives at Gig Companies Say the Darndest Things

Unproductive Labor, Episode One

May 12, 2021 • by Luke Mergner and Pete Sinnott

This is the first episode of Unproductive Labor, a podcast made with support from Public Seminar. Make sure to not miss any episodes by subscribing on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. The innovations of the gig economy are not just about technology but change our expectations, and the ...

Past Present

Peloton and the History of Product Recalls

Past Present Podcast, Episode 279

May 12, 2021 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Peloton, the digital fitness company made famous by its internet-connected stationary bike, is complying with a federal voluntary recall of its Tread+, which has killed one child and injured many other children and pets. Natalia referred to historian Richard Bushman’s ...

Democracy

Why is Caitlyn Jenner Running for Governor of California?

Recall campaigns, invented to remove incompetent or corrupt politicians, are now a conservative tactic to reverse Democratic electoral victories

May 5, 2021 • by Claire Potter

On April 22, Caitlyn Jenner announced that she had filed paperwork to register herself as a candidate for Governor of California in a recall election against the sitting governor, Gavin Newsom. The organizers will likely meet the threshold of verified signatures, and the election is likely to be scheduled for early fall. Even ...

Why is Caitlyn Jenner Running for Governor of California?

History

A New Battleground for American History

How the classroom has been politicized

May 5, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ On Friday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and 36 Republicans sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona accusing him of trying to advance a “politicized and divisive agenda” in the teaching of American history. This is a full embrace of the latest Republican attempt to turn teaching history ...

Capitalism

The Communism of Love

How the COVID pandemic has revealed anew the importance of Marx’s Gemeinwesen

May 5, 2021 • by Richard Gilman-Opalsky

_____ Marx was transfixed by the Gemeinwesen, a German word meant to grasp the essence of human community, the state of human relations. Marx did not think a world of exchange built around the relation of labor to capital made for the healthiest Gemeinwesen, and he wanted a different one. He ...

Democracy

Putting Liberal Democracy First Has Never Been More Important

It is hard to see how our current injustices can be repaired without working through and then “democratizing” these liberal democratic institutions.

May 5, 2021 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

During the four years of the Trump administration, I was one of those people, derisively labeled "tyrannophobes" by some on the left, who focused on Trump's assaults on democracy and argued for putting the defense of liberal democracy first. Most of those who criticized us surely recognized Trump's many objectionable features. They simply ...

Putting Liberal Democracy First Has Never Been More Important

Art & Design

Thinking Design through Literature

Identity: The cultural politics of things and places

May 5, 2021 • by Susan Yelavich

_____ Where design projects possibilities, literature activates their potential and shows their effects. Brought together in Thinking Design through Literature, they form a new and wider tributary in the thought of things and places. That said, in this excerpt from the chapter on culture, readers will note that the word ‘design’ ...

Race

When Saying “I’m Sorry” Is Not Enough

The anatomy of an apology

May 5, 2021 • by Roy L. Brooks

_____ An apology has an essential value. it enables the apologizer, the perpetrator of a transgression, to reclaim its moral character in the aftermath of the transgression. By apologizing, the perpetrator is attempting to reclaim its humanity, its place in the community of civilized individuals or institutions. In a real sense, ...

Columnists

The stink of treason clings to the Republican Party

Big profit-seeking corporations can smell it, same as everyone else.

May 5, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ My friend and fellow New Havener Tom Krattenmaker has a new piece in USA Today worth amplifying, in my own modest way, but also worth setting in the larger context of ideological shifting taking place in the country. Tom argues that big profit-seeking corporations aren’t “woke.” They just believe the ...

Essays

The Floating Pool Lady

A quest to bring a public pool to New York City’s waterfront

Liz Cheney Is Right Where She Needs to Be

The patriots among us are getting woke

Why We Should Ban Pets

It’s time to retire the cages, aquariums, and leashes for good

Executives at Gig Companies Say the Darndest Things

Unproductive Labor, Episode One

Peloton and the History of Product Recalls

Past Present Podcast, Episode 279

Why is Caitlyn Jenner Running for Governor of California?

Recall campaigns, invented to remove incompetent or corrupt politicians, are now a conservative tactic to reverse Democratic electoral victories

A New Battleground for American History

How the classroom has been politicized

The Communism of Love

How the COVID pandemic has revealed anew the importance of Marx’s Gemeinwesen

Putting Liberal Democracy First Has Never Been More Important

It is hard to see how our current injustices can be repaired without working through and then “democratizing” these liberal democratic institutions.

Thinking Design through Literature

Identity: The cultural politics of things and places

The stink of treason clings to the Republican Party

Big profit-seeking corporations can smell it, same as everyone else.

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