Tuesday, January 9, 2018
The Incredible Woman That Oprah Referenced
From Essence -
Recy Taylor: 12 Facts About The Brave Woman Whose Painful Story Inspired Everyone From Rosa Parks To Oprah
By RACHAELL DAVIS
https://www.essence.com/awards-events/red-carpet/golden-globes/recy-taylor-facts-oprah-winfrey
Recy Taylor: 12 Facts About The Brave Woman Whose Painful Story Inspired Everyone From Rosa Parks To Oprah
By RACHAELL DAVIS
https://www.essence.com/awards-events/red-carpet/golden-globes/recy-taylor-facts-oprah-winfrey
Monday, January 8, 2018
What Made It So Powerful
An excerpt from the New York Times -
What Politicians Could Learn from Oprah Winfrey
By JAMES PONIEWOZIK
But to argue that Ms. Winfrey should run for president — or shouldn’t — simply because she’s a celebrity oversimplifies the issue. Most celebrities would make terrible candidates. (No offense, Kid Rock.) The real consideration here is why Ms. Winfrey is a celebrity, and all those qualifications were on display in that speech.
It’s a master’s stage performance. It builds from kitchen confession to mountaintop thunder. It shifts perspective cinematically — close in on young Ms. Winfrey sitting on the linoleum floor, pull back to a panorama of America. It uses preacherly rhythms and even cliffhangers (“a young worker by the name of … Rosa Parks”).
But above all, it’s a story. And it’s a story about stories. It moves from the personal (young Ms. Winfrey watching Sidney Poitier win an Oscar) to the communal (women in Hollywood, and women working on farms and even “some pretty phenomenal men”). It links “your truth” and “absolute truth.” It tells the audience: I have my struggle, and I know you have yours, and that connects us all in the sweep of a global struggle.
Conventional politicians can do that too, though it’s not easy or common. Barack Obama was no one’s idea of a shoo-in when he announced his campaign. But he synthesized his biography (as the “kid with a funny name”), his country’s current struggles and an idea of generational social progress into one evocative narrative — change.
People are drawn to stories for a reason: In politics as in art, they say more than a list of bullet points.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/arts/television/oprah-winfrey-president-television.html?hpw&rref=television&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
What Politicians Could Learn from Oprah Winfrey
By JAMES PONIEWOZIK
But to argue that Ms. Winfrey should run for president — or shouldn’t — simply because she’s a celebrity oversimplifies the issue. Most celebrities would make terrible candidates. (No offense, Kid Rock.) The real consideration here is why Ms. Winfrey is a celebrity, and all those qualifications were on display in that speech.
It’s a master’s stage performance. It builds from kitchen confession to mountaintop thunder. It shifts perspective cinematically — close in on young Ms. Winfrey sitting on the linoleum floor, pull back to a panorama of America. It uses preacherly rhythms and even cliffhangers (“a young worker by the name of … Rosa Parks”).
But above all, it’s a story. And it’s a story about stories. It moves from the personal (young Ms. Winfrey watching Sidney Poitier win an Oscar) to the communal (women in Hollywood, and women working on farms and even “some pretty phenomenal men”). It links “your truth” and “absolute truth.” It tells the audience: I have my struggle, and I know you have yours, and that connects us all in the sweep of a global struggle.
Conventional politicians can do that too, though it’s not easy or common. Barack Obama was no one’s idea of a shoo-in when he announced his campaign. But he synthesized his biography (as the “kid with a funny name”), his country’s current struggles and an idea of generational social progress into one evocative narrative — change.
People are drawn to stories for a reason: In politics as in art, they say more than a list of bullet points.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/arts/television/oprah-winfrey-president-television.html?hpw&rref=television&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
Quote
Even Bill Kristol, newly woke, couldn’t resist joining in: “Oprah: Sounder on economics than Bernie Sanders, understands Middle America better than Elizabeth Warren, less touchy-feely than Joe Biden, more pleasant than Andrew Cuomo, more charismatic than John Hickenlooper. #ImWithHer.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/opinion/oprah-2020-president-globes.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/opinion/oprah-2020-president-globes.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
What Real Smart People Say About Themselves
From the Atlantic -
How Actual Smart People Talk About Themselves
Hint: not by discussing IQ
By JAMES FALLOWS
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/how-actual-smart-people-talk-about-themselves/549878/?utm_source=&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0
~~~~~~~~~~
This article is too good to cheery pick.
Enjoy!
How Actual Smart People Talk About Themselves
Hint: not by discussing IQ
By JAMES FALLOWS
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/how-actual-smart-people-talk-about-themselves/549878/?utm_source=&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0
~~~~~~~~~~
This article is too good to cheery pick.
Enjoy!
What Would He Do?
From the New Yorker -
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2018-01-15?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&stream=top-stories
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2018-01-15?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&stream=top-stories
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Harsh Treatment in the Middle East
An excerpt from the OZY -
RISING IN THE MIDDLE EAST: FORCED LABOR FROM AFRICA
By Laura Secorun Palet
It was a Wednesday afternoon in August 2017 and dozens of people were lining up on the platform of Noor Bank metro station, in Dubai. As the train approached, a man jumped in front of it.
The police report revealed he was a 36-year-old migrant worker from Uganda. His embassy said he was likely “frustrated” by poor working conditions, a local daily wrote a few paragraphs on the case, then the news moved on.
But the suicide only punctuated a widespread new pattern of labor exploitation of thousands of African migrant workers in the Persian Gulf States. A recent report by a Ugandan parliamentary committee revealed that, in 2017, at least 35 Ugandans killed themselves in the United Arab Emirates — mostly as a result of unpaid wages and abuse.
While continued international pressure on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar has managed to improve the working conditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian migrants, recruitment agencies are now moving on to Africa.
http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/rising-in-the-middle-east-forced-labor-from-africa/82554?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01072018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610
RISING IN THE MIDDLE EAST: FORCED LABOR FROM AFRICA
By Laura Secorun Palet
It was a Wednesday afternoon in August 2017 and dozens of people were lining up on the platform of Noor Bank metro station, in Dubai. As the train approached, a man jumped in front of it.
The police report revealed he was a 36-year-old migrant worker from Uganda. His embassy said he was likely “frustrated” by poor working conditions, a local daily wrote a few paragraphs on the case, then the news moved on.
But the suicide only punctuated a widespread new pattern of labor exploitation of thousands of African migrant workers in the Persian Gulf States. A recent report by a Ugandan parliamentary committee revealed that, in 2017, at least 35 Ugandans killed themselves in the United Arab Emirates — mostly as a result of unpaid wages and abuse.
While continued international pressure on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar has managed to improve the working conditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian migrants, recruitment agencies are now moving on to Africa.
http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/rising-in-the-middle-east-forced-labor-from-africa/82554?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01072018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610
Getting Schooled on Prison Life
An excerpt from the OZY -
THE BEST BOOKS ON PRISON GANGS I READ WHILE SERVING TIME
By Seth Ferranti
When I first got locked up, in 1993, I didn’t know a thing about prison, so I had to learn fast. It was either that or end up on the wrong end of a shank. I had a release date, and I was intent on making it. Prison has its own parlance, unofficial rules and customs. As a guy from the suburbs, I needed to immerse myself in prison gang culture real quick. So I read a lot. By reading I gained insight into where the gangs were coming from, which I hoped would alleviate any potential problems. (By reading I also satisfied my insatiable appetite, which began in my youth, for the unknown and potentially dangerous.) Here are best of those books.
http://www.ozy.com/good-sht/the-best-books-on-prison-gangs-i-read-while-serving-time/82163?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01072018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610
THE BEST BOOKS ON PRISON GANGS I READ WHILE SERVING TIME
By Seth Ferranti
When I first got locked up, in 1993, I didn’t know a thing about prison, so I had to learn fast. It was either that or end up on the wrong end of a shank. I had a release date, and I was intent on making it. Prison has its own parlance, unofficial rules and customs. As a guy from the suburbs, I needed to immerse myself in prison gang culture real quick. So I read a lot. By reading I gained insight into where the gangs were coming from, which I hoped would alleviate any potential problems. (By reading I also satisfied my insatiable appetite, which began in my youth, for the unknown and potentially dangerous.) Here are best of those books.
http://www.ozy.com/good-sht/the-best-books-on-prison-gangs-i-read-while-serving-time/82163?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01072018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610
Ingenious!
https://uw-media.ydr.com/video/embed/109179352?sitelabel=reimagine&platform=desktop&continuousplay=true&placement=uw-videoassetplayerhtml5&broadcastonly=true&pagetype=video-asset
Stepping Up
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
A school sought 50 men to stand in for absent fathers at ‘Breakfast with Dads’ — nearly 600 showed up
By Valerie Strauss
Something somewhat extraordinary happened last month at Billy Earl Dade Middle School in Dallas.
The school — with a student population of nearly 900, about 90 percent from low-income families — planned to host its first “Breakfast with Dads,” according to the Dallas Morning News. About 150 male students, ages 11 to 13, signed up. But event organizers were concerned that some would attend without a male figure at their side, so they put out a call for volunteers who could serve as mentors.
“When a young person sees someone other than their teacher take interest in them, it inspires them. That’s what we want to see happen,” the Rev. Donald Parish Jr., pastor of True Lee Missionary Baptist Church and the event organizer, told the Morning News.
A call for volunteers by children’s advocate Kristina Chäadé Dove — who has served on what is called a site-based decision-making team for the middle school — was published on social media in early December.
When the day came for the event, nearly 600 men showed up to help and mentor the boys, some of them volunteering for the first time.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/01/06/a-school-sought-50-men-to-stand-in-for-absent-fathers-at-breakfast-with-dads-nearly-600-showed-up/?utm_term=.11c622323ae2
A school sought 50 men to stand in for absent fathers at ‘Breakfast with Dads’ — nearly 600 showed up
By Valerie Strauss
Something somewhat extraordinary happened last month at Billy Earl Dade Middle School in Dallas.
The school — with a student population of nearly 900, about 90 percent from low-income families — planned to host its first “Breakfast with Dads,” according to the Dallas Morning News. About 150 male students, ages 11 to 13, signed up. But event organizers were concerned that some would attend without a male figure at their side, so they put out a call for volunteers who could serve as mentors.
“When a young person sees someone other than their teacher take interest in them, it inspires them. That’s what we want to see happen,” the Rev. Donald Parish Jr., pastor of True Lee Missionary Baptist Church and the event organizer, told the Morning News.
A call for volunteers by children’s advocate Kristina Chäadé Dove — who has served on what is called a site-based decision-making team for the middle school — was published on social media in early December.
When the day came for the event, nearly 600 men showed up to help and mentor the boys, some of them volunteering for the first time.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/01/06/a-school-sought-50-men-to-stand-in-for-absent-fathers-at-breakfast-with-dads-nearly-600-showed-up/?utm_term=.11c622323ae2
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