HELIOLITH

The people of Iran were peacefully protesting Ahmadinejad’s coup over a week before CNN bothered to begin reporting on it.  Their outrage over this stolen election brings tears to my eyes, and their determination in taking to the streets to voice their opposition inspires me.  Particularly beautiful are the themes of martyrdom that run through […]

Much to my delight, I just discovered ProCon! This nonprofit provides clear arguments on both sides of a bunch of different controversial topics. They articulate their mission as “Promoting education, critical thinking, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a simple, nonpartisan primarily pro-con format.” I stumbled upon it after reading a footnote in […]

A fellow in Canada just came up with the sweetest idea that dovetails two different websites I love: Found and Post Secret.  Matt collects and posts photographs from lost cameras that the finders send in to connect the orphaned pictures with their long lost owners.  Just a lovely idea.  Wedding photos, teenagers plastered at Lollapalooza, […]

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, in a clever retort, asserted that “illegal migrants really degrade the environment” yesterday when his border fence was criticized by environmentalists who are concerned that a fence will disrupt wildlife habitat in southwest U.S. & northern Mexico. I struggle to see how our leaders can support the idea of a fence. […]

(Ok, so I made up bloguista; but doesn’t it sound better than ‘blogger’ in Spanish?) I haven’t really had much of a chance to read it very thoroughly, but Antonio Ungar is blogging now about daily life in Israel as a Muslim convert. He’s a Colombian journalist, and Semana.com just launched his blog, Diaro de […]

Shock jock humor is to Talula as horror movies are to Michael. I don’t understand the point. I realize a lot of people listen to radio asswipes like Don Imus and Howard Stern, and that a lot of the people who listen actually agree that he’s a putz. But I fail to see the excitemment […]

A professor of mine just forwarded around an op-ed written by Professor David Cole of Georgetown Law School from the Washington Post about laptops in the classroom: Laptops vs. Learning, and I couldn’t agree more. I just wrote the author back with my thoughts, which I thought I’d post here.
Dear Professor Cole,
I appreciated your […]

We interrupt this week of perpetual studies with the following news: Mark Wilkerson is badass. He deserted the US Army for Canada after being denied concientious objector status, and has just returned to turn himself in after a year and a half. I listened to his story this morning on WNYC. He talked about his […]

Back in Brooklyn after six lovely days swimming in in the lake with beautiful B, my niece, and five gorgeous nights dancing on the deck with screaming G. How I love them so. This was the second of two incredible vacations for me over the past few weeks. I had only just returned from Europe […]

The NPR morning news today reported that some parents are upset that the military checks into the files of high schoolers ages 16 to 18. The reporter stated that they may look into the students’ grades, ethnicity, and home addresses in preparation for recruiting them when they come of age. The military has access to […]