Who Can Stop Extrajudicial Killings?
I recently attended a talk by New York University professor Philip Alston, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings. While his stories were horrifyingly compelling, and his experiences important, I was left truly disheartened about the inability of the UN (or any other international body for that matter) to stop
G-20 Summit Gala At The Warhol Museum
With the G-20 Summit in progress as of yesterday, all eyes are on Pittsburgh. World leaders will gather to discuss environmental concerns, clean energy, and economic prosperity. Prior to the G-20 local media has been updating residents about security, traffic, and the army of protesters descending on the Steel City. My original plan, to stay…
Where The Jobs Went
Job Voyager is a nifty interactive visualization representing the shift in occupations in the U.S. from 1850 to 2000. Scrolling over the graphic reveals the percentage of male and female workers holding each particular job each year. The elephant on the screen is farming, which diminishes from an occupation engaged in by nearly half…
Katie Couric Salary Tops Entire NPR News Budget
Ever wonder why network news kind of, you know, sucks? Michael Manning reports for the Columbia Journalism Review that Katie Couric’s salary alone is more than the combined budgets of National Public Radio’s two main news shows: While doing some recent research on the news business, I came upon this remarkable fact: Katie Couric’s annual…
Nathan Moore Records ‘A Picture Of Hard Times’
Andrew Bruss interviewed singer-songwriter Nathan Moore for Jambase. Here’s a sample: “I guess with the new album there’s a picture of hard times, of the recession that we’re involved in, and there’s a little bit of the traveling vibe [incorporated] but from the perspective of a traveling troubadour, so there are Walmarts instead of boxcars,”…
Musician, Teacher, Activist Chris Ijima’s Legacy Celebrated
If you live in Honolulu, you might want to check out tonight’s panel discussion and screening of A Song for Ourselves, a new documentary about the late University of Hawaii law professor Chris Ijima, who died in 2005. Ijima was also a musician as well as an influential activist around Asian-American issues. A Honolulu Weekly…
Bono, Gavin Friday, Laurie Anderson To Play Carnegie Hall For (Red)
(Red), as you may be aware, is the largest private-sector contributor to The Global Fund, dedicated to eradicating AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in Africa. (Red)Nights is the organization’s star-studded series of fund-raising concerts, such as Brandi Carlile’s show tomorrow night at Chicago’s House of Blues. (Red)Nights’ October 4 lineup at Carnegie Hall, though, is…
Discrimination And Health Reform
A new HealthReform.gov report indicates that in 33 states a 22-year-old woman can be charged 50% more for a 22-year-old man’s equivalent premium. Which hits home for this particular 22-year-old woman residing in one of the states allowing such discrimination. This inequality is based on more than gender, of course. Age and health conditions also…
What Would Norman Borlaug (1914-2009) Do?
Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Prize-winning agronomist whose innovations in crop yield forever changed the field of agriculture, died in Dallas, Texas, on September 12. He was 95, humble till the end, and, above all else, a life-long exemplar of the moral rigor behind the so-called Green Revolution. Although his work saved up to a billion…
Interview: Vodou Priestess Sallie Glassman
New Orleans vodou priestess Sallie Glassman has been working tirelessly since Hurricane Katrina to ensure that the city’s unique cultural and religious legacies weren’t washed away. On October 30 her New Orleans Hope and Heritage Project presents the Anba Dlo festival, which will rock the burgeoning St. Claude Avenue Arts District. The fest’s main event…