Month: August 2012

Invisibility and its advantages: Why LGBT rights activists in Africa sometimes strategize to remain hidden.

August 29, 2012

A snapshot from a gay pride parade in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2006.As Ashley Currier demonstrates, Namibia and South Africa have complicatedhistories with leaders’ contradictory stances on LGBT rights. Photo from Creative Commons. BY ASHLEY CURRIERAssistant professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at University of Cincinnati When people learn that I study lesbian, gay, … More Invisibility and its advantages: Why LGBT rights activists in Africa sometimes strategize to remain hidden.

On digging up the past: Mary Casanova’s "Frozen" inspired by true events in Koochiching’s early 1900s history.

August 27, 2012

Boat landing at Ranier in 1909. Photo from Koochiching County Historical Society. BY MARY CASANOVAAward-winning author and resident of Ranier, Minnesota For two decades I’ve been haunted by an account in Hiram Drache’s Koochiching, about life in northern Minnesota in the early 1900s. A prostitute was found frozen one morning in the snow; as a … More On digging up the past: Mary Casanova’s "Frozen" inspired by true events in Koochiching’s early 1900s history.

New Orleans’s "Uncle Lionel" Batiste: Feted in death, evicted after Katrina.

August 23, 2012

BY JOHN (JAY) ARENAAssistant professor of sociology at the City University of New York’s College of Staten Island Uncle Lionel with the Treme Brass Band. “Uncle Lionel” Batiste, the legendary bass drummer and iconic figure of New Orleans music and culture, died on July 8th at the age of 80. Uncle Lionel — whose image … More New Orleans’s "Uncle Lionel" Batiste: Feted in death, evicted after Katrina.

Diane Fujino tackles new, explosive claims that Black Panther Party member Richard Aoki was an FBI informant.

August 23, 2012

Democracy Now!: Diane Fujino, author of Samurai among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life, appears on the show with Seth Rosenfeld, whose new book Subversives claims that Aoki informed on his colleagues. San Francisco Chronicle: An op-ed piece, published today, in which Fujino asks, where’s the evidence? Fred Ho weighs in: … More Diane Fujino tackles new, explosive claims that Black Panther Party member Richard Aoki was an FBI informant.

"Flourish—but not forever." On the late Gore Vidal’s longtime kinship with Christopher Isherwood.

August 15, 2012

Gore Vidal, pictured around 1945. Photoby Carl Van Vechten. BY JAMES J. BERGDean of Liberal Arts and Sciences at College of the Desert In 1947, Gore Vidal sent a copy of his soon-to-be-published novel, The City and the Pillar, to a number of established writers. Christopher Isherwood was one of them. Vidal, then 22, and … More "Flourish—but not forever." On the late Gore Vidal’s longtime kinship with Christopher Isherwood.

Next steps in health-care showdown will be states’ opportunity to shine.

August 8, 2012

Legislative efforts in Minnesota during the 1975-76 term were similarto proposals made in the Affordable Care Act. BY TOM BERGAttorney and former Minnesota legislator One result of the United States Supreme Court’s decision to largely uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is already coming into play. A thoughtful discussion of federalism and the role of … More Next steps in health-care showdown will be states’ opportunity to shine.

Frankenstein and the worm: Not "just" another essay on Frankenstein

August 1, 2012

BY JANELLE A. SCHWARTZHamilton College This past May, I attended the 2012 North American Levinas Society conference held in Anchorage, Alaska. Playing on its location in the Last Frontier, the conference was particularly interested in research focusing on “Levinas, the environment and the cultures of place,” and so it afforded me the opportunity to expand … More Frankenstein and the worm: Not "just" another essay on Frankenstein