Journalism – Page 40

How to Travel at Home: Finding New Routes Through Our Daily Lives

4Apr

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Journalism

How to Travel at Home: Finding New Routes Through Our Daily Lives

Many of us don’t look up from our smartphones long enough to notice what’s around us. Grandpa Schiffman joshed that he was taking us grandkids on an ocean voyage to Europe. The round trip on the Staten Island Ferry to the city’s farthest-flung borough and back to lower Manhattan took a little over an hour and cost a nickel, a bargain even in the late 1950s. While Europe would have to wait, New York Harbor was unusual enough for kids brought up in the asphalt jungle. There was a limitless bowl of sky above us, swift tides, salt-tanged breezes, even wildlife: cormorants diving headlong into the waves and seagulls snagging the chunks of baked pretzel we tossed them. There were boats too of all sizes—tugs and barges, a fireboat fountaining rainbowed streams of water, and an ocea...

Reasons to celebrate: Where have all these ‘national days’ suddenly come from?

4Apr

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Journalism

Reasons to celebrate: Where have all these ‘national days’ suddenly come from?

While many designations are quirky, others are beneficial — such as June 23 being National Hydration Day — or historic — Day of the Seafarer, June 25. June 20 was Ugliest Dog Day; the 22nd, National Kissing Day. June is considered the national month for candy, soul food, country cooking and dairy. Every day of every month, in fact, is a reason to focus on and “celebrate” something. While many designations are quirky, others are beneficial — such as June 23 being National Hydration Day — or historic — Day of the Seafarer, June 25. Just who decides these daily themes is a historic hodgepodge. From 1870 to 1983, U.S. Congress voted on 11 official “national” days, or federal days, some of which are recognized wholly by non-federal businesses while others less so: New Year’s Day, Martin Luthe...

9Jul

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Journalism

Ease doctor visit stress for kids

For children older than toddlers, anticipation is sometimes the worst. Most children experience some anxiety regarding doctors’ visits. For children older than toddlers, anticipation is sometimes the worst. However, Parents magazine reminds that once the ordeal is over, children move quickly onto the next thing. A few of Parents’ recommended tips for minimizing stress include: - Prepare. Read books about visiting a doctor. A few are “The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor,” “Say ‘Ahhh!‘: Dora Goes to the Doctor” and “What to Expect When You Go to the Doctor.” Role play with a toy doctor kit; “listen” to heartbeat and “take” blood pressure. Use a scale to show how weight is measured. - Stay calm and relaxed. If a child sees a parent or guardian comfortably talking about the doctor visit, an...

How Do We Teach “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Honestly Confront Racism?

9Jul

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Journalism

How Do We Teach “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Honestly Confront Racism?

Harper Lee’s novel is the closest thing America's had to required reading. But the book’s failings in confronting racism are more apparent than ever to White educators—and Black ones wonder what took so long. I am sitting in my eighth-grade civics class learning what it is to be an American. Around me, the cool kids wear Abercrombie & Fitch, and I do too, ever since I persuaded my parents to buy me some. (I cycle relentlessly through my three precious items; one is a dark olive-green “muscle T” whose purpose is entirely lost on my slight frame.) Our textbook cover bears the rippling glory of the stars and stripes. In it, we learn about the three branches of government and major Supreme Court cases. We read and discuss novels like Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingb...

Race Against Time: How White Fear of Genetic Annihilation Fuels Abortion Bans

5Jul

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Journalism

Race Against Time: How White Fear of Genetic Annihilation Fuels Abortion Bans

The recent spate of anti-abortion legislation is rooted in White extinction anxiety and carries on a long tradition of White people controlling the lives and reproduction of people of color. Last year, White people constituted 60% of the U.S. population, down from about 90% in 1950. It’s projected that by 2050, they will be the new minority and people of color will be the majority—a nightmarish prediction to some White people. Sen. Lindsey Graham voiced his concern of a demographic dilution at the 2012 Republican convention, when he said, “The demographics race we’re losing badly … [Republicans are] not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” Graham’s comments relay what social scientists and antiracism activists call “White Extinction...

26Jun

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Journalism

Taxing the Rich Starts With Knowing Who They Are

Not all the rich are created equal, and it will take different policy approaches to redistribute some of their wealth. When we talk about the wealthy, who are we really referring to? Is it the billionaires on private jets? The neighbors up the street who seem to always have the flashiest new cars and exotic vacation photos? This election season, a number of candidates have floated proposals to tax the wealthy to address extreme inequality and finance new spending programs. Often left unsaid is which segment of the wealthy they’re referring to and why taxing the very rich is necessary for everyone to prosper, both to raise revenue and put a brake on the undemocratic concentration of wealth and power. The truth is we need these taxes on the rich, now more than ever. To get t...

4Apr

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Journalism

Here’s What Fat Acceptance Is—and Isn’t

Sizeism is everywhere in our culture, from the workplace to the playground. It’s time to change that. Fat-shaming is stitched into the fabric of American culture. In fact, it’s so embedded in our everyday lives that we don’t often recognize when we’re perpetuating fat-phobia, or the act of discriminating against someone because of the size of their body. For instance, Michigan is the only state that has passed a law that forbids employers from penalizing fat people in the workplace, which means that in 49 states people of size can be fired, denied promotions, and paid less than their straight-size counterparts. While children are often taught to use the Golden Rule to guide their interactions with all people, especially those who are different from they, unfortunately, tre...

20Jun

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Journalism

On Reparations, the Question Isn’t If, but When and How

The House subcommittee hearing held on Juneteenth is the result of centuries of work. We will never achieve racial justice in America if this country does not examine the impact and legacy of slavery—and make strides toward achieving reparatory justice. —Jeffery Robinson, deputy legal director, ACLU For nearly 250 years, enslaved Africans and their descendants toiled on the land and in the homes of White enslavers in the United States. They planted, fed, weeded, mowed, and harvested crops that were not theirs; cared for and fed children they did not birth; and cleaned homes and tended lands they did not own. We’re all familiar with this uncomfortable but sanitized image of U.S. slavery. The harsh reality is that too many of the more than 300,000 African men, women, and...

12Jun

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Journalism

Why the Demand for Black Bone Marrow Donors Is High—and Awareness Is Low

For Black people, whose donor pool is exceptionally small, addressing racism in the medical profession is crucial to finding solutions. Every week for the past five years, Destiny Worthington has sat in a chair watching donated blood pump through narrow plastic tubing into her body. At the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles County, she spends up to six hours every week getting blood work done followed by blood and platelet transfusions. When she was 15 years old, Worthington went to a required routine physical for her softball team. At the time, she had a lot of bruising on her body, so doctors ran blood tests for leukemia, various types of anemia, and other blood disorders. “I actually wasn’t diagnosed back then. They just knew that something was wro...

“When They See Us” Is Triggering. That’s Why You Should Watch It

2Apr

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Journalism, VIDEO REELS

“When They See Us” Is Triggering. That’s Why You Should Watch It

Ava DuVernay’s Netflix miniseries pulls back the layers of a corrupt, barbaric system that devalues Black and Brown lives. Ava DuVernay’s new four-part series When They See Us, which had its debut on Netflix last week, was hard to watch. I knew the story of the “Central Park Five” before watching the miniseries. I was a ninth-grader in April 1989 when the story of the brutal rape of a White woman jogger in New York’s Central Park went national. I was 15 years old when young boys around my age were sentenced: Yusef Salaam, 15, Antron McCray, 15, Kevin Richardson, 14, and Raymond Santana Jr., 14, to juvenile detention centers; and Korey Wise, 16, to an adult prison for the crime, which none of them committed. Because I knew the story and the outcome, my guard was down as I ...