Tag: forced

Serena Williams Forced Sports Journalists To Get Out Of The ‘Toy Box’ – And Cover Tennis As More Than A Game
SPORTS, VIDEO REELS

Serena Williams Forced Sports Journalists To Get Out Of The ‘Toy Box’ – And Cover Tennis As More Than A Game

Of the many outstanding components of her game, Serena Williams may best be known for her commanding serve. Those serves, unleashed over the course of a 27-year professional career, arguably heightened the power and intensity of the women’s game, forcing her opponents to game plan for each wicked volley. To those chronicling her exploits as one of the world’s best tennis players, Williams served up a different challenge. As a scholar of sports journalism, I have observed how its practitioners have struggled to find their footing when it comes to establishing consensus about what exactly constitutes good sports journalism. Williams’ presence as a Black woman in a historically white, patriarchal sport, her commitment to activism and her willingness to bare her personal challenges to the ...
Thousands Forced To Evacuate Near Los Angeles: Here’s How The 2020 Western Wildfire Season Got So Extreme
ENVIRONMENT

Thousands Forced To Evacuate Near Los Angeles: Here’s How The 2020 Western Wildfire Season Got So Extreme

Two wildfires erupted on the outskirts of cities near Los Angeles, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes Monday as powerful Santa Ana winds swept the flames through dry grasses and brush. With strong winds and extremely low humidity, large parts of California were under red flag warnings. High fire risk days have been common this year as the 2020 wildfire season shatters records across the West. More than 4 million acres have burned in California – 4% of the state’s land area and more than double the previous annual record. Five of the state’s six largest historical fires happened in 2020. In Colorado, the Pine Gulch fire that started in June broke the record for size, only to be topped in October by the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires. Oregon saw one of the mo...
Forced sterilization policies in the US targeted minorities and those with disabilities – and lasted into the 21st century
HEALTH & WELLNESS

Forced sterilization policies in the US targeted minorities and those with disabilities – and lasted into the 21st century

In August 1964, the North Carolina Eugenics Board met to decide if a 20-year-old Black woman should be sterilized. Because her name was redacted from the records, we call her Bertha. She was a single mother with one child who lived at the segregated O'Berry Center for African American adults with intellectual disabilities in Goldsboro. According to the North Carolina Eugenics Board, Bertha had an IQ of 62 and exhibited “aggressive behavior and sexual promiscuity.” She had been orphaned as a child and had a limited education. Likely because of her “low IQ score,” the board determined she was not capable of rehabilitation. Instead the board recommended the “protection of sterilization” for Bertha, because she was “feebleminded” and deemed unable to “assume responsibility for herself” or her...
5 ways parents can support their college-age children who’ve been forced to return home due to COVID-19
COVID-19, EDUCATION

5 ways parents can support their college-age children who’ve been forced to return home due to COVID-19

With many college students forced to return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tensions and arguments are bound to flare up. Here, Matthew Mayhew, an education researcher who co-authored a book about the college experience and its effect on students, offers five things parents and families of the many college students who are now learning from home should consider. 1. Empathize Whatever feelings of grief and fear are affecting you are also affecting your college students. Put yourself in their shoes – they are probably under just as much stress, if not more, as they try to complete the semester in unexpected ways. Also, many students might be questioning their decisions to go to college in the first place. Or what school will be like when they return. Can they still choose their roommates...
6 ways to build motivation to do your schoolwork now that you’re forced to learn online at home
SELF

6 ways to build motivation to do your schoolwork now that you’re forced to learn online at home

Even in normal circumstances, it can be hard to get motivated to do your schoolwork. But these are not normal circumstances. The switch to remote instruction caused by COVID-19 has been unsettling. Patterns have changed. Habits have been disrupted. Remote classes are simply different from classes that involve face-to-face instruction. As a researcher who looks at what it takes to get through college, I have a few tips that could maximize your motivation and productivity when you’re at home going to school online. 1. Guard your time You do not need large amounts of time to be productive. Instead, be intentional and focused in short blocks where you can work without interruption. Protect these open times by setting up your workspace to minimize distraction – including silencing notificatio...