Sunday, December 22

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Pell Grants are getting their due in the 2020 campaign
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EDUCATION

Pell Grants are getting their due in the 2020 campaign

Just as it did in the 2016 election, college affordability has become a critical issue in the 2020 election. One key difference, however, is unlike in the 2016 election, which was largely devoid of any talk about increasing Pell Grants for students from low- and moderate-income families to pay for college, this time around Pell Grants are part of the discussion. Leading Democratic candidates – Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and, most recently, Joe Biden – have floated their own proposals. Biden’s plan – released in October 2019 – distinguishes itself from those of his competitors, however, by recognizing the important role that Pell Grants do and should play in paying for higher education. Biden has proposed to double the maximum Pell Grant award from its current level ...
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We asked kids to send us their burning questions – here are 5 of our favorites from 2019
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Journalism

We asked kids to send us their burning questions – here are 5 of our favorites from 2019

But why? But why?Out of the mouths of babes… comes a never-ending stream of questions. So this year, The Conversation US jumped on a great idea dreamed up by our colleagues in Australia and launched a series of articles meant to answer questions kids ask, but that everyone probably wonders about. The Conversation’s editors collect children’s questions and then look for scholars who can provide clear answers based on their own research and expertise. Below are a few of our favorite “Curious Kids” articles from the past year. And whatever your age, if you have a question you’d like an expert to answer in 2020, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Curiosity has no age limit! Why is money green? This one could only have come from an American kid. Marek, age 12, asked the question; ...
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What happens when black Americans leave their segregated hometowns
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IN OTHER NEWS

What happens when black Americans leave their segregated hometowns

Where someone grows up is profoundly important for their life chances. It influences things like the schools they attend, the jobs, parks and community resources they have access to and the peers they interact with. Because of this comprehensive influence, one might conclude that where you grow up affects your ability to move up the residential ladder and into a better neighborhood than the one you grew up in. In a new study, my co-authors and I show that for many children, where they grow up is profoundly important for where they end up as adults. But for black Americans who move away from the cities of their youth, moving out often means moving up the residential ladder. More than half of black people in the U.S. live in highly segregated areas. Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com Segregati...
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Mothers in prison aren’t likely to see their families this Thanksgiving – or any other day
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Journalism

Mothers in prison aren’t likely to see their families this Thanksgiving – or any other day

On a mid-October morning, I drove from Philadelphia to State Correctional Institution Muncy, Pennsylvania’s oldest and largest women’s prison. Nearly two-thirds of imprisoned mothers have never received a visit from their children. Shutterstock/Sakhorn The prison, located in the north central part of the state, is set at the base of a mountain and encircled by farmlands, feed mills and the upper branch of the Susquehanna River. The 170-mile drive took nearly four hours. I was visiting Cynthia Alvarado. In 2010, a Philadelphia jury found Alvarado guilty of driving the getaway car in a robbery homicide. The judge gave her the same sentence as the man who pulled the trigger: life without the possibility of parole. I was there to discuss her case as part of project on Pennsylvania’s accompli...
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Eating bugs: Nutrition is proven but not their effects
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

Eating bugs: Nutrition is proven but not their effects

Nytimes.com last September shared that the American market for edible insects exceeded $55 million in 2017 and is expected to keep climbing as more companies create nutritionally appealing products. Bugs: We squish them, spray them and shoo them. But eat them? A large percentage of the world’s population — an estimated 2 billion people, in fact — already eat insects because of nutritional content and accessibility, according to anthropology resource sapiens.org: “In Thailand, street vendors push carts stocked with trays of deep-fried grasshoppers, water bugs and other seasoned insects. In Mexico, chefs mix cream-colored ant eggs into omelets and whip up guacamole with crunchy grasshoppers. In Zambia, the Congo and other parts of Africa, locals snack on insects harvested from the wild.” How...
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Journalism

Every Southern cooking enthusiast worth their salt needs these 8 books by African-American chefs and authors

To get a taste of the true history of Southern cuisine, one must look to the work of African-American chefs, home cooks and writers. The eight cookbooks below are a crucial collection for any serious Southern cook. If you don't have these in your kitchen already, get them in your shopping cart now. There simply is no denying the impact that countless African-Americans have had in shaping food culture in our country. In the South specifically, the influence of black Americans is easily felt — and consumed — in everyday staples such as braised collard greens, candied yams and fried catfish. While other Southern chefs have received a lot of acclaim for bringing their interpretation of Southern food to the masses, this beloved cuisine was built in the kitchens of black folks below the Mason...
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IN OTHER NEWS

Black Mothers Change the Narrative By Telling Their Stories

Black women have been poorly represented in the mainstream. So a new yearlong fellowship prepares women to redefine the stories that are being told and control who gets to tell them. The wrenching image of a Black mother clinging to her 1-year-old son as police officers and security guards at a public benefits office in Brooklyn ripped him from her arms went viral recently. Child endangerment and resisting arrest charges against the 23-year-old Brooklyn mom were later dropped. Now, Jazmine Headley is speaking out. What happened to her, Headley told The New York Times, is not isolated; it happens to many people. “My story is the only one that made it to the surface.” “The surface” Headley is referring to is mainstream media. The charges against her were dropped and she re...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Unique Arts Festival Where Performers Play for Their Health Care

O+ was created to address the lack of affordable medical care for a chronically underinsured population: artists and musicians. When Christopher Stott-Rigsbee was attacked by assailants in November 2010, he got a concussion, bruised ribs, gravel embedded in his gums, cuts all over his face, and he lost three teeth. But the real pain came later. The lead singer and songwriter for the Plattsburgh, New York-based band Adrian Aardvark, Stott-Rigsbee started having panic attacks and anxiety; after four years, he finally began seeing a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with PTSD and depression. “It has taken years for me to start the recovery process, and I will be working to recover my self-worth, masculinity, and my faith in humanity and society for a long time,” Stott-Rigsbee sa...
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