trouble

12Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CELEBRITIES

Trouble With Insomnia – Or, What I Owe To Buffy

I owe everything to Buffy, she burbled, holding Oscar tightly to her heaving bosom... Well, perhaps not everything. That would really be too much blame to lay at the feet of the diminutive vampire slayer. But the wonders and joys of Sunnydale and the supernatural, vampire infested universe created by Joss Whedon, has certainly done a lot for me. For starters it's allowed me to sleep at stressful points of my life for the last decade or so of it. For some people a hot milky drink does the trick during insomniac phases, for others counting sheep is what it's all about. (Why sheep? Why not velociraptors?) For me the white noise of a TV running quietly in the background is what allows me to sleep when nothing else will. But not just any old program will do. (Old editions of Countdown definite...

Middle-Class Millennials With Student Debt Have Trouble Buying Groceries Too, It Isn’t A Problem Just For The Poor

9Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Middle-Class Millennials With Student Debt Have Trouble Buying Groceries Too, It Isn’t A Problem Just For The Poor

Cassandra M. Johnson, Texas State University When I teach undergraduate and graduate students about food insecurity, I sometimes mention that my perspective is based not only on professional expertise but also on my personal experience. Food insecurity might sound like the same thing as hunger, but that’s not the case. The somewhat technical term food insecurity applies when people can’t get the food they need for themselves or their families because of a lack of money or other resources. Food security, on the other hand, is more of an ideal – being able to access culturally preferred foods to support an optimal diet and health. This is my personal take on the gray area between food security and food insecurity – and how student loan debt blurs the line between low-income and middle-inc...

Americans Yet Again Have Trouble Understanding What Multiracial Means With Kamala Harris

22Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE

Americans Yet Again Have Trouble Understanding What Multiracial Means With Kamala Harris

News that Sen. Kamala Harris was Joe Biden’s choice for the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nominee drove speculation and argumentation about her identity. The big question appeared to be, “Is Kamala Harris truly African American?” There were numerous articles and opinion pieces about whether Harris can legitimately claim to be African American; the authenticity of her Black identity if she has an Indian mother; what it means for her to be biracial; and other articles opining and speculating about her racial, ethnic and even national identity. Harris, the daughter of immigrant parents from Jamaica and India, identifies as Black/African American while also embracing her Indian heritage. Yet the questions in social media and news outlets swirling around her identities demonstrate a conti...

With Kamala Harris, Americans yet again have trouble understanding what multiracial means

2Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

With Kamala Harris, Americans yet again have trouble understanding what multiracial means

News that Sen. Kamala Harris was Joe Biden’s choice for the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nominee drove speculation and argumentation about her identity. The big question appeared to be, “Is Kamala Harris truly African American?” There were numerous articles and opinion pieces about whether Harris can legitimately claim to be African American; the authenticity of her Black identity if she has an Indian mother; what it means for her to be biracial; and other articles opining and speculating about her racial, ethnic and even national identity. Harris, the daughter of immigrant parents from Jamaica and India, identifies as Black/African American while also embracing her Indian heritage. Yet the questions in social media and news outlets swirling around her identities demonstrate a conti...

Employment gaps cause career trouble, especially for former stay-at-home parents

7Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Employment gaps cause career trouble, especially for former stay-at-home parents

Understanding how employment gaps can affect careers is especially relevant given the recent policy discussions around paid family leave and childcare access in the U.S. I am a sociologist whose research examines what happens to people’s careers after they take time out of work. I find that gaps in employment can negatively affect future career prospects in multiple ways, particularly for those who left work for childcare responsibilities. No support for working parents Decisions to leave work often happen because working parents in the U.S. lack support. With no mandated paid parental leave, the high costs of childcare, long work hours and the spillover of work into other parts of life – for example, checking emails or being “on call” – parents in the U.S. may find themselves in a bind....