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Behind the Chicago Teachers’ Strike: Why Talks Must Be Made Public
Spoiler alert: when Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new feature film, Won’t Back Down, hits theaters later this month, its plot hinges on the forcing of school officials to make big decisions in front of parents...
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Elizabeth Warren, Scott Brown and the Myth of Race
If, as David Axelrod once said, “Campaigns are like an MRI for the soul,” then what do we see when we peer into the campaigns of Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown and his challenger, liberal...
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Why Banning Conversion Therapy May Do More Harm Than Good
On September 29, Jerry Brown signed into law a bill banning therapy that purportedly “cures” gays for minors in the state of California. Brown had previously Tweeted that these practices, known as...
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Oedipus Chef: A Modern Cook’s Conflicted Relationship with His Mother
Let’s say you’re Italian. Your mother made “sunday gravy,” a rich meat sauce cooked for hours and hours on the back burner. There is sausage in there, and meatballs, and tomatoes, and lots of garlic....
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Debate Discomfort: Was There Too Much Tension?
If I hadn’t spent much of my life in the political process, I might have switched to the ball game. More than anything else, I found last night’s debate uncomfortable and often unpleasant to watch. The...
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Viewpoint: Arming Teachers Isn’t the Answer
The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School has led to a national conversation about guns, with many arguing that access to these weapons is the problem and others claiming that arming teachers—or in...
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Will ‘Stalking Apps’ Be Stopped?
Last year, owners of the Leaf, Nissan’s hot new electric car, got an unfortunate surprise along with their phenomenal 99 miles per gallon: a sharp-eyed security blogger revealed that Leafs secretly...
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Does “Stress” Hide Deeper Social Problems?
Americans have been worrying about the negative health impact of our fast pace of life since the Industrial Revolution, but in the last few decades, the concept of “stress” has spread to almost every...
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Viewpoint: Stop and Frisk Isn’t the Problem
We’re at at again. The shooting death three weeks ago of 16-year old Kimani Gray in New York City has led to the usual street rallies decrying the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy. Hundreds attended his...
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Whatever Happened to the “Common Good”?
There is an ancient idea that we have lost, but can and should find again. It’s called simply the common good. It goes back many centuries, but the need for a new dialogue about what it means and what...
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Viewpoint: ADHD Isn’t A Metaphor
Let’s say that rates of ADHD diagnoses among kids in America are continually rising. Let’s say that stimulant medication use — both prescribed by doctors, and as the result of illegal trade with...
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Banning the Term ‘Illegal Immigrant’ Won’t Change the Stigma
Last week the Associated Press announced that it would ban the term illegal immigrant from its stylebook. They are among many organizations and immigration advocates of late who argue that the term is...
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Who’s Behind the Boston Bombings? Some Initial Clues
Today, after the attack at the Boston Marathon, Boston is a changed city. People are stunned and sad, desperate to know who would attack us and why. The FBI is not ready to tell us much. But there are...
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Viewpoint: In the War Over Christianity, Orthodoxy Is Winning
Small wonder, given the harrowing times recently, that news about a long-running property fight over a picturesque church in northern Virginia escaped most people’s notice. But the story of the...
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New Availability of Plan B Makes Philadelphia Abortion Doc an Anachronism
Kermit Gosnell — the doctor who is on trial for killing a patient, four newborn babies, and performing numerous illegal abortions in a cesspool of a clinic in West Philadelphia—is many things. He is...
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Viewpoint: Don’t Call The Planet ‘Mother’ Earth
As soon as reminders for Mother’s Day pop up on calendars, environmentally minded writers get invitations to weigh in on our love for Mother Earth. I’m refusing them all. Referring to our planet as...
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Viewpoint: The Breast-Feeding Police Are Wrong About Formula
Pediatric researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have just discovered something that anthropologists (and moms around the world) have known for years. You do not have to go all or...
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Forget the IRS — There’s an Olive-Oil Scandal Afoot
We have an oil problem on our hands, and it has nothing to do with renewable energy and carbon emissions. When experts convened recently at the 104th American Oil Chemists’ Society annual meeting,...
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