Throw Bubbie From The Train
As someone who’s spent a fair amount of time thinking about the history of immigration, I’m always interested in the current rhetoric around immigrants, and how it’s similar to or differs from what...
View ArticleBlack struggle, white violence
The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington got me thinking about another summer anniversary that had race at its core: the 150th anniversary of the New York Draft Riots, which took place over...
View Article“Intolerance and Fearfulness”
I suppose it’s time to talk about partisanship and acrimony here, no? We’re a week into the government shutdown, and tempers are flaring. And needless to say, people are starting to talk that history...
View ArticleLavender Lake redux
In the wake of the disastrous chemical spill in West Virginia and the crazy weather we’ve been having across the US over the past month, I’ve been thinking a lot about climate change and pollution. I...
View ArticleThe Public (Anti-)Intellectual
By now, I’d imagine that you’ve read (or read about) Nicholas Kristof’s column on how academics just don’t know how to talk to regular folks. Kristof criticizes academics for being out of touch, overly...
View ArticlePlaying Flag Football, Playing Indian
My 12 year old son is an avid sports fan and hard-core athlete. This past Spring he was on two basketball teams (one in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx) as well as a nationally-ranked track team. But his...
View ArticleBending Towards Justice
A follow-up to my last post. I mentioned the situation of my son’s flag football team to a friend who’s a journalist. He offered to get in touch with a friend of his at DNAinfo.com, a site that...
View ArticleA (black) child is being beaten
This year I finally joined my family’s fantasy football league. I’m fairly indifferent to football — I’ll watch it if that’s what everyone else is doing, but the two years I was teaching in Virginia I...
View ArticleChristopher Columbus and the Poster Child
Just in time for Columbus Day, this arrived. I had no idea what it was, but it was a big, smooshy package, so I opened it up. Inside I found this: and this: (note misplaced apostrophe in “The Chinn’s)...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....