Over at First Things’s Postmodern Conservative, Carl Scott posted a soul-searching review of Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Scott is quick to point out that he is a conservative professor who has deep reservations about racialism and racial politics. We must take care not to allow skepticism about the current state of play to translate to an ignorance of history. The shame is ours when we minimize the history of a people,... Read more
Astrophysicist Guillermo Gonzalez presented the case for Earth’s uniqueness in the galaxy in his book The Privileged Planet. There he notes the concept of the Earth being in the “Goldilocks Zone,” a perfect measure of distance from the sun that made it possible for life to exist without freezing or burning up. Well, recent studies have said that the Goldilocks Zone just shifted: The updated model nearly boots the Earth’s orbit out of the new “Goldilocks zone,”….the Goldilocks zone is a... Read more
While fashion has had long time connections with charity and advocacy work, it also has a history of rather brazenly exploiting sensitive subjects. Vogue‘s recent editorial featuring models with Hurricane Sandy’s first responders sounds like it could be a good idea—an homage to the regular Joes who performed feats of heroism. However, because of poor execution, a few of the pictures looked almost satirical, as if Saturday Night Live staged a faux-photo shoot designed to mock luxury fashion. The cover... Read more
Each week in The Moviegoer, Nick Olson examines new and upcoming films. There’s a recurring scene in Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret that may recall for you memories of high school Civics (or Literature or History)–any class that fostered student interaction constituted by almost unmediated opinion-giving. If your experience is like mine, then you’ll probably remember moments of heated, barely educated back-and-forths in which each *side* of a complicated argument launched rhetorical attacks with all of the bluster and surety they may have heard... Read more
Charity needs a more comprehensive vision that includes both the Church and the government. Read more
Author Sandra Miesel notes the numerous Catholic authors that have made contributions to the "speculative fiction" genre. Read more
We have a duty to identify the inbred misogyny that leads to servicewomen being assaulted in such appallingly high numbers. Read more
Remember those schoolyard challenges in which each kid is determined to prove her mom/dad is better than any other mom/dad? There is no way to win such a subjective debate, but the game is played nonetheless. So it is with the Battle of the Sexes. Men and women volley shots, some good-natured, some with ill intent. Regardless of the skill in play, there is no way to win. Challenges that assert females-are-better-than-males or vice versa may pass time but will... Read more
As the Supreme Court prepares to here DOMA and Prop 8 challenges this March, we should all reflect on the central question of the debate: What is marriage? I take the inquiry from the title of an article and a book by three great scholars, one of whom I have the pleasure of knowing personally. So consider this as a kind of teaser. The law of contracts requires parties to meet a high capacity requirement, attempting to secure a fair... Read more
In my house, we make a practice of laughing at commercials. We mock them to remind ourselves that they’re selling something, that they’re probably lying (with the help of photo editing and airbrushing), and that the products we buy don’t define us. But recent Droid commercials are so disturbing that I can barely stand to watch them, much less laugh at them. In this spot (currently airing on Hulu), a man is strapped into a chair in a dark laboratory,... Read more
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Christ and Pop Culture
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