“The Supreme Court’s Massive Blind Spot”: The Stories It Knows About Criminal Justice

Last updated on: August 22, 2015 at 2:49 pm By Eve Tushnet

Radley Balko explains, in a fascinating & depressing piece: …Each term, the Supreme Court decides a dozen or so cases in which the justices attempt to balance the public’s interest in keeping order (which manifests in the powers we give to police and prosecutors) with our constitutional rights. Yet for the vast majority of Supreme Court justices now and in recent history, you could quite literally say that the criminal justice system is merely academic. Some justices may have seen a criminal... Read more

The Kindle Version of My Novel, “Amends,” Now Available: Mysticism, Sleaze, Good Times and Bad Advice

Last updated on: August 22, 2015 at 2:24 pm By Eve Tushnet

You can purchase it (or the paperback, if you prefer books for mammals): A month in rehab would be stressful enough without a television audience. When the ramshackle cast checks in for “Amends,” a new reality series about alcoholism and recovery, they don’t know if they’ve been cast as villains or potential redemption arcs. Over the course of the show they learn what God sees when he shuts his eyes, how to appreciate the comforts of hallucination, and what it... Read more

“Slow Poison”: Ezekiel Kweku on a Lifetime of Preparing for Police Violence

Last updated on: August 22, 2015 at 2:15 pm By Eve Tushnet

…Half an hour later, I stopped for gas in a small town I’d once known. As I began to fill my car, I realized that several years before I had been to the park across the street. The woman who was not yet then my wife had driven me there one evening while we were in college. We sat there in the car talking as dusk fell, under the strange shadows made by sunset and streetlights through tree branches. I... Read more

“Why Survivor’s ‘Broadway Boyfriends’ Will Keep Singing with Hillsong Church”: Jonathan Merritt

Last updated on: August 21, 2015 at 8:47 pm By Eve Tushnet

reports: The only thing worse than a false story is a partial one. That was the real lesson behind an article published on a conservative Christian website last week claiming that the Hillsong Church was allowing an “openly homosexual couple” to lead worship. The article, about the New York City campus of the Australia-based super-church where tens of thousands worship weekly, drew from a seven-month-old article about two Survivor contestants and Broadway actors, Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly from Playbill.com.... Read more

Girls Like Violence: Short Movie Reviews

Last updated on: August 21, 2015 at 8:51 pm By Eve Tushnet

First up, a couple horror flicks; then a WWII documentary covertly filmed behind Fascist lines in Italy; then a satire/adventure tale from the first Gulf War. Don’t say I don’t have range. Stonehearst Asylum: A new asylum movie from the guy who brought us Session 9? Sure, I’ll eat it! And Stonehearst is a really solid horror flick, twisty and heartfelt and saddening. It’s a period piece, set between Christmas 1899 and New Year’s 1900, at a remote asylum in…... Read more

Prison Photography: Texas in the ’60s, Italian Theater Performers, More

Last updated on: August 21, 2015 at 10:20 am By Eve Tushnet

Clara Vannucci: “Why should I run? Where would I go? Twenty years I’ve lived in prison. Now I have something to live for. Life has meaning.” This was the unexpected and humbling response Vannucci received when she asked a prison inmate of Italy’s notorious Volterra Prison and touring theatre actor why he did not try to escape when he had so many opportunities to do so. In 1998, Armando Punzo established the Compagnia della Fortezza, a theatre troupe comprised of... Read more

An Interview w/Kelley Cutler on LGBT Youth Homelessness

Last updated on: August 17, 2015 at 4:06 pm By Eve Tushnet

which also includes her conversion story, and this powerful bit: As a convert, I have a tendency to ask a lot of questions. One question I’ve asked most LGBT Catholics I’ve met is… “Why do you stay in the Church?” Think about it, they could go right down the street to another faith community that has different teachings. So why do they stay? I have been given the same answer by every LGBT Catholic I’ve met. The Eucharist. I don’t... Read more

“Amends,” My Novel About Reality-TV Rehab, Is Available in Paperback

Last updated on: August 17, 2015 at 3:09 pm By Eve Tushnet

now! A month in rehab would be stressful enough without a television audience. When the ramshackle cast checks in for “Amends,” a new reality series about alcoholism and recovery, they don’t know if they’ve been cast as villains or potential redemption arcs. Over the course of the show they learn what God sees when he shuts his eyes, how to appreciate the comforts of hallucination, and what it looks like when a wolf fights a troll. A conservative journalist woos... Read more

“Eyeglasses with Face Unrecognition to Debut in Japan”: Wall Street Journal

Last updated on: August 17, 2015 at 3:06 pm By Eve Tushnet

reports: The ultimate disguise for the digital era is set to go on sale in Japan. The National Institute of Informatics said it has developed eyeglasses that help users protect their privacy by disabling facial-recognition systems in cameras. The Privacy Visor, created by the government-affiliated institute and an eyeglass maker in Japan’s Fukui prefecture, uses unique angles and patterns on its lens that reflect or absorb light. This prevents the recognition systems in digital cameras and smartphones from spotting a human... Read more

“The Inmate Who Exposed Florida Prisons’ Culture of Cruelty”: Completely riveting

Last updated on: August 10, 2015 at 3:47 pm By Eve Tushnet

Miami Herald profile: Harold Hempstead is a man with two conflicting narratives. One is a criminal past that sent him to prison for life. The other, a courageous pursuit of justice that has shaken the corrupt and crumbling foundation of Florida’s prison system. Hempstead didn’t set out to be a hero and, perhaps to some people, he isn’t a hero at all. But it is likely that no one would have ever known about the death of a mentally ill... Read more