Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Today I have piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education on Catholic universities and colleges and their leadership on providing support for undocumented students. I’ve met so many amazing students and I am deeply proud of the role my own institution is playing in this important matter. Please read and share the article. I see this …
I am halfway done with my copy-edits on my scholarly book. One more week, I hope. Two major themes from this week’s writing: I’ve been working more on Eden Foods. In one piece, I argued that if we can’t win this fight, on our turf, we might as well pack it in. I think I …
“When Garner refused orders to put his hands behind his back, one of the plainclothes cops, wearing a green T-shirt with a yellow No. 99 on the back, got behind him and put him in a chokehold, the footage shows. A struggle ensued as three uniformed officers joined in on the arrest, knocking the man …
Over the last few months, I have been focusing more on “the cliff,” which is a way some disability advocates refer to turning 22 in our system. Until then, special education provides support for school, training, and even certain kinds of therapies and other activities throughout a child’s life. At 22, nothing. Work is hard …
Like many stores, Central Co-op in Seattle became aware of Eden Foods’ anti-birth-control policies last year. Like many stores, they decided not to boycott them, despite pressure from their consumers, because, “we decided not to join a boycott over this one point of divergence. Your strong stance on product safety and GMO issues precluded a …
Rebecca Schuman has a new piece up at Slate on peer review. She works through the usual, and often VERY TRUE, complaints about cruel, self-centered, or just very late reviews. Her comments track with the experiences of many of my friends. One, writing about a third-tier European city, had her book booted from her publisher of choice …
Today I have one last post on Eden Foods. I wrote about it last Friday for CNN, there’s a new piece up on Forbes that covers the struggle, but I worry about it slipping away out of view. If people concerned about women’s rights cannot stop Eden Foods through exerting their consumer power, then we might …
From Digby, we have another example of what I call the cult of compliance. In Springfield, MO, a panhandler in a Walmart parking lot, Eric David Butts, was confronted by a police officer, Jason Schuck. Butts turned to run away and Schuck drew his weapon and shot him in the back. Later, he claimed that he …
Unexpectedly, Eden Foods became my big story of the last few weeks. It introduced my writing to thousands of new readers, for which I am grateful. I came to this topic because it’s about language and power. Like any consumer, I wrote Eden to complain, got their response, and thought, “grotesque,” now there’s an interesting …
As I continue to write about language, politics, and ethics, I thought it would be useful to place statements all on one page, without comment. Eden Foods, Whole Foods, The Wedge Co-Op, Willy Street Co-op. I also have links to major reporting on the topic, especially from a year ago when their first suit was …