The World is Flat
Jen Sorensen is a nationally-syndicated political cartoonist whose work has appeared in The Progressive, The Nation, Daily Kos, Austin Chronicle, NPR, Ms., Politico, and many other publications. The recipient of the 2014 Herblock Prize and a 2013 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, she tweets at [...]
Coach K, Sports Fandom, and More on My Redneck Past
From early childhood through young adulthood, my wife and I lived lives dedicated to sports—she a real and successful athlete (state champion, MVP, honorable mention All-American), and me a sincere, hard-working wanna-be. Our daughter was born in 1989, and I am sure we almost immediately [...]
Lani Guinier on our Ivy League Meritocracy Lie
If you were a fan of the HBO series “The Wire,” you likely remember the scene in the fourth season focused on Baltimore public schools where the term “juking the stats” defined how corporate-driven reengineering of the public sphere has distorted public institutions so [...]
5 Reasons Why Senator Alexander’s Education Bill [and What Is Today] Fails Communities of Color
Earlier this month, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) proposed a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA. The ESEA is seven years overdue for a reauthorization. The process presents an opportunity to improve U.S. school systems for communities of color. Unfortunately, Sen. [...]
Tell Congress: Student Needs, Not Testing, Should Be The Priority!
In 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson, a former teacher, first signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), better known today as No Child Left Behind, he envisioned the law as a part of the national War of Poverty, confident [...]
I was Six When a Man First Touched Me. I Didn’t Speak Up Until I was an Adult
There’s a reason why, when a woman whispers her story of sexual abuse, when she writes about it, when she Tweets about it or carries a mattress around on her back, calls the police or a rape crisis line, I believe her. The reason is [...]
An Open Letter to President Barack Obama — Re: Bloody Sunday
THE BLOODY SUNDAY MARCH MUST AND WILL TAKE PLACE IN SELMA ON SUNDAY, MARCH 8TH Dear President Obama… We love you. We respect you. We support you. We strongly supported your becoming President and have continued to support you through all the trying times. [...]
Bloody Sunday March Will Go On — Sunday, March 8, 2015
BLOODY SUNDAY MARCH WILL GO ON ON THE SACRED DAY OF SUNDAY MONTGOMERY, AL – “The Bloody Sunday March is on for Sunday, March 8th,” said Sen. Hank Sanders (D-Selma). “We appreciate the President’s coming to Selma on Saturday, March 7th, but the Bloody [...]