Apt. 11D

Spreadin' Love 566

Nicholas Kristof shows Charles Murray some love.

Today, I fear we’re facing a crisis in which a chunk of working-class America risks being calcified into an underclass, marked by drugs, despair, family decline, high incarceration rates and a diminishing role of jobs and education as escalators of upward mobility. We need a national conversation about these dimensions of poverty, and maybe Murray can help trigger it. I fear that liberals are too quick to think of inequality as basically about taxes. Yes, our tax system is a disgrace, but poverty is so much deeper and more complex than that.

10 states are granted NCLB waivers. 

KJ's "Mooching Mom" post got a ton of comments. 

Our teens are better behaved than we were. 

Check out the fantastic Islamic Art collection at the Met.  Then check out Tabitha Simmons' house. 

Two good videos from the NYT: Christian Siriano and the Dancer as Athletes. 

 

Spreadin' Love 565

I am treating myself to a morning of unrepentant surfing. Here's what I've found:

Jessica Valenti writes about PTSD after the permature birth of her daughter. 

I loved the New York Times magazine article about a dog who helps a kid with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. FAS is a huge worldwide problem. Within in the US, Alaska has the most problems with FAS and has some excellent legislation to help those kids and work on education. Hmmm. Maybe I should write about that next. 

Long work hours cause depression.

The gifts of dyslexia. 

Factoid of the Day: Facebook made $3.2 billion in advertising revenue last year, 85 percent of its total revenue.

Michael Bérubé is the hero of all adjuncts. Last week, he published an essay on the MLA website with salary recommendations for adjuncts. He wrote, "...the MLA recommends minimum compensation for 2011–12 of $6,800 for a standard 3-credit-hour semester course or $4,530 for a standard 3-credit-hour quarter or trimester course. "  See more at Copy & Paste. 

Very sad about Susan Niebur, WhyMommy. 

Spreadin' Love 564

Alfre Woodard reads "Ain't I a Woman?" delivered by Sojourner Truth. 

Vikings know how to party. 

The journal boycott grows. 

Amazing letter from an emancipated slave to his master in 1865. 

Spreadin' Love 563

Turning old books into sculpture. 

A baby bat learns to fly. Waaaah. So sweet. (Thanks, lmc!) 

Check out this great slide show of reimagining vintage furniture. I'm picking up my buddy Suze from the busstop in an hour, and we're going to an estate sale. I heart junk. 

According to the New York Times, "A Pew Research Center poll this week found that the antipiracy legislation was the most closely followed news topic among Americans under the age of 30; even news of the presidential elections failed to get as much attention in this age group."

My brain blew out yesterday by the huge response to the JSTOR blog post that I wrote for the Atlantic. I spent too much time answering e-mails and tweets and I had to give myself a time-out to recover. I'm just catching up on my media diet for an hour before hitting the estate sales and then plotting my next bomb. 

Ow!

I'm geeking out over the latest Human Development Index.  1. Norway, 2. Australia, 3. Netherlands. 4. United States. ... 75. Georgia.... 184. Mozambique 185. Burundi 186. Nige 187. Congo.

Spreadin' Love 562

Billy Cundiff's Facebook page. "I was gonna tell you to go to hell, but then I realized you live in baltimore, so that would be a step up" I'm so glad that I'm not Billy Cundiff right now. 

Skiing in the Spanish Pyrennees. 

Lovely modern, DIY birdhouses. 

A pop-up Starbucks made out of shipping containers. 

Lego + Minecraft = Nerdgasm

Spreadin' Love 562

A hospital refuses to do a kidney transplant on a girl, because she is cognitively impaired. Shame. 

Porgy and Bess is getting panned, but I still want to see it. 

Spreadin' Love 561

It's a housewife day here in rainy Jersey. Our bathroom resembles a toxic waste dump. I've got my jeans rolled up and I smell like Tilex. I live the glamorous life, people! 

I'm about to burn out on this cleaning crap in about thirty seconds. So, I started surfing. Some stuff I found. 

National Geographic's Photo of the Day. 

High school should look more like college. The problem is that we need lots of good teachers to do that. Nicholas Kristof also writes about the importance of good teachers. Maybe they should let some PhDs teach high school and not make them waste time getting a teaching certificate. My modest proposal. 

Old people give the secret to a great life. 

Yeah, I don't think Khloe's a Kardashian either. 

Spreadin' Love 559

Crap at My Parents' House. Particularly like this one. 

The Reverse Gender Gap. 

Oooh. I want to check out the new extension at the Frick Museum. 

Lego for Girls. 

Spreadin' Love 558

I need to get a chunk of non-blogging writing done, so here's some linky-goodness this morning:

Should bloggers be protected by Shield Laws for journalists? (Yes.)

Map of Joisey. I'm in Christie country. Ugh. 

Why has the rate of autism gone up? The People Talk Theory. 

Hot-artichoke and spinach dip. Yum. 

The evolving role of anchor women and family. 

Best books of 2011. 

A new study finds that teachers don't like creative students. 

Spreadin' Love 556

Stalin's daughter, in her obit: "You can’t regret your fate, although I do regret my mother didn’t marry a carpenter.

The worst album covers.

Should we all go gluten-free?