Author: Weekly Dig
Much has been made of the importance of promoting a “positive agenda” in the run-up to the general election, of hysterically slapping yellow happy faces on the country’s growing crises to convince Midwestern voting blocks that, if elected president, this candidate will be as comfortable at their church luncheons as he would be at White House policy sessions. However, in order to swing what is looking to be a close race one way or another, the challenger also has to appeal to voters’ discontent, which – as the GOP for one has famously shown over the last 25 years – is a…
It has been one week now since our publisher publicly challenged crotchety millionaire Phoenix publisher Stephen Mindich to a one-mile footrace, and the latter has yet to respond. Meanwhile, the rest of the town is abuzz. We’ve been fielding calls all week from local media outlets, businesses and readers, all of whom are excited at the chance to see fiery lush Jeff Lawrence whale the ponytail off of the aging media mogul. Given the overwhelming response, we’ve decided to expand the event, and you’re all invited. In fact, your attendance is absolutely mandatory. The race will still take place on Marathon Monday…
Admit it. Transgendered people are fascinating. In storyteller Amy Bloom’s first book of non-fiction, Normal, the New York Times best-selling author indulges her curiosity with unabashed pride and hopes of promoting trans visibility. But are people who identify as trans willing to be the object of intellectual fascination? And given their simultaneous invisibility and gross exploitation in mainstream media, can they afford not to? Like many Americans, Amy Bloom’s early encounters with trans people occurred in the glow of her television set. A part-time psychotherapist, Bloom filled vacant afternoons with the static buzz of daytime programming and trashy talk show rinds. In Normal, you gave…
Readers of the Letters section of Time magazine’s May 26 issue may recall a heartfelt defense of President Bush’s economic guidance, penned by one Thomas J. Stokes of Fredonia, NY. “Creating jobs and fostering economic growth need to be our No. 1 national priorities,” wrote Stokes. “President Bush recognizes this and has delivered a jobs-and-growth plan that will create 1.4 million new jobs in the next two years. Twelve Senate Democrats understood the important impact tax relief has on growing our economy when Bush’s tax plan was passed into law. Why are Senate Democrats ignoring their previous support for tax reduction and…
A speak-out was held Monday at UMass Boston for Tony Van Der Meer, professor of the Africana Studies Department, who was arrested last Thursday after a skirmish with a recruiter for the National Guard. The incident began when Mr. Van Der Meer came to the defense of student Tony Naro, who was wearing a shirt that read “Military Recruiters Off My Campus.” When Van Der Meer arrived, Naro was being called names by the recruiter and was being questioned by campus police for handing out flyers for a remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. According to witnesses, the…
I am wondering if Jill Roszhart got up on the wrong side of the bed the morning she wrote her review of The Ig Nobel Prizes (#5.40). Four times she mentions how stupid editor Marc Abrahams and the scientists involved are. Maybe if she had done some research on her subject matter, she would have discovered the whole point of the Ig Nobel is first to make you laugh, then to make you think. Last Thursday night at this year’s ceremony, Jack Culvenor of Australia accepted the 2003 Ig Nobel in Physics for collaborating on the paper, “An Analysis of…
Buy local. Not a new concept but one that is not often practiced or understood. Especially given the American mindset in which we’re entitled to get whatever we want, from wherever we want, whenever we want. In the July/August 2003 issue of Utne, an article titled “Funny Money” discusses the creation of local currencies to encourage local spending, but what caught our attention was when the author stated: “Buying local helps keep your money circulating through your hometown: paying your neighbors’ salaries, boosting local government revenues and so on. But when you fork over your cash to a national chain, your…
Earlier this month, the MBTA released a new set of guidelines imposing several stringent restrictions on musicians performing in the subways. These restrictions, which are set to take effect December 1, have musicians crying foul and organizing resistance. The MBTA insists that the guidelines are necessary for safety in post-9/11 America. “It all began when a task force was put together shortly after September 11,” said MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo. The Anti-Terrorism Task Force, chaired by Robert Hayden, the MBTA’s assistant general manager of safety, first suggested banning subway performers altogether. In an effort to find a more balanced approach,…
But it is September, and with that brings plenty of German beer! And even though the original Oktoberfest is in Munich, Germany, and doesn’t start until September 20 … Boston has some awesome events coming up for you to quaff down some German brew, learn more about beer and get into the festive spirit! Ja! Anam Cara Publick House kicks things off throughout the entire month of September. Join them as they raise the pint to Oktoberfest and dedicate four draught lines to German beers, including Ayinger Octoberfest, Julius Echter Hefe Weiss, Spaten Lager and Burgerbrau Dunkel. Also highlighted are…
Among the most transcendent stories of any society are those of soldiers who risk themselves to save comrades stranded on the battlefield. It was no surprise, then, that for a few weeks in late March and early April, much of America was transfixed by the saga of 19-year-old Jessica Lynch, a simple country girl from Virginia who was captured by Iraqi soldiers then rescued in a daring midnight commando raid. Never mind that the raid was later revealed to be a piece of military theater, with our soldiers smashing beds and threatening cripples in an unguarded hospital whose doctors and…