CALL ME MAGGIE

the Atlantic

  • Caring about the immunocompromised

    Good article for thinkering about an ethics of care for those who are most vulnerable during this pandemic… Close to 3 percent of U.S. adults take immunosuppressive drugs, either to treat cancers or autoimmune disorders or to stop their body from rejecting… Continue reading

    Caring about the immunocompromised

  • The Only Animals With Chins

    Pigs don’t have chins. Nor do any animals, except for us. The lower jaw of a chimpanzee or gorilla slopes backwards from the front teeth. So did the jaw of other hominids like Homo erectus. Even Neanderthal jaws ended in… Continue reading

    The Only Animals With Chins

  • The Racial History of American Swimming Pools

    Yesterday, I posted about a police overreaction in McKinney, Texas, to some kids who racist neighbors did not think should be using the community pool. This story from the Atlantic gives a bit more background to this long running issue… Continue reading

    The Racial History of American Swimming Pools

  • What Can You Do With a Humanities PhD Anyway?

    This piece by Elizabeth Segran in The Atlantic (March 31) offers some food for thought if you are entering, already in, or find yourself a director of graduate studies in a humanities program. Here are some highlights that I found… Continue reading

    What Can You Do With a Humanities PhD Anyway?

  • We are dead stars | the Atlantic

    The buddy-friend-guy just played this for me. Really nice account of our relation to the cosmic order. Every atom in our bodies was fused in an ancient star. NASA astronomer Dr. Michelle Thaller explains how the iron in our blood… Continue reading

    We are dead stars | the Atlantic

  • It Is Expensive to Be Poor – Barbara Ehrenreich – The Atlantic

    The Great Recession should have put the victim-blaming theory of poverty to rest. In the space of only a few months, millions of people entered the ranks of the officially poor—not only laid-off blue-collar workers, but also downsized tech workers,… Continue reading

    It Is Expensive to Be Poor – Barbara Ehrenreich – The Atlantic

  • The NRA & the Black Panthers “in dialog”: The Secret History of Guns

    Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences. If we have differences, let us differ in the closet; when we come out in front, let us not have… Continue reading