July 23, 2014

"Crack Mississippi, and you crack the whole South."

In 1964, less than 7% of Mississippi’s African Americans were registered to vote, compared to between 50 and 70% in other southern states. In many rural counties, African Americans made up the majority of the population and the segregationist white establishment was prepared to use any means necessary to keep them away from the polls and out of elected office. As Mississippian William Winter recalls, “A lot of white people thought that African Americans in the South would literally take over and white people would have to move, would have to get out of the state.”
This summer fifty years ago well over a thousand volunteers went to Mississippi to help register as many African-Americans as possible to vote, in the Freedom Summer, which would end with at least seven people murdered for their support for the campaign. For PBS's American Experience series, director Stanley Nelson has created a movie about the campaign, which you can watch online. A transcript, introduction and other resources are also available.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:29 PM PST - 11 comments

"a whisper of perfection in an otherwise cruel and inhumane world"

Beyoncé's "Rosie the Riveter" Instagram photo is causing internet waves. The Independent has a more substantive, historically concerned article.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:22 PM PST - 289 comments

Geraldine Ferraro, first woman nominated as a major party VP, in 1984

There were a number of notable firsts for women elected to office as early as the late 1800s, and there is a significant history of women running for president and vice president in the United States, but until 1984, no woman had been nominated to as vice president in one of the major parties. 30 years ago, the Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale announced Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, and she accepted the nomination to resounding roar of excitement (another version, on YouTube; transcript). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:31 PM PST - 17 comments

Comedians in Cars Getting Cocaine

"The Soup" host Joel McHale takes a classic 1959 Ford Skyliner to new heights with "Veep" star Tony Hale. Comedians in Cars Getting Cocaine.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 6:16 PM PST - 28 comments

"wait for a bunch of old ideas to die in order for a church to live"

A Church Divided Over Marriage Equality
The Church’s rules against homosexuality have divided Methodists for forty years. Attempts to abolish or even soften these rules have failed at every General Conference, the quadrennial meeting of the denomination, since they were first added, in 1972, to the Book of Discipline, which contains the Church’s laws and doctrine.

"And They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love"
"Methodists should call meeting on gay divide, pastor says"
"Ranks of defiant United Methodist clergy rise"
"Defrocking of Minister Widens Split Over Gays"
posted by davidstandaford at 4:56 PM PST - 22 comments

"Be excellent to each other" is not a code of conduct

Why Silicon Valley Needs The Coder Grrrls Of Double Union, The Feminist Hacker Space
The lack of women in the tech world isn't just a pipeline problem--it's one of rampant sexism. Enter the haven of Double Union.
[more inside]
posted by Lexica at 4:44 PM PST - 85 comments

Cardboard Stories

Rethink Homelessness asked a bunch of homeless people from Orlando to write down something about themselves that people who walk by them wouldn't otherwise know.
posted by gman at 3:41 PM PST - 45 comments

Lasciarti non è possibile

"Ancora Tu" is an Italian phrase roughly translating to "You Again". It's also the name of a classic 1976 pop song by Lucio Battisti and Mogol. [more inside]
posted by rollick at 2:39 PM PST - 2 comments

slurp!

inside Sun Noodle, the secret weapon of america's best ramen shops29 ramen shops serving sun noodles across the US

but, have we taken ramen too far? [more inside]
posted by yeoz at 2:32 PM PST - 84 comments

I am a natural sportsballer. Right here. Built to sportsball. Watch out.

Which sport are you physically most suited for? Find out with some help from the BBC!
posted by phunniemee at 1:56 PM PST - 129 comments

Guy Walks Into a Bar

And the bartender's, like, "No kidding. You think I wished for a twelve-inch pianist?" So the guy processes this. (SLNewYorker) [more inside]
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:51 PM PST - 138 comments

Theater Map of Ukraine

"...it's social media that has helped build the public case against Russia" in Ukraine. One example is liveuamap.com, who "gather information from open sources and put it on the [Google] map" using familiar Google Maps markers for a Reds (Pro-Russian) vs Blues (Pro-Ukraine) theater map. Shaded regions indicate the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR; Red), Lugansk People's Republic (LNR; Purple), the MH17 crash site (Yellow), and the MH17 ceasefire zone (green). The posts linked to by each marker include a link to the source via a chain icon at the bottom of the post.
posted by jwells at 12:55 PM PST - 13 comments

Never Give Up! Never Surrender!

Galaxy Quest: The Oral History
posted by Nimmie Amee at 12:54 PM PST - 144 comments

This place is full of Raphaels

"I was a nervous wreck because I was about to betray my beloved grandmother and visit her darkest secret. Her secret had a name, and I was going to see him." (SLNYTimes: Modern Love)
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:35 PM PST - 14 comments

The nation's top colleges are turning our kids into zombies.

It's hardly breaking news, but more and more people are questioning the race to the Ivy League that in some cases begins as early as preschool. And in addition to perpetuating the increasingly-rigid class structure in the US, the Ivy League colleges are inadvertently creating and admitting students who have no idea how to really take advantage of the resources available to them. So writes William Deresiewicz in his article, "Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League" from the New Republic:
So extreme are the admission standards now that kids who manage to get into elite colleges have, by definition, never experienced anything but success. The prospect of not being successful terrifies them, disorients them. The cost of falling short, even temporarily, becomes not merely practical, but existential. The result is a violent aversion to risk. You have no margin for error, so you avoid the possibility that you will ever make an error. Once, a student at Pomona told me that she’d love to have a chance to think about the things she’s studying, only she doesn’t have the time. I asked her if she had ever considered not trying to get an A in every class. She looked at me as if I had made an indecent suggestion.
See also Deresiewicz's earlier article, "The Disadvantages of an Elite Education" from American Scholar, previously discussed on the blue.
posted by math at 12:34 PM PST - 138 comments

“the Journal that Blunts the Cutting Edge"

All of The Baffler's back issues are available online, for free. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:30 AM PST - 30 comments

No one wants nothing written about what they’ve written.

Look: it’s not that I’m a dick when it comes to this stuff. It’s that I like to think that I have standards based on exposure to the interdependent duo of lit and life. But if I decide not to wuss out and instead uphold my particular notion of standards, I’m a dick, and being a dick could lead to dickish reviews of my own stuff from Shane Jones, his friends, and friends of the publisher. George Saunders told us all to “err in the direction of kindness.” But is this essay/review I’m writing unkind? Is it selfish? Is it generous? Is a kindness policy maybe too simple?
Lee Klein worries about small-press book reviewing in an ambivalent, lukewarm take on Shane Jones's new novel Crystal Eaters (excerpt) that others have, all the same, called cowardly and dickish.
posted by RogerB at 9:49 AM PST - 39 comments

U Remind Me of a Year That I Once Knew...

Throwing a theme party? Need some background music whilst checking out your ex's facebook pics? Do you pine for times gone by? Step into the Nostalgia Machine!
posted by stinkfoot at 8:35 AM PST - 104 comments

Robot, Heal Thyself

A robot with a broken leg learns to walk again.
posted by tocts at 8:28 AM PST - 18 comments

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the Short Life of the Moreland Commission

A "pulled-back subpoena was the most flagrant example of how the commission, established with great ceremony by Mr. Cuomo in July 2013, was hobbled almost from the outset by demands from the governor’s office." (SLNYT, ~6800 words)
posted by Chutzler at 7:57 AM PST - 33 comments

It's pure bullshit, sweetie.

On its 15th Anniversary, Buzzfeed takes a look back at cult comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous while Bustle compares Drop Dead Gorgeous pageant moments with real life pageant moments.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:07 AM PST - 55 comments

Stimulating cross-border Cupertino sea sponge

The History of Autocorrect
...some of the calls were quite tricky, and one of the trickiest involved the issue of obscenity. On one hand, Word didn't want to seem priggish; on the other, it couldn't very well go around recommending the correct spelling of mothrefukcer. Microsoft was sensitive to these issues. The solution lay in expanding one of spell-check's most special lists, bearing the understated title: “Words which should neither be flagged nor suggested.”
posted by frimble at 6:40 AM PST - 78 comments

« Previous day | Next day »