MetaFilter posts tagged with american

America's 10 Worst Prisons

zarq — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:15:31 -0800

"'If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.' So goes the old saying. Yet conditions in some American facilities are so obscene that they amount to a form of extrajudicial punishment." Mother Jones is profiling "America's 10 Worst Prisons." Facilities were chosen for the list based on "...three years of research, correspondence with prisoners, and interviews with reform advocates." The List 1: ADX (federal supermax: "A federal isolation facility that's "pretty close" to hell.") 2: Allan B. Polunsky Unit (Texas: "'The hardest place to do time in Texas'—and then you die.") 3: Tent City Jail (Phoenix: Feds say notorious facility has a 'pervasive culture of discriminatory bias against Latinos.') 4: Orleans Parish (Louisiana: "'A violent and dangerous institution,' says the Justice Department.") 5: LA County Jail (Los Angeles: "And you thought the Rodney King beating was bad?") 6: Pelican Bay (California: "Where a Christmas card might land you in the hole.") 7: Julia Tutwiler (Alabama: "Prisoners fear 'that it's not safe to take a shower, that it's not safe to go to sleep...that you can be manipulated into sexual favors, it's really horrific.'") 8: Reeves Country Detention Complex (Texas: "An overcrowded, understaffed lockup—with health care bad enough to spark riots.") 9: Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (Mississippi: "'A picture of such horror as should be unrealized anywhere in the civilized world.'") 10: Riker's Island (New York City: "New York City lockup has a "deeply entrenched" pattern of violence by guards, lawsuit claims.") The piece will conclude tomorrow with a list of "Dishonorable Mentions." Accompanying Articles (Some are older pieces covering the same topic) * Maps: Solitary Confinement, State by State: "An exclusive review of how state prisons use isolation to discipline inmates and weed out gang members." * God's Own Warden: "If you ever find yourself inside Louisiana's Angola prison, Burl Cain will make sure you find Jesus—or regret ever crossing his path." * The Silent Treatment: "Imagine serving decades in prison for a crime your sibling framed you for. Now imagine doing it while profoundly deaf." * Solitary in Iran Nearly Broke Me. Then I Went Inside America's Prisons: "We throw thousands of men in the hole for the books they read, the company they keep, the beliefs they hold. Here's why." (Previously on Mefi) * Life in the Hole: Inside a Solitary Cell: "A guided tour of the seven-by-eleven-foot space where inmates spend 23 hours a day."

Tiger moms, you are doing it wrong.

kanuck — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:05:32 -0800

Amy Chua's anecdotal "tiger mom" manifesto meets some peer-reviewed data-driven research. Oh snap! Compared with the supportive parenting profile, a tiger parenting profile was associated with lower GPA and educational attainment, as well as less of a sense of family obligation; it was also associated with more academic pressure, more depressive symptoms, and a greater sense of alienation. The current study suggests that, contrary to the common perception, tiger parenting is not the most typical parenting profile in Chinese American families, nor does it lead to optimal adjustment among Chinese American adolescents. tl;dr summary via Slate's Paul Tullis. Previously: [1, 2]

"You can't have a fight because you don't have two sides."

ChuckRamone — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:39:00 -0800

In his retirement speech, Donald Kagan, eminent historian of Ancient Greece, sounds the alarm about the decline of American democracy and Western Civilization. The Academy is fragmented, overrun by political correctness, and lacks focus. American society is plagued with similar problems, and Americans are no longer self-sufficient enough. Is his lament simply an echo of declinism?

Crazy Horse Was A Mystic.

Devils Rancher — Mon, 06 May 2013 08:32:36 -0800

Crazy Horse’s actual quote translates into English follows: “To day is a good day to die for all the things of my life are present." So the message that Crazy Horse spoke was not the message the untrained ear heard often credits him with saying. What he was telling his people was not about being brave or to be full of bravado and courage but to be calm and know that all is as it is supposed to be, life is complete in and of itself and whatever transpires next is not in the hands of the individual but it is all in the hands of The Creator. Thus they went into the battle with the American 7th Calvary trusting in a power far greater then themselves knowing that what ever the outcome it would be right, and those that would pass on that day did so in completeness and those that stayed to live another day did so at the discretion of The Creator. They simply did what was next to be done. From Neil Tubb's blog There is a door: "It came about after a prolonged period of meditation, having the same image come up in my mind's eye over and over - A Closed Door in the middle of a giant hall. Someone said write about it and I did."

Forgot to Celebrate D-Day, Sister Woman.

QueerAngel28 — Sat, 04 May 2013 04:34:29 -0800

What Does D-Day, MLK JR and Tennessee Williams have in common? NO, not that D-Day. The other D-Day. The forgotten D-Day. May 2nd 1963 The Children's March aka D-Day. The D-Day that was orginized by C.O.R.E's own James Bevel. C.O.R.E's Most famous voice was MLK, but there was another member just off stage right (Tennesse Williams cast her on stage in his 1955 Broadway masterpiece, and again as the same character in the 1958 film), working closely with Dr. King. In 1963 she was arrested in a freedom walk, jailed, made an example of, and sentenced to six months hard labor for "Endangering the Customs and Mores of the People of Alabama". Her lawyer, Fred Gray, was the first African-American lawyer to represent a white woman south of the Mason–Dixon Line. She was typecast. Later in life she got work on The Flying Nun. She is Canadian. She is a Quaker. She is that woman. Her story if full of small discrepancies, and missing information. She, along with the Children's March is mostly forgotten, but Sister Woman is Alive!

Good photos of cool rich midcentury Americans on yachts in New England.

maiamaia — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:47:45 -0800

Good photos of cool rich midcentury Americans on yachts in New England.

"There was no return from apostasy."

zarq — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:11:10 -0800

Leaving the Witness. "In one of the most restrictive, totalitarian countries in the world, for the first time in my life, I had the freedom to think." The author is Amber Scorah.

The American Mind

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 07:06:54 -0800

The Historian Garry Wills Has Written Better Than Anybody Else About Modern America

Murica

timsteil — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 20:39:47 -0800

My fellow Mefites, I implore you. Don't even think about clicking the more inside if you have anything pressing to do. [previously] Black Delta Religion The Ballad of Frankie Silver Les Blues de Balfa Carnival Train All part of what I can only say is an epic collection of Americana documentaries, at Folkstreams.

He's just a tramp-sama abroad.

TheNewWazoo — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:17:51 -0800

Submitted for your enjoyment: The misadventures of Guy Jean, an American in Japan.

That's All Folks

lemuring — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:59:51 -0800

folkinfo.org is a database of English-language folk songs. Each song is listed with its respective lyrics, sheet music, Roud Index number, midi file, and historical information. The database also provides song information in abc notation. Placed into an abc converter, one can generate sheet music in a variety of forms and scales.

Its mission was to explain America to itself

zarq — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:12:46 -0800

The First Rough Draft of History: A Behind-the-Scenes History of Newsweek Magazine

Grief, Pie and Healing

j810c — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:39:50 -0800

Beth Howard travelled 1,100 miles to Newtown, CT in her 24-foot-long camper, loaded with 240 apple pies, and she dished out pie to kids from Sandy Hook Elementary School, and grieving parents It all started with a simple facebook post; her facebook page details her daily travels and efforts. She knows grief; here is the book she wrote about her husband’s sudden death and how she dealt with it (yep, pie). More at her website, where she describes the history of pies and the tourist attraction she lives in, in Eldon, IA: the house made famous in the painting American Gothic (my first post...)

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

zarq — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 10:54:22 -0800

Via io9: "The first nine Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios from 1941 to 1942 are a wonder of animated retrofuturism, giving us a peek into a world that not only had a flying superstrong protector, but also filled viewers' heads with dreams of autonomous robots, comet-controlling telescopes, and machines that could shake the Earth. These films are in the public domain and have been available on the Internet Archive," but now Warner Bros. is releasing them (remastered) on YouTube. The first short, "Superman" (also known as "The Mad Scientist,") was nominated for an Academy Award. Also see: The Super Guide to the Fleischer Superman Cartoons. Find links to all nine episodes and more inside. Fleischer Studios Superman Episodes 1) Superman / The Mad Scientist [1941] 2) The Mechanical Monsters [1941] 3) Billion Dollar Limited [1942] 4) The Arctic Giant [1942] 5) The Bulleteers [1942] 6) The Magnetic Telescope [1942] 7) Electric Earthquake [1942] 8) Volcano [1942] 9) Terror on the Midway [1942] Per Wikipedia: The Fleischers produced nine classic cartoons in the Superman series before Paramount took over the Fleischer Studios facility in Miami and ousted Max and Dave Fleischer. By the end of 1941, the brothers were no longer able to cooperate with each other, and the studio's co-owner Dave Fleischer had left Florida for California, where he would eventually become the new head of Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems studio. The sleek look of the series continued, but there was a noticeable change in the storylines of the later shorts of the series. The first nine cartoons had more of a science fiction aspect to them, as they involved the Man of Steel fighting robots, giant dinosaurs, meteors from outer space, and other perils. The later eight cartoons in the series dealt more with World War II propaganda stories, such as in Eleventh Hour, which finds Superman going to Japan to commit acts of sabotage in order to reduce the morale of the enemy; meanwhile, an angered Adolf Hitler had a cameo role at the end of Jungle Drums after Superman foiled another Nazi plot. The first seven cartoons originated the classic opening line which was later adopted by the Superman radio series and in the live-action television series a decade later: "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" (The radio series also eventually used the cartoon series' theme music.) However, for the final two Fleischer-produced cartoons and the first of the eight Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening was changed to "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to soar higher than any plane!". For the remaining Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening line was changed again to "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" This series also featured a slight variation of the now-classic exclamation (also from the radio series): "Up in the sky, look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"
Famous Studios Superman Episodes These were American WWII propaganda, and some include racist caricatures. 10) Japoteurs [1942] 11) Showdown [1942] 12) Eleventh Hour [1942] 13) Destruction, Inc. [1942] 14) The Mummy Strikes [1943] 15) Jungle Drums [1943] 16) The Underground World [1943] 17) Secret Agent [1943] The Internet Archive has all 17 Fleischer and Famous episodes, combined into a single, two hour movie.

Harold Lash

Rory Marinich — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 13:13:07 -0800

Harold Lash is an abstract painter whose works are wild and startlingly vivid. There are repeated themes of flowers and cities and ships and are often obsessively patriotic. I particularly enjoy his painting of Rittenhouse in Philadelphia, where he lives and works, and the colors of Girls Night Out strikes me as well. [WARNING: HUGE IMAGES]

Going, Going...

Dr. Fetish — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:11:42 -0800

Auctioneers as hypnotists? (Hurry up, you could lose the bid...)

A brief history of Bulletball

dontjumplarry — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:22:18 -0800

In 2006, aspiring inventor Marc Griffin appeared on the show American Inventor with a table game he had invented called Bulletball. Convinced he had created the next Olympic sport, he had spent 26 years of his life on the idea. He'd quit his job, sold all his possessions including his wife's wedding ring, and was sleeping in his car. The judges hated the idea – and his gut-wrenching experience on the show went viral. Then in 2009, a report from a local Fox news channel was posted on YouTube. Marc was proving his doubters wrong. This year, according to Marc's website, Bulletball was featured in the St Louis Senior Olympics.

"When the lights go out for good, my people will still be here. We have our ancient ways. We will remain."

zarq — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:11:00 -0800

In the Shadow of Wounded Knee. Along the southwestern border of South Dakota is one of the most poverty-stricken places in the United States—the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota people. After 150 years of broken promises, they are still nurturing their tribal customs, language and beliefs. Via This was National Geographic Magazines cover story for August 2012, which combined reporting from Alexandra Fuller as well as photography from Aaron Huey. A photojournalist, Mr. Huey spent seven years documenting life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. A "Behind the Words" podcast associated with this story can be heard for free at iTunes. (Look for publication date 8/1/12.) 2012 Photo Gallery, and Photo Camp: Pine Ridge, South Dakota 2009 (The photos in the latter gallery were all taken by students.) The Voices of Pine Ridge: Photos and audio interviews, and the Pine Ridge Community Storytelling Project, in partnership with Cowbird. The Project is a collection of stories told by Pine Ridge residents about life on the Reservation. The cowbird link goes to an archive of (currently) 165 stories. Mr. Huey's personal archive. Map: The Lost Land. How broken treaties have reduced reservation lands. "Did you ever want to be on the cover of National Geographic?" Related: Mr. Huey's powerful and moving talk at TEDxDU, in which he discussed his own relationship with the Lakota and the history of their interactions with the US government. The talk featured slides of photos he took at Prisoner of War Camp #334, also known as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The TED talk gave rise to a collaboration between Mr. Huey and Shepard Fairey: Honor the Treaties. NPR's story on the National Geographic cover story.

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee

By The Grace of God — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:21:57 -0800

Russell Means, a leader of the American Indian Movement, has died. in a 1973 protest covered by the national news media for months, he led hundreds of Indians and white sympathizers in an occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D., site of the 1890 massacre of some 350 Lakota men, women and children in the last major conflict of the American Indian wars. The protesters demanded strict federal adherence to old Indian treaties, and an end to what they called corrupt tribal governments. In the ensuing 71-day standoff with federal agents, thousands of shots were fired, two Indians were killed and an agent was paralyzed. Mr. Means and his fellow protest leader Dennis Banks were charged with assault, larceny and conspiracy. But after a long federal trial in Minnesota in 1974, with the defense raising current and historic Indian grievances, the case was dismissed by a judge for prosecutorial misconduct.

Wet your whistle on these

Wordshore — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 02:37:42 -0800

What ho, dearest cousins in the Western Colonies. You appear to be increasingly using the vernacular of the mother country. Splendid! A few more examples to assist [1] [2] [3] [4]. Toodle pip.

New world vs old world cooking

hansbrough — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 06:20:23 -0800

Sara White, Canadian blogger who recently moved to Rome, shares some thoughts about old world food cultures versus the American approach to cooking. One of the most interesting things to me about her post is the discussion about how having no limitations (many Americans can just waltz into a large supermarket and get almost anything from almost anywhere) can negatively impact culinary creativity.

De Palm's incineration

Lorin — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:26:38 -0800

In May 1876, Baron Joseph Henry Louis Charles De Palm died, leaving his worldy goods to Theosophical Society president H.S. Olcott with the request that his body be disposed of “in a fashion that would illustrate the Eastern notions of death and immortality." And so, after what the press called a "Pagan Funeral" in New York and with the help of Pennsylvania doctor Francis LeMoyne, his became the first modern cremation in the United States. The New York Times of 1876 covered both funeral and cremation. (That is, if you can stand to read grainy pdf scans of old newsprint.) In Winter 2009, a theosophist telling of events was published in the American society's quarterly, Quest magazine. Olcott himself devoted several chapters to De Palm's story in his Old Diary Leaves.

Makers

zarq — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:24:51 -0800

In February, PBS and AOL launched Makers, a video archive containing personal stories and anecdotes told in the first person by women, many of whom have sparked groundbreaking changes in American culture. The project aims to become "the largest and most dynamic collection of women's stories ever assembled." A three-hour documentary is being prepared for PBS from selections of the site's footage, which will air next year. * Blog * Search the site * Browse (Link goes to their entire archive. You can also review by category.) * Short video promoting the site. * Trailer for the documentary, which will be called "Makers: Women Who Make America"

Medicine Wheel / Wagon Wheel

zarq — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:14:11 -0800

In 2005, Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks produced a 6 episode miniseries that spanned the period of expansion of the United States into the American West, from 1825 to 1890. Through fictional and historical characters, the series used two primary symbols--the wagon wheel and the Lakota medicine wheel -- to join the story of two families: one Native American, one White settlers, as they witnessed many of the 19th century's pivotal historical milestones. The award-winning Into The West can now be seen in its entirety on YouTube. Individual Episodes: 1. Wheel to the Stars 2. Manifest Destiny 3. Dreams and Schemes 4. Hell on Wheels 5. Casualties of War 6. Ghost Dance Wikipedia: "The show has a large cast, with about 250 speaking parts," including Irene Bedard, Tonantzin Carmelo, Keri Russell, Alan Tudyk, Skeet Ulrich, Balthazar Getty, Matthew Modine, Graham Greene, Wes Studi, Beau Bridges, Sean Astin, Lance Henriksen, Rachael Leigh Cook and Keith Carradine. IMDB has the full cast list. USA Today: "In its drive for authenticity, West hired Lakota adviser Charlie White Buffalo to teach the Lakota language to the actors playing Native Americans (most of whom are descendants of Native Americans)." More on the Lakota language can be found at Omniglot

American Airlines Pilots Stage Alleged "Sickout"

Tenacious.Me.Tokyo — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:31:47 -0800

American Airlines has been forced to cancel 300 flights this week as pilots, upset over a discouraging deal with their union (including pay and benefits cuts), have begun calling in sick in high numbers.