Category Archives: Culture

CutTime Players bring classical music down to earth

February 7, 2012 – 12:40 pm

by Lisa Parks WHAT’S HAPPENING After 22 years, bassist Rick Robinson is leaving his position with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to tour with a smaller ensemble group. Their mission: to bring more classical music to African American and other underserved communities. Robinson’s CutTime Productions organizes concerts, arranges and contemporizes popular symphonies and delivers lectures that […]

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Economy turns “emerging adulthood” from phase to full-blown lifestage

January 4, 2012 – 3:33 pm

by Jana Branch WHAT’S HAPPENING Thanks to a dearth of jobs and amenable Boomer parents, “emerging adulthood” is going from a blip on the sociological radar screen to full-blown lifestage. Clark University psychologist Jeffrey Jensen Arnett identified “emerging adulthood” as a lifestage for young adults ages 18 to 25 that is about “identity exploration, instability, […]

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Skin color matters when consumers sell online

November 16, 2011 – 7:25 am

by Amber Davis WHAT’S HAPPENING According to a new Harvard-Yale study, goods held by dark-skinned hands make for tougher and lower sales on eBay. Researchers auctioned off mid-priced baseball cards — half held by white hands, the other by black hands in the sale photo. Cards held by black hands sold for 20% less than […]

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7 BILLION PEOPLE TODAY, 9.2 BILLION TOMORROW

November 1, 2011 – 11:10 am

by Becky Sun The United Nations estimates that yesterday was the day that planet Earth reached 7 billion people. (The US Census Bureau’s population clock, which runs a little slower, puts today’s number at 6,972,015,442.) It’s hard to know just what to make of 7 billion humans. Pro-natalists and optimists say that the world can […]

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SCARY INSENSITIVITY

October 25, 2011 – 3:43 pm

by Amber Davis Halloween comes once a year, but having one’s pants scared off has become a weekly fix. Just check out the millions of pairs of eyeballs tuning in to shows like Walking Dead, American Horror Story and Death Valley. No sweet-faced vampire romances here — these shows focus on scares and gore. But […]

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Canadians can check out “living books” from the library

September 15, 2011 – 8:43 am

by Michelle Auer WHAT’S HAPPENING In a world where people can get unlimited data from infinite digital sources, one Canadian library is set to offer a refreshing counterpoint. The Surrey City Centre Library in British Columbia, set to open by the end of September 2011, is offering a “human library.” This concept, which started in […]

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India’s middle class wants a Ready, Set, Go! democracy

August 30, 2011 – 7:37 pm

by Sumaa Tekur When 74-year-old Indian social activist Kisan Baburao “Anna” Hazare broke his 13-day fast on Sunday, there were cheers of victory across the country. The people were celebrating not only Anna’s success, but the power of collective will. Anna led an anti-corruption movement demanding that Parliament pass the Jan Lokpal Bill (citizens’ ombudsman […]

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Importing enlightenment: American Buddhism blends East and West

August 17, 2011 – 1:22 pm

by Anayat Durrani WHAT’S HAPPENING American Buddhism is on the rise, due to an influx of Asian immigrants and Westerners converting to the faith. The result is an East/West, pan-Asian blend of  Buddhism refracted through an American lens of diversity (VOANews.com, 7 July 2011). At the Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, predominantly Chinese American […]

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Swedish pre-school goes gender-neutral

July 26, 2011 – 1:05 pm

by Bosco Chiclana WHAT’S HAPPENING Egalia, a pre-school in a well-to-do district of Stockholm is attempting to free children from social expectations based on gender (bbc.co.uk 8 July 2011). Teachers avoid using the pronouns “him” and “her”, and dolls and trucks are placed deliberately side-by-side to encourage children to play with whatever they choose. Gender […]

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What’s it worth? Dedigitization raises the question with virtual-to-physical retrofits

July 13, 2011 – 9:07 am

by Jana Branch WHAT’S HAPPENING “Dedigitization,” a term recently coined by cultural commentator Rob Walker, describes virtual goods or iconography retrofitting into the physical world. He cites the smiley emoticon ring or Facebook “Like” rubberstamp. Physical to virtual. Virtual to physical. The pendulum swing is part of physics. Vinyl died and came back. Sci-fi characters […]

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Germans involve tourists in local protests

July 5, 2011 – 12:47 pm

by Kimberly Ochs WHAT’S HAPPENING As Germans continue to protest rising housing and electricity costs across the country, a group of Berliners are involving tourists in protests by creating techno parties in squatted buildings (Local.de, 31 May 2011). As Berlin is known across Europe as a key techno music capital, activists are integrating tourists into both […]

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IT’S RAINING HOPE THIS MONSOON SEASON

June 7, 2011 – 12:57 pm

by Sumaa Tekur The early arrival of the monsoon in India this year has rattled some bookies, especially those who placed their bets based on official information from the weather office. It rained only three days ahead of the forecast date, but with Rs 5,000 crore ($1 billion) riding on the monsoon prediction in Mumbai […]

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A Tidy sum: UK street adds up its electricity usage

June 2, 2011 – 11:44 am

by Kelly Stevens WHAT’S HAPPENING A group of residents living on Tidy Street, Brighton, have turned their electricity use into a piece of street art. Residents recorded their daily electricity use for two months on a giant infographic painted on the street outside their homes by a graffiti artist (TidyStreet.org, May 2011). Participants were given […]

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BEING HEARD

May 11, 2011 – 9:23 am

By Abelardo de la Pena Jr. Most violent incidents — a school shooting or a shopping-center murder spree — provoke anguish, anger and sympathy. But among some Latinos, those events are cause for another layer of anxiety, as they wonder if the perpetrator was someone from their own ethnic group. If not, there’s an exhale […]

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HELP! I HAD A BABY AND CAN’T GET OUT

April 26, 2011 – 12:19 pm

by Becky Sun Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control reported that birthrates have dropped for American women in all age groups … except those age 40 to 44. This group — my group — saw a 6% increase from 2007 to 2009. Granted, this cohort still has the lowest birthrate, and basic biology […]

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