I have to admit that I have not yet seen the movie, although I heard about it before I knew there was a book. I was planning to see the movie when it came out on DVD and now it has, except now I worry about what the movie does to the book. It’s a dilemma. Hidden Figures is a good book, and a fairly easy read. For a book about mathematicians, it’s not too technical, but it has enough detail about the math and […]
Learn from the past
Best for: Anyone who thinks we don’t still need the voting rights act. In a nutshell: This is the final – and longest – of three graphic novels about the life of John Lewis. It covers the mid-60s, culminating in the march from Selma to Montgomery and the passing of the voting rights act. Line that sticks with me: “In Mississippi that summer we suffered more than 1000 arrests, 80 beatings, 35 shootings, 35 church burnings, and 30 bombings.” Why I chose it: Because the […]
Vignettes of inequity
One of the difficulties of studying history lies in the inherent tendency of people to not see themselves as playing a small role in a larger story. We are all the center of our own universe, after all, so it’s hard to remember that everything isn’t actually revolving around our own brilliance. Our actions are our own, but they make up a part of the larger trajectory of human progress. In studying history, the goal is to compose these fine details into a larger picture […]
Get mad, then get involved
I try to space out my political reading, especially during an election year. I often find it equal parts enraging and frustrating and I wind up in a funk for several days after reading. What’s great about Naomi Wolf’s book is that it doesn’t just make you mad, it tells you how and where to channel that anger into something constructive. Give Me Liberty is exactly what its title suggests it is. But it is also a guide for us as citizens to re-involve […]
Segregation, hate, and love
When we learned about the Civil Rights movement in grade school, we watched videos of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches and some of the protests. I remember being horrified at the racist, white people screaming with all the righteous indignation their stupidity could muster. I figured they must be so ashamed of themselves now–having been caught on the wrong side of history with their violent ignorance. As much as those videos affected me, I still did not understand the reality of living in the South […]
The devil is bathed in blue light, rides a white horse, and is voted into office.
As the sun descended in the west, a restless crowd gathered before a cedar tree. There was a chill in the December air, and it was thick with the tangy smell of sweat, fear and anticipation for what was about to happen. Boxed in by cars, a young 20 year old man named Cordie Cheek stood before a ladder with a rope around his neck. A teeming mass of men, women, and children threw epithets at him, and shared a palpable sense that justice was […]
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