Now Florida has joined the Creationism debate. In brief: Florida’s public-school students for years have been studying "biological changes over time," but proposed revisions in state science standards would for the first time use another term for that concept: evolution. Let the games begin. Letter writers are up in arms…
My daughter has a doll called Kaya. I really don’t mind this doll at all, although many dolls aggravate me. Most dolls are unabashedly materialist. Kaya genuinely seemed to be an earnest survivor–a native American just trying to get by. American Girl did a great job with Kaya. She is hardworking (according to the books that describe her tales) as well as gorgeous. My oldest daughter (aged 9) admires Kaya for the right reasons. Meet Kaya.
Well . . . my daughter and I traveled to Chicago to have a special father-daughter vacation. My daughter asked to visit the Chicago American Girl Store. I quickly agreed. It was her vacation too, and I like to believe that I am an armchair anthropologist. Therefore, I’m always at work.
If you have trouble finding the store in Chicago, ask anyone walking down the Magnificent Mile and they’ll tell you. The American Girl store is a major Chicago institution.
I just assumed that I knew what kind of merchandise was in the store, but I was wrong. There is a lot more to American Girl than brave little Kaya. There are all kinds of dolls, including trendy, preppy, smug, materialist little dolls. And how dare I call what they sell “merchandise”!
Here’s a slogan prominently displayed throughout the store: Those dolls are “just like you.” Just like me? Oh, I suppose they weren’t really talking to me. But those dolls are supposedly just like all those little girl customers. You’ll recognize those …
Mitt Romney has made it clear that he intends to serve the law first, his religion second. That he feels he ought not to have to justify his religious beliefs in order to run for president of the United States. The parallels to John F. Kennedy’s Houston speech are dripping…
While doing the research for my previous post, A Slaughterhouse of One's Own: A community confronts Santeria, I came across several explanations of exactly how animal sacrifice works in this religion, physically and metaphorically speaking. The animal is bound and its throat is cut. The carotid artery is sliced with…
Many of them eat much the same food as you, but there are many differences too. This is a wonderful photo-essay published by Time. The Photographs, by Peter Menzel, are from the book Hungry Planet. The unvarnished facts speak loudly while you click through the series of photos. I found that viewing these…