Last time, we looked at Janelle Monae’s self description as “the random minor note you hear in major songs” and hinted that was somehow related to the artificiality of the even-tempered Western European scale. But[…]
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Category: Social Issues
Wokepedia: This is Us, Dudley Randall
The idea of Wokepedia is that ordinary people, working with intent, can make lasting changes to Wikipedia that will lead in more equable and less biased coverage of topics of minority interest, and promote a[…]
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Django Jane’s African Beat
Perhaps to showcase her many sides, the incomparable Janelle Monae released two very different songs/videos in advance of her hotly anticipated new album, Dirty Computer. A few weeks ago I showcased her funky, bubbly, sex-drenched[…]
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Presidential Portraits
Everything President Obama has done since first taking office has been viewed with particular scrutiny, and his and Michelle’s selection of portraitists was no exception. Each took the opportunity provided to raise the profile of[…]
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ECOT and the Columbus City teacher layoffs
Below is my letter to the editor, published recently in the Columbus Dispatch. Let me connect the dots for Dispatch readers. Columbus City Schools are laying off teachers. The layoffs are from a budget shortfall.[…]
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Stevie Wonder: Philosophical Music
It occurred to me recently that in my survey of philosophical music I had too long overlooked perhaps the premiere philosopher of transcendent pop music, Mr. Stevland Wonder (an artist I had the exquisite pleasure[…]
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2018, 2020, 2022: Third Party Strategies
If you’re like me, you’re thoroughly sick of both major American political parties, and ready for a change. Is it a pipe dream? No. American political parties have typically gone through a major realignment every[…]
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His Chief Strategist calls it “treasonous,” why won’t his party?
It isn’t often that I agree with former White House Chief Strategist (and white power sympathist) Stephen K. Bannon (although we are both fans of the visionary Strauss & Howe book, The Fourth Turning), but[…]
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Morality is Back: Goodness (and Diversity) in Popular Culture
Scientific studies have shown that when times are good, people act bad. Morality becomes an afterthought in times of peace and plenitude, perhaps because bad behavior often pays off when the world is otherwise stable.[…]
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Now Be Thankful
Repost from 2015: For Thanksgiving this year, a beautiful song by Fairport Convention (below), and a meditation on the meaning of Thanksgiving by Jason Chu (above).
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