-
On killer cops and killer prosecutors.
At Bloomington’s Black Lives Matter rally (organized by high school students!), I walked by an older man holding a Sharpied sign with “START PROSECUTING KILLER COPS.” I nodded at him and smiled. My daughter, riding on my chest in a giraffe-patterned carrier, craned her neck to see what I was smiling about, then tucked her…
-
On Han Kang’s ‘The Vegetarian.’
Plants photosynthesize. Humans kill to eat. But I still think humans are pretty great.
anorexia, Being a Beast, biology isn’t destiny, bulimia, Charles Foster, chlorophyll habit, empathy, ethical eating, ethics of eating, Fiona Apple, Han Kang, humans evolved to be omnivorous, Naomi Wolf, Paper Bag, Queer, Rat Park, Stuart McMillen, The Beauty Myth, The Vegetarian, turning into a plant, vegan, veganism, why are more women than men vegetarian, William Burroughs, Yi Sang -
On Stephon Alexander’s ‘The Jazz of Physics.’
Everything vibrates! Vibrations make sound! But does the universe make music?
bowing random objects to hear what sound they make, Curse of the Ratist, formation of galaxies, holiday record, jazz, Johnny Fuerza, nucleation of structure in the early universe, paralysis of choice, photoelectric effect, physics, restrictions breed creativity, science analogies, soloing, sound, The Jazz of Physics, uncertainty principle, vibrations
-
On free-market capitalism, political spending, and Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money.’
Everybody knew that politicians could be bought… well, academics can be, too.
campaign finance, climate change, Dark Money, David Koch, economic policy, environmental regulations, Evicted, fiscal policy, free markets, global warming, government intervention, Jane Mayer, Koch brothers, libertarianism, Matthew Desmond, negative externalities, political spending, progressive taxation, Robert Reich, Saving Capitalism, subsidies for the rich, tax, tragedy of the commons
-
On grace and the proper way to listen to music.
A brief portrait of the guy rocking out at the Dave Brubeck show.
-
On unilateral reproduction.
We’ve identified some of the genes that allow Cape bees to reproduce without males … if human men don’t help more with the chores, will they be ditched too?
a world without men, birds and the bees, Cape bee, Frankenstein, game theory, golems, investment in children, Jane Ellen Harrison, just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s good, Mary Shelley, mythology, parenting, parthenogenesis, reproduction, Wendy Doniger, Women Androgynes and Other Mythical Beasts
-
On PTSD and David Means’s ‘Hystopia.’
Saying “thank you” isn’t enough to cure trauma.
-
On self-immolation.
I try to be upfront with people — especially young students I volunteer with — about my own depression.
-
On Lisa Randall’s ‘Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs.’
I love cool stories as much as anyone, but not under the auspices of science for a general audience.
astronomy, conspiracy theorists, conspiracy theory, dark matter, Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, electromagnetism, Evicted, Gabriel Zucman, gold foil experiment, gravity, Lisa Randall, Matthew Desmond, Occam’s Razor, popular science, Rutherford, The Hidden Wealth of Nations, weakly interacting massive particles
-
On Edin & Shaefer’s ‘$2.00 a Day.’
You can’t learn what it takes to survive poverty when you think about people as numbers.
$2.00 a Day, budget, ethnography, Evicted, extreme poverty, food deserts, food insecurity, food stamps, H. Luke Shaefer, Hand to Mouth, high cost of rent in the United States, Kathyrn Edin, Linda Tirado, Living on Almost Nothing in America, Matthew Desmond, Paul Theroux, people want jobs, poverty, PTSD, sexual assault, SNAP, The Hypocrisy of Helping the Poor
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Frank Brown Cloud 