I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~attributed to Etienne de Grellet~
I'm lucky to be in San Antonio for the American Academy of Religion this week. I'll be presenting "GodSmacks: Delivering God's Hate in Love" on Saturday at 4. The presentation focuses on Westboro Baptist Church's interpretation of personal and national suffering as a sign of God's anger--"GodSmacks" [warning, this link takes you to a website... Continue Reading →
It's my birthday! And while I usually actually kind of dread it (which I suspect might be kind of typical for academics, with our delayed entry into regular and significant social security contributions), this year I'm focusing my energy on something better: supporting the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Why? Because Trump-inspired hate crimes are... Continue Reading →
CW: Anti-LGBT, anti-immigrant, and anti-Latin@ hate crimes Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, we got so many news articles about why Trump was winning with poor, rural, white folks, people who had been abandoned by Washington, by liberals, and by the general march of progress, that parodies of the genre even popped up. These pieces kept... Continue Reading →
CW, just for my dear mother: Your grandson swears in this one. We’d stayed up late to watch the election results with some friends, though not late enough to see the final tally of electoral votes. I’d checked on the results throughout the night, awake with worry about the progress of the vote, then awake... Continue Reading →
Well, we all know who lost on November 8. Decency, civility, minorities, the idea that bullies don't win... Also, the New York Times, Paul Krugman, and virtually all the pollsters. Who won? Facebook, which did a better job of telling us about ourselves than just about anyone else, and Allan Lichtman, who, I hope, has... Continue Reading →
It was Clinton’s thumb on the scale during the primary. When faced by a real challenge—one to her political philosophy, not just her political odds—the DNC and Clinton silenced Sanders, effectively ignoring the fact that the public wanted change, not experience. It was Clinton’s lackluster efforts to understand or appeal to voters' economic concerns. It was... Continue Reading →
I head off next week to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in lovely San Antonio. Which presentations should I see while I'm there? Check out the program and offer suggestions. If you can't go and want to get the notes on a presentation, let me know and I'll see if I... Continue Reading →
Trump did not win a majority of votes in 25% of the states where he won the popular vote. If you live in one of those states--Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Utah, or Wisconsin--consider contacting your state's Republican electors and encourage them to withhold their vote from the Republican candidate on December 19. Remember that you will... Continue Reading →
What books/articles/films/exhibits/images/music/skills/strategies will you be teaching this semester or next to help your students address the rise and presidency of Donald Trump? What I've been teaching this fall in my senior research course: Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Biology of Political Differences, Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class, and The... Continue Reading →
Rebecca Barrett-Fox 