Education The Fleeting Magic of Scholastic Book Fairs Years later, many adults still pine for the days their school libraries, auditoriums, and gyms transformed into pop-up bookstores. The Media’s Week-Long Attention Span for a Mass Shooting There’s a common refrain that the dense news environment pushes out coverage of mass shootings, but the cycle has been remarkably consistent over the past two decades. Michelle Obama’s College Experience Is All Too Familiar for Minority Students “Princeton was extremely white and very male. There was no avoiding the facts.” College Is Different for the School-Shooting Generation At this point in history, college-aged Americans—who, for the most part, were born in the late ‘90s—don’t remember a time when school gun violence wasn’t a widely feared threat.
Reading Resources - Four Minute Books Reading isn’t exactly a complex activity. All you need is a good book or blog post and you’re good to go. That said, there are a few tools and resources you can use to make it easier on your eyes and hands. What’s more, there are lots of things you can do to work on reading as a skill. Since I’ve gathered a lot of them over the years, here’s a list of my favorite reading resources. Resources For Reading Physical Books Markers: Never read without a Sharpie at hand. Reading lamp: I have a bedside lamp with a gooseneck you can bend around. Bookmark: You can literally use anything to keep track of where you are in a book, like a piece of paper or a post-it note, but a physical bookmark can be a nice personal touch. Resources For Reading On Screens Kindle: I get physical books whenever I can, but at times my Kindle has been a lifesaver. Blinkist: My book summary service of choice. Spritz: If you want an innovative way to read online, Spritz may be for you. Pocket: Timing matters. What Else?
Inverse Note From Ralph | Magic Soapbox When we asked Ralph if he had any comments he would like to share about the film, this is what he wrote: My first reaction to viewing Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox was both touched and disappointed. You see, I was there for most of the 120 hours Sara and Katy edited to about 90 minutes–so I missed things like the time I was a guest and speaker for five days at Patch Adams’s incredible Gesundheit Institute, and the time when I met Bobby Kennedy Jr. in my NY hotel (I sang “Up in Wisconsin” to him and his wife). Also I missed scenes from my 166th birthday party (Dad said to add years to your age–it makes you seem younger). It’s hard to say what Dad would think of the film if he could see it. I have developed my life philosophy from the experience of working with my father for over 40 years, teaching inner-city 7 th and 8 th grade for 32 years, and from being blessed with an ALL-ONE family that lets me do “my thing.” My religion: GOD IS THE SEARCH FOR GOD and TO KNOW GOD IS TO SERVE MAN
100 Sci-Fi Stories by Women Writers (Read 20 for Free Online) Since 2009, the organization VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts has sought to bring balance to the representation of female authors in the literary world. As revealed by the 2010 controversy begun by author Jodi Picoult over the gushing treatment Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom received in the New York Times, the disparity, and the bias, are real. Author Jennifer Weiner chimed in as well, writing: “when a man writes about family and feelings, it's literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it's romance, or a beach book.” This fracas—involving a number of mostly New York literati and the death of the term “chick lit”—didn’t split evenly down gender lines. Both male and female writers lined up to defend Picoult and Franzen, but it did open up legitimate questions about the old (mostly white) boys club that claims the upper echelons of literary fiction and the brass ring that is the New York Times book review. via Metafilter Related Content: Free Philip K.