This is the grave of Harry Blackmun. Born in 1908 in Nashville, Illinois, Blackmun grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Somewhat incredibly, he went to elementary school with Warren Burger. Although he w
The biggest musical event for me since the last of these posts was seeing the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet at Firehouse 12 in New Haven last Friday. Bynum likes working in larger ensembles, which is great b
This is the grave of Jaroslav Pelikan. Born in 1923 in Akron, Ohio, Pelikan grew up in a Lutheran family. His father was a pastor of a Slovak Lutheran church (I grew up Lutheran and had no idea that t
One thought I’ve had a lot over the last couple of years is that the real power of the rejuvenated left will truly be determined in the next recession, not in this presidential election. The big
I am having my students in my Protest and Resistance in America course tomorrow read and discuss work by the Rev. William Barber, the minister who leads the Moral Mondays movement. I want to emphasize
The great historian David Blight with a typically excellent essay on Frederick Douglass’ postwar vision for America. In the late 1860s, Frederick Douglass, the fugitive slave turned prose poet o
The story of how humans are turning the ocean into an ecologically barren trash-strewn watery desert is even more depressing than most contemporary environmental news. Researchers studying baby fish o
I’ve finally been convinced that a higher minimum wage is bad. After all, it would hurt that most respectable and morally upright sector of American capitalism: the payday lender industry! It ma