Social Justice

The required course materials for my fall Social Justice class include these six books:

• Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending & the Battle Against World Poverty
• Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees
• Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, & the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa
• Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction
• Social Justice: Welfare, Crime, & Society
• Taxi! Cabs & Capitalism in New York City

There are so many!!

Re: Spring 2010

My list of course materials is foreboding:

• Human Development: Traditional and Contemporary Theories

• Lives Across Cultures

• Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Identities and Youth: Psychological Perspectives

• Beyond Progress and Marginalization: LGBTQ Youth In Educational Contexts

• The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

• Divided We Fail: Issues of Equity in American Schools

• Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States

Peripatetic

Main Entry: ¹peri·pa·tet·ic

Pronunciation: \ˌper-ə-pə-ˈte-tik\

Function: noun

Date: 15th century

1 capitalized : a follower of Aristotle or adherent of Aristotelianism

2 : pedestrian, itinerant

3 plural : movement or journeys hither and thither

Interesting: "peripatetic" showed up at the end of How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers and at the beginning of Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost.

via Merriam-Webster

Michael Crichton Dead at 66

John Michael Crichton, MD
1942-2008

My favorite Michael Crichton book was Rising Sun. I remember reading it repeatedly.
Rest in Peace, Michael.

via CNN
image via Forbes

Navigating the Science (and Sociology) of "Traffic"

On Monday, July 28's "Fresh Air," Terry Gross interviewed Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What it Says about Us). In the interview, Vanderbilt explained why the elimination of traffic lights and the integration of traffic circles would mean safer roads. He also talked about the benefits of the late merge and the confusion that occurs when we get into the "dilemma zone."

The topic and interview are both remarkable. Driving is often such an unconscious activity; I know I am guilty of relying heavily on my ability to drive on autopilot. This subject is something we don't consider nearly enough. Listen to the interview and read an excerpt from the book here; Vanderbilt blogs on the topic here.