As the Tea Party gained momentum and, eventually, political success, a key question among observers was whether their commitment to baffling policy positions would translate into the Republican leadership’s agenda. At this point, it appears that not only has the minority Tea Party rump managed to influence the debt ceiling debate, but in fact they have managed to commit the Republican leadership to positions that are both unfeasible and will have devastating results long term.
Why I’m a feminist
posted by David Moscrop
My mother had worked hard while I was growing up, sometimes working a few jobs at once so that me and my brother could do things that other kids do: play sports, wear new running shoes, go to camp, participate in school trips, and eat food. She struggled in the ways that single mothers struggle, and in some ways that many don’t, and while growing up I never connected feminist movements and struggles to my mother’s day-to-day life.
Part 4: Arab Spring ...
posted by John Mullin
Social movements are the hardest thing for the humanist to understand; why, how and what motivates huge numbers of people to do, think, and act collectively? These questions fascinate and frustrate us. In an attempt to help us understand the how and why of the Arab Spring, Western media has done what it often does and has simplified the complexities of the event; the challenge, then, should be to confront the simplicity of received narratives and push harder at what we are told about the Arab Spring, and how it has been presented.
On entering adulthoo...
posted by Drew Gough
The summer after my sister left the hospital, for the first time in years, everyone was at the lake; my aunts and uncles and cousins from across the continent found an unlikely pocket of time to be together. Truths began to emerge, told as they always are in our family as anecdotes. The time everyone quit their jobs for a summer and rented a cottage, living from unemployment cheque to unemployment cheque while chasing off renegade dogs, waterskiing, and wearing tracks into the Monopoly board.
Timing
posted by David Moscrop
Timing isn’t a thing. It’s not fate or kismet or whatever you may call it. There’s no one pulling the strings behind a curtain or starting and stopping a chronograph. When timing goes well, the universe isn’t actually conspiring in your favour, just as when timing goes poorly it isn’t plotting against you.
The Positivity News:...
posted by Jessie Hornby
This story is both captivating and encouraging. I am absolutely fascinated by the fact that there are tribes of people in the Amazon that have been untouched by the technological baggage of the 21st century, and I’m happy to hear that the Brazilian government is working to preserve the land on which the tribes live and hunt and to ensure that they maintain their traditional way of life.