Round Up

I was explaining to my students the other day about silver lining stories ... and how many newspapers I peruse on a regular basis.  We didn't even start in on listening to the news on the radio or watching NewsHour.  I was afraid to show them just what a news junkie I am.

Here is what I was reading this week that I couldn't "put down" ... well, you know, close the tab in the browser.  Yeah, some of these have no silver lining in sight.

This is how universities are balancing their budgets... on the backs of graduate students.  Lovely.

Love this story about a man who keeps track of the local school district in Oakland.  The children in Oakland surely need someone on their side.

This piece about the Vatican's finger wagging at nuns was surprisingly hilarious.  I am quite taken the ladies Steve Lopez talked to about the Pope and his pronouncements.  What would Jesus do, indeed.

I posted about the hills residents complaining about Oakland's mayor trying to prioritize police coverage of the most dangerous streets (in the flat lands).  Now, the police (and presumably the mayor) have acquiesced ... or have they.  This piece, seeking to bring clarity to the situation, offers a more complicated picture. However, it seems to ignore the economic situation and the impact it has on crime in places like Oakland where the haves and the have-nots are so clearly delineated. 

There are so many things to say about this story about poverty in the US.  It offers a different perspective on the use of food stamps.  I appreciate the effort to make poverty real by connecting people with the issue.  However, it also struck me that humanizing was necessarily white and potentially lower middle class.  In fact, before she divorced, this woman seemed to be living the American Dream albeit paid for on credit cards...

Here's something I certainly hadn't considered about the Secret Service "scandal" -- leave it to Scott Simon to keep it real.  Thanks, Scott.

It's an interesting story, no doubt, but the way that folks react to the story within this short piece is fascinating ... give it a listen if you have a few minutes.

I think this story points to the fact that I should not be trying to diet right at the moment ... I was so hungry at the end of this story, I added San Bernadino to my California itinerary for the summer... need those "original" tacos and I don't even like tacos. But, I did enjoy an enchirito as a young person.

Heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time ... we are more generous by nature than we know.  We should exercise that muscle more often.  I am praying for strength for James ... and courage for his family, too.  It's not going to get any easier for any of them anytime soon.

I almost missed this one... I have been thinking about twenty years ago a little too much lately.  And the picture is amazing, here's a favorite part:

"Against a back wall sat Si Youngblood, grandson of a Louisiana slave, with an Obama poster draped behind him. Nearby was 18-year-old Arthur Gomez, mouth agape, as if he were in college and had never heard history come alive like this. His father is Latino, and his African American mother split when he was young, so he took it upon himself to begin hanging around the shop last summer to get to know the part of him that's black."

And, finally, here's another one of these 20 years later stories, from the perspective of what has or has not changed at the LAPD.