Oscar Fails: the Problem with American Sniper

(from Jacobin)

No, I haven't seen American Sniper, but I feel as if I have . . . Stephen Mayer explains why the film's template is familiar, and why, regardless of your politics, it's not really art but something else. Provocative read. 

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/02/american-sniper-war-violence-oscars/

Danger Ahead: Noam Chomsky on Standardized Testing

(via TestTroublemakers)

Noam Chomsky addresses the proliferation of standardized testing in public education; others also weigh in on the "human capital" meme and its implications. Good read from "Creative by Nature"--

https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/noam-chomsky-on-the-dangers-of-standardized-testing/

Thursday Night Music Club (new discovery ed.)

Don't know much of anything about 'em. But I liked their sound from the first listen. Lord Huron "Fool for Love." Enjoy--

Thursday Night Music Club (Heartbreaker ed)

(via Kevin Hodgson)

I've kinda lost track/interest in Ryan Adams lately . . . too prolific? drop in quality? my divided attention?

Then he puts out something like this and it pulls you back. Here is his "Let Go"--enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYZNgZ8l6ZU


another one just because (and, no, that's not Rob Lowe):

A Poet for the Worker: Philip Levine, RIP

Here is Philip Levine w/ Bill Moyers, talking about American workers and the poet's poems: here



And , via John Green, an interview from The Paris Review: http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2512/the-art-of-poetry-no-39-philip-levine 



(from Longreads)

Do it the hard way . . . 
http://blog.longreads.com/2014/06/30/do-it-the-hard-way/

Brownback Takes Kansas Back in Time

Kansas rolls back LGBT protections. Yes, it is 2015.

(via Matt Pearce)

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-kansas-governor-gay-protection-20150210-story.html

Roald Dahl on Vaccination

(via Daily Kos)

One of my first books I remember reading in school was Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Here Dahl writes of his personal experience with vaccinations and the related diseases.

Please share w/ your anti-vaccine friends: http://getpocket.com/a/read/833109285