The Trouble with American Democracy
by Advocate Staff
It is true that American democracy has come a very long way in the last two hundred and thirty-two years. Before the secret ballot, it was not uncommon to find oneself threatened with bodily harm at the polls, and of course, voter fraud, ballot rigging, and outright destruction of votes, have all been frequent occurrences throughout […]
The Road ahead: Obama in 2008
by Advocate Staff
Despite the bitter acrimony, the racist mobs, the comic distractions, and the absurd lack of substance that has defined the 2008 presidential campaign, one of the most fascinating and unexpected developments of this election cycle is the recent and surprisingly palpable feeling among so many voters that something meaningful and potentially momentous is on the […]
The Adjunct Project Wants you to Have More Money
by Jessie Goldstein and Renee Mcgarry
Students working on campus at their university are exempt from Social Security and Medicare Tax in the state of New York — as per IRC 3121(b)(10) and Section 218 Modification 242. We have confirmed this with the IRS and the New York State Social Security Administrator, Kevin Mack.
This exemption only holds for work done while you are enrolled […]
The Long View from the Ivory Tower
by Alison Powell
During my first semester at the GC, I’ve been struck by the complicated relationship many of us are negotiating between our responsibilities as academics and as citizens of a troubled city, country, and world. Many of my fellow humanities doctoral students have a latent social worker or justice advocate inside them, and I’ve enjoyed debates where we […]
The Other November Election
by MBusch
As Venezuela prepares to mark the tenth anniversary of its Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez has little cause for celebration. His stewardship of the state economy has largely resulted in failure: income inequality is on the rise while poverty reduction has not kept pace with the country’s unprecedented oil returns. Basic food staples — such as milk, eggs, […]
Forgetting Iraq and the Discourse of Responsibility: There are No Longer any Innocent Words
–Pierre Bourdieu
by SPludwin
Asked towards the latter part of his life how he came to define his interest in a series of diverse problématiques, Michel Foucault responded by stating that he was driven by a very basic and fundamental question — the desire to comprehend what is happening around us, to inquire, “What is our present?” In an age of contradictions, when […]
What’s Happening to America: In This Issue Chalmers Johnson Bill Ayers and Amiri Baraka
by Advocate Staff
CHALMERS JOHNSON “Can Any Administration Reverse the United States’ Downward Spiral?”
In his speech to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama called the forthcoming presidential election a “defining moment” in this country’s history. It is conceivable that he is right, and there are precedents in American history in which an election inaugurated a period of reform […]
Democracy’s Demons: Inside the Mind of the American Voter
by Justin Rogers-Cooper
JUSTIN ROGERS-COOPER The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan (2008)
Just How Stupid Are We? by Rick Shenkman (2008)
Red State Blue State Rich State Poor State by Andrew Gelman (2008)
Recent stories of America’s relatively abrupt fall from “exceptionalism” typically trace the corruption and incompetence of the executive branch. Much of this commentary focuses on the […]
In the Custody of Love: Elizabeth Peyton at the New Museum
by CMatlin
Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton. At The New Museum (through January 11).
One must be careful with how one approaches the work of Elizabeth Peyton. It is too easy to dismiss her, to fault her for her own seemingly bottomless devotion to the seductions of youth and beauty as Sarah Valdez did in her review of Peyton’s 2001 […]
A Screaming Comes Across the Sky: John Adams’ Doctor Atomic
by Mark Schiebe
John Adams, Doctor Atomic at the Metropolitan Opera
The idea to do an opera about the atomic bomb was the brainchild of Pamela Rosenberg, who in 2002 was the politically-minded director of the San Francisco Opera. The genesis of the bomb’s music, however, came much earlier, in a childhood experience of John Adams: “I do remember as a kid — I […]
