Friday Evening Roundup, April 11
Featuring Azza Cohen; Meredith Blake & Ellie Kurlander; The Democracy Index; Julia Payne, Daryn Dickens, & Myles Manor; Ruben Bolling; Jamie Schler; our Pet of the Week! ICYMI: Undaunted!
Happy Friday, Contrarians! We send you into the weekend with a fascinating analysis of how Shirley Chisholm was framed (literally); cultural recommendations; inspiring young golfers; The Democracy Index & Democracy Movement; comics; coq au vin; Henry (who practices paw while his dad practices law); and a rousing tribute to the bravery of The Associated Press. In other words, don’t let your phone’s notifications dictate your mood. Though this is a grim moment, be a contrarian by not giving into despair. Let yourself appreciate the hope, creativity, and heroics that are also at play in your world. Do so knowing that such behavior is an act of joyful, patriotic opposition.
Split Screen: Shirley Chisholm, cropped out of history
In 1972, U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) made history as the first Black woman to run for a major party's presidential nomination. Her candidacy represented a pivotal moment in American politics. Close your eyes and picture her. Do you see her alone at a podium or commanding a crowd? If you've struggled to recall such images, there's a reason.
First Tee: What Golf Means to Us
Featuring testimonies from Daryn Dickens and Myles Manor to help us celebrate The Masters.
First Tee–Greater Washington, DC, one of 150 chapters across the U.S. whose mission is to impact the lives of young people by providing programs that build character and instill life-enhancing values through golf.
The Democracy Index
Each week of this new Trump administration is a fresh onslaught against democracy, full of new measures damaging lives, institutions, public services, and civic life. It is a constant deluge that leaves people feeling overwhelmed and barely able to keep up.
Tom the Dancing Bug
Follow Ruben Bolling on Substack here; Join Tom the Dancing Bug’s Inner Hive here; and here is the Tom the Dancing Bug website, with information about the new book, “It’s the Great Storm, Tom the Dancing Bug!"
Coq au Vin Blanc
“Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music played out of doors by somebody I do not know.”—John Keats
The Contrarian covers the Democracy Movement
Every day (Monday-Friday), we’ll update this space with protests, signs and other public demonstrations against the actions of the administration. Keep checking to see how Americans all across the country are protecting and defending democracy.
Pet of the week
We take fun seriously at The Contrarian. Each week we enjoy sharing The Contrarian Pet of the Week. (The pet need not be contrarian.) Today, on this special National Pet Day, we are delighted to introduce you to our latest furry honoree: Henry!
In case you missed it this morning, enjoy Jen Rubin’s pick for this week’s Undaunted Figure of the Week. Thank you to the Associated Press for your courage and resolve.
Please write an article following this concern published in The Atlantic by Phillip Atiba Solomon (formerly Goff) the chair and Carl I. Hovland Professor of African American Studies and Professor of Psychology at Yale University. He is a co-founder and the CEO of the Center for Policing Equity.
"(i)t is no wonder that scientists are considering leaving for counties with less adversarial approaches to education; some countries are actively recruiting U.S. scholars, and some scholars (including personal friends and colleagues) are proclaiming loudly that the political climate in the U.S. is the reason they are leaving prestigious jobs—and the country. These threats to the stature of U.S. higher education are accelerated when the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, a prestigious independent organization that advises on scientific policy, is accused of revising pending reports to remove such terms as health equity and marginalized populations, replacing them with vague language, according to a letter signed by 100 of the group’s own members. NASEM’s editing foreshadowed the case of Columbia University, which was recently told that it must put Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies under receivership—punishing faculty by stripping them of their ability to govern themselves—before it is even allowed to discuss the restoration of $400 million in federal grants. This demand to meddle in the governance of a private university is made more disturbing by the university’s recent capitulation to the administration’s demands at a speed that was startling for many faculty at Columbia and beyond."
What an I say…..God didn’t save him Satan did because he is so good at doing the devil’s work.