Recommended reading / viewing / listening

This week: Kobe’s Mamba mentality / Bloomberg’s presidential prospects / Sweet potato’s warnings / Azalea Trail Maids / The evolution of the presidency

This week: Kobe’s Mamba mentality / Bloomberg’s presidential prospects / Sweet potato’s warnings / Azalea Trail Maids / The evolution of the presidency

Most of these great items come from my social media networks. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism. Learn more about my academic background here.

1. What women did for surrealism
By Tim Smith-Lang | 1843 :: The Economist | December 2019 / January 2020
“Dora Maar used photographic montages to make daring images inspired by dreams”

2. Say hello to the bad guy: How Kobe Bryant crafted the Mamba mentality
By Hunter Felt | The Guardian | January 2020
“The late LA Lakers star was a ruthless opponent, a difficult teammate and an undeniable athletic genius”

3. The Hidden Stakes of the 1619 Controversy
By David Waldstreicher | Boston Review | January 2020
“Seeking to discredit those who wish to explain the persistence of racism, critics of the New York Times’s 1619 Project insist the facts don’t support its proslavery reading of the American Revolution. But they obscure a longstanding debate within the field of U.S. history over that very issue — distorting the full case that can be made for it.”

4. Bloomberg creates a parallel presidential race. Can he win?
By Kathleen Ronayne and Andrew DeMillo | Associated Press | January 2020
“He’s staked his hopes on states like Texas, California and Arkansas that vote on March 3, aiming to disrupt the Democratic primary right around the time it’s typically settling on a front-runner. Or, should Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, be that front-runner, Bloomberg could be a backstop to Democrats still looking for a moderate choice.”

5. Sweet Potato Sends Secret Signals
By Priyanka Runwal | Scientific American | January 2020
“One variety alerts neighbors to keep pests at bay”

6. ‘Extremely rare’ Assyrian carvings discovered in Iraq
By Adnrew Lawler | National Geographic | January 2020
“Stone reliefs more than 2,700 years old date to the reign of the mighty King Sargon II.”

7. What Should Classic Books Smell Like?
By McKayla Coyle | Electric Lit | January 2020
“An upcoming novel called ‘Bubblegum’ will smell like bubblegum. Is this the start of a fragrant trend?”

8. The Dress Hasn’t Changed, But The Girls Have
By Lindsey Feingold | The Picture Show :: NPR | July 2019
“They are the Azalea Trail Maids — the embodiment of old school Southern hospitality with a modern twist.”

9. Climate, inequality, hunger: which global problems would you fix first?
By Garry Blight, Liz Ford, Frank Hulley-Jones, Niko Kommenda and Lydia Smears | The Guardian | January 2020
“Interactive quiz: With only 10 years left to achieve the UN’s sustainability goals, find out how your priorities compare”

10. The Impossible Presidency
By Christopher Rose | Not Even Past :: UT Austin Department of History | September 2017
“Over the past two and a half centuries, the expectations placed upon the office of the President have changed and evolved with each individual charged with holding the position.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

This week: Jeb Bush’s failure / Bloomberg’s hinted candidacy / Obama and Cuba / The accomplishments of novelists Eco, Lee, and Spiotta

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This week: Jeb Bush’s failure / Bloomberg’s hinted candidacy / Obama and Cuba / The accomplishments of novelists Eco, Lee, and Spiotta

Most of these great items come from my social media networks. Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism.

1. Inside Jeb Bush’s $150 Million Failure
By Eli Stokols | Politico Magazine | Feb. 20
“His closest aides failed to predict Trump and never changed course, guiding a flawed candidate into a corner he couldn’t escape.”

2. Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Dies at 89
By William Grimes | The New York Times | Feb. 19
“Lee, like her alter ego Scout, was a tough little tomboy who enjoyed beating up the local boys, climbing trees and rolling in the dirt.”

3. Michael Bloomberg Hints at Reasons for Candidacy, but Doesn’t Announce It
By Maggie Haberman and Alexander Burns | First Draft :: The New York Times | Feb. 18
“The most pressing problems in the country, he said, were ‘wage stagnation at home, American retreat around the world’ and a ‘corrupt gridlock and two-party system that answers to lobbyists and special interests instead of the American people.’ ”

4. Obama to Cuba: A gamble to end the embargo
By Ted Piccone | Order from Chaos :: The Brookings Institution | Feb. 18
“It is a big prize for the Castros, but in exchange for what? Why now? What can we expect to see happen on the island before and after he visits? How will the visit impact the relationship?”

5. An Interview with Dr. William Blair, Founding Editor of the Journal of the Civil War Era
Muster :: The Journal of the Civil War Era | Feb. 15
“You were the editor of Civil War History for ten years before founding and editing The Journal of the Civil War Era. Did you have a vision for JCWE that differed from CWH?”

6. The Nation He Built
By Michael Grunwald | Politico Magazine | January/February 2016
“Over the past seven years, Americans have heard an awful lot about Barack Obama and his presidency, but the actual substance of his domestic policies and their impact on the country remain poorly understood.”

7. The Quietly Subversive Fictions of Dana Spiotta
By Susan Burton | The New York Times Magazine | Feb. 19
“Over the course of her career, the author has created a new kind of great American novel.”

8. Umberto Eco, Italian novelist and intellectual, dies aged 84
By Kevin Rawlinson | The Guardian | Feb. 20
“The revered literary critic, author and essayist — most famous for 1980 novel The Name of the Rose — had been suffering from cancer.”

9. Why I love… Winona Ryder
By Bim Adewunmi | The Guardian | Feb. 20
“It’s very difficult to look away when she’s on screen. She looks like a woodland creature, a startled deer — plus, she can act”

10. Historical Lessons for a President Forced to Deal With a Hostile Congress
By Michael Beschloss | HistorySource :: The New York Times | November 2014
“The Democratic nominee of 2016, whoever she or he is, might want President Obama to adopt the [Gerald] Ford veto strategy. … It would give the party’s nominee the opportunity to argue that in 2017, only a Democratic president can hold back the excesses of a Republican-controlled House and Senate.”

Rebecca Aguilar

#CallingAllJournalists Initiative | Reporter | Media Watchdog | Mentor | Latinas in Journalism

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Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.

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