乐播传媒 in the News: July 1, 2016
A Chinese church conundrum: Why did Bishop Ma recant? 鈥� National Catholic Register
Lecturer in Chinese Nathan Faries is quoted by the National Catholic Register its analysis of his 2012 criticism of the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.
At his ordination in 2012, Auxiliary Bishop Taddeo Ma Daqin’s words and actions seemed to break ranks with the CPCA. He’s been under house arrest since then.
But in a recent blog post, the bishop praised the CPCA and said he regretted what happened in 2012.
While the “prevailing view among experts may be that Bishop Ma was punished for his defiance, and coerced into recanting,” Faries has a different narrative interpretation, writes Brian Fraga.
Author of The “Inscrutably Chinese” Church, Faries suggests that reports of the bishop’s actions and words in 2012 may have been exaggerated in the first place.
He tells Fraga that 鈥淢a has never been as controversial a figure as some would like to imagine. He wants what is best for the Church. He wants unity and the greater glory of God. Those were the main themes of his [2012] address, not criticism of the government.鈥�
‘Improving upon strengths rather than focusing on weaknesses’ 鈥� Maine Magazine
Maine Magazine defines its top 50 Mainers list as people who are “charting the state’s future” by “investing time, energy, and talents to advance the state they love.”
Their list includes Portland restaurateur Andrew Taylor ’03 and Lewiston youth-center founder Julia Sleeper ’08.
Tree Street Youth, an expanding organization that Sleeper co-founded as a 乐播传媒 student, now serves up to 150 children each day and offers a robust college-prep program.
Sleeper tells the magazine that “I do what I do to ensure our youth have as many opportunities to succeed as the future leaders of Maine.”
Taylor, along with Arlin Smith and Mike Wiley, co-owns a “block-long epicurean empire” on Middle Street in Portland 鈥� three restaurants that have “picked up numerous accolades,” the magazine notes, including a James Beard nomination as best chef in the Northeast for Taylor and Wiley in 2015 and 2016.
The trio’s restaurant group, employs more than 120 people, “a community of workers that [the owners] say is one of their proudest achievements,” the magazine reports.
Smith and his co-owners are involved in charitable work to fight hunger, “an issue that affects so many people in our community,” says Smith.
A surprising murder trial verdict raises questions about expert-witness opinions 鈥� Psychology Today
A story about the in Psychology Today looks at the case of convicted murderer Julian Kurita, who was defended at his 2012 trial by .
Kurita had a troubled psychiatric history, and Williams called upon a well-respected expert witness who supported an insanity defense. Yet the jury found Kurita guilty.
On the other side, William Barr, the prosecution’s go-to expert witness, testified as he usually does when called upon, saying that Kurita was sane and likely exaggerating or faking his symptoms.
But Barr’s specialty is physical brain injury; he’s “not really forensic in the sense of dealing with people who commit a crime,” Williams tells writer Mike Mariani. Yet, he’s ended up being “the darling of the New York County DA’s office.”
And can a “darling” be truly objective? Probably not, Mariani writes.
“In recent years…studies have demonstrated that even among the most presumably objective forensic experts, bias may hold sway.”
Indeed, expert-witness assessments “indicated a strong allegiance to whichever party they thought had retained them.”
How college buddies skipped the GMAT and launched Downeast Cider 鈥� Boston.com
A story at Boston.com about Downeast Cider, founded in 2011, includes a funny that explains why it’s not called “Three Idiots Cider” today.
The story also looks at the company’s expansion and how leaders Tyler Mosher ’11, Ross Brockman ’11, and Matt Brockman ’08 鈥� each of whom were named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2014 鈥� try to keep the brand and company culture feeling genuine and down-to-earth.
鈥淣ew employees sometimes assume there鈥檚 some sort of Steve Jobs-type person thinking about every detail, and it鈥檚 really not like that,鈥� Ross Brockman tells reporter Justine Hofherr. 鈥淣one of us are geniuses.”
Re-writing the African story聽鈥� AllAfrica
An essay in AllAfrica to “change the negative perception of Africa.”
Mushi, a 乐播传媒 economics major whose looked at three Tanzanian women and their experience with microfinance institutions, recalls for writer Anne Kidmose Jensen how his fellow 乐播传媒 students often bought into negative African stereotypes.
So, he created to tell other stories about African nations.
Desmond Mushi ’13 talks to Associate Professor of English Sanford Freedman at the 2013 Senior-Faculty Dinner. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
While Africa is beset by “wars and poverty and corruption,” the continent “is also a place of stock markets, high-rises, and internet cafes, and this is a part that needs media attention,” Desmond says.
While his initial motivation for the website was to make American audiences more Africa-aware, Mushi sees stereotypes being embraced at home, too.
The media’s portrayal of Africa “has not only affected people in the U.S. and Western Europe, it has also affected Africans themselves.”
Mushi, who lives in Dar es Salaam, is a research assistant with the think tank Economic and Social Research Foundation.
10 months, 45 national parks, 11 rules 鈥� The New York Times
While on his 10-month road trip to 45 of the 47 national parks in the contiguous U.S., Jeremy Cronon ’13 says that he “adopted a series of daily practices 鈥� I called them my 鈥渞oadtripology rules鈥� 鈥� to force myself to be as deliberate as possible about the trip.”
He recently in The New York Times’ Travel section. Among them:聽Drive the speed limit. Use paper maps. And avoid interstates.
You might say “pshaw” to having rules on a roadtrip. But Cronon says that his rules “sought to enhance spontaneity by making sure I noticed it when it happened.”
College courses that ‘give us hope for the next generation’ 鈥� Elle
Melinda Plastas
Elle writer Natalie Matthews reports that today’s courses in women and gender studies tackle topics that are far more complex and inclusive than their 1970s forebears.
In that spirit, she offers a list of that “give us hope for the next generation.”
Checking in at No. 21 is “Tobacco: Gender Matters,” taught by 乐播传媒’ Melinda Plastas, visiting associate professor of women and gender studies.
Plastas’ course teaches students to use “gender to examine the global history of tobacco production, consumption, and control” and to “consider the role of tobacco in shaping ideas about gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and class.”
The list also included the one-time 乐播传媒 course “Religion and the Monstrous Feminine,” offered in the 2016 winter semester.
