Noelle Chaddock
Juneteenth: The history and significance of this holiday marking the end of slavery 鈥� Maine Calling, Maine Public
When it comes to this year鈥檚 widespread celebration of Juneteenth 鈥� and of the idea of making it a federal holiday 鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 of two minds,鈥� Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Noelle Chaddock told Maine Public鈥檚 radio program Maine Calling.
On the one hand, it鈥檚 useful if we can 鈥減ause so Black folks can breathe and be together, re-engage, and do the reflection and healing that comes at this moment,鈥� Chaddock said of the June 19 holiday marking the emancipation of On the other hand, 鈥淚鈥檓 wary of the rush to acknowledge or institute some sort of holiday [when] it feels like the work hasn鈥檛 been done.鈥�
鈥淲e have these very specific dates and documents and decorations, [but] we still have not gotten to a place where everyone in the U.S. is treated as if they were equal, and they still do not have the [same] access to basic human needs as white folks in this country.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping for some deep work in acknowledging and bringing together folks to do the healing of racial trauma and intentionally moving forward in ways that don鈥檛 just mark a day, but mark a moment in which we will actually get to that point.鈥�
Listen to the interview:
- 鈥�,鈥� Maine Public, June 19, 2020
乐播传媒 College
乐播传媒 College graduates told to 鈥榮tay strong and walk like you got some sense鈥� 鈥� Sun Journal
Matthew Daigle of the Lewiston Sun Journal covered 乐播传媒鈥� 154th Commencement, held virtually for the first time on May 31. Prominent in this story was the Senior Address of Alexandria Onuoha 鈥�20, who told the story of her mother鈥檚 perseverance.
鈥淸My mother] never lost faith, and never stopped when an obstacle confronted her,鈥� Onuoha said. 鈥淪he instilled in me the values of consistency, activism, initiative and warmth. I got to exercise these values at 乐播传媒 College, and during my four years here, I got to witness my lovely class embody these values. That鈥檚 why 乐播传媒 is like a second home to me.鈥�
Students and families across the country and around the world watched the Commencement livestream. Sun Journal photographer Daryn Slover joined Anna Beaudet 鈥�20 in her Auburn home, celebrating her graduation with sister Grace Beaudet 鈥�22 and mother Celeste.
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥欌赌� Sun Journal, May 31, 2020
Ther铆 A. Pickens
Ther铆 A. Pickens 鈥� Tonight on WURD
As part of a wide-ranging discussion with host James Peterson on Philadelphia radio station WURD, Ther铆 A. Pickens, a professor of English at 乐播传媒 and author of the book Black Madness :: Mad Blackness, explained how Blackness and disability 鈥� and racism and ableism 鈥� are 鈥渢ethered鈥� and must be considered in antiracist reforms.
鈥淲hen I say [Blackness] is tethered to disability, the reason that we had chattel slavery 鈥� or one of the reasons given for it 鈥� was that Blacks were [considered] lesser human beings, that they were not capable mentally, even though they were capable physically,鈥� Pickens said.
The racist idea that Black people were not mentally capable was so entrenched that some believed Black people would die off after slavery. Over the next century the idea did not fade but evolved into the still-racist belief that Black people are physically superior to white people.
Many victims of police violence have some form of disability, Pickens said, but that intersection does not often factor into conversations about reform.
鈥淏lack folks are uncomfortable talking about disability because of the way it has plagued the notion of Blackness in this country,鈥� Pickens said. 鈥淪o to create an affinity with disability is to also create an affinity with something that people think of as a denigration.鈥� That affinity is necessary, though, because 鈥渁ll of our revolutions are bound up together.鈥�
Listen to the interview:
- 鈥�,鈥� Tonight on WURD, June 17, 2020
Amy Geller 鈥�96
In Focus: 鈥楾he Rabbi Goes West鈥� goes online 鈥� The Boston Globe
Documentary filmmakers Amy Geller 鈥�96 and her husband, Gerry Peary, spoke with Boston Globe correspondent Peter Keough about how they screened their latest film when film festivals, the main vehicle for showing independent films, were no longer happening.
The Rabbi Goes West, about a rabbi from Brooklyn who wanted to put a mezuzah on the door of every Jewish household in Montana, had just begun the festival circuit when the pandemic put a stop to large gatherings. Thinking quickly, Geller and Peary worked with the Independent Film Festival Boston to organize a 鈥渧irtual cinema鈥� with a live Q&A.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing like seeing a film on a big screen among movie-loving strangers,鈥� Geller acknowledged. 鈥淲e miss that terribly. But sharing the film online could potentially reach an even wider audience.
鈥淭he challenge is getting through to folks who are being bombarded with online content. We don鈥檛 have the marketing budget of a Netflix, HBO, or Amazon. For us, word of mouth is absolutely key.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� The Boston Globe, May 20, 2020
Stephanie Kelley-Romano
Conspiracy theories: What do some people believe, and what makes these theories take hold in society? 鈥� Maine Calling, Maine Public
As a guest on Maine Calling, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Stephanie Kelley-Romano explained how conspiracy theories develop and take hold, and why the COVID-19 pandemic is particularly fertile ground for them.
The 2020 winner of the Kroepsch teaching award, Kelley-Romano explained that conspiracy theories emerge from feelings of fear and a lack of good information. The theories often use 鈥渦s vs. them鈥� language, look for connections where there may be none, and evolve to fit reality even if they are not themselves real.
How, a caller to the program asked, do you tell if a conspiracy theory is true or false? How do you know the difference between, say, and the , and actual conspiracy?
It comes down to media literacy, Kelley-Romano said: reading multiple sources, understanding who鈥檚 saying what and why, finding independent sources to vindicate or rebut theories. 鈥淎dopting the right orientation to information, a healthy skepticism, and good research practices totally is helpful in figuring stuff out,鈥� she said.
The other guest on the show was Ryan Neville-Shepard 鈥�04, a communications professor at the University of Arkansas. Timothy Kaplowitz 鈥�20 also called into the show to explain the subject of his senior thesis: the vast, complicated QAnon conspiracy theory.
Listen to the interview:
鈥溾�� Maine Public, May 28, 2020
Rishi Madnani 鈥�23
Dispelling the myth of the model minority 鈥� TikTok
Protests against racism and police brutality against Black Americans have fed conversations about how other groups experience discrimination, and how those groups can be antiracist themselves.
In a TikTok video, Rishi Madnani 鈥�23 addressed racism against and within Asian communities, rebutting the 鈥渕odel minority myth鈥� that holds that Asians are smarter or more capable than other racial groups. The video went viral: Several celebrities, including Kelly Rowland, shared it, and it featured in news stories about racism.
The model minority myth is fed in part by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which favored immigrants with advanced degrees or special skills.
鈥淩emember, Black Americans were not introduced to society on the base of education,鈥� Madnani said. 鈥淭hey were brought in as slaves, as property. And then they were lynched and segregated against and forced into ghettos and not given jobs, and they were mass-incarcerated against and criminalized for petty drug crimes and so much more.
鈥淭hese issues generationally affect their communities because it鈥檚 a part of the system. So, yes, South Asians face ignorance 鈥� casual racism, hate crimes 鈥� but we have never in American history been systematically dehumanized and oppressed in the way that Black people have.鈥�
Caylin Carbonell 鈥�12
W&M grad student鈥檚 dissertation breaks historical convention, offers new possibilities for telling stories 鈥� College of William & Mary
Research on 17th- and 18th-century New England households by Caylin Carbonell ’12 is 鈥減athbreaking,鈥� her doctoral adviser told the college’s news site.
Carbonell studies power and authority within households, gleaning insights about women from creatively interpreted sources, from men鈥檚 diaries to court records to loose slips of paper found within those records.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so easy to be enamored by our sources and to get absorbed by your archive because, in a way, it鈥檚 a world that we want to know intimately,鈥� Carbonell said. 鈥淵et there鈥檚 a constant challenge of reminding myself that I am a foreigner, writing against narratives that have been so established.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� College of William & Mary, May 21, 2020
Beverly Johnson
Coast offers climate mitigation potential 鈥� The Working Waterfront
For an article about the potential of coastal plant life to reduce atmospheric carbon, Susie Arnold of The Working Waterfront, a publication of Maine鈥檚 Island Institute, spoke with Professor of Geology Beverly Johnson.
Johnson works on coastal and marine issues for the Maine Climate Council, a government program whose goals include helping the state reach carbon neutrality by 2045. She and her colleagues have found that while salt marshes, seaweeds, and sea grasses cover a tenth of a percentage point of Maine鈥檚 land, they could sequester, through photosynthesis, 1 to 6% of its carbon production.
鈥淭he healthier the system, the higher the rates of carbon sequestration,鈥� Johnson told Arnold.
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� The Working Waterfront, June 19, 2020
Tom Whalen 鈥�86
Mining Bobby Orr: BU鈥檚 Thomas Whalen celebrates hockey great and the Big Bad Bruins of 1970 in new book 鈥� BU Today
Joel Brown of Boston University news site BU Today spoke with university social science professor Tom Whalen 鈥�86, who recently published a chronicle of how Bobby Orr led the Boston Bruins to the team’s first Stanley Cup win in decades, bringing ice hockey a newfound prominence along the way.
Kooks and Degenerates on Ice: Bobby Orr, the Big Bad Bruins, and the Stanley Cup Championship That Transformed Hockey is Whalen鈥檚 third book about Boston sports. It was a story long in the making: Whalen, like many New England kids, had a poster of during the 1970 Stanley Cup final.
鈥淥rr was kind of like Michael Jordan on ice,鈥� Whalen says. 鈥淵ou never knew what you were going to get. There鈥檇 always be some unbelievable new move that you never saw before, and frankly, haven鈥檛 seen since.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� BU Today, May 20, 2020
Anita Charles
Sunday Puzzle: Lost IDs 鈥� Weekend Edition, NPR
Senior Lecturer in Education Anita Charles appeared on NPR鈥檚 popular Sunday Puzzle with New York Times puzzle editor and NPR Weekend Edition puzzle master Will Shortz.
Show contestants are chosen from among listeners who correctly solve a “Challenge” puzzle the week before. This was the challenge that Charles solved:
鈥淭hink of a familiar three-word name of something. The first word in that name is a number. Let’s call that number X. The last X letters of the second word of the name are a French translation of the third word. What’s the name?鈥�
How she got to the answer of this wordy clue was 鈥渟erendipitous,鈥� Charles said to the segment’s hosts. She was driving when she heard the clue. At that moment, her GPS happened to read, 鈥�3 MI.鈥�
Just like that, there was the answer: Three Mile Island.
Listen to the puzzle:
鈥�,鈥� Weekend Edition, June 7, 2020
Nicholas Basbanes 鈥�65
What is there to love about Longfellow? 鈥� The New Yorker
James Marcus of The New Yorker reviewed Cross of Snow, a new biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by journalist-turned-author Nicholas Basbanes 鈥�65.
At issue is the Maine poet鈥檚 historical reputation: While Longfellow was a giant in American poetry, later critics dismissed his legacy. Basbanes 鈥渟eems to take Longfellow鈥檚 banishment rather personally,鈥� Marcus wrote, and seeks to rehabilitate him.
According to Richard Duckett of the Worcester, Mass., Telegram & Gazette, Basbanes delved into a variety of archives, including at the poet鈥檚 Cambridge, Mass., home, and explored Longfellow鈥檚 relationships with the people in his life, particularly his second wife, Fanny.
Longfellow 鈥渉ad a huge, consequential life,鈥� Basbanes told Duckett. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e in the 21st century 鈥� maybe it鈥檚 time for a reappraisal.鈥�
Read the story:
鈥溾�� The New Yorker, June 1, 2020
See also:
鈥�,鈥� Telegram & Gazette, June 6, 2020
Joshua Rubin
COVID-19 and humankind: The lasting effects of the pandemic on our overall culture and society 鈥� Maine Calling, Maine Public
As a Maine Calling guest, Lecturer in Anthropology Josh Rubin explored how social scientists are thinking about the coronavirus pandemic. Overall, he鈥檚 noticed that a heightened sense of risk has changed people鈥檚 behaviors, from technology-assisted social gatherings to young children 鈥減laying hospital鈥� to authorities making decisions perhaps too quickly.
Moreover, risk 鈥済ets attached to bodies,鈥� Rubin said 鈥� both in terms of how people consider each other more or less risky, and how easily people are able to avoid risk.
鈥淭he risk of who leaves the house and who doesn鈥檛 is not equally distributed,鈥� said Rubin, a 2020 Kroepsch award winner. And 鈥渨ho feels comfortable at a police stop is not equally distributed.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 required, particularly for white Americans, is to address the fact that other people are experiencing terror in their lives as a result of social encounters with police 鈥� as much as fears about the coronavirus are respected and acknowledged.鈥�
Listen to the interview:
- 鈥�,鈥� Maine Calling, June 4, 2020
Andrew Karr 鈥�22
Suburban Philly bodyboarder takes big-wave world by storm 鈥� The Philadelphia Inquirer
Phil Anastasia of The Philadelphia Inquirer talked to Andrew Karr 鈥�22, a bodyboarder who鈥檚 鈥済one higher, dropped faster, and tunneled deeper 鈥� into the seemingly breathing heart of a big wave 鈥� than most followers of his sport believed possible for a bodyboarder.鈥�
In the past year, Karr 鈥� already unusual in the bodyboarding world for being from Pennsylvania, as opposed to California or Hawaii 鈥� has ridden a 60-foot wave at Nazar茅, Portugal, and the barrel of a wave off Maui, Hawaii, probably the first bodyboarder to do so.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard in life to find things that really force you to be 100% present,鈥� Karr said. 鈥淩iding big waves, it becomes a survival instinct and forces me into another level of focus that is unattainable in anything else. That makes me feel really, really alive.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2020
Rebecca Fraser-Thill
How to find direction amid uncertainty and change 鈥� Forbes
Rebecca Fraser-Thill, a visiting instructor in psychology and director of faculty engagement and outreach at the Center for Purposeful Work, rounded out her four-part series in Forbes on purpose during a pandemic by discussing how to recover a sense of purpose when nothing is certain.
She drew on the work of psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, who said that amid uncertainty, we should ask less about the meaning of life and more about what life requires of us right now. For Fraser-Thill, that putting of one foot in front of the other means being present for her young children.
Then there鈥檚 an in-between state, where the state of emergency has abated but things have not returned to normal. In this case, Fraser-Thill wrote, we can turn to work that has a lasting impact beyond ourselves 鈥� creating a product, helping a client, taking action against injustice.
鈥淚f we can find our sense of direction when everything around us is up in the air, imagine how powerful and impactful we鈥檒l be in work and life when things eventually firm up,鈥� she wrote.
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� Forbes, June 4, 2020
See also:
- 鈥�,鈥� Forbes, April 19, 2020
- 鈥溾�� Forbes, April 23, 2020
- 鈥�,鈥� Forbes, April 29, 2020
Alex Baldwin 鈥�93
Alex Baldwin says golf must remain 鈥榰nrelenting鈥� in its return to competition 鈥� The Florida Times-Union
Garry Smits of The Florida Times-Union spoke with Alex Baldwin 鈥�93, who was preparing for the June 11 reopening of the Korn Ferry Tour, of which she is president.
Baldwin, who is in her second year as Korn Ferry president, led that PGA Tour through a 103-day pandemic-induced closure and a safe reopening. Precautions the tour is taking include testing 400 people each week, providing charter flights and hotels to help players and staff physically distance, and, of course, no fans on the course.
Throughout the process, Baldwin said she tried to keep both safety and the Korn Ferry Tour players, who depended on the tournaments for income, front of mind.
鈥淲e have to remember we鈥檙e running a business, to maintain opportunities for our players,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the human side of this that carries us forward.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� The Florida Times-Union, June 10, 2020
Krista Aronson
Maine libraries and bookstores seeing increased demand for books about race 鈥� Portland Press Herald
As protests spark conversations about race in America, demand for books about racism has skyrocketed in Maine libraries and bookstores, the Portland Press Herald reported. There is a similar demand for children鈥檚 books.
鈥淏ooks can provide platforms for conversation with our children in a way that is familiar to our kids,鈥� Professor of Psychology Krista Aronson told reporter Emma Sorkin.
Aronson studies multicultural children鈥檚 books and is the director of , a program that, among several other initiatives, created a database of diverse children鈥檚 books. DBF also sponsors the Beautiful Blackbird Children鈥檚 Festival, which shares the work of Black artists and authors with Maine children.
鈥淧icture books can not only help children but also parents in their thinking and growth,鈥� Aronson said.
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� Portland Press Herald, June 13, 2020
Raj Saha 鈥�03
Widely cited health institute keeps missing the mark on Maine death projections 鈥� Portland Press Herald
For an article about the wild fluctuation in COVID-19 death projections in Maine, Portland Press Herald reporter Kevin Miller talked to Lecturer in Geology and Physics Raj Saha 鈥�03 about the shortcomings of modeling disease spread.
Models often fail to include the assumptions and data underlying them in a way the public can understand, Saha said, which means people could mix up cause and effect. For example, a community could relax its prevention measures based on a low death projection 鈥� when the low projection was caused by the prevention measures in the first place.
鈥淲e are all used to seeing weather projections 鈥� for example, the path of a hurricane which always comes with error zones,鈥� Saha said. 鈥淏ut how a public reacts to the projected paths of a hurricane is not going to affect the actual path of the hurricane. The same cannot be said here in the case of disease projections.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� Portland Press Herald, June 18, 2020
Anne Williams
Soaring sales for $4,500 puzzles? In a lockdown, it all fits
John D. Tulenko of The New York Times spoke with Anne Williams, professor emerita of economics and author of The Jigsaw Puzzle, Piecing Together a History, about the history of a puzzle-making company that caters to the rich and famous 鈥� and is seeing soaring sales today.
Par Puzzles was founded by two out-of-work businessmen during the Great Depression and sold one-of-a-kind, hand-cut puzzles to the likes of legendary actor Humphrey Bogart. They passed it down to an apprentice, John Madden, who now runs it with his son Justin. The Maddens still hand-cut each puzzle for a growing clientele.
Why pay $900 or more for a puzzle? Because they鈥檙e handmade, unique, and very challenging. (The puzzles don鈥檛 come with a picture of the finished image.)
鈥淚f you鈥檙e someone who starts a puzzle with corners and edges,鈥� Williams said, 鈥渁 Par puzzle would be very hard for you.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� The New York Times, June 19, 2020
Isa Moise 鈥�19
鈥淔arming should be the richest trade on earth鈥�: An interview with Isa Jamira 鈥� Slow Food USA
Isa Moise 鈥�19 told a writer for the Slow Food USA website about her experience as an urban farmer and how she hopes to grow healthy food in an accessible and sustainable way.
Moise, who majored in environmental studies and politics at 乐播传媒 and worked with The 乐播传媒 Garden, has made sustainable food central to her burgeoning career. She has worked at her father鈥檚 vegan restaurant and at a New York City aquaponics farm; she now works as a seasonal farmer and educator.
鈥淔arming takes a very deep understanding of Mother Earth and all the interconnected systems. The interactions that you鈥檙e making in the earth right now, they matter,鈥� Isa said. She continued: 鈥淎s a farmer, I have never seen a not-struggling farmer. And to me, that鈥檚 just the craziest thing because I know the land is the richest thing on Earth.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥溾赌樷�� Slow Food USA, June 18, 2020
