Festivals and Culture
Dirty Little Not-So-Secrets: The National Political Discourse
Doris O'Brien writes: Freedom of speech has in too many instances become freedom to offend, and, as a result, entering the mass media discussion comes with gut-wrenching risks. Be prepared to be brutally insulted by those who disagree with you. Brace yourself for bombast, rudeness, ridicule and downright lies. more »
Trazando la Línea/Tracing the Line: Past, Present and Future of Cross-border Communities
"The border region is thought of as a place of violence, poverty, trafficking and pollution — sometimes and in some places it is — but it is also place of everyday life where both sides work together, shop, get married; it's a third nation. the third nation will be here when the walls have fallen, exactly in this place where it already lives." more »
The New ‘Dallas’: Sex, Scandal and U.S. Energy Policy!
Did the fracking debate dredge up ‘Dallas’ – the redux – or was this soap opera’s resurgence just another convenient mirror in which to reflect how central the nation’s debate over energy has now become in our culture? more »
"An Element of Mystery": The Golden Gate Bridge at 75
Kevin Starr writes: "In its final effect and meaning, however, the Bridge is more than the sum total of any of these. The Golden Gate Bridge embodies a beauty at once useful and transcendent. It emanates a music of mathematics and design and offers enduring proof that human beings can alter the planet with reverence, can mend or complete their environment for social purposes." more »