Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
Research Raises New Questions About Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women; May 5, is Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day in the US
"News coverage of missing and murdered Indigenous women has been long criticized as spotty and superficial. The news media 'largely ignore the victimizations of Native American females,' writes ... an assistant professor of criminal justice at Sacramento State University, in her 2020 paper, 'The Representation of Women and Girls of Color in United States Crime News.' A growing body of research demonstrates that missing white women typically draw significantly more media attention than missing minority women. The late PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill first used the term 'Missing White Woman Syndrome' to describe this disparity in 2004." more »
Selective Exposure and Partisan Echo Chambers in Television News Consumption: Innovative Use of Data Yields Unprecedented Insights
“Concerns about partisan media’s potential to polarize the public cannot be easily dismissed,” researchers and authors Broockman and Kalla conclude in this new study. The research underscores “the need for policymakers and civil society leaders to continue to consider how the influence of partisan media on public opinion might be countered as part of a broader suite of potential interventions to strengthen American democracy.” more »
Sanditon's Masterpiece Series Finale ... Snap-dragon Was Played in the First Episode ... How Is It Played? (Question From PBS)
"Most sources describe Snap-dragon as a Christmas tradition, but (Mary) Blain suggests that in the United States it was played at Halloween, and Platt notes: The game was one particular to Halloween or Christmas or Twelfth Night; I will not specify which, because in the first place I do not know, and in the second place if I were to make a mistake I would be held up to ridicule and all my statements overthrown... There were several other traditions surrounding the game of snap-dragon. Mary F. Blain describes the belief that the person who snatches the most treats out of the brandy will meet their true love within a year." more »
Jo Freeman Reviews: When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America
Jo Freeman Reviews: "In 1968, change was happening all over the world. In the US, mounting opposition to the war in Viet Nam and several burgeoning social movements all demanded attention. People representing many of these came to the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago in hopes of reaching the larger public with their message. Heather Hendershot writes about the news media – especially the three network TV companies – at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. What would the news networks cover?" more »
