Our media coverage is often dominated by one big story that crowds out most everything else. As an antidote, every week, Nationinterns try to cut through the echo chamber and choose one good article in their area of interest that they feel should receive more attention. Please check out their favorite stories below, watch for this feature each week, and please use the comments section below to alert us to any important articles you feel warrant broader attention.
Karla Cornjeo Villavicencio
“Argentinidad,” by Benjamin Kunkel. N+1, October 27, 2010
Benjamin Kunkel’s n+1 essay Argentinidad looks at the country’s modern role in the now left-leaning southern continent. I read it last fall, but revisited it this week because the Greece-Argentina economic meltdown comparison was everywhere on the blogosphere and I find economic perspective more palatable when it’s delivered by young gringo novelists who write with their hearts full and their heads down.
Kevin Donohoe
"Household Debt and Credit Quarterly Report" The New York Federal Reserve. Aug. 15, 2011.
Even as households cut back on other types of debt, a new report from the New York Federal Reserve shows that student loans have increased dramatically in the last decade. Unsurprisingly Washington is doing nothing to solve this (latest) debt crisis.
Carmen Garcia
“Inicia en Espana protesta contra visita del Papa” El Universal. Aug. 7, 2011
Reveals the ardent protests against Pope Benedict’s recent visit to Spain; crowds were protesting the use of public money (and plenty of it) to fund the visit. They rush to clarify, however, that they’re not "anitpapa," or "anti-pope," but that the use of public funds to coordinate a private celebration is unjust. The protest was led by the president of the AMAL, the Madrid Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (Asociación Madrileña de Ateos y Librepensadores), Luis Vega.
Sahiba Gill
“Liberals and Racism,” by Seth Ackerman. Jacobin Magazine, Summer 2011 Edition.
Seth Ackerman thinks that liberals combat the claim that minorities don’t "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" using a brutely antagonistic trump card, the "racism" accusation, which distracts them from forwarding a more nuanced, convincing argument of their own.
Marc Kilstein
“Baseball in Uganda,” by Jay Shapiro. ESPN, August 14, 2011.
Better heard than read, this is a heartbreaking story of a Ugandan youth baseball team that qualified for the Little League World Series, only to be denied US visas. The kids on the team are bright, strong, and their voices remind us of the beauty of sports—and the frustration of bureaucracy.
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Shelby Kinney-Lang
“Conservatives Deplore Bombing of Avalanche Runs at Yellowstone,” by Brodie Farquahar. New West, August 17, 2011.
Western conservationists speak out against "highly expensive and highly risky winter avalanche mitigation;" this mitigation includes using explosives on a snow-capped Yellowstone pass.
Anna Lekas Miller
“Israël et Palestine font Équipe Commune…au Foot Australien,” by Etienne Combier. Rue 89. August 17, 2011
(Article is in French, but videos are in English). Israeli and Palestinian Australian-style football players are forming a joint team–called the "peace team" and competing in a championship as one team. Throughout their practices, they have been faced with the difficulties of learning one anothers’ histories and making peace with their differences.
Zach Newkirk
“Rick Perry: ‘I Don’t Think the Federal Government has a Role’ in Education,” by Ian Millhiser and Scott Keyes. Think Progress, August 16, 2011.
As an undergraduate who benefits from Federal Pell Grants and Federal Work Study, it’s always interesting to see how the right views these "entitlement" programs. As this man becomes a viable contender for president, his views — for now woefully underreported — will hopefully become increasingly visible to the great electorate.
Natasja Sheriff
“Why Should the Aid/Relief/Development Community Care About Global Environmental Climate Change?” by Ed Carr. Open the Echo Chamber, August 17, 2011
Aid and development workers are constantly under pressure to do the ‘right thing’ and, despite good intentions, they can find themselves on the receiving end of criticism for the often unexpected outcomes of their work. With limited time and funding, it can be difficult to incorporate long-term plans into immediate action. Ed Carr discusses the need to reconcile the immediacy of humanitarian intervention with longer term considerations of climate change impacts. Don’t miss part two.
Britney Wilson
“How the US is Still Recovering from ‘Supercop’ Bill Braton’s Policing,” by Jamilah King. ColorLines, August 17, 2011.
I chose this article because it highlights the on-going problems of policing as it pertains to racial and social justice, in the United States and beyond. I also just don’t understand the logic of bringing the man behind two of the most notorious police departments when it comes to race relations–LA and NY–to solve problems in London.
