ZiR | ZETEO | Page 30

Opportunities for Stasis

September 16, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

Kay Ryan sits very near the top of contemporary poetry’s list of “must-read” writers. Sure, recommending a two-term former Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author should come as no surprise. But Ryan is also a poet to present to those who have no relationship with poetry. Her work has many layers, and perhaps only seasoned readers will reach the deepest ones. Yet, the first surfaces of her poems are touchable. By no means facile, her work is quick to convey a mood. This […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: books, literature, poetry, reading, writing

Migration & the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

September 15, 2014 by Alexia Raynal

In the midst of the heated debate on U.S. immigration policy, Erika Eichelberger’s article for Mother Jones stands out for a new critique. Eichelberger observes that migrant children might be better treated if the United States would have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. One of the treaty’s largest provisions (Article 3) urges countries to act in the best interests of the child. Thus, ratifying would pressure the White House and Congress to prioritize reuniting kids with their family members in the […]

Categories: Alexia Raynal, ZiR • Tags: child immigrants, childhood, children, United Nations

Leave a comment

“Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly logical”

September 14, 2014 by William Eaton

“Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly logical,” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote in a famous Supreme Court dissent. “If you have no doubt of your premises or your power, and want a certain result with all your heart, you naturally express your wishes in law, and sweep away all opposition.” Holmes is getting to the heart of the problem of the persecution of people who speak out against prevailing opinion. But he seems to be underestimating […]

Categories: William Eaton, ZiR • Tags: freedom of speech, homophobia, law, racism, sexism, Supreme Court

Leave a comment

Robert M. Morgenthau on Immigration Injustice

September 13, 2014 by William Eaton

Without question, I considered Robert M. Morgenthau (District Attorney for New York, borough of Manhattan, from 1975 to 2009) the great political figure of New York City at the end of the twentieth century for his fearless battle against white-collar crime. He was a hero above the mundane vicissitudes of ordinary life. I was surprised then to find out that his wife, Lucinda Franks, had written the intimate story of their unusual marriage, Timeless: Love, Morgenthau, and Me. When he […]

Categories: Gayle Rodda Kurtz, ZiR • Tags: immigrants

Leave a comment

Land grabbing and conservationism

September 12, 2014 by William Eaton

A recent article in The Guardian by international security journalist and academic Dr. Nafeez Ahmed draws attention to the eviction of thousands of Kenyan rural-dwellers from their homes: In west Kenya, as the UK NGO Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) reported, over a thousand homes had been torched by the government’s Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to forcibly evict the 15,000 strong Sengwer indigenous people from their ancestral homes in the Embobut forest and the Cherangany Hills. Since 2007, successive Kenyan governments […]

Categories: Catherine Vigier, ZiR • Tags: Africa, corporations, environmentalism, indigenous people, The Guardian, World Bank

Australia’s curious sense of disconnectedness – Part I of III

September 11, 2014 by William Eaton

Part II – “It is an environment that wants your dead” – Bryson writes about his travels through the Australian Outback – 18 Sept 2014 Part III – “Unaccountably overlooked and packed with unappreciated wonders” – is about Aborigines, earth’s oldest culture and stromatolites – earth’s oldest life form – 25 Sept In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson gives robust insight into Australia’s irresistible appeal. We lose ourselves in Bryson’s sense of humor, stopping momentarily to smile, chuckle and […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: Australia, Bill Bryson

Treat them children like criminals

September 8, 2014 by Alexia Raynal

(And you’ll see no other than crime) Last Monday, The Denver Post published an article criticizing courts’ inappropriate handling of children as criminals. The article stood out for its heart-breaking opening: He tried to hide the tears from his mother. But the bright orange handcuffs locked his wrists together, and eventually he gave up trying to tug his T-shirt up to his face to wipe them away.” Journalist Jordan Steffen’s description evokes strong feelings against a court system that mistreats young children in court. When […]

Categories: Alexia Raynal, ZiR • Tags: childhood, children, criminals, family court, juvenile delinquency, law

Leave a comment

Touching the Memory

September 7, 2014 by William Eaton

My father usually invited an oirech (a poor person) from among those who had lined up at the door of the Beit HaMidrash to join us for [a Sabbath] meal. These were itinerant beggars, of whom there were, unfortunately, many in Poland. I was fascinated by these vagabonds who lived at the margin of our society, and their presence at our table added excitement and mystery to the celebration. This from a memoir by the former rabbi and director of […]

Categories: William Eaton, ZiR • Tags: anti-Semitism, ethics, Holocaust, Jews, Judaism, religion

Leave a comment

Putting Boundaries on Blurred Lines

September 6, 2014 by William Eaton

[print_link] [email_link] Last year Robin Thicke released his hit single “Blurred Lines,” a song that sparked a great deal of controversy in addition to a great deal of twerking. I wish that Thicke’s song had at least a few quotable lines to bring some attention to a discussion of “blurred lines,” and the truly complicated nature of it, but alas, he gives us little to work with. <I hate these blurred lines/I know you want it/But you’re a good girl/The way you grab […]

Categories: Caterina Gironda, ZiR • Tags: NPR, sexual assault

Leave a comment

ZETEO

Zeteo (ζητέω): to challenge, question, dispute, explore the forgotten and ignored

Category Archives: ZiR

Opportunities for Stasis

Migration & the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

“Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly logical”

Robert M. Morgenthau on Immigration Injustice

Land grabbing and conservationism

Australia’s curious sense of disconnectedness – Part I of III

Treat them children like criminals

Touching the Memory

Putting Boundaries on Blurred Lines