Soccer Gods must be handsome. Sportswriter Tom Dart has just shown us that lookism can despoil the male world as well as the female world. He used to cover World Cups for The Times of London, where he was a soccer writer for over a decade. However, since moving to Texas he has covered U.S. sports for outlets including The Guardian and SI.com. Here's his Mar 2, 2015 story in its entirety. It's from his soccer gods blog: Real Madrid accused of looks-ism by Barcelona … [Read more...]
Putting Humpty Dumpty back together—— cleft lip repair.
Not much has changed surgery-wise for clefts since the mid 20th Century when I had my initial cleft lip and palate repairs. At least this is the case with regard to most closures of clefts. Cutting edge (no pun intended) treatments experiment with wires, retainers, and orthodontia-type contrivances to non-surgically pull the cleft palate together. Cleft lip and palate are caused by abnormal facial development that occurs while the child is still in the womb. The upper lip and roof of the … [Read more...]
How to stop a bully ——in the office, on the battlefield.
A fellow writer and college classmate of mine, Alain Gunn, recently penned this post about stopping bullies. He was responding to the debate about managing the threat from military activity in the Ukraine caused by Russia and in the Middle East caused by ISIL ( ISIS, Daesh, or the Islamic State, take your pick). What triggered author Gunn's essay was another classmate's assertion that "Anyone paying attention realizes Obama has no strategy against the Islamic State" (Bob Woodward, as reported … [Read more...]
Possible origin of “Cleft Heart” & other hearty phrases——a Valentine treat.
In honor of Valentine's Day, we'll look at eight phrases containing the word "heart." Most of this fun-with-phrases is due to the hard work of word sleuths at dictionary.com. Thank you kind souls for this . . . and the ongoing service you provide, esp to book authors. If you break someone’s heart, you cause them great disappointment or sorrow. This often occurs in the realm of love, though heartbreak is not exclusive to romantic endeavors. This expression has been describing sorrow and … [Read more...]
What determines heroes, villains and fools?
Obama's recent State of the Union speech tried to address, among other things, the problem of wealth inequality in America.* Charles Blow's New York Times column** the day before Obama's speech described how hard (and expensive) it is to be poor. While much of the reaction to Obama's proposals focused on wealth-transfers, other redistribution efforts, and increased government regulation, some of it dealt with more abstract notions of how people are compensated in various ways in society. … [Read more...]
“Heroes, villains and fools” paintings: at Orinda Books this month.
Visitors to my website probably remember the elongated paintings that grace the left margins of most pages. The subjects of the paintings—in keeping with one of the themes of the website—are various American heroes, villains and fools. I intentionally chose well-known personages who force people to take sides since one person's hero is often another's villain . . . or fool. I've explained all this in a prior post which I've reprinted below.* In my memoir, Cleft Heart, I identify among other … [Read more...]
Can lookism infect a “veiled” society?
Journalist Farahnaz Zahidi , a sub-editor at The Express Tribune in Karachi, has asserted that lookism is an issue in Pakistan. I suggested in my last blog that —contrary to some assertions—few people in Pakistan would be familiar enough with female faces for lookism to be a problem in that country. (Unfairly, lookism swirls primarily around female faces, tho male faces—and bodies of both genders—come into play sometimes.) To make my case, I stated that there were plenty of Muslims in … [Read more...]