Forbidden fruit : love stories from the Underground Railroad

forbiddenby Betty DeRamus

Forbidden Fruit is a collection of fascinating, largely untold tales of ordinary men and women who faced mobs, bloodhounds, bounty hunters, and bullets to be together — and defy a system that categorized blacks not only as servants, but as property.

 

Here you’ll meet, among other extraordinary characters, a fugitive slave from Virginia who spends seventeen years searching for his wife. A Georgia slave couple that sails for England with federal troops trailing behind. A white woman who falls in love with her deceased husband’s slave. A young slave girl who is delivered to her fiancé inside a wooden chest.

 

Acclaimed journalist Betty DeRamus gleaned these anecdotes from descendants of runaway slave couples, unpublished memoirs, Civil War records, census data, magazines, and dozens of previously untapped sources. This is a book about people pursuing love and achievement in a time of hate and severely limited opportunities. Though not all of the stories in Forbidden Fruit end in triumph, they all celebrate hope, passion, courage, and triumph of the human spirit.

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Groundhog Day (DVD)

groundhogHow many times have you seen this?

Bill Murray is at his wry, wisecracking best in this riotous romantic comedy about a weatherman caught in a personal time warp on the worst day of his life. Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer (Andie MacDowell) and a smart-aleck cameraman (Chris Elliott), TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. But on his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds himself stuck in small-town hell. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, they do. Phil wakes the next morning to find it’s Groundhog Day all over again… and again… and again.

How many times have you seen this?

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How many times have you seen this?

Toxic communities : environmental racism, industrial pollution, and residential mobility

toxic

by Dorceta Taylor

From St. Louis to New Orleans, from Baltimore to Oklahoma City, there are poor and minority neighborhoods so beset by pollution that just living in them can be hazardous to your health. Due to entrenched segregation, zoning ordinances that privilege wealthier communities, or because businesses have found the ‘paths of least resistance,’ there are many hazardous waste and toxic facilities in these communities, leading residents to experience health and wellness problems on top of the race and class discrimination most already experience. Taking stock of the recent environmental justice scholarship, Toxic Communities examines the connections among residential segregation, zoning, and exposure to environmental hazards. Renowned environmental sociologist Dorceta Taylor focuses on the locations of hazardous facilities in low-income and minority communities and shows how they have been dumped on, contaminated and exposed.

Drawing on an array of historical and contemporary case studies from across the country, Taylor explores controversies over racially-motivated decisions in zoning laws, eminent domain, government regulation (or lack thereof), and urban renewal. She provides a comprehensive overview of the debate over whether or not there is a link between environmental transgressions and discrimination, drawing a clear picture of the state of the environmental justice field today and where it is going. In doing so, she introduces new concepts and theories for understanding environmental racism that will be essential for environmental justice scholars. A fascinating landmark study, Toxic Communities greatly contributes to the study of race, the environment, and space in the contemporary United States.

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The Politics of The Hunger Games

hungerJamey Heit

Moves and counter moves. The Hunger Games series follows the birth of a rebellion that takes on the Capitol’s overbearing power. As we read about Katniss’s journey from protecting her sister to embodying the hope of those long oppressed, political themes surface again and again. What does it mean to be a responsible political figure when living in a prison state? Who is the most effective political leader in the rebels’ midst? This book explores these questions and others as it examines the ways that The Hunger Games series mirrors some of America’s political questions. Is President Coin any less problematic than President Snow when it comes to upholding political ideals? Can a culture begin based on an assassination? Political Themes in The Hunger Games Series explores these and other questions as it examines several of the political themes that impact Katniss’s journey from volunteer to the symbol of the rebellion. Throughout the analysis in this book parallels to our own politics force us to challenge our own political mindset.

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