Blue Valentine is the story of love found and love lost told in past and present moments in time. Flooded with romantic memories of their courtship, Dean and Cindy use one night to try and save their failing marriage. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in this honest portrait of a relationship on the rocks.
Edited by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and Shanesh R.F. Brooks-Tatum
What does it mean to be Black in the Obama era? In Reading African American Experiences in the Obama Era, young African American scholars and researchers and experienced community activists demonstrate how to encourage dialogue across curricula, disciplines, and communities with emphases on education, new media, and popular culture. Considering what this historic moment means for Black life, letters, and learning, this accessible yet scholarly volume encourages movement toward thoughtful analysis today.
By Bill Donohue
In recent years the Catholic Church has gone through turbulent times with the uncovering of horrible abuse–abuse that persisted and which could have been prevented by many within the Church’s own ranks. As a result many positive aspects of what the Catholic Church teaches and practices are now being overlooked, not just by the media, but by people in and out of the pews. This is not only unfortunate, but detrimental to society at large. As Donohue makes plain, the Church’s teachings remain the best guide to good living ever adopted. Moreover, the content of these teachings defy today’s typical ideological categorizations; the Church is decidedly conservative in matters of morality and compellingly liberal in social and economic affairs.
Always willing to speak his mind and put up the good fight, Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, reminds readers of the great wealth of charity and wisdom that exists in the Catholic tradition. In Why Catholicism Matters, he explores the four Cardinal Virtues—Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance—and shows us how the Church’s best attributes can be applied to solve many of the biggest problems society must confront today and in the future. From questions of liberty and freedom, to the use of contraception and abortion, to the need for courage in age of terrorism and religious intolerance, Donohue examines how goodness and morality can affect the world in the centuries to come.
by Pawan Dhingra
Indian Americans own about half of all the motels in the United States. Even more remarkable, most of these motel owners come from the same region in India and—although they are not all related—seventy percent of them share the surname of Patel. Most of these motel owners arrived in the United States with few resources and, broadly speaking, they are self-employed, self-sufficient immigrants who have become successful—they live the American dream.
However, framing this group as embodying the American dream has profound implications. It perpetuates the idea of American exceptionalism—that this nation creates opportunities for newcomers unattainable elsewhere—and also downplays the inequalities of race, gender, culture, and globalization immmigrants continue to face. Despite their dominance in the motel industry, Indian American moteliers are concentrated in lower- and mid-budget markets. Life Behind the Lobby explains Indian Americans’ simultaneous accomplishments and marginalization and takes a close look at their own role in sustaining that duality.
