Author: Clio

This Wednesday, September 19, is the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. So it seems like a good time to rant about our culture’s infatuation with pirates. I’m about to ruin Pirate Santa Claus for white people. Why do we romanticize pirates? I was thinking about this recently, regarding a teacher education book called “Teach…

I’ve written in the past about school dress codes. There’s another topic that’s just as complicated, and that’s also getting attention in the news lately: Bathroom pass policies. Last month, a middle school teacher’s policy notice went viral. For people outside of education, the policy (two passes a month, no more) might have seemed draconian….

My father said the n-word when I was young. Often. Casually, and sometimes in anger. My father was not a terrible person. He was a liberal Christian minister. He did good works for his community, and he did extensive missionary work in Liberia, a country whose modern culture was built by freed slaves. The common…

Okay, men, listen up. Many of you claim to not understand what “rape culture” and “toxic masculinity” are. So here’s a lesson. This weekend, the nation honored Aretha Franklin, one of the greatest musicians ever to grace us with her presence. The Queen of Soul brought a consistent woman-empowering message, including through her most famous…

I have a strong opinion on the word “Caucasian.” Short version: If you’re white, stop using it immediately. I simply don’t think it’s possible to claim to want to tear down racism while actively using one of its keystones. There is one reason alone why white people of European descent got to be called “Caucasian.” Scientific racists…

Earlier this year, an 11-year-old student testified that her teacher confronted her after she chose to kneel during the Pledge of Allegiance. As children return to school, and as athletes continue to kneel for the National Anthem, it seems like a good time to look at the question: What rights do students have with regards to…

Donald Trump, a conservative 72-year-old American businessman, has said some things that have stretched the limits of credulity in his career. Here’s one of his latest, regarding Omarosa Manigault Newman’s claim that she has a tape of him saying the n-word: “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have.” Now, to be…

Recently, Akron Public Schools announced that it had created a partnership with basketball great LeBron James. Working with the LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF), the district will be opening a school this year for at-risk youth. This is not the first time a celebrity has been involved in the opening of a school, but in…

I am writing this on the fiftieth anniversary of a significant cultural event. Fifty years ago today, a white cartoonist responded to a request from a white woman who was concerned about the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., by a white man. Like Jane Elliot, another white woman, Harriet Glickman used her response to…

My father liked to travel. When I was a child, it was his goal to take his family to every state in the nation, and as many Canadian provinces as possible. Some of these states, we lingered in. I had grandparents in Virginia and Florida. My father had been born and raised in Utah; my…