Research from the American Psychological Association, the Journal of Family Psychology, and others generally concludes that spanking your child has long term negative effects. Research similarly shows that spanking is rarely effective at promoting the desired behaviors. There is some dissent, but the strong majority scientific opinion is that spanking a child is psychologically counterproductive….
Author: Clio
You’re Not Color Blind, You’re Snow Blind
It’s been thirteen months now since Colin Kaepernick first raised eyebrows by kneeling during the National Anthem. Many people criticized his silent protest as the wrong way to address the issue. Last week, Donald Trump said that the NFL should fire any player who protests during the National Anthem. The NFL’s response was consistent: Players…
A Tale of Two Cities: How Kid Rock Symbolizes Detroit Gentrification
Last week saw the official opening of Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The new home of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons was celebrated with a set of six concerts by Kid Rock. The sports arena is highly symbolic of Detroit’s resurgence. For years, two of the four major sports teams had played…
If You Give a Man a Tackle Box…
There’s a famous adage: “If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.” The origin of this appears to be Anna Isabella Thackeray Ritchie’s novel “Mrs. Dymond,” in which characters are discussing the theft of some lilac branches. One character thinks…
Four Pieces of Advice for Students and Others
Tomorrow, like many teachers throughout the country, I start a new school year. When I was a student, I used to hate the stock aphorisms intended to inspire me. As a teacher, I’ve tried to develop advice that is worthwhile but is still genuine to student experience. Here’s a selection. You don’t have to like…
The Statues Are More Than Just Statues
In the wake of White Nationalists marching in Charlottesville, I saw a few variants of this question: “If these Confederate statues are so terrible, why didn’t Martin Luther King ever talk about them? Why are they only an issue now that Donald Trump is President?” I can’t pretend to speak for the great Reverend King,…
Tina Fey Eats Cake, Starting an Internal War
Tina Fey recently ate cake, and liberal America freaked out. On one side were those who insisted that Fey’s satire was brilliant, and that those who disliked it had missed the joke. You see, according to this narrative, Fey was playing a character: She was mocking herself and other white liberal women who turn to…
James and the Giant Screed
I have a confession. I used to be a Men’s Rights Activist. I’ve been mulling an essay on this for a while now, but James and the Giant Screed has brought it to the surface. In case you’re not familiar with it, James Damore came to national attention recently when a memo he’d written and…
Why Privilege is White-Washed Supremacy
We are at what Lisa Hickey rightly calls an inflection point in the United States. White Supremacists and White Nationalists are marching around the nation, ostensibly to protest things like the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, VA. It is time for every white person in this country to decide where…
White Men and the Well of Actually
It seems like a lot of white men like to be experts about everything. Years ago, when I was in graduate school studying linguistics, I was visiting my father. We were chatting, and somewhat randomly, he presented me with a piece of information: “Korean has the same writing as Chinese.” He followed it up with,…