Another recount? Say it ain’t so. But that’s what Gov. David Paterson served up for the NY-20 Congressional District when he sent Kirsten Gillibrand to the Senate in the most infuriating (legal) nomination process known to man (or woman). With her Republican upbringing and center-right messaging on various social issues, Gillibrand was a good fit […]
Dana Goldstein
Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.
Posted inArticle
OBAMA CABINET MEMBERS: NO MORE “WAR ON TERROR.”
Let’s hear it for the ladies of the Obama administration: first Janet Napolitano and now Hillary Clinton are perfectly happy — despite denials from OMB chief Peter Orszag — to admit that they are no longer using the Bush administration’s imprecise, fear-mongering “global war on terror” language. At TPM D.C., Brian Beutler reports: Whether a […]
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JEWS AND MOVIES.
At Racialicious, Matt Egan has a very smart analysis of the history of representations of Jewishness in American film and television — both by Jewish producers/directors/writers and by others. In particular, I found his analysis of the Judd Apatow/Jason Segal oeuvre interesting: Egan sees Peter‘s choice between Sarah and Rachel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall as […]
Posted inEducation in America
Is Merit Pay a Distraction in the Fight for Meaningful Education Reform?
Merit pay is the hot topic in education policy. But we should be skeptical of single-faceted solutions to multifaceted problems.
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AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION, SEBELIUS WATCHES HER BACK ON ABORTION.
In the past, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has won acclaim from pro-choice groups for consistently vetoing anti-abortion legislation. Not so last Friday. Sebelius signed a bill requiring doctors to ask patients, 30 minutes before scheduled abortions, if they would like to see an ultrasound image of the fetus or hear its heartbeat. Sebelius’ Senate confirmation […]
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MANDATORY MEDICINE?
I spent this past weekend in Cambridge, Mass., where I spoke about covering reproductive health issues at a conference called Women, Action, Media. During the question and answer session at our panel (which also featured Emily Douglas of RH Reality Check, Kiki Zeldes from Our Bodies, Ourselves, and Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas of the National Latina Institute […]
Posted inEducation in America
WHY THE POLITICS OF EDUCATION REFORM MATTER.
At the Columbia Journalism Review Daniel Luzer has some harsh words for my April print feature, a profile of the “education wars” and, in particular, a look at the crucial role of Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. Luzer makes one excellent point with which I agree — that the history […]
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DOES MICHELLE OBAMA WORK FOR THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER?
Politico‘s Josh Gerstein reports on a fascinating Republican attempt to subject Michelle Obama‘s policy role to greater scrutiny. At issue is whether the president’s spouse is a public citizen or a member of the administration: Under [Rep. Darrell] Issa’s amendment, any government policy group that Mrs. Obama or another first spouse regularly participates in would […]
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R.I.P. JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN.
The trailblazing African American historian John Hope Franklin has died at the age of 94. Chair of President Bill Clinton‘s Presidential Initiative on Race and a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Franklin was best known for his research on the lives of free blacks living in the pre-Civil War South. I was lucky […]
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DUNCAN VAGUE ON TEACHER PAY.
On a conference call with reporters to discuss the role of education in the president’s budget, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan laid out four principles for performance pay for teachers. They were: 1. Rewarding teacher excellence 2. Getting the best and brightest into the toughest inner city and rural classrooms 3. Higher compensation for teachers […]
