Portside

Our infallible crystal ball reveals that 2022 will make workers want to holler.

For Pagans and other Non-Christians, the holiday spirit can mean helping the hungry and homeless, and remember to wear a mask.

A New Generation of Civil Rights Fighters. The Story of Gershwin, Harlem and the Blues. Deport the Statue of Liberty. Cracking the Codes: A Trip to the Grocery Store. When Comedy Went to School. Richie Havens at Woodstock (in memoriam).

What is the best way to use pronouns in reporting on a transgender person, according to GLAAD and AP? Which media outlets did a good job with pronouns reporting on Bradley/Chelsea Manning? Wikipedia handled the revision of their entry swiftly and with little controversy. But in other media, the picture was decidedly more mixed.

Hey Conservatives: Don’t Bash ‘The Butler’ (From a Conservative)

Many faculty advocates say Obama’s plan for higher education consists of a patchwork of conservative and liberal policies that fall far short of pleasing everyone -- or, depending on one’s opinion, anyone. More importantly, they said, the plan focuses on certain measurable student outcomes -- such as graduation rates -- but would do little to ensure actual student learning.

Incredibly, when King called for full employment in 1967, the national unemployment rate was under 4 percent. Flash forward to today: 56 consecutive months of unemployment above 7 percent, among African Americans above 13 percent, above 9 percent among Latinos. At our current rate of job creation, it would take another seven years to get the national unemployment rate down to 5 percent, where it was at the end of 2007.

A fascinating new book from historian William P. Jones puts the 1963 action in its organizing context. Every U.S. school child learns the opening words of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but how many are taught that the march was the brainchild of the nation's leading black labor activists--and called not only for an end to prejudice, but also for a federal jobs program, equality at work, and a boost to the minimum wage?