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Alice's Restaurant, 50 Thanksgivings Later

Arlo Guthrie's now-classic song was released in 1967, but the story begins, as the song explains, two years earlier. And 50 years into the story, its themes are strangely and sadly still relevant. And the movement it appeals for is no less needed.

The Tragedy of the Commons, the Pope, and the System

Michael A. Lebowitz The Georgia Straight
The message of "On Care for our Common Home" is simple: the earth is our commons, it is limited, and we are not managing our commons in a way that is consistent with its sustainability and justice.

Chicago’s Police Problem

Simon Balto History News Network
It should shock no one that the odds are even longer if you’re not white, and awful if you’re black. Black Chicagoans lodged 61 percent of the complaints that comprise the CPDP data and white Chicagoans only about 20 percent. Twenty-five percent of the charges deemed sustainable were leveled by black people;58 percent were brought by whites.

Death Warrant

Alexis Rhone Fancher State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies
From Alexis Rhone Fancher"s State of Grace (2015), an elegy to her son Joshua, we find compassion mixed with irony, grief with dark humor, as the poet's life must go in an absurd world.

Healthy Coffee and Cigarettes

Tabitha M. Powledge PLOS One
Coffee and cigarettes. Well, it turns out that one of them is good for you. As for e-cigarettes ... hold the conclusions.

Message to Black Clergy: Think of Trump's Rhetoric Before Meeting With Him

#TEAMEBONY Ebony
An open letter from more than 100 Black religious leaders and scholars to the African American ministers scheduled to meet with Donald Trump warn that such a meeting will serve to "de-radicalize the Black prophetic political tradition" and "give Trump the appearance of legitimacy" that he will use to harm Black communities.

'Suffragette' Foregrounds Working-Class Women

Linda Gordon Portside
Suffragette is the first film to depict a women's movement with major Hollywood stars. And Gavron's introduction, skyped in at the preview I saw, was superb, emphasizing global women's struggles and class and race inequality as well as the historical fight for suffrage. As more celebrities come out as feminists, we can hope for more.