Category: Feature

• “Calling to mind” the roots of the word “monument”

  As Confederate monuments are coming down across American cities, President Trump is taking action to cut back national monuments in the American wilderness. This week, he announced efforts to slash the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. The move is meeting with demonstrations and admonitions from environmentalists and Native Americans, among others,…

  John Kelly

  December 5, 2017

  Feature

• Why are moments called watershed?

  On Thursday, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand commented on the ongoing allegations of sexual harassment against prominent men in politics and entertainment, notably including Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor just this week: I think we are in a watershed moment where it’s going to be an important change for our women, for our daughters,…

  John Kelly

  December 1, 2017

  Feature

• “Slur”: an etymology dragged in mud

  At a White House event yesterday honoring Navajo code talkers, President Trump called Senator Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas,” as he has on many past occasions. Native American leaders, among so many others, are rightly decrying the disparaging remarks as a racial slur, as it drags native peoples into the mud—and literally so, if we look to…

  John Kelly

  November 28, 2017

  Feature

• Reams of “ream”

  Sexual assault scandals, mass shootings, military coups, tax cuts for the rich, trophy elephants, the impending devastation of climate change, the looming threat of nuclear war—there are reams and reams of heavy news right now. So, I think we could use something that brings us all together. Sorry, I don’t have any puppy videos, but…

  John Kelly

  November 17, 2017

  Feature

• Persian pleasure gardens, the Christian afterlife, and tropical tax havens: the origins of “paradise”

  The 13.4 million-file leak called the Paradise Papers are exposing the offshore, tax-avoiding dealings by some of the world’s richest companies and people, from Facebook to the Queen of England. Boosted by alliteration and allusion to last year’s Panama Papers, the BBC explains the paradise name:  The Paradise Papers name was chosen because of the…

  John Kelly

  November 10, 2017

  Feature