The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. The FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines and foods more effective, safer, and more affordable; and helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health. -Food and Drug Administration
With the latest food recall still underway, one could make the argument that members of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) don’t actually eat food, at least not the the same things they are allowing to make it to our plates. Or perhaps the FDA only employs individuals with private gardens and free roaming chickens in their own spacial backyards. If so, the rampant oversight and lack of quality assurance makes more sense. Not saying it is right, but it would be easier to digest it all. Pun intended. Instead, there are few guidelines and regulations, and as a result even fewer plans in place to deal with public panic and illness once bad apples actually make their way into the bunch. Occasionally, regulatory laws are put forth, but companies often find the time and cost to implement them too high and the penalty too low, making it more economical to do the wrong thing. British Petroleum (BP), anyone?
It’s a problem that we still allow ignorance to turn cultures into threats and let fear change constitutional rights into a compromise of sanctity or national security. It is moments like this that I am most disappointed to be human, to be American, the moments when people choose to not allow others to live freely.
This past weekend I got the opportunity to meet a guy named Eboo Patel. He is the executive director of an organization called Interfaith Youth Core (IYC) and also a Rhodes Scholar who studied sociology and divinity at Oxford. Needless to say I was looking forward to hearing his speech at Loyola University this past Friday night.
In music, and films, and stories, and books, and in our lives endings are hard to get quite right. We sometimes overlap with beginnings and in the case of summers… they often finish far before we are done with them.
As September begins, we return to school and work, or continue because we never left. The vacations we took turn into more and more distant memories. The end of summer is one ending that is just about always imperfect. It fails to be either cinematic or dramatic. I seem to let it pass without acknowledging it as a transition or taking time to reflect on the summer season. I fall back into a routine. And although I’m bound to hear “How was your summer?” at least a hundred times, I’ll only sometimes give a brief update and hardly ever a proper answer. I don’t quite know if this is because people are too busy, not looking for a long answer or because I like to keep summer holiday as something very separate and distinguished from the rest of the year. Read more »
A few months ago I wrote a post about my disillusionment with hip-hop. I was desperately hoping that my love, which was on life support at the time, could be revived. As hip-hop lay dying on the operating table I prayed that Dr. Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest could resuscitate my loved one. As I watched her lay in a feeble position I wondered if putting her in the 36th chamber with Wu-Tang Clan could liven her up. But I thought ODB might scare her and give her a heart attack. She needed something softer and more melodic, because the current state of music was killing her softly. Then I realized that L-Boogie aka Lauryn Hill could teach her about the Miseducation of the rap game, and why she is an not an ex-factor, but the x factor. Unfortunately, Ms. Lauryn Hill was missing that thing (flow, harmony, delivery, and coherence).
This past weekend I attended the Rock the Bells concert in Washington D.C. Since 2004 Rock The Bells concert series have been exciting audiences all over the country with the prospects of seeing hip-hop’s classic artist all rip the same stage. Other than an old Rap City episode it is rare to find KRS One, Rakim, Slick Rick, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, Lauryn Hill, and Snoop Dogg all rocking the same venue. Although my ticket was paid in full I felt like I needed electric relaxation to kick it because the concert was everything but a g thing. Read more »
One of the bigger news stories this week (in the music world, at least) has been the use of Auto-tune during boring, contrived, glorified talent shows on television. British television sensation X-Factor has been feeling the heat after it was revealed that they’d utilized Auto-tune for the final version of the broadcast of their season premiere, and most likely many of their previous episodes as well. They’ve apologized profusely, but the story isn’t going away. American Idol has even been forced to release a statement of their own, distancing themselves from the controversy by making it “clear” that they have never and will never use Auto-tune for their broadcasts.
Honestly I don’t like or watch any of these shows, so I love it when this kind of shit happens. But, I also don’t understand how anyone can watch such highly-produced, big budget franchise programming and not assume that there is some trickery at play behind the seasons. This is capitalism people. You want epic, flawless performances from unprofessional vocalists, and that’s exactly what X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, and American Idol gives you. “Reality” be damned.
We all know too well the easiest way to get on television is to either have something tragic happen or to be tragic. It is clear in almost every reality show on television from The Real Housewives Series to The Bad Girls Club to Jersey Shore that we as a world are desperate for three things more than most; for people to either fear us, feel sorry for us, or to laugh at us. And perhaps now that we have the technology available to share our every waking emotion, we’ve lost some of the things that were once cherished, like secrecy. Unfortunately, it seems all of tv world is suffering from a serious case of Munchausen’s Syndrome.
Recently, there have been numerous posts about Antoine and Kelly Dodson and how they fought off a rapist. The news story, taking place in Hunstville, Alabama has resulted in numerous viral videos of remixed songs mocking Antoine’s gay patois and featuring his family members stomping about seemingly outraged at the occurrence. Of course there are many political underpinnings. How safe is communal housing? How “typical” is it for poor women to be sexually assaulted? Do poor black people even expect cops to intervene? Should certain kinds of people be allowed on television? I get it. This video points to so many issues but it also points to the problem we face as a world hyper-exposed to reality tv drama, where trauma and bad behavior are commonplace. We have become desensitized to suffering. At the very least, we have developed a more rigid expectation of what “real” pain should look like. Read more »
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” This is my reflection of this summer, but as I “reflect” I want to be aware and show my appreciation for the ability and privilege to “reflect.” When Socrates made that statement I don’t believe he took into account what must take place for one to be able to constantly reflect on their life. Many people do not have the luxury to reflect on summers that were learning experiences. It is hard to examine your life when your dodging bullets or trying to make sure you have food to put on the dinner table. There are so many processes (like having the comfort and the security to just sit, think, examine, learn, and eventually grow) that are overlooked and seen as simple and healthy proxies. I never want to take these practices for granted, and want to always show homage to those that came before me and made it possible for me to be where I am today. These things would include my parents, my community, my grandmother, and my mentors, without these things I don’t know where I would be.
As summer is coming to an end, I’ve just returned from an international program at a Scottish University. The students were mostly Europeans, a few students from the Middle East and East Asia, and a few Americans like myself. There was an obvious lack of representation from any African or Latin American countries and the majority was western European, but to an extent it was still quite diverse.
Curious as to where everyone came from, what language they spoke at home, and about who they were, I found myself asking about nationality, as was everyone else. However, before I got there, I didn’t really think about how I was to identify myself.
Here, in the States, the idea of an ‘American’ nationality is essentially meaningless. An American identity alone does not tell us anything about a person’s phenotype, or religion, race or ethnicity. The term American does however seem to carry the assumption of some type of patriotism or loyalty to what is consumerist America. So usually I don’t use American as a description or identification for myself. It has little cultural relevance to me so I choose to spare myself its aftertaste and leave it out. Read more »
If the Southern segregationists had to assemble an ideal 4 X 100 meter relay team they would probably be unstoppable. Senator Trent Lott would be the first leg. Since he believes that all the problems in the United States could’ve been avoided had Strom Thurmond been elected President in 1948, he will get a fast start trying to chase history. The second leg, which runs the longest distance (110 meters to be exact), would be run by Strom Thurmond. Thurmond would be ideal for this position because of his stamina. How many people can argue continually for 24 hours 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single senator)? Even Rush Limbaugh gets tired. Senator Joseph McCarthy would run the third leg so he could tell the anchor if there are any communists behind him. Finally, Governor George Wallace would run the last leg. Although he might not be the fastest on the team, he could always use fire hoses and canines to take care of the competition. However, this team wouldn’t be passing a baton. Batons are for cops without warrants. No, this dream team would be passing the “Southern Strategy”. Read more »
Okay, am I the only one who finds Kanye West’s new video, Power, disturbing? Mind you, I love to see music videos that are artistic and push the envelope, but I will not deny that I was a little disturbed by his video, Power.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” This is my reflection of this summer, but as I “reflect” I want to be aware and show my appreciation for the ability and privilege to “reflect.” When Socrates made that statement I don’t believe he took into account what must take place for one to be able to constantly reflect on their life. Many people do not have the luxury to reflect on summers that were learning experiences. It is hard to examine your life when your dodging bullets or trying to make sure you have food to put on the dinner table. There are so many processes (like having the comfort and the security to just sit, think, examine, learn, and eventually grow) that are overlooked and seen as simple and healthy proxies. I never want to take these practices for granted, and want to always show homage to those that came before me and made it possible for me to be where I am today. These things would include my parents, my community, my grandmother, and my mentors, without these things I don’t know where I would be.
As summer is coming to an end, I’ve just returned from an international program at a Scottish University. The students were mostly Europeans, a few students from the Middle East and East Asia, and a few Americans like myself. There was an obvious lack of representation from any African or Latin American countries and the majority was western European, but to an extent it was still quite diverse.
