Short Takes: News From All Over: September 16, 2004

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Critical Noir: Our Right to Rock
By Mark Anthony Neal, Africana.com
Despite the revolutionary phenomena that was Jimi Hendrix, Miller Brewing Company in conjunction with Rolling Stone magazine recently issued ten commemorative cans celebrating the '50th Anniversary of Rock n' Roll, and not one black artist was featured. Artists considered great enough to 'make the can' include Jon Bon Jovi, Joe Walsh, and two plain 'guitars.' This omission represents the pigeonholing, the black boxing, or the mere blacking-out of Black artists in rock and roll. What about Tina and Ike Turner, Chuck Berry, and Funkadelic? What about Lenny Kravitz, Rolling Stone? The struggles and triumphs of black rockers are chronicled in Maureen Mahon's new book, The Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and Cultural Politics of Race (Duke University Press). -- Elizabeth Dwoskin
http://www.africana.com/articles/daily/mu20040902rockers.asp

If We Weren't Already Fireproof, This Would Burn Us Up
By Staff, Grist
A new study of grocery items that contain animal fat, such as fish, meat, and dairy products, revealed that virtually all of them contain detectable levels of PBDEs, human-made chemical fire retardants used in carpeting, electronics, and furniture that may or may not cause cancer. While PBDEs have not been extensively studied as yet, they have been shown to damage the neurological, reproductive, and hormonal systems of lab animals. Two kinds of PBDEs have been banned by the European Union. -- Elizabeth Dwoskin
http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2004/09/03/#pbde

You Are What You Eat
By Michele Simon, SFGate
Americans like to feel good. When given the choice between two possible explanations for a given phenomenon, most of us will choose the more indulgent, optimistic version. It's hardly surprising, then that nutri-washing, the adolescent cousin of greenwashing, is taking off in the food industry. Nutri-washing uses corporate spin to pass greasy foodstuffs off as healthy necessities, making it increasingly difficult for consumers to tell the meat from the gristle. -- Brendan Themes
http://tinyurl.com/6swms

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