In This Issue
November - December 2007
FEATURE: Why Are We So Angry?
All the Rage
Why everyone is so angry and why we must calm down
by Andrew Santella, from Notre Dame
FEATURE: Your Green Home
Green Building for the Rest of Us
How a good idea can make it into the mainstream
by Hannah Lobel
Salvage Beauty
Reused building materials take a load off the environment
by Joseph Hart
Low Rent, High Tech
Affordable housing advocates build green and inspire innovation
by Hannah Lobel
Online Exclusive: Green Homes on the Range
Affordable, environmentally friendly starter homes come to the heartland
By Catherine Prewitt, from the Next American City
Online Exclusive: Green Building Resource Guide
Utne Reader’s guide to resources on green building
By Hannah Lobel
FEATURE: Magazines You'll Love
Utne Independent Press Awards
The 111 contenders for 2007
FEATURE: Justice for All?
America Incarcerated
Crime, punishment, and the question of race
by Glenn C. Loury, from Boston Review
FEATURE: Let’s Talk
A Feast of Ideas
Meaningful conversation is always the main dish at Marnita’s Table
by J. Trout Lowen
Dish It Up
How to set your own table for conversation
by J. Trout Lowen
The Great Divide
How do we talk when we disagree?
interview by Julie Hanus
Emerging Ideas
Africa’s Brain Gain
Virtual schools bring hope to a war-torn continent
by Matthew Shaer
The Kid in the Corner Office
Are Gen Y workers worth all the coddling?
by Julie Hanus
Pseudo-Science Debunked
How to separate fact from political fiction
interview by Danielle Maestretti
The Fifth Estate
Campaign “fact” checkers: A user’s guide
by Eric Kelsey and Brendan Mackie
Mixed Media
After the Polka
Disco polo is the music that Poles love to hate
by Daphne Carr, from the book Listen Again
The Doctor Is Far Out
The strange saga of a soapmaking empire comes to the screen
by Peter Schilling
Death Rays Are So Yesterday
Poor science fiction—it got too close to the sun
by Bruno Maddox, from Discover
Mindful Living
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
In praise of the private life
by Jennifer Allen, from Oregon Humanities
Where Everyone Has a Seat at the Table
Pay-what-you-can restaurants dish up healthy fare that serves humanity
by Donna M. Owens, from Urbanite
Grease Monkeys Go Green
A new breed of car mechanics tune up the repair business
by Mark Vanderhoff, from Plenty
Wild at Heart
Don’t confuse domesticated “wild” rice with the real thing
by Cara Binder
Pure Flavor
A guide to avoiding pesticides in produce
Claus and Effect
Go ahead. Lie to your children.
by Elizabeth Ryan
Gleanings
When the Pipe Bomb Blows
In the strip-mined West, a teenager delights in destruction
by Brandon R. Schrand, from High Desert Journal
Desperately Seeking Sweatpants
One man’s trauma in Toronto’s trendiest changing room
by Ian Brown, from Explore
The Gist of Everything
Liquor, lies, and the things left unsaid
by Quade Hermann, from Geist
Before the War
Remembering an everyday life in Bosnia
by Courtney Angela Brkic, from Dissent
Editor’s Note
by David Schimke
Letters
Shelf Life: The Toughest Beat
by Danielle Maestretti
Heartland: Just Like Grandma Told You
by Nina Utne