In This Issue:
July-August 2008
FEATURE: Creativity
The Future of Creativity
In our schools, our businesses, and our homes
by Jeannine Ouellette, from the Rake
Why Essays Are So Damned Boring
An impassioned plea for writers to stop navel gazing and start taking chances
by Cristina Nehring, from Truthdig
Bright Ideas from Baltimore’s Citizens
by Danielle Maestretti
The Creativity Conceit
America will always be number one, won’t it?
by Eamonn Fingleton, from the American Conservative
Art + Science = Inspiration
by Danielle Maestretti
Putting the Arts Back into the Arts
Author Bill Ivey celebrates creativity, culture, and the “amateur”
interview by Danielle Maestretti
FEATURE: Family Values
It’s Not a Gay Thing . . .
Why the debate over same-sex marriage misses the point
by Nancy D. Polikoff, from the book Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage
. . . or Is It?
Same-sex couples on grabbing the ring
by Will Fellows, from the exhibit Shall Not Be Recognized
FEATURE: World in Chains
People for Sale
Why there are more slaves than at any time in history and what can be done about it
by E. Benjamin Skinner, from Foreign Policy
I Was a Slave
Modern slave narratives
by Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd, from the book To Plead Our Own Cause
FEATURE: Blooming Business
To Ecuador, with Love
Fair trade grows in the flower industry
by Jon Tevlin
EMERGING IDEAS
Deep Blue Dissonance
The world’s waters are humming with dangerous, unnatural noise
by Judith Lewis
The Nature of Nurture
New science reveals that your DNA isn’t your destiny
by Sally Lehrman, from California
Is It Time to Mess with Mother Nature?
Global warming could force preservationists to become zookeepers and gardeners
by M. Martin Smith and Fiona Gow, from High Country News
Plus: Good Muslims Go to Starbucks, The Almighty Rich, Word Watch: Waste Miles, Pretty Green Power, All the President's Senators, Erin Brockovich R.I.P.
MIXED MEDIA
Slasher Girls
Women create an online world of horny, homosexual rock stars
by David Haldeman, from Seattle Sound
Cinema Under the Stars
For the drive-in theaters left standing, projections are good
by David Raskin, from the Next American City
Post-Apartheid Pop
Sweating an old, new sound on the streets of Soweto
by Edwin “Stats” Houghton, from the Fader
Plus: Film Reviews, Book Reviews, Music Reviews
MINDFUL LIVING
Get Wild in Your Garden
How to turn your backyard into certified wildlife habitat
by Amy Stewart, from OnEarth
Digital Debacle
What you should know, and haven’t heard, about the transition to digital TV
by Leyla Kokmen
Pills Worth Popping
Vitamins: Behind the label
by Julie Hanus
On the Receiving End
How we think about help isn’t helping
by Michael Rowe
Acupuncture for All
Affordable treatment in group settings is catching on
by Pamela O’Malley Chang, from Yes!
GLEANINGS
Moan That Particular Blues
A music born of loss resonates with Native people
by Richard Wagamese, from Canadian Dimension
Thicker than Blood
Orphans of Cambodia’s AIDS epidemic form their own loving family
by Gail Gutradt, from Kyoto Journal
The Bush Family Fantasy
For this West Texan, Rockwell renderings of a presidential childhood are all bull
by Ruth Pennebaker, from the Texas Observer
I Just Started Smoking. Again.
News of a lump reignites a long-extinguished craving
by Terri Solomon, from Urbanite
COLUMNS AND LETTERS
Editor’s Note: Tortured Coverage
Letters
Shelf Life: Bush, the AIDS President?
Heartland: Turning Pain into Power