Category Archives: Culture

Social Network Use Reflects East-West Disparity

The stark contrast between America’s “me-first” culture and the “collective-good” mentality in China is reflected in the two countries’ use of social networking sites, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University scholar.

U.S. citizens spend more time on the networking sites, consider them to be more important and have more “friends” on the sites, the research found. The most popular social networking site in the United States is Facebook; in China, two of the most popular sites are RenRen and Qzone. (more…)

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‘Finally American’: Poet Discusses Impact of Inaugural Poem

Is the inaugural poem a new sub-genre of poetry? According to two practitioners of the form, the answer might be “yes.”

Poet Richard Blanco and Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander, two of only five poets in history to have created works for a presidential inauguration, came together on Feb. 5 for a poetry reading and dialogue about their unique shared experience. Blanco read his work “One Today” at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, while Alexander read her “Praise Song for the Day” at Obama’s first. Their discussion was hosted by Ezra Stiles College master Stephen Pitti. (more…)

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Ralina Joseph Studies Multiraciality in New Book ‘Transcending Blackness’

Ralina Joseph, associate professor of communications, is the author of “Transcending Blackness: From the New Millennium Mulatta to the Exceptional Multiracial,” published by Duke University Press. She answered a few questions about the book for UW Today.

Q. What’s the concept behind this book?

A. “Transcending Blackness” is about mixed-race African-American representations in the 10 years leading up to Obama’s election in 2008. (more…)

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Where Cultural Traditions Meet Cutting-Edge Care

American Indian communities in northern Michigan are improving health care for tribal elders with help from a Michigan State University program that blends their cultural traditions with the latest medical research.

It’s part of the Geriatric Education Center of Michigan, a federally funded, MSU-led consortium of universities, hospitals and government agencies established in 1987 to train health professionals and others to deliver better care to older adults, particularly in underserved communities. (more…)

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Numerology Guide: Your Destiny Number rules your Future

Through the ages man has formulated various ways to provide an insight to his nature that comprises of tarot cards, dream interpretation, astrology, palmistry as well as basic numerology. These methods are used to discover the inner self. All of these practices share a common reputation as “the tools of divination”. Though, it is often said that there is no one to predict your future accurately. Instead basic numerology as well as other tools teaches us about ourselves and it also offers various options available to us in any given circumstances.

There are several methods of divination which are intimately intertwined, each of which are related to the other in some way or the other. In the tarot, basic numerology as well as astrology is both portrayed in the symbols that are used to illustrate the cards. Astrology depends on the mathematical correspondences to help construe what each of the twelve houses symbolizes, just as basic numerology, a numbers vibrations might communicate to a particular planet or sign which rules the sign. A reader will make use of each approach to do a reading or she can also get herself specialize in any one. (more…)

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New Book Traces Black Panthers’ Evolution from Local Activists to Global Anti-Imperialists

History has long denied the political genius of the Black Panther Party. At worst, its members have been cast as unconscionable criminals. At best, such seminal figures as party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and early supporter Stokely Carmichael have been portrayed as outlaw folk heroes who, propelled by the progressive winds of the late 1960s, dared to take on the establishment.

But a UCLA graduate student in sociology who worked alongside former Panthers a decade ago as a community organizer in Oakland, Calif., didn’t buy the conventional wisdom. (more…)

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Internet Banging: Gangs Use Social Media to Trade Insults, Threats

ANN ARBOR — Gangs now occupy two spaces: the streets and the Internet.

A new University of Michigan study reports that, in addition to carrying guns, gang members have armed themselves with social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to incite dares, trade insults or make threats that may result in homicide or other crimes.

Researchers have described this new interaction as “Internet banging.” They examine several factors, including the role of hip-hop music in this phenomenon and urban masculinity’s influence on social media behavior. (more…)

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